compare BG with Wyndham?

[reader64 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close reader64]

Hi everyone!
I am looking at buying timeshare and wondering if anyone can compare Bluegreen with Wyndham Resorts.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

I own both Bluegreen and Wyndham but I have a definite prejudice. I've owned Bluegreen for almost 10 years and have only recently purchased Fairfield Wyndam.

I attended lots of Fairfield resorts before I ever bought my first timeshare and over the years I kept seeing the Fairfield program changing and changing and requiring the owners to buy more points. At one time I was told that Wyndham or Fairfield owners could not sell their points on the resale market but now I know that is not true.

For a while in the late 90's and early 2000's it seemed like Bluegreen had more resorts even though their resorts were smaller. For me Bluegreen had the resorts where I wanted them.

However Fairfield has somewhat nicer resorts even though most of their resorts are huge. I bought Fairfield Wyndham in order to have access to their resort in Alexandria Virginia. Once I got my points I was able to make a reservation for the time I wanted in September. Fairfield allows you to book your next year's points without having paid the maintenance fees. I think the earliest you can book is 10 months out but that means if I wanted a reservation for next February in Florida I could go ahead and book it now even though I don't pay those dues until 2009.

I can do that with Bluegreen too but it's because my 2008 points don't come due until May 1, and I've been allowed to bring them forward early. It seems the maintenance fees are somewhat higher with Fairfield Wyndam but I think that depends on where your are deeded. Resale on Fairfield Wydham was really cheap when I bought. I bought through Ebay and got 154,000 points for about $700.00 plus closing and maintenance fees. The total was under $2,000. That is the equivalent of about 12,000 Bluegreen points. It's enough to have a full week in a nice 2 bedroom in Red season. 12,000 points in bluegreen on the resale market would cost approximately $5,000 if you didn't get bonus time and other privileges but the yearly maintenance fees would be about $250.00 less per year that what I will pay Wyndham.

I'm sure that others can offer even more comparisons.

Maggie

You need to research where the resorts are and decide which resort will offer you the best usage without going to an exchange group.

[reader64 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close reader64]

Thank you, Maggie
So basically what I am deciding on is where the resorts are,what type of accomodationsthat they have(BG has cabins at Christmas Mountain,Wyndham has a hotel type resorts),and point values,right?
I have heard that Wyndham has a better reputation and that there accomodations are nicer. Is that true?

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I sounds as though there is very little difference between the two...so it's like comparing apples to apples.
L

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

I have stayed at 4 Wyndam resorts: Nashville, Alexandria, Virginia, and Sea Watch in Myrtle Beach and Branson Falls Village.

I've stayed at probably a dozen Bluegreen resorts. I don't think that any Wyndam resort was any nicer than Big Cedar or the Fountains or Daytona Sea Breeze. I've never been to CMV. At Myrtle Beach the Wyndam resorts are much larger than the Bluegreen resorts. That may mean you can get a reservation more easily, but what I love about Shorecrest I (BG) is that your balcony is right on the ocean and the place is not so large. The individual units are quite large but there are only about 125 units in Building 1 and probably the same amount in Shorecrest II. The Seawatch which is just down the street has 5 or 6 buildings that are all much further back from the Ocean than is the unit at Shorecrest. To actually walk to the beach is a much longer walk. They also have more pools but I like the smaller resorts.

With both resorts there are benefits to owning larger packages because it makes it a little easier to get the prime reservations. However once at the resort, I think possibly Bluegreen gives you more individual attention because the resorts are just not so large. However you can find poorly run resorts in both systems. Some of Bluegreen's resorts are not run by Bluegreen and they only own part of the resort. I think this may be true of Wyndham too. In those cases they cannot control the maintenance or management of those resorts and they sometimes fall below the standard you expect.

If Destin, Florida is one of your destinations I would go with Wyndam, they seem to have more and better accommodations on the Florida Gulf Area.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I own both Bluegreen and Wyndham. I like them both, but prefer Bluegreen primarily since the fees are lower and Bluegreen is the far better trader. I find Wyndham resorts slightly better, but not by much. Bluegreen and Wyndham resorts are roughly the same quality level across the board.

It is true that the upfront capital required for Bluegreen is higher than for Wyndham. But, that's due primarily to the fact that Wyndham fees are so high. And, they nickle and dime you to death. There are fees for everything in Wyndham. Housekeeping beyond one per week. Reservation transactions. Guest fees. You name it, Wyndham has a fee for it. In Bluegreen, on the other hand, there are no other fees other than your annual dues of $122.48 and your maintenance fees. In Wyndham, its maintenance fees, Fairshare Plus assessment of about $.50/1000 points.

Wyndham has a nice new online reservation feature that I really like. And, they have more resorts. I would choose Bluegreen if I lived in the east Coast or midwest. If I lived in the west Coast, I would pick WorldMark.

For exchange, Bluegreen is far superior. It is affiliated with both II and RCI and you can pick your unit for deposit meaning you can maximize trading power by picking holiday weeks. In Wyndham, you can be either RCI or II, but not both. And, Wyndham picks the unit. So, it's pretty much only good for trading back into Wyndham. Given that Bluegreen's maintenance fees are so much lower, that also makes Bluegreen trade ups much more likely than in Wyndham.

The exchange rate is roughly 15 to 1. 150,000 Wyndham points is roughly equal to 10000 Bluegreen points. 150,000 Wyndham points has a maintenance fee of around $600-800 per year. 10000 Bluegreen points is about $400-600 per year.

In Bluegreen, you can buy VIP/Preferred benefits resale as long as you purchase them from an authorized reseller. In Wyndham, you can only get VIP benefits by making a developer purchase. And, that is VERY expensive to do that.

Bluegreen has bonus time for last minute inventory. $49/night for studio, $59 for 1br, $69 for 2br and $79 for 3br. Wyndham has point discounts for its VIP members. 25% for VIP, 35% for Gold VIP, 50% for Platinum VIP.

I like them both and own both. They way to choose is to

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

Wyndham has point discounts for its VIP members. 25% for VIP, 35% for Gold VIP, 50% for Platinum VIP.

I like them both and own both. They way to choose is to

Just to add: non VIP owners also get point discounts within 60 days; however the discounts are limited to the excess inventory at specific resorts. These point discounts are published on Wyndham's website. VIP discounts are also at 60 days or less but can be used at all Wyndham's resorts.

Depending on the number of points you own with Wyndham and with good planning, you can avoid many of the nickel and dime fees that Boca refers to.

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

So basically what I am deciding on is where the resorts are,what type of accomodationsthat they have(BG has cabins at Christmas Mountain,Wyndham has a hotel type resorts),and point values,right?
I have heard that Wyndham has a better reputation and that there accomodations are nicer. Is that true?

BG has more than cabins at CMV - they have numerous unit types. No clue on Wyndham.

Reputation-wise, well, I dunno. Wyndham would be better known because of the hotel ownerships. In timeshare circles, I run across more unhappy Wyndham people that BG people. It's the constant change that Maggie stated.

I'd ignore whatever preconceived notion you have concerning "reputation" and determine for yourself how they stack up, owner happiness, ease of use, whatever. Visit a couple resorts from both systems.

[swirg53 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swirg53]

Hotel Rooms/Trendwest/Worldmark/Wyndham/Las Vegas

What do you mean by Wyndham has hotel type of resorts? I don't think that is true across the board, if I am understanding what you are saying--that their resorts consist only of hotel rooms; not fully functioning condo units. BUT most timeshare owners would not want to be ONLY in a hotel room and for the most part that does not happen with BG in my experiences except sometimes if you get a studio, you only get a small kitchenette. And I undrestand Harbour LIghts has hotel rooms as part of a lockoff. When I go on special deals from other tiemshare companies, I end up in hotel rooms and do not like it; have I learned my lesson yet? Probably not! I like those deals!

Is Trendwest, Worldmark and Wyndham synonymous? I thought when we were on one of our special deals in Vegas and we went on our TS presentation, that the place we went to was formerly a Trendwest and now was a Worldmark and that Worldmark also owned Wyndham or vice versa. Am I crazy? That was a nice resort...it is on Las Vegas Blvd, going away from the strip, opposite side of the road as the Bluegreen sales center (by McDonald's!!!) and further from the casinos than the BG sales center...if any of that makes any sense. (I get really confused by which way what direction is out there.) (or anywhere for that matter!!! )

I know I should have started a new thread........but I was here!

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

Back in the early days of timeshares the leader in resort chains was Fairfield. Recently Fairfield has been merged with Wyndham as have lots of other things.

There is a huge conglomerate called Cendant Corporation which actually has Four subdivisions; Realogy, Wyndham, Travelport, and Avis/Budget.

Wyndam has 140 resorts which includes what used to be Worldmark, Wyndham, Fairfield and probably some others. They also have a whole host of hotels or motels; Ramada, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Super I, Knight's Inn, Baymonts etc. etc. Travelport owns Orbitz and other travel companies and somewhere in there Cendant owns RCI.

So Fairshare Plus points can be used a a great many very nice resorts. I haven't figured out yet if they can be used at hotels however the Fairshare membership includes an RCI weeks membership and a membership in something called Trip Rewards which gets discounts at all their hotels. It's like Bluegreen's Traveler's Plus. To me the whole system is more complicated but I haven't been in in that long. I know what I have with Bluegreen and when it changes it isn't hard for me to understand and it's usually to make things better.

Maggie

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

What do you mean by Wyndham has hotel type of resorts? I don't think that is true across the board, if I am understanding what you are saying--that their resorts consist only of hotel rooms; not fully functioning condo units.

Reputation-wise, well, I dunno. Wyndham would be better known because of the hotel ownerships.

No, it just mean one big part of Wyndham is the ownership of hotel Brand like Wyndham®, Super 8®, Days Inn®, Ramada®, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Wingate® by Wyndham, Travelodge®, Howard Johnson®, AmeriHost Inn® and Knights Inn. just like Marriott or HGVC, or Starwood.

BG is community developer.

Resort wise, Wyndham basically refer to old FF and Trendwest which serves WorldMark. Both are different entities. And it is pure TS resort, nothing like hotel room.

Not sure what to compare. Just look at the locaction so you know what you will get internally, rent some units yourselves so you can get a feel what kind of quality you are looking at. It is no secret the number of points required for most of the units in each system, and if you can not find, just ask away. Then do a purchase price MF calculation. It all depends on what you going to do with the diffenence in purchase money. If you very likely spend it, then find something with lower MF and has chance to stay that way is better. If you are very good at saving the difference and invest it, and have a good return rate, then a low entry point is very import.

Jya-Ning

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

Cendant no longer exist. The timeshare and hotels were spun off. That unit bought out Wyndham and assumed its name. Wyndham has three major units
Timeshares: Wyndham, Worldmark, and Trendwest pacific
Hotels: Wyndham, Days, Ramada, and many others
Group RCI

The old Cendant is now Avis Budget Group, Inc.

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

Thank you for the information Willak. I didn't realize that Cendant had been forced to dissolve and be broken into the four parts. I wonder how disturbing all the changes in ownership and management must have been to the Fairfield and World Mark owners. It makes me feel better somehow knowing that Wyndham is no longer part of Cendant. That actually makes me feel better about my Fairshare Plus ownership.

Maggie

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

So Fairshare Plus points can be used a a great many very nice resorts. I haven't figured out yet if they can be used at hotels

yes, There are several hotels (Wyndham) you can use your FSP point. The exchange is not very favorable though.

I didn't realize that Cendant had been forced to dissolve and be broken into the four parts.

Cendant decides to break itself up for the assumption it will help its stock price. They sold one branch - Travelport. So it break up into three. There is no force.

The owner probably get confused only when they attend a sale update.

Jya-Ning