Original Message:
ask-redweek-wyndham-ovation-help-owners-get-out (by Thomas W. B.):
We were owners of about 2,000,000 points, almost all purchased at resale. For several years, I successfully "rented" points which meant transferring points to someone else's account so they could use them as they chose. Then Wyndham stopped allowing that. Next, I was able to "rent" points by booking reservations from my account, taking advantage of Platinum discounts and upgrades. This was aided by having points in different use-years. If a reservation made in one use-year was canceled, the points generally rolled over into another use year. In that way, points could be kept from expiring if they were not rented. Then Wyndham stopped allowing that. Over the years Wyndham introduced more and more "enhancements" which really were ways to keep owners from being able to use their points. Many people on this forum have mentioned the difficulty in booking reservations at the time and place they desire. It reached the point that I really could not use my points, and the ever-increasing maintenance fees became a huge burden. Then came the Ovation program. When I learned of it, I contacted Wyndham. They were willing to take back everything EXCEPT four weeks at Fairfield Plantation. The paperwork arrived in about six weeks ready to be signed and notarized. We took care of that and returned the paperwork. A few weeks later, we no longer owned the bulk of our timeshare portfolio. It went as promised (probably the ONLY thing that has gone as Wyndham promised) . Yes, we lost our "investment" in the weeks we purchased, but since we had purchased at a hugely discounted resale price, we were happy to lose that because it meant that the maintenance fees were gone. We are still stuck with our Fairfield Plantation weeks, though. My advice to those of you who are burdened by the maintenance fees and no longer use your units: just bite your lip and accept that you will not get back what you paid. Just move on. Take advantage of Ovation. Look forward to NO MAINTENANCE FEES! And get on with your life. Don't keep throwing good money after bad! More advice: don't plan on giving your timeshare to your kids. It will be just as much of a millstone around their necks as it is for you. Don't go to member updates when you stay at a resort. They always take longer than they promise, and you risk falling for more of the lies and false promises that they spew. We always unplug the phones in our unit first thing. That way we don't have to keep saying "no." They usually try to get you to commit to an update appointment when you get your parking pass. We either say that we have a busy schedule and we'll get back to them tomorrow to schedule our update, or sometimes we just skip the parking pass. At most resorts there really is no checking of parking passes. The timeshare industry preys on the innocent and uninformed. The salespeople lie and lie and lie. When will it end?