Keeping watch on Trendwest / WorldMark by Wyndham

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Las Vegas on Trial

A reader says...

We went to a presentation about a year and a half ago in Anaheim. It pretty much matched the descriptions here. But we did sign of for the trial membership 12,000 credits for 1200 dollars I think.

We just used it this Christmas to go to Las Vegas for 3 days. I will say the room was nice, 2 bedrooms with a kitchen and living room. The kitchen was stocked enough for us to have family over for a xmas dinner. On the down side the construction of the building lacked a little. The elevator would stop working periodically for a few minutes, a valence fell off the patio door and the towel holder came off the wall. Oh and the carpet wasn't very clean white socks a little gray after a couple hours walking around.

Then we had to go through another 90 minutes high pressure sales on the first day to try and sell the whole package again. Even though we told them we bought a trial package and haven't even used 24hrs yet they still insisted on going through their spew.

Initially the only thing that puts me off is the maintenance fees at a little over 500 bucks a year. Whats to stop them from raising them over and over? Oh the sales people say the owner have to vote on that. Even if that's true how many city bonds get voted in year after year? Plus all the extra goodies they talk about are almost too good to be true.

Booking a month in advance got us our room in Vegas no problem, although right now we're having trouble booking in Colorado for spring break. Can't get a response to voice mail although it is Dec 27 hopefully by next week we'll get our reservation.

Then we'll post again.



Mmm. I wasn't aware of the Trial option. That would certainly help people who (quite rightly) aren't willing to hand over tens of thousands of dollars after a mere slide-show.

Let us know how it goes!

-- Fabbo
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Sunday, December 21, 2008

A unhappy Worldmark Story

To contrast with the previous post, a reader says...

I agree with everything people wrote about being pressured with the tactics used at our meeting with Trendwest Worldmark South Pacific (as it was known in Australia) when we signed up some 4 or 5 years ago. By the way now it is known as Wyndham here. There are so many stumbling blocks when one tries to book short holidays. You can never get in at peak times known as Red Seasons unless you book a year ahead.

The reason for this I strongly suspect is that these resorts rent out the best rooms to those who pay the full holiday time price and they only have a few rooms reserved for Worldmark/Wyndham shares owners. Then if you do get in you have no choice of what accommodation you prefer. You only get what you want if you're lucky or if you complain and almost threaten the resort owner who says that he is not the person who controls the booking but Head Office on the Sunshine Coast.

The worse thing of all is that we are stuck with our decision for life and then we have to inflict our dreaded mistake at signing up on to our heirs for ever it seems.

When I have been contacted by them to buy more shares I have vehemently expressed by desire to sell by shares back to them for even half the price they had charged us, to no avail. They say that they don't do that. Finally, one day they gave me a website and a phone number of a broker on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. We paid $98 up front to have our shares listed for resale on his website. Of course he did so with the hundreds more he had listed already on his site. That was more than six months ago.

In the beginning the guy was very solicitous and told us that he sells 2 to 3 resales every week. As time passed we heard nothing more from him and every time we needed to know how the selling was going we had to contact him and sometimes he would not call us back. We kept a good eye on the ads on his website and nothing whatsoever was being sold. He then blamed the down turn in the economy. We even lowered our price further which at the time was the second lowest on his list. The six months limit for the advert is up now but we have not heard a word from him.

So please no one be fooled by Worldmark's suggestion that your shares can be sold by anyone whom they nominate to advertise for you or like us you will be down another $98 paid up front, to that website.

To add to our dilemma this week we received our annual bill for Levies for the upkeep of the Resorts they own (not we own) and on some of which we have never set foot. And guess what? Yes you guessed! The levies have gone up again from $109 per quarter to $114 that's another $20 per year which bring the total of $456 a year. This amount can give us a 4 nights stay at a descent Motel anywhere in Australia once a year so who needs Trenwest WorldMark/Wyndham.

As suggested in one of your contributors comments a Class Action against this ripoff is not such a bad idea if enough people show interest.

Buying $12,000 plus, worth of points with this company, where once you foolishly sign up you can never get out again, was the worse decision we have ever made in our life!!

So please beware anyone who is contemplating doing likewise.

NOW TO THOSE PEOPLE who are happy with owning shares with Wynham/Worldmark Trendwest maybe they would like to buy our shares. We would be more than happy to negotiate a fair price and they will have more points to enjoy their time at all those fabulous resorts??



Yep, that's about right. By my calculation, the levies just kill any financial justification for owning Worldmark credits. For 12,000 credits you pay almost AUD700, which is half the cost of an equivalent holiday.

I disagree with your comments about Worldmark "renting out the best rooms to those who pay full holiday time price". All members get equal access at the listed points, but it is first-come, first-served. Not all resorts are completely full, but they might be for the particular time you try to book (eg school holidays).

As for selling your credits, you can also try eBay — but it is showing a value of under AUD $1 per credit, which is about what RedSeason lists. So, accept your loss, sell for under $1/credit and write it off as hard-earned experience — always research before signing something.

Oh, another option is to 'sell' your annual points via eBay in the form of a holiday — you are allowed to give your bookings to 'guests' who can then pay you for the booking. However, liability for damage remains with you. So, pick a nice place at a good time of year, make a booking and then list it on eBay. Worst case you can cancel the booking and get your points back.

-- Fabbo
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A happy Worldmark Story

Comments from a reader...

am very amazed by all the negative comments here. My wife and I have gone to two Worldmark presentations about 3 years apart. The first time we went we decided not to buy. Sure we had a sales manager come over, but they took our no and let us go, after giving us our gifts.

The second time we went we already knew we wanted to buy. We had recently gone to a different company's presentation in Orlando and declined it because it did not fit our lifestyle, but we knew Worldmark did. So on our second visit to Worldmark we purchased, of course we did not take the first deal, we did a little negotiating.

We have loved every minute of it. in 5 more years it will be paid off, and we will only need to pay our maintenance fees.

Someone lied on one of the posts, the points per night do not go up. They are legally fixed. However, the price for new properties can have a higher point per night cost. We have used our points for a large vacation to Hawaii, and we have used bonus time for several stays in WA, OR, CA, AZ. Vegas. All of them have been great!

I have done trips in the past to Seaside paying well over a $100 per night and have gone crazy with 2 kids in the same room. Seaside Worldmark, we had a much better location, we had 3 bedrooms, I did not go crazy, the accommodations were way better, and we paid bonus time $45 per night. Half the price, 4x the room. Because we bought a smaller package, we only use our points every 2-3 years on a large trip life hawaii. But our little trips are incredible.

No granted, if you live on the east coast or in the midwest this may not be all that good for you. And you would know that. But if you live on the west coast and value family time and vacations, this is a must have investment.

Now if you can't handle a high pressure sales atmosphere then grow up, get a backbone, or hide in a cave for life. Sales are everywhere, do you buy a new cell phone everytime you walk through the mall? Do you buy that used car everytime you walk on a lot? Do you register for school everytime yo go online? Of course not, so quit your griping. If you bought you obviously saw value in it. Try making the most of out your purchase. If you have no intention on buying a timeshare like this at all, then don't go. But don't be surprised that they are trying to sell you one.


Mmm. I keep doing the math and the levies seem to kill the benefits, but I'm glad that you're enjoying it. But 5 more years to pay off suggests that you've put an awful lot of money into your Hawaiian trip every 2-3 years!

-- Fabbo
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