Election Fever

It seems like there's some dissatisfaction amongst WorldMark The Club owners (not WorldMark South Pacific) with regard to the Board of Directors.

Here's a message being sent out by WMowners, the online user forum for WorldMark owners:

Dear Fellow WorldMark Owner:

An independent WorldMark owner has put before the Board of Directors a proposal that would:

• Eliminate Conflict of Interest by preventing anyone who is or has been an employee of the Developer from serving on the Board of Directors
• Require that vacancies in the Board (whether by expansion of the Board or any other cause) be filled by vote of the members, not by appointment by the sitting Board
• Require a vote of the membership to accept new resorts that do not fit certain benchmarks for Credit Allocation

In order for this proposal to be brought before the members of the Club for discussion and vote, it must have written support of 5% of the voting power of the Club. WM Owners reviewed the proposal and the petition, and fully supports this drive. We urge you to do the same.

Please follow the link to the petition that is being circulated to owners in the hope that these changes can be made to help protect our club from further devaluation. Please, strongly consider participating in this petition drive and encouraging other WorldMark Owners you know to do the same.

The petition will simply get the proposals put before the owners, and is not an approval of the proposals.

Please join us if you . . .

• are concerned that the current WorldMark Directors' connections to the developer and manager, Wyndham, may hinder their ability to act in the best interest of the owners.
• would like to know that vacancies on the board will be filled by an owner independent of Wyndham or any of its affiliates.
• are concerned about the fact that all new resorts are coming in at higher credit values and believe that your ability to lock-in tomorrow's vacations at today's prices is being impacted as a result.

It's good to see the Owners trying to safeguard their investment. One member, Marci Tribe, is also pushing the case. Nice website.

In the meantime, the on-market value of WorldMark memberships continue to fall, being worth around one third of the value sold through Wyndham.

Tags: trendwest worldmark

How to get our of Worldmark?

Unfortunately, I often receive questions from readers, such as this one from Susan:

My husband and I went to the presentation and bought it, but now are desperately trying to sell our 6,000 points. Let me know if anyone has any great ideas on how to sell to another WorldMark owner that loves vacationing or to someone new. We are willing to sell the points for much less than the original price. We just got in over our heads!

All I can suggest is eBay or RedSeason, where credits seem to be going for around $1 (which is their true market value, not the $2 that Wyndham charges).

It's probably better to buy from a broker such as RedSeason or Time Share Angels, just to get all the paperwork right. Some of the people selling on eBay and practically no money, but want you to assume their debt, which can be half the problem in the first place.

Good luck!

-- Fabbo
Tags: trendwest worldmark