The best points based system

[ondeadlin Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ondeadlin]

I think your needs obviously are key here.

I'm a huge skier, Hyatt has an abundance of high-quality ski properties in Colorado and a relatively advantageous exchange rate of Hyatt points to Interval weeks (IMO). So, for me, Hyatt would fit my needs best.

If I were looking at overall general category "best", I'd say Worldmark.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

What seems to be the best points based systems with regards to flexability, ease of use, etc? We are a family of 5 with children ranging in age from 11-5 and like to take several vacations a year, usually from end of November to beginning of April with the whole family or just hubby and I. End of May beginning of June with just the kids and I. My DH runs a paving operation and so is busy from April to mid November.
We do own one timshare unit, but we are thinking of buying something else. Would the points based systems be a good choice for us? I am doing my research on them, but at this time do not know enough about them. Any info you can share with me would be wonderful.

The best points system is, of course Signature, no Sunterra, or maybe it's Diamond. Anyway Sunterra is one of the simpler systems with good resorts. Contrary to what JN says, their European operations are no longer (not currently) on the 'block.' And like Mike says about WM, Sunterra also works very well in I.I. Follow the link below to learn more. The downside is the intricacy of getting full Club Sunterra benefits on resale.

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

Well, being a west coaster I always thought I'd eventually buy into Worldmark like my kids have done. But, I find that instead I have taken the Sunterra plunge. I hope it is going to be as flexable as I have read from the postings & the salesman's spiel. I already owned 5 Sunterra properties here in the west purchased resale at mostly great bargain rates. At an "owner's update" (read that as sales pitch to join The Club) we fell for the hype & signed on the dotted line for a minimal purchase & a whole ton of points from our NO COST coversions to Club Sunterra.

My hope is that we can use our 30,500 points (plus 16,000 club select points if we choose) for Hawaii & other warm destinations during the winter when it is snowing here at home. Since we are retired & flexible on dates, we hope to enjoy a lot of getaways. Like Spence says, it is a simple system with plenty of mid-range resorts scattered all across the country (and in Europe.) If Sunterra...errr Diamond or whatever goes to hell, we still have our deeded resales to use as we have before we joined the Club. I figure it's worth a try.

But if I was starting from scratch, I'd choose Worldmark in the West. Easy to use, great trade power, decent resorts in nice locations.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

... our NO COST coversions to Club Sunterra.

While you can emphasize/capitalize no cost, it's not fair to mess a newbie up. The cost was those ~2000 points bought at developer prices of $2.50-$3.00 per point.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

One other thought about FF/Wyn points is that if you can get your first home resort that is exchanged through II, you will find that the power of the FF/Wyn virtual searches in II are also very powerful. We recently did a II test search and the virtual FF/Wyn searches were as good or better than the WM virtual searches.

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

And that's why I said I'd choose Worldmark. But that's if the west is your preference. Fairfield would be my next suggestion. Hyatt doesn't offer much for families in my view. Hilton nickles & dimes you to death. Sheraton is too much $$ initial cost for many folks. Then of course there is Disney....just depends on where you live & how much you want to spend.