Worldmark buys San Diego Hotel to convert to timeshares

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Boca, please start a new thread about it. It would benefit a lot of people who are contemplating buying a timeshare today. Since most sales are a point-based system today, it is very beneficial to find out what could make the system better yet.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Yes let us know how the wm's feel about it and the reaction....and please do start a different thread on the other subject.....always willing to learn and see a different viewpoint.

I guess if I tell you my opinion on this subject that it will once again be hijacking the thread, so I won't do it.

Rather than do that, I'll say that this San Diego resort will probably create a ton of discussion on wmowners.com. I think I'll go there to check it out.

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

Yes let us know how the wm's feel about it and the reaction....

I went over to wmowners.com and there were 2 threads there discussing the new San Diego resort. There were over 130 posts and this subject was very heated.

To summarize the sense of the group, I'd say that there are a couple of major themes.

1) Most posters like the idea of having a San Diego resort in the club. Many are concerned with the specific location. One owner went to the resort and checked it out. The location seemed to be pretty close to many downtown activities. But, was concerned about the other tenants in the area, namely low quality hotels. There was a lot of discussion on whether or not this would really be a premium resort.

2) Many posters were concerned that there were only studio and 1 bedroom units which would make it difficult for families going to San Diego.

3) The lion share of the discussion was related to the credit value of this particular resort in relation to other WorldMark locations. The vast majority of posters are concerned about the precedence this sets in ever increasing credit values for new resorts. Many believe that this trend will end up locking out current owners from newer resorts because of the higher credit costs. Moreover, they are concerned that the higher point values will bring in new owners who will buy at a resort like San Diego and end up using the lower credit value resorts. An example would be staying in a 2 bedroom at Oceanside for 10000 credits vs. a 1 bedroom in San Diego for 15000 credits.

4) There was a lot of good discussion on whether or not TW should maintain the standard of 10000 credits for a 2 bedroom vs. increasing it to something higher like 20000. One poster (PerryM) believes that 20000 credits for a 2 bedroom unit would allow WM to have Marriott quality resorts from both a price point and maintenance fee point of view. Others (PA and others) believed that setting 20000 credit value for 2br units would result in further dilution of current resorts. Keeping the 2 bedroom standard at 10000 would help prevent new owners from being subsidized by current owners This was a very good discussion and debate. I believe both arguments had valid points.

5) The common theme throughout is that wmowners are still unhappy that Trendwest dominates the board. So, anything they do is viewed negatively and as a conflict of interest.

6) A few owners suggested that they dump Trendwest and just hire a management company for the current resorts. I don't think that is a bad idea.

[coatrack Member Find all posts View Profile Close coatrack]

San Diego and questions

Steve wrote:
"But it dies raise the issue of who determines what point values will be assigned to units in newly created projects? is that set by TW or WM? Can the assigned point values change after a project is built? If so, who determines that?"

In emailing with people that have been owners for a long time, some since 1991, I have received the following information:

The structure of WM is that TW builds the resorts, then turns them over to WM debt free in exchange for being able to sell the credits. TW sets the credit values for all resorts before they are turned over to Worldmark. This is based on a couple of things...1. Whether it is considered an 'international' destination (Las Vegas, SF, Orlando and a couple others are), 2. price paid, 3. A couple of other factors I didn't write down.

There was a poll done of all Worldmark Owners asking them if credits values had to be placed higher for Urban resorts would they still want these places persued....the majority of owners said yes, they would be willing to pay higher credits to stay in the heart of a City/Destination....owners were complaining that they didn't want resorts far from the action so these types of Urban areas like San Diego are being sought. Unfortunately, like San Francisco...because they are urban places small units are the only option to maximize how many units can be at the site so it won't be impossible for owners to book a unit, although that is probably what will happen in San Diego anyway. I know I wish they had one bedroom units in Bass Lake as they are all 2 bedroom....everyone can't be happy all the time.

The Board of Directors consists of the following personnel: 1 Trendwest employee-Peggy, 1 wmowner-John W., 1 WM employee-Gene, 1 retired Cendent employee-Jack, 1 Wm South Pacific (a sister company)employee-John H..

It doesn't seem to matter WHAT the board does some are unhappy. Sometimes you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

There have been 2 instances where credits actually decreased for resorts once they had been assigned. I forgot which ones were mentioned.

[coatrack Member Find all posts View Profile Close coatrack]

Boca,
I have been trying to follow a couple of forums. That site is where one of the creaters tracks/follows owners and their families. There was some information here http://fredincolorado.com/blog/ and about stalking where they work - I guess it is tw employees and personal posters from reading on that particular site. I would be careful going there now. Not a way to encourage new visitors.

Sorry moderator, off topic again...sorry

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

Just for closure, I wanted to report that the wmowners board is really on fire now. There is a thread that is really diving deep into the bowels of the pros and cons of various options for managing point resorts. It's one of the best topics I've encountered in a long time.

Once I get my bearings on the topic, I'll start another thread so that all can benefit from those discussions. Or, you can just go there yourself to read everything that is being posted. The URL is www.wmowners.com.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Thank you very much, Boca. We have friends, who own at Trendwest and really seem to like their short trips and at many different resorts too on the West coast in WA and OR they can choose to go to. I have sent them the two timeshare forum links and they were very pleased with reading this information. I also sent them this link but I thought that you had to be an owner there to read the web site but I could access it too.

Our friends are saving a lot of money now by buying these points re-sale and they were not aware of this before. I keep asking myself how developers can keep asking these high prices in the future or if re-sale prices will have to go up because the demand is there from new owners as well as owners, who want to buy more points?

It should be a very big advantage for Fairfield and Worldmark/Trendwest timeshare owners if these two resort developers get linked together. I like to read about it how the industry is changing. Nothing is constant but CHANGE!

I am looking forward to your new thread. Keep it coming!

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

Another owner went there last night to check out the new resort. They really panned it. It is literally right next to the on ramp to the freeway. They brought someone who was a real estate professional in San Diego and they didn't speak favorably about the area. There are pictures posted at wmowners, but they are a bit blurry since they were night pictures. For some reason, I don't think this is the last we will here about WorldMark San Diego.

I am a WorldMark owner and I love that club. What I don't know is if my views of the club are colored by the very vocally negative minority who participate on wmowners or if Cendant really is doing a number on WorldMark. I suspect it's a combination of the two.

I can say that my experience with WorldMark and their people have been very positive. If you read wmowners for a while, you will get the impression that Trendwest is the evil empire. I'll admit that some of my postings there could be construed as bashing of Trendwest even though I don't view myself as a Trendwest basher. It's just that the topics quickly degenerate into something evil that Trendwest and Cendant is doing to the club and it's guilt by assocation. There is a clear lynch mob mentality going on there.

I do like the Fred in Colorado Blog because it does post facts and you don't need to read all the negative commentary.

What is good is if you can separate the facts from the emotion, you get a pretty good picture of the issues facing the club. I am sure that these very issues face every point system. It's just that there aren't communities as large as wmowners to discuss and debate it, so any discontent is muted.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

I went there to read some of it and cannot get into the site unless I am registered.....that's ok....I will go with your synopsis. Thanks and keep it coming.

Just for closure, I wanted to report that the wmowners board is really on fire now. There is a thread that is really diving deep into the bowels of the pros and cons of various options for managing point resorts. It's one of the best topics I've encountered in a long time.

Once I get my bearings on the topic, I'll start another thread so that all can benefit from those discussions. Or, you can just go there yourself to read everything that is being posted. The URL is www.wmowners.com.

[coatrack Member Find all posts View Profile Close coatrack]

Wm

Boca wrote:
"If you read wmowners for a while, you will get the impression that Trendwest is the evil empire.......It's just that the topics quickly degenerate into something evil that Trendwest and Cendant is doing to the club and it's guilt by assocation. There is a clear lynch mob mentality going on there."

You are thinking exactly what I am reading from a majority of posters on other forums also (worldmarktheclub, TUG), myself included....I am also finding that some of the information on the wmowners forum is poster opinions that it is being posted as fact, and that if some don't like your way of thinking you are tracked and made to feel like you don't know what you are talking about.....I just wish the sky wasn't falling all the time as there is some good info posted sometimes.

Just from clicking around in the wmowners website info, seeing how many posts posters enter I find there are only about 20 people that really participate there on a regular basis.