Wyndham Rewards program

We are currently base level owners of a Wyndham time share, and are considering purchasing into a higher level of membership called Wyndham "Rewards". It appears that the primary added benefits are: 1) A high-payback Visa and Discounts program, where credit card purchases give you points, then points can be converted to Visa gift cards (which can be used to buy anything). Payback then gets used to offset monthly maintenance fees. 2) Ability to reserve at any resort 13 months in advance, as opposed to doing this only at the resort we own. Does anyone have first hand experience with being in this program? Can you tell us if the purchase cost (in our case, $16K) has been worthwhile with the added benefits? As best we can tell, the $16K for us can be recouped in 8 or 9 years given the cash back on use of the credit purchases program. Thanks!

For $ 16K you buy a nice compact car and have something besides ever increasing maintenance fees and broken promises unless you are rich and have a lot of extra money to throw around.

scottl367 wrote:

Can you tell us if the purchase cost (in our case, $16K) has been worthwhile with the added benefits? As best we can tell, the $16K for us can be recouped in 8 or 9 years given the cash back on use of the credit purchases program. Thanks!

Is this some malarkey that a timeshare salesperson told you at a presentation (or "owner update)? Almost anything that are sold at these presentations/updates are not worth the money. These sales people are notorious for lying and exaggerating.

As for recouping in 8 or 9 years, that is also a selling point that sales people tout but is incomplete. Do you know what your life will be like 5-9 years down the road? What will your health be like? Will you be able to travel frequently enough to make this ownership worthwhile? What if a family emergency comes up and you can't travel that year? What if you lose your job or income source and can't afford the maintenance fees or travel costs? What if your travel preferences change such as preferring cruises, special interest group tours, family camping trips, etc.?

If you want to purchase into a higher level of membership, try to find one of the countless properties and point packages that are available for peanuts on E-Bay and other timeshare websites. You will save yourselves about $16000.