Bought the discovery package need advice

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

OK, so we went ahead and bought the discovery package- 308,000 points with 21 months to use them. It cost us around $2500. It all sounded so good, but in researching it online, I am seeing a lot of complaints and some good things- I don't know what to think now. This was the only package they had that fit our budget- and, honestly, we didn't want to add another bill, especially with the economy as it is. However, we do vacation a lot and we really liked the sound of the leisure plan they have. This is supposed to be some sort of group we join (they pay the sign up fees and 1st year) and we can get discounts up to 50% off. We are planning a cruise in April- with spring break- and were told that the leisure plan would be the best way to go. We will be taking our 3 children with us and it will be too early for us to use our points. At any rate, I am concerned and hoping we haven't made a mistake. I know-and knew when we bought it- that we were paying way more than we ever would have for our vacations, but we liked the leisure plan that could get us discounts on just about everything, according to the sales people. Anyone who can give us advice and help us to get the best out of what we have bought, I would greatly appreciate it. We know we want to use some of the points to take our kids to the Smokey Mtns next Fall Break- this is where we bought the package and we loved the mountains. The rest of the points, we haven't completely decided yet. Thought it might be nice for us to take a cruise on our own this summer- but not sure. We also discussed taking the kids back to Orlando and finish our points there. We figure we will only get 2 vacations out of this. We were told we had 21 months, but the paperwork says 1 year- after a 6 month waiting time. Again, any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

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

The standard answer you will receive is that if you do not understand it, then recind if able, and investigate a resale purchase That is good advise usually.

If you can not then you will have to live with what you have. Incidently, dollar wise you have not done too badly, resisting the sales onslaught.

To educate yourself on the Wyndham system so as to use those points effectively, and to see what is possible I would recommend you join another Timeshare Group Welcome to Wyndham Owners! (Wyndham Owners).

See you there.

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

Read your paperwork carefully. You need to find out if you pay MF or not. And how long you can use it. My impression is you should not pay MF, but could be wrong.

Also, make sure at the end of that contract, that is it, you do hold some right to purchase more points from them, but it is just right, Read your papaerwork to make sure of it.

308,000 for $2500 is not a bad deal. At this moment, if you are an owner, and want to rent point from Wyndham, it cause $8 per 1K. If you like the idea of TS travel, and it does has 21 month or longer to use it, and does not ask you to pay MF, I will keep it. Although reaize that you maybe able to get some cheaper rental from owners, it still is a little different than actually own something.

leisure plan usually does not compete well against Priceline in hotel. And as my understanding, it does not work well to use your point on cruise.

What this package can do is allow you to figure out what TS is and some of the VIP benefits. Once you do that, you can determine if you really want to become owner or not. If you want, buying resell makes more sense, it will not give you VIP, but you don't get VIP usually when you just buy retail unless you are willing to pay enough for 300K points.

Jya-Ning

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

MF

No, we do not have to pay MF for our discovery package. Our main purpose of getting it was to see what it was like and to get the leisure plan to see if it was worth keeping. Our understanding is that we can keep the leisure plan even if we do not "upgrade" and buy into the ownership part. I did look at ebay last night and agree that buying resale will be best if we decide to buy. We were told for our discovery package the $2500 is all we have to pay-nothing else. This was another reason we liked it. Thank you to those who have responded.

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

Our main purpose of getting it was to see what it was like and to get the leisure plan to see if it was worth keeping. Our understanding is that we can keep the leisure plan even if we do not "upgrade" and buy into the ownership part.

Instead of the Leisure Plan, spend about $40 and buy an Entertainment Book for where you live and buy your points resale. It will save you more.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

We did a Discovery Package one time as well. It worked OK for us; we planned to return to Hawai'i for an extra week anyway, so it amounted to a payment on our next year's vacation.

When you use the points they will get you into for the sales pitch to get you to convert to a full membership. They will work hard on the notion that the purchase price for points is the price quoted at the time you bought your Discovery Package, and that if you don't convert you will be throwing away the money you spent on the Discovery Package (because that can be used payment for the package you purchase).

You need to recognize going in that the money you spent on the Discovery Package is already gone; the only question that matters is comparing the additional money spent to convert with the cost of buying the same thing resale.

It will almost never make sense to convert the package.

Oh ... they will also try to point out all kinds of benefits that are only available if you buy from them instead of via resale. If you are going to rely on those to make a decision you should try to get everyone of them guaranteed in writing as a condition of purchase. If they won't guarantee that those will continue to be available as described and advertised, you should remove them from your valuation of the package. (And I would be surprised if they were willing to guarantee continuing availability.)

Without their guarantees, you're offering your inviolable commitment to pay them a developer premium in exchange for promises that they are not willing to provide a similar commitment to maintain.