Thinking of purchasing Wyndham

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

Hello~

We are a youngish family of four (mid-30s with 12 & 9 YOs)looking to purchase our first timeshare via resale. We have went back and forth on what to purchase, but we keep going back to Wyndham. We did the Bluegreen trial 1.5 yrs ago, and just were not impressed by the choices and their customer service. We live in KS, and like to travel to CO and Branson/Lake Ozarks regularly. However, we also just got home from FL...so we do travel other places (also went to Vegas last year).

My question is...would Wyndham serve our purposes of seeing new places (hope to travel to CA, Vegas again, Washington DC, NY, FL, VA, TN, CO, MO all in the coming years)?

Also, if we purchase say 175K Wyndham points in a Branson or CO home resort, what is a typical RCI conversion points rate? Or, do most poeple just use the RCI to advantage using the last minute bookings? Since we want to experience it all and really have no set requirements, would the last minute RCI deals be beneficial to us?

Thanks in advance for everyone's guidance!

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

Welcome.

Based on you list, Wyndham does cover all the area, and does have enough units for reservations.

With young family, and one kids already reach 12 years old, I don't think you are flexible enough. So most likely, you will use internal exchange unless you are going to area where TS is kind overbuild. Branson, Vegas, Orlando, Williamsburg come to mind.

There is no conversion rate between Wyndham and RCI. Two different system. There are ways to excahnge Wyndham to get to RCI. However, it is not a rule written in stone, and changes from time to time. You have to decide how flexible you really can be, and with a home already at FL, how many times you really need last min deal.

175k sounds good.

Jya-Ning

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

I am a Wyndham owner and consider myself relatively happy with what I own. Wyndham does cover most of the area that you mention and they are expanding their property list. But, the catch on the expanding property list is that with 175K points you may not be able to get in to the new ones as they are also expanding the points value charts when they create new properties. (for instance, Wyndham San Francisco, a 1BR is 300K per week all year)
That being said the resorts other than the newest ones have more reasonable points charts as they don't change once established!)
The one place where I feel my Wyndham ownership has been devalued is in RCI. Where I used to be able to pull most of what was avaliable out there, the trade power of Wyndham (even the most desirable ones) has been deminished and I do not see as much with my searches as I once did. I know this is true with RCI overall but there has definately been a decline in trade power with Wyndham resorts. That being said you can still get many trades with Wyndham deposits, you just need to work at it a little harder.
As far as a comparison in RCI there is no direct comparison with RCI points but when you make a deposit there is a points chart that tells how many points you must use to deposit a particular kind of unit (ie a Studio,blue week= 28K, a 1BR white week- 77K, a 1BR red=105K etc, there is an amount for each size and season) I used to deposit a variety of season/size and use them according to where I wanted to go but now I mostly deposit 1BR red weeks as I feel the others don't give me much to trade with except when I want to go somewhere real off season where no one else wants to go or if I can really look for something last minute.
Let us know if you have more specific questions or anything else we can try to shed light on.

Hello~

We are a youngish family of four (mid-30s with 12 & 9 YOs)looking to purchase our first timeshare via resale. We have went back and forth on what to purchase, but we keep going back to Wyndham. We did the Bluegreen trial 1.5 yrs ago, and just were not impressed by the choices and their customer service. We live in KS, and like to travel to CO and Branson/Lake Ozarks regularly. However, we also just got home from FL...so we do travel other places (also went to Vegas last year).

My question is...would Wyndham serve our purposes of seeing new places (hope to travel to CA, Vegas again, Washington DC, NY, FL, VA, TN, CO, MO all in the coming years)?

Also, if we purchase say 175K Wyndham points in a Branson or CO home resort, what is a typical RCI conversion points rate? Or, do most poeple just use the RCI to advantage using the last minute bookings? Since we want to experience it all and really have no set requirements, would the last minute RCI deals be beneficial to us?

Thanks in advance for everyone's guidance!

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

I am a Wyndham owner and consider myself relatively happy with what I own. Wyndham does cover most of the area that you mention and they are expanding their property list. But, the catch on the expanding property list is that with 175K points you may not be able to get in to the new ones as they are also expanding the points value charts when they create new properties. (for instance, Wyndham San Francisco, a 1BR is 300K per week all year)
That being said the resorts other than the newest ones have more reasonable points charts as they don't change once established!)
The one place where I feel my Wyndham ownership has been devalued is in RCI. Where I used to be able to pull most of what was avaliable out there, the trade power of Wyndham (even the most desirable ones) has been deminished and I do not see as much with my searches as I once did. I know this is true with RCI overall but there has definately been a decline in trade power with Wyndham resorts. That being said you can still get many trades with Wyndham deposits, you just need to work at it a little harder.
As far as a comparison in RCI there is no direct comparison with RCI points but when you make a deposit there is a points chart that tells how many points you must use to deposit a particular kind of unit (ie a Studio,blue week= 28K, a 1BR white week- 77K, a 1BR red=105K etc, there is an amount for each size and season) I used to deposit a variety of season/size and use them according to where I wanted to go but now I mostly deposit 1BR red weeks as I feel the others don't give me much to trade with except when I want to go somewhere real off season where no one else wants to go or if I can really look for something last minute.
Let us know if you have more specific questions or anything else we can try to shed light on.

Thanks for the information. So, in your opinion do you think another "resort chain" would be a better match for us, or would Wyndham be a "best fit"? Sometimes I think I may be eliminating some on too little information or hearing only the people who complain.

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

Welcome.

Based on you list, Wyndham does cover all the area, and does have enough units for reservations.

With young family, and one kids already reach 12 years old, I don't think you are flexible enough. So most likely, you will use internal exchange unless you are going to area where TS is kind overbuild. Branson, Vegas, Orlando, Williamsburg come to mind.

There is no conversion rate between Wyndham and RCI. Two different system. There are ways to excahnge Wyndham to get to RCI. However, it is not a rule written in stone, and changes from time to time. You have to decide how flexible you really can be, and with a home already at FL, how many times you really need last min deal.

175k sounds good.

Jya-Ning

Thanks for your input. We don't actually have a home in FL...we just got home from a vacation in FL.

You mentioned we are not flexible enough. Can you elaborate what you meant by that? I am a big girl...I can handle it.

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

Thanks for your input. We don't actually have a home in FL...we just got home from a vacation in FL.

I read wrong.

You mentioned we are not flexible enough. Can you elaborate what you meant by that? I am a big girl...I can handle it.

I thought most school will be more restrict on kids pass 3rd grade? If so, then unless you are home school, otherwise, you usually can only plan on long weekend or school recess time, and that also need to add kids other activities into considerations, so you really have only certain slot to take vacation.

Jya-Ning

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

Thanks for the information. So, in your opinion do you think another "resort chain" would be a better match for us, or would Wyndham be a "best fit"? Sometimes I think I may be eliminating some on too little information or hearing only the people who complain.

I don't think Wyndham is necessarily a bad fit for you but I wanted to give you the info I did so you could see the possible down side to it. I am relatively happy with my Wyndham ownership but do find the whole trade power lowering to be a bit annoying. Also wanted you to know that with
175K you can find something in all the older Wyndhams but the newest ones have very large booking points values.
On the RCI trade value with the new RCI on line site things seem to be changing and non of us really know what exactly is happening. Is it a mistake or are trade values really changing. Take a look at that thread and try to follow it a bit also as it definately affects Wyndham/RCI transactions.
Sorry I don't have much 1st hand knowledge with other resorts as our ownership is all Wyndham.

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

I am a platinum member owner with Wyndham with more than 1.5 million points. I make fabulous vacations with my family, and today and wonderful resorts.

For a family timeshare ownership is the best way to go and it's a great investment for the future not only of your family but of your children's family.

The only thing to consider is that when you purchase resale you don't get the advantages like you do when you purchase directly from Wyndham.

I know this might sound funny but it makes a difference. Case in point, because I'm a platinum owner I was able to stay in a four bedroom presidential suite at the Wyndham Oceanside pier resort for 77,000 points for four nights. I was able to do that because of the discount points as well as the upgrade to the unit we originally rented.

The thing to consider when purchasing its how much the maintenance fee is going to be and if you have to pay state taxes. For instance if you were to own in Florida you would have to pay maintenance fees as well a state taxes.

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

I am a platinum member owner with Wyndham with more than 1.5 million points.

The only thing to consider is that when you purchase resale you don't get the advantages like you do when you purchase directly from Wyndham.

What about the 90 percent +/- savings on your initial investment. I think that the money I saved buying most of my 1.5M points resale on eBay is a big consideration. It will take a long time with the shrinking VIP benefits to make up the difference between 1.5M points from Wyndham and 1.5M resale.

The thing to consider when purchasing its how much the maintenance fee is going to be and if you have to pay state taxes. For instance if you were to own in Florida you would have to pay maintenance fees as well a state taxes.

While this is true, don't forget about the initial price of the contract (developer vs. resale) and the closing costs.