Doing the math, it just doesn't add up!
Sometimes a bit of logic goes a long way...
Having just had a (non-Worldmark) holiday on the Gold Coast, I thought I'd see what Worldmark would have to offer up there.
I had driven through Kirra Beach, so I had a look at the Kirra Beach Resort online.
One week in a 2-bedroom apartment requires 7000-11000 points depending upon season. Based on prices at Redseason, a 2nd-hand 7000 point membership would cost around $7500 and the annual levies would be $399.
The cost of financing a $7500 membership would be roughly $500 per year, which means a yearly cost of $900. For this, you would get one week at Kirra Beach in low season.
So what is it worth? I Worldmark Kirra Beach on Wotif listing as $250/night normal price, but sometimes available for only $109/night. That makes $1750/week full price, or $763 at Wotif discount prices.
I also found hotel.com.au offering a discount of $140 ($980/wk) and normal price of $188 ($1316/wk). However, it can often be difficult to get these discounts.
Comparing to other accommodation on the Gold Coast such as Currumbin Sands, a low-season price of $950 seems about right.
Then, to top it off, I found an eBay listing #6621249958 where somebody was offering one week at any Worldmark Resort. It appears that they had 12,000 points that were about to expire. The auction ended with a bid of $910.
So, a rough estimate is that a week in low season is worth around $950, which is the approximate cost of holding a 7500-point membership if purchased 2nd-hand.
A week in high season requires 50% more points, but would probably not be available at a discount via websites, which comes out to about the same value. (In fact, I'm surprised that Wotif and hotel.com.au are offering accommodation, since Worldmark resorts are meant to be for members only!)
Thus, the conclusion is that the going price for 2nd-hand memberships is "about right".
The price for new memberships from Trendwest at $2.14/point would be $15,000 for 7000 points. Clearly not good value.
Caveat Emptor.
-- Fabbo.
Tags: trendwest worldmark
Having just had a (non-Worldmark) holiday on the Gold Coast, I thought I'd see what Worldmark would have to offer up there.
I had driven through Kirra Beach, so I had a look at the Kirra Beach Resort online.
One week in a 2-bedroom apartment requires 7000-11000 points depending upon season. Based on prices at Redseason, a 2nd-hand 7000 point membership would cost around $7500 and the annual levies would be $399.
The cost of financing a $7500 membership would be roughly $500 per year, which means a yearly cost of $900. For this, you would get one week at Kirra Beach in low season.
So what is it worth? I Worldmark Kirra Beach on Wotif listing as $250/night normal price, but sometimes available for only $109/night. That makes $1750/week full price, or $763 at Wotif discount prices.
I also found hotel.com.au offering a discount of $140 ($980/wk) and normal price of $188 ($1316/wk). However, it can often be difficult to get these discounts.
Comparing to other accommodation on the Gold Coast such as Currumbin Sands, a low-season price of $950 seems about right.
Then, to top it off, I found an eBay listing #6621249958 where somebody was offering one week at any Worldmark Resort. It appears that they had 12,000 points that were about to expire. The auction ended with a bid of $910.
So, a rough estimate is that a week in low season is worth around $950, which is the approximate cost of holding a 7500-point membership if purchased 2nd-hand.
A week in high season requires 50% more points, but would probably not be available at a discount via websites, which comes out to about the same value. (In fact, I'm surprised that Wotif and hotel.com.au are offering accommodation, since Worldmark resorts are meant to be for members only!)
Thus, the conclusion is that the going price for 2nd-hand memberships is "about right".
The price for new memberships from Trendwest at $2.14/point would be $15,000 for 7000 points. Clearly not good value.
Caveat Emptor.
-- Fabbo.
Tags: trendwest worldmark
posted by Fabbo at Tuesday, May 02, 2006
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3 Comments:
Fabbo,
Have no problem at all with your maths - as you say if you buy on the resale market the figures work out!
One of the great benefits is, however, the fact that you can use your points at the peak time and in effect it doesn't cost you any more. For example if you want to stay at the Gold Coast for the week after Christmas it still only costs you 11000 credits and I can assure you that you wont get any discount deals at that time of year - in fact I doubt you would get a 2 bedroom apartment at that time for less than $2000 for the week. For 11000 credits from us you would pay around $12500 which gives you a finance cost of around $750 plus the levies of $583 per year for a total of just over $1300. So you would be saving at least $500 a year if you need to travel at peak times (and a lot of people with kids at school do!).
For International travellers the sums can be even better - if you were travelling to London you can swap 10000 points for a weeks accomodation in London which would cost you roughly $1650 (based on the $1300 above + $100 for RCI membership + $250 exchange fee for the exchange). Don't know if you have travelled overseas recently but with our exchange rate you will be lucky to get 4-5 star accomodation in London for anything less that about $500 PER NIGHT so your $1650 is probably going to get you around $3000 accomodation.
To sum up - yes if you can travel at short notice (to take advantage of last minute deals) and in off peak times (or at least outside school holidays) then buying from us is probably about even in financial terms (excluding the other benefits you get) - but if you need to travel in peak times or want to be able to book holidays well in advance and get what you want then overall I think a membership is well worth it.
Terry Bradford
terry@redseason.com.au
By
Anonymous, at Wednesday, 03 May, 2006
Just another comment on your statement that Worldmark resorts are supposed to be for members only. It actually depends on the resort as to whether this is the case or not. At many of the resorts only some of the apartments are owned by Worldmark - the rest of the rooms may be privately owned or rented out as normal hotel/apartments. Basically we don't have enough owners in Australia yet to justify a full resort at each location. By buying a block of rooms at an existing resort Worldmark can give their owners more choices for destinations without having the expense of building a full resort.
So the rooms you see on Wotif, etc, are not rooms owned by Worldmark (and therefore they may not be maintained to the normal Worldmark standards).
Regards,
Terry
terry@redseason.com.au
By
Anonymous, at Wednesday, 03 May, 2006
We have been contacted many times by telephone by your staff offering FREE gift if we attend a presentation at the TrendWest office at Parramata, Sydney,Australia.
We accepted the offer and attend the presentation lunch time (12:00), today (26-August-2007) at your Parramatta, Australia office.
The consultant who was assigned to us, his name I think Phil (he is from England, he showed his credentials as degree in England, Financial Planning in England, start working with TrendWest from 2005)/
Once he knew that we did not find value in your product offering then he started to abuse, slang and make fun of us and try to make us look small.
Is this is some kind of pressure selling technique?
At the end this was a very unpleasant event for my wife and my self.
I did not call you guys, you guys called us many times and offered the FREE gift if we attend the presentation. Why make abuse ,slang and make fun of people when they do not see value in your product and offering ?
Please note that we will make sure that all of my friends & relations know about the way you guys treat people when they do not purchase your product/offering.
This will be on many BLOGS on the internet.
One final note, please tell the sales guy who was dealing with us to treat people with normal decency.
By
Anonymous, at Saturday, 26 August, 2006
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