NOTE: Much of the information included in this post is valid, but as of January, 2011, some major changes occurred within the Wyndham system concerning usage of points. To get the most current information, please click on this post.
Wyndham Vacation Resorts is the largest timeshare company in the world with over 515,000 owners. They started back in 1966 when they purchased property and built in Fairfield Bay, Arkansas. They incorporated in 1969 as Fairfield Resorts. In 2006 Fairfield Resorts became Wyndham Vacation Resorts.
The system includes over 150 Wyndham resorts and affiliate resorts, located across the world. So, if you own in the Wyndham system, you really have access to many vacation choices right within the Wyndham system. Most of the resorts fall under the RCI umbrella, but a few are affiliated with II. These trading companies allow owners access to thousands of resorts.
The Wyndham system can be complicated, but it also allows you a great deal of flexibility. Some study and time commitment is necessary to truly understand the ins and outs of the system.
Because Wyndham/Fairfield timeshares have been around for a long time, some of the earlier owners own fixed weeks. In other words, they own a certain week in a certain size unit. They may never desire to trade that week, so have no need to belong to an exchange company (RCI, II, etc.) Or, they may opt to join an exchange company and trade that week for a week somewhere else, thus expanding their timeshare vacations.
The Point System
Some of these owners have opted to convert their fixed weeks to the point system, which is currently being sold by Wyndham. The property you now buy is deeded, allocating you a certain resort, a certain size unit in a certain season–and a corresponding number of points. Seasons are pre-determined by supply and demand in that area and they differ from resort to resort. Number of points needed to obtain a week also differ from resort to resort. Some of Wyndham’s recently built resorts tend to require more points than most.
To illustrate this: I could decide to buy a 2-bedroom at Wyndham Nashville in prime time. I would be purchasing 154,000 points, which is what it would take to reserve that week. If I bought a 2-bedroom in prime time at Bonnet Creek I would need to buy 224,00 points to reserve that week.
Wyndham Bonnet Creek
Many Wyndham owners use their points to stay exclusively at Wyndham properties. A post will follow giving additional information about using your points in this way.
Owners can also use their Wyndham points to trade within the RCI or II systems. Since most of the Wyndham resorts are affiliated with RCI, we’ll refer only to this exchange company from now on.
This leads to a new set of considerations with different rules and guidelines that you need to understand to use your Wyndham points successfully in RCI. Watch for an upcoming post that will discuss this topic.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I am puzzled. We were just at a tiime share presentation at bonnet creek. The agent told me that we can stay one week during christmas(high season) for 63000 points. According to your chart, it is much higher. IsWyndham lying or the system changed?
Hi Nancy,
Don’t know exactly what the agent told you, but unless they were offering some kind of one-time special incentive, the least amount of points it would take would be 166,000 for a 1 BR deluxe. Even if you were VIP Platinum, you would only get a 50% reduction, and that’s only if a whole week was available at that time (which I doubt, as Disney is always crazy with people during the holidays) . Also, that’s if you were booking within the last minute 60 day window.Could he have meant 2 weekend days? Friday and Sat. nights are 33,000 points each.
You could always call and ask him to clarify. Most timeshare salesmen will say most anything to get you to buy. That being said, the points chart is correct. Good luck!
I get my new points in Oct. how long do I have to use them before they expire?
Assuming that these are Wyndham points, you have until Sept. 30 of 2012 to use them unless you deposit them into RCI. Then you have 2 years to use them for trading. Barb
Hey guys,
this website has been very helpful…I sat through a horrible scam presentation at grandview las vegas and was appalled at how much you would pay to “own” the time share, and then each year in maintenance fees and trading fees using RCI (b/c it would be unlikely I’d want to vacation the same week each year)…AND even so, why would you pay 1000 a year to stay that one week way down the strip…you can get rooms at wynn for 200 on weekends…
the wyndham program interests me b/c they have so many of their own resorts…
when using points within the wyndham system do you ever incur other fees or penalties for using them? or (hopefully) points are just points and you use them according to the charts and all is well?
…are you still subject to room taxes or resort fees? (im hoping not since it is all wyndham owned property)…
I understand how RCI works and all of that, but would like some clarification on the spacebanking you mentioned here http://timesharetidbits.com/wyndham-system-using-rci/
I didn’t really follow that.
I would like to buy the time share from my friend who can’t afford to keep up with the maintenance fees…it is 300K wyndham points for 1100 a year…I could put those to good use for sure.
thanks again for the great site and all the helpful posts!
josh.
Josh: Thanks for your comment on our blog post. We will try to answer a couple of your questions. The Wyndham system is a good system with a lot of very good Gold Crown resorts all over the country. Do NOT buy from the developer and even if you buy from a friend, be sure to check out costs on e-bay to get an idea of what Wyndham points are currently selling for on the resale market, and then talk to your friend. I think 300,000 points would be an excellent starting point to play around with and see how you like the system.
Once you book using your points into a Wyndham resort you do not have any booking fees or additional costs. You do get housekeeping credits every year with your points and those are usually enough for your points. If you bank some Wyndham points with RCI and book a resort, you will have to pay a booking fee. Also RCI has changed the trading system and it is harder to get really good trades for a few Wyndham points. We are writing a new post to cover these recent changes and it should be on our site within a week, so be sure to read.
In reference to your question about space banking in the RCI system : when a resort or a timeshare company looks at the inventory of what rooms are not booked, they might decide that owners are not going to use these rooms. So they think they will put them into RCI, in the hopes that they can get other folks to pick up those weeks. When they do this it is often easier to get weeks, because RCI has so much inventory. It is still not clear to us on how the new trading system in RCI weeks will affect the space banking of units into RCI.
I hope this answers some of your questions. Keep reading and ask more questions.
Hubby is military and currently deployed, he forwarded me the email he received from Alan Robinson in Orlando about Wyndham. It says…Trial Ownership with Down Payment Savings Plan Option..
This membership is a contract to lease 308,000 one time use points for travel to 80+ locations in the Wyndham Vacation Resort network. It is designed to be used within 18 months of signature.
Important Features:
►Purchase Price $2,495/Terms: down payment $$395 or 1250 remainder in 22 equal monthly installments of $118 or $71.
►Stays of 3 or more nights. Each trip can be customized as to length, location, unit size, time of year. No blackout dates.
►You are eligible to make a reservation within 7-10 days of contract signing. First travel can be 30 days from contract.
►IMPORTANT: Net amount paid available as down payment toward ownership with price freeze from date of original purchase.
I am confused…does this mean we get 308000 points and can only use them one time ever or what?? My sister and brother in law have points thru Wyndham and we frequently stay at Bonnet Creek at Disney but even she was confused when I read her this email. HELP!!!!
Thanks for the question. Keep reading this site and other sites to better understand the complex world of timesharing.
We think we understand your question and will give a shot at answering it. The program that they are offering is a technique to “ get their hooks” into you. They usually bring this package out after you have said no to buying their timeshare. They offer you a trial package. It is only good for a one time use and for the time period they have given you. This is not a good use of your money. You would be much better off taking your money and buying a timeshare on the resale market. Or, if you’d like to try a timeshare vacation first, rent a week from the TUG site. Read some of our posts about buying a timeshare: http://timesharetidbits.com/category/buying-timeshares/ Also a good one to read is the top ten secrets of timesharing. http://timesharetidbits.com/the-ten-secrets-of-successful-timesharing/ After doing some more reading if you still have questions, let us know.
Hi! I was contacted by Wyndham, which now owns the resort where my husband and I bought in the 90′s on a week basis. We do not stay at our home resort, but use it for an exchange in the RCI system. Wyndham wants us to convert our one week high season 2 BR unit to their points. We have rarely stayed at a Wyndham resort, and cannot get an answer as to how to calculate how this would relate to RCI–is it points or a week, etc. We don’t want to wind up with less trading value than we have now. Thanks!
Thanks for the question. We always say if it isn’t broke don’t change it. If you are happy with what you are doing and getting what you are happy with we see little to be gained by going into points. Some say that using weeks to trade in to RCI is not as good as it was and you are not getting what you used to be able to pull. They also think you can get better trades in the points system. We wrote a post on using Wyndham to trade into RCI. If you did not read it, that might help. http://timesharetidbits.com/wyndham-timeshares-and-trading-in-rci-times-are-a-changing/ If you do go to points it will cost you, and they will try to sell you more points or they may make you buy more to trade up into the points system. Hope this help and let us know how you make out.
Thanks for the info. I did read your article, thank you for that too. Wyndham advised us there would be no cost for the transfer over to Wyndham points if we were one of the first 4000 people receiving and accepting the offer. At first it sounded good. However, it still seems to me that the objective of Wyndham would be to get you to buy/rent more points by converting over to their system. I don’t think they are doing this for our benefit is my opinion, so I’m inclined not to make a change, unless I’m missing something.
Probably a good idea, but if it truly is free, it might be worthwhile. BUT–if you currently own a week, make sure they are giving you enough Wyndham points so that you can still stay for a week or enough so that you can go where you want to go.