Original Message:
Wyndham's new "Ovation" program offers exit solutions for their owners... interested? (by Edward F.):
kene55 wrote:Our experience with Ovation (See page 36 of this topic) was very similar to yours, in May of 2019. We had no issues whatsoever and the deed-back was processed in about 4 weeks, as I recall. It all cost us about $10 in notary fees. For the size of this topic, I am amazed that there are not more success stories. Some people seem to have properties that do not qualify for some reason(s) or they seem to just expect that it will all just magically happen by saying "I want to join this program!" then no further posts about any actions that they took. I can tell you from experience that the Ovation team is totally non-sales. They will give you options ONLY if you do not want to accept the deed-back requirement (or cannot) or would like to hear all of the options. But, I think most people here just want to get rid of the deed and it's accompanying maintenance fees and don't care about trying to sell it to recoup some pennies on the dollar. So here are the 3 things you need to be prepared to hear when you call.I found out about the Ovations Program via the web months ago. I was researching ways to exit my timeshare. I decided to give it a try since most other sales pitches asked for money to assist with the process. My situation may be different than others since our's is paid off. I reached out to the Wyndham office that handles this process. They were very polite, professional and explained the process to me and the timeline it would take. They sent me some paperwork weeks later which we signed and had notarized then mailed it back. We made had to make sure we kept up with all payments and didn't use the current year points or make any reservations. It took a month or so after we returned the paperwork but it was all finalized. My contract was ended and we no longer have any timeshare obligations. Overall I would say it was a very smooth process. We enjoyed our time with Wyndham for many years as the kids grew up but essentially believe the ever-increasing costs and sales pitches became a bit much. Today we use VRBO and make the decisions on the fly as they work for us much better. I wish others the best of luck as you seek out solutions.
1. The Ovation team will ask which property you have and tell you if it is an ELIGIBLE property in the Ovation program. If so, on to item 2. If not, ask about other options and hope that you hear something good.
2. Your ELIGIBLE property MUST be fully paid off in order to deed back. If it's not you cannot participate in Ovation right away (but keep reading).
3. Your maintenance must be current, including for the current year that you are in, even if you are trying to deed-back very early in the year. We deeded back in May, 2019 but had to be full paid up for 2019. We were Weeks owners and banked our week before going through Ovation, and anything banked before the deed-back remains available in RCI/II for our usage until we use it or let it expire. We just used one of our banked weeks 13 months after deeding back so I can tell you it works as described, at least for ex-Weeks owners. Not sure how Points would work in Ovation, just glad we never wasted more money converting to Points!
IF you qualify for #1 but do not qualify #2 or #3, I would strongly suggest that you take a loan to pay off any money owed, then proceed with Ovation to unload the property. Yes, you will have a loan to repay but no worse than what you owed to Wyndham already and you will be legally free from future maintenance fees. If you owe money on your property, you cannot expect that Wyndham will just take the deed back and just let you off the financial hook, right? That's unrealistic.
OK, those are the facts from an actual user of the program. Take the information, decide if it's right for you and, if so, get to it!