Wyndham timeshare-fairfield

Hello, I am looking in to buying Wyndham Fairfield TN timeshare in the resale market. If you have experience w/ Wyndham TS, I would appreciate your advice. 1)How much is the yearly membership fee? does it cover the exchanges among Wyndham resorts (2) Is it easy to get exchanges among Wyndham resorts, how many points do I need for exchange? Do I need to get RCI membership? how does Wyndham pts transfer/compare to RCI pts? (3) Any disadvantages of buying in resale market? benefit reductions? (4) How do I confirm authenticity of the seller? Thanks, PB

pradeepb4 wrote:

Hello, I am looking in to buying Wyndham Fairfield TN timeshare in the resale market. If you have experience w/ Wyndham TS, I would appreciate your advice. 1)How much is the yearly membership fee? does it cover the exchanges among Wyndham resorts (2) Is it easy to get exchanges among Wyndham resorts, how many points do I need for exchange? Do I need to get RCI membership? how does Wyndham pts transfer/compare to RCI pts? (3) Any disadvantages of buying in resale market? benefit reductions? (4) How do I confirm authenticity of the seller? Thanks, PB

With due respect, you would reach a much better informed Wyndham timeshare populace and get much better informed and more detailed answers by posting your inquiry on the Timeshare Users Group site (http://www.tugbbs.com/forums), which actually has a Wyndham-specific forum. There are many very knowledgeable and very helpful folks over there regarding Wyndham (and many other timeshare topics and issues as well).

A few answers to some of your questions in the meantime:

--- The amount of "points" (now called Club Wyndham Points; no longer called "Fairshare Plus" points) required at Wyndham facilities varies considerably from one resort to another. It also varies with season, unit size and number of days of occupancy. In short, there is no simple, "one size fits all" answer.

--- A RCI membership is actually provided to you with any new Wyndham ownership (Wyndham owns RCI, as you may know already). The RCI membership is not "free", as you are charged for it within your annual Wyndham fees --- but it is "automatically issued" upon buying into Wyndham, with no further effort required on your part.

--- There is absolutely NO correlation whatsoever between RCI Points and Club Wyndham points. Think of them as two entirely different forms of "currency" which have no relevance to one another at all.

--- There is no significant disadvantage to buying Wyndham via "resale". You cannot get "VIP" status via a resale purchase of Wyndham (only via developer-direct purchase), but so what?? The limited "benefits" of "VIP" status do not in any warrant or justify the much higher, truly exorbitant cost of purchasing directly from Wyndham.

--- Using a third party, professional closing company (which will cost you somewhere around $300) will ensure independent escrow of all funds and will ascertain and confirm the "legitimacy" of the prospective seller. Wyndham also charges a separate $125 "transfer fee" in every ownership change, regardless of involvement of a closing company.

I hope some of this helps you. See TUG for a much more complete "Wyndham education". Wyndham is a good and flexible timeshare ownership, but you have to "buy smart" (resale) and then make a concerted effort to learn and understand its' various rules and nuances.

did you buy a wyndhan yet? Karyl 06?

Anyone know how the Wyndham points match to RCI points ?

tony241 wrote:

Anyone know how the Wyndham points match to RCI points ?

Thanks Ken for the reply... I am a RCI member. Now that Wyndham is the new owner, point trades are possible. I was looking for a ez formula to compare. Now that oceanwalk is done their renovation in Fla, it's a fun place.

tony241 wrote:

Thanks Ken for the reply... I am a RCI member. Now that Wyndham is the new owner, point trades are possible. I was looking for a ez formula to compare. Now that oceanwalk is done their renovation in Fla, it's a fun place.

It IS true that a Wyndham points owner could / can deposit his /her Wyndham points into their RCI WEEKS (...not RCI Points) account. Such a deposit of Wyndham points into a RCI WEEKS account gets NO priority of any kind for making RCI weeks reservations. For example, 28,000 Wyndham points MIGHT get you a RCI WEEKS studio somewhere (if available, and you still pay a $169 exchange fee to RCI). More Wyndham points COULD get a larger unit, etc. (as available) at a RCI WEEKS facility, but there is NO reservation "priority" of any kind.

It's better to call RCI and ask the Wyndham to RCI Points question. It is completely worthless to ask here. If anyone gives you any slightly incorrect info, it does you no good. Instead you should call RCI Points directly to ask.

Having said that, it should be possible to use Wyndham Points to get RCI Points. RCI Points members have a "Points for Deposit" option for RCI Points members who also own weeks resorts. I didn't call to verify Wyndham Points could or could not participate but since Wyndham Points are converted into weeks for deposit, I think this could be done. Here is the text from the RCI website, the "small fee" is $26 per the link below: http://www.rci.com/docs/KnowledgeBase/Documents/en_US/points_fees.pdf

Points for Deposit - RCI Points® subscribing members who also own at Weeks resorts can choose to receive points for their Weeks deposits via the RCI Points for Deposit program for a small fee, (for non-commercial use only) even if that resort is not participating in RCI Points. The Weeks ownership is not actually being "converted"; however, those deposits can be converted to additional points. The member decides which weeks to convert and which to leave in Weeks, one deposit at a time (up to four weeks a year). If the member chooses to take the points, that deposit is moved to RCI Points inventory and instead of confirming an "exchange", the member will reserve RCI Points resorts or RCI Points Partner services. To take advantage of this opportunity, and to determine how many Points you can receive, call 1-877-968-7476. Please note that some resort ownerships may not be eligible for the Points-for-Deposit program, depending on the individual resort's policy.

peterp151 states in relevant part:

>> It's better to call RCI and ask the Wyndham to RCI Points question. It is completely worthless to ask here. If anyone gives you any slightly incorrect info, it does you no good. Instead you should call RCI Points directly to ask.<< =============================================================

Having been both a Wyndham week/ points owner and a (former) RCI points and RCI weeks owner for some years, it has been my own direct experience that RCI "Vacation Guides" often give out grossly incorrect information. Moreover, RCI guides have no information or knowledge at all regarding Wyndham points --- they will simply transfer you to the "Wyndham desk".

In addition to chatting with ill informed RCI phone reps, I'd strongly recommend reading up (particularly on the TUG site, where there is a Wyndham-specific forum) on the years of actual collective knowledge and experience of others, many of whom know FAR more than many RCI phone reps. But, to each his / her own. I'd merely suggest taking any and all RCI "vacation guide" input with a grain of salt --- and independently verify anything and everything you might be told by an uninformed phone rep with no actual knowledge or experience on the subject.

The RCI Points for Deposit information provided above is certainly correct, but it also has has nothing at all to do with Wyndham points (...your actual original question). Wyndham points, no matter WHO tells you so, simply have nothing at all to do with (...and no correlation whatsoever to) RCI points.

OK Ken, I agree the CSR can give grossly incorrect information. But in this case the person who wants to know is far better off asking RCI Points where they will get an answer rather than most of the replies on this thread where people are more or less guessing. I think I'm the only one who quoted specific RCI info from the RCI website, which I feel indicates I'm the only one providing rock solid info. Even then, part of my own answer is not 100% certain, which is why it's better to call RCI Points.

I think you are missing the point of the original question though, which is how many Wyndham points translate to RCI Points. You are correct in that the two programs are completely different, but that's like saying you will never know how many RCI Points an RCI Weeks unit is worth. The correct answer is "it depends" and "find out what you can reserve using your weeks unit or Wyndham Points unit, then find out from RCI how many RCI Points that is worth". Then you'll know what variation there is in the exchange rate from Wyndham to RCI Points.

peterp151 wrote:

OK Ken, I agree the CSR can give grossly incorrect information. But in this case the person who wants to know is far better off asking RCI Points where they will get an answer rather than most of the replies on this thread where people are more or less guessing. I think I'm the only one who quoted specific RCI info from the RCI website, which I feel indicates I'm the only one providing rock solid info. Even then, part of my own answer is not 100% certain, which is why it's better to call RCI Points.

I think you are missing the point of the original question though, which is how many Wyndham points translate to RCI Points. You are correct in that the two programs are completely different, but that's like saying you will never know how many RCI Points an RCI Weeks unit is worth. The correct answer is "it depends" and "find out what you can reserve using your weeks unit or Wyndham Points unit, then find out from RCI how many RCI Points that is worth". Then you'll know what variation there is in the exchange rate from Wyndham to RCI Points.

I clearly understood (and still clearly understand now) the original question --- quite thoroughly. The answer is clear and indisputable; there is simply NO correlation between RCI Points and Club Wyndham Points (the latter being formerly known as Fairshare Plus Points until a March, 2009 "rebranding").

I'm certainly not "guessing" with my own input on this matter; I have personally owned and used among ALL of the aforementioned programs at one time or another (...and I still own Wyndham, but no longer choose to own RCI Points or use RCI at all), but I guess we can just politely agree to disagree here.

It is precisely known (and knowable) exactly how many RCI Points it takes to reserve a week with RCI; published charts and tables make all of that relativelty simple and straightforward. Likewise with Wyndham, with their OWN separate and different Wyndham resort points charts. Where the lines "blur" in this discussion is trying to somehow evaluate one "currency" against the other, when they actually have absolutely no commonality at all.

For the OP, if you want to have telephone conversation about Wyndham Points, then you might want to speak with Wyndham itself (i.e., not RCI). Call Wyndham at 1-800-251-8736 and make your way through the voice prompts to reach a human being. Good luck, in any case.

Wyndham resorts are absolutely beautiful and modern; however, the company does not have the best reputation regarding timeshares, which is not surprising being that they have an F rating on the BBB. Most complaints are about the deceitful business practices and insulting behavior on the part of Wyndham timeshare salespeople. According to the BBB, they have a total of 1475 complaints:

1040 about the sales practices 128 about collection issues 3 about delivery issues 304 about problems with the product/service

Wyndham timeshare presentations are hardcore and very long-lasting, people are usually pressured and bullied into buying a timeshare. The company has been sued in federal court several times by many wyndham timeshare owners for committing wrongs in their vacation credits, such as breach of contract, violation of California’s Timeshare Act and breach of fiduciary duty, among others. http://www.timesharescam.com/blog/149-wyndham-timeshare/

Ditto, Go to the T U G website. You can compare prices between the different Timeshares. Good Luck

melanieb175 wrote:

Wyndham timeshare presentations are hardcore and very long-lasting, people are usually pressured and bullied into buying a timeshare. The company has been sued in federal court several times by many wyndham timeshare owners for committing wrongs in their vacation credits, such as breach of contract, violation of California’s Timeshare Act and breach of fiduciary duty, among others. http://www.timesharescam.com/blog/149-wyndham-timeshare/

There's no timeshare developer (Wyndham in this case) that would ever bully me into buying a timeshare .... we bought one developer timeshare of our own free will (before we learned about resales).

melanieb175 wrote:

Wyndham resorts are absolutely beautiful and modern; however, the company does not have the best reputation regarding timeshares, which is not surprising being that they have an F rating on the BBB. Most complaints are about the deceitful business practices and insulting behavior on the part of Wyndham timeshare salespeople. According to the BBB, they have a total of 1475 complaints:

1040 about the sales practices 128 about collection issues 3 about delivery issues 304 about problems with the product/service

Wyndham timeshare presentations are hardcore and very long-lasting, people are usually pressured and bullied into buying a timeshare. The company has been sued in federal court several times by many wyndham timeshare owners for committing wrongs in their vacation credits, such as breach of contract, violation of California’s Timeshare Act and breach of fiduciary duty, among others. http://www.timesharescam.com/blog/149-wyndham-timeshare/

I have to say with a company as huge as Wyndham (formerly Fairfield) that's really not a lot of complaints.