Wyndham's new "Ovation" program offers exit solutions for their owners... interested?

We are owners of Wyndham's 'WorldMark' timeshare program. As such we do not have ownership in any specific property, but collectively in all their properties. Owners purchase 'credits' to be used for days/ weeks, etc of use at any of their properties. The ownership is ours and can be sold. Since we no longer use this travel option we are very interested in selling, but are reluctant to use just anyone that calls with a program to sell for us, especially those that want an upfront fee. So, I will soon be calling their Ovation program people to see what they offer. I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice prior to doing so?

I would go to the worldmark owners site and sign into the forum and ask there. wmowners.com. There maybe another owners site and there probably is a facebook page as well. Worldmark has consistently had a resale value although nothing like what the developer charges or what the upfront advertising sites tell you that you can get. Good luck.

georget210 wrote:

I will soon be calling their Ovation program people to see what they offer. I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice prior to doing so?

Why not just make a direct phone call to Wyndham at 1-855-312-9040?

All of these postings on Page 1 are more than a year old - what help is that?

For what it's worth, a few weeks ago (in November, 2016) I listened to a talk by someone in the timeshare industry (no, it was NOT a developer sales presentation and the speaker was NOT affiliated with Wyndham in any way and he was not selling ANYTHING). This fellow stated that of 900,000 Wyndham owners, about 50,000 have applied for the "Ovation" program so far, but that only about half that number have actually succeeded in having Wyndham take their ownership back. I personally have no basis or knowledge on which to verify or refute those stated numbers, but I don't believe that this knowledgeable and articulate fellow picked those numbers out of thin air.

In other words, Wyndham seems to be "cherry picking" what they will actually take back in this "Ovation" program. It is probably safe to assume that Wyndham is only going to "take back" those products or intervals which they believe they can just turn right around and sell all over again to someone else (for another $10,000+). Recover inventory back for free, then just sell it all over again for big bucks --- quite brilliant actually, from a business perspective, but absolutely useless for those Wyndham owners whose "product" the company declines to "take back".

Just wanted to weigh in with a clarification, in case anyone here mistakenly believes that Wyndham will take back ANY unwanted Wyndham product under their "Ovation" program. Apparently, that is simply NOT the case.

Fwiw, I am not a Wyndham owner and I have no affiliation of any kind with Wyndham. I am merely a timeshare owner who listened with interest to the words of a seemingly very well informed speaker, addressing the Wyndham "Ovation" program topic to a group of timeshare owners at a meeting in November, 2016.

RE: Recover inventory back for free, then just sell it all over again for big bucks --- quite brilliant actually, from a business perspective.

Yes, it IS brilliant but also a real blessing for those of us with points tied to the "right" properties in the Wyndham portfolio. Why a blessing? Because what they're taking back is essentially worthless on the open market; you can buy points on Redweek TUG, eBay, etc., for mere pennies. We're just glad to be done with Fairfield/Wyndham. Period.

I called the Ovation Program (855-312-9040) today (12/20/2016) to deed back of my Wyndham summer fixed week at Shawnee Resort, PA. It took a few minutes on phone. I was told I should expect to receive the document in 4-6 weeks, and the entire process takes 8-10 weeks. It all sounds very reasonable. Regarding my 2017 maintenance fee, I was suggested to contact Wyndahm financial service, which I did right after. I was told by the financial service staff that I don't need to worry about 2017 fee as long as the week is in the Ovation program. When I receive the maintenance fee next month, I should just ignore it. My experience so far is very smooth, and positive.

My experience with Ovation thus far:

First, we have a 182,000 points TS tied to Wyndham Fairfield Plantation (Villa Rica, GA). After submitting a request to deed back the property, as my wife was diagnosed with MS in 2014 and can't travel as much anymore, I received a response directing me to a couple of trusted resellers.

When I called the Ovation number directly, I was told that this property is not in Wyndham's desirable list and they will not take it back.

We owe nothing (bought it on resale) and only pay MF.

I've got inquiries into the two resellers they directed me to, but will mostly likely not hear back as it is close to the holidays.

Regards,

Mike

We are resale owners at wyndham Saphire valley resort in N.C. When we went to the Wyndham food and wine annual meeting at Hilton Bonnett creek (near Wyndham Bonnet Creek) in 2015 we found out about the Ovation Program. We had pooled our EOY points earlier in dec.2014 so we started using all of those points along with our 2015 point and did an amazing lot of traveling in 2015. In October 2015 we contacted Ovation and started the process with 3 of our contracts and we were fininshed with those maintaince fees by Jan,2016. we uses ou 2016 points to go to new Orleans in feb. Branson and Fairfield Bay in Apr,. Oncean Walk in May. and ended with GoePremier in Canada (near Montreal) in Sep. Then we contacted ovation again and we we out by Dec.2016. We weren't offered the 3 year use like some people were but as resale owners we never expected too. We felt like after CLUB PASS program excluded the resalers we better act fast before Wyndham excluded us from Ovation.. Wyndham did let us stay in some really nice resorts that I would not have paid $200 per night like the rack rate was, so all in all we used our points like money without paying the developer what most owners paid. We will use other means to vacation and are out from under the Maintance Fee Trap!

I am a Wyntham owner & interested in ovation programm

Update: I am in the process of transferring ownership to a new individual. Note: Ovation doesn't work for all Wyndham properties. Apparently, they are picky about which ones they want back in their pool, regardless if it is a points only contract that is fully paid. Really defies logic, but that's what happened to us. I'm glad someone is going to be able to use this now. It really is a decent contract and has good usage.

pamelaw232 wrote:

I have recently contacted Wyndhams Ovation scheme with a view to selling my timeshare. So far no response.

This never was a buyback deal. N-E-V-E-R.

vibhavarys wrote:

I am a Wyntham owner & interested in ovation programm

Why not just make a direct phone call to Wyndham at 1-855-312-9040?

I just completed the ovation program (waiting on final signed documents, but it's all processed)

No purchase needed. We chose to have the "limited edition" option which gives us 3 years of use with no maintenance charges.

Thankfully we are out and an expensive lesson was learned.

First of all thank you for the information. I called and ovation only works if you have paid off your package and your maintenance fees are up to date. If you owe, then they recommend to call Time Share Broker Associate at 877-624-6889. According to the Ovation program they have had success and there is no upfront payment. They get paid by a commission when your property is sold. Sounds good except they never awnser the phones. I'll keep trying and keep everyone up to date. I can only imagine how hard of a time everyone has on getting rid of this.

I purchase my WorldMark in 2000 getting 6000 credits annually with maintenance fees at $636 so I could take my 3 children on vacations as a single parent. With low credits we went on a vacation every 2 years. All the resorts we went to were beautiful as were the rooms. We went to Hawaii, Mexico, up and down the West Coast and the Anaheim resort 10 miles from home several times as my girls got older and could no longer coordinate a week together at the same time. 2 nights a year isn't worth it and I'm now retired and on a budget.

I emailed Ovation today requesting "bow out" options. Will let you know. This will be refreshing if they do help as I have paid the $1,000 helping a friend get out of his timeshare and all they did was post it with 1000s of others.

Sincerely, Gina West, 17 yr WM Owner

kyliec wrote:

We have been talking to Wyndham about their new program, Ovation, which was quietly announced to Wyndham owners a few weeks ago. The company isn't offering concrete details, but appears they are ready to customize exit solutions for their owners who no longer use their timeshares.

Jeff Weir has written an informative article for us with much more detail on this topic. Read about the initial introduction of the Ovation program here... and the Ovation update nearly a year later here.

IF YOU ARE A WYNDHAM OWNER, interested in what solutions Wyndham will offer to you, take us along for the ride! We would love to follow several owners as they contact Wyndham for a solution to see whether this program is all they are claiming it to be. If you're interested, please post here and Jeff will follow up with you.

Wyndham has reportedly now accepted over 20,000 "deedbacks" under their "Ovation" program so far since quietly implementing it in 2015. That being said, Wyndham will NOT accept EVERY request --- they seem to be "cherry picking" a bit.

Why WOULDN'T Wyndham take back most of their products? After all, they are essentially acquiring free inventory --- to just turn right around and sell all over again to someone else. From the business perspective of a deep pockets corporation that can afford that approach (unlike smaller, independent timeshare resorts without such deep pockets), that "Ovation" deedback program seems like a brilliant "win / win" strategy.

They rent these same rooms out on the extra holidays site.

We felt like we were trapped and in over our heads with maintenance fees that were like a 2nd house payment every month. We were not travelling as much and could not make the "magic promises" of renting and selling points we were endlessly promised work. And none of our "personal representatives" ever called us back to help us and guide us after making their sales. Go figure! We felt like there was no where to turn. The so called "sales" companies would just take thousands of dollars and do nothing for you and we found like many others nobody wanted a timeshare and you couldn't even donate it anywhere.

The Ovation program was a lifesaver for us. We communicated with someone last March and quickly received paperwork which we filled out and sent in. In a short time we received all the paperwork back and our new use year started in October of 2016. With 3 years of points and no maintenance fees we can still do a few vacations or a couple of big ones....we actually did Hawaii in October...we couldn't be happier!

Does anyone know where i can find a wyndham points chart online?