I got a call from Wyndham offering me a 4-day, 3-night package in San Antonio, TX for the amazing low price of $199.00. On the phone, they never mentioned that they were going to put me in an econo hotel in a seedy part of town; they led me to believe that I was going to be staying at their resort. And all I had to do to take advantage of this tremendous value was to attend a 90-minute presentation (oh, and pay the hotel tax, which amounted to about $64.00 for the three nights).net effect: I paid $263.00 to stay at a hotel that probably should have cost much less... They probably made a profit off of the hotel stay even though it wasn't even their brand.
So now let's talk about the 90-minute presentation (which took a little over 2 hours).
I get to the location and have to pay to park there. Then they do the whole routine of why timeshare ownership is such a great deal, and how it's for people who really love their families, etc. The pricetag: $54,000.00 for 308,000 points per year, which according to the book they show you during the presentation is plenty of points to spend two weeks at any resort worldwide during mid-demand seasons.
Since I didn't have $54,000 and didn't feel like financing it through them and didn't even know for sure if this was what I wanted to do (since I obviously don't love my family like some people do), I declined to purchase the package. This of course resulted in the sales manager routine which I continued to decline.
As a last-ditch effort, they offered what sounded like a great deal at the time. It was the opportunity to 'try before you buy' by purchasing a 1-year allotment of 308,000 points for about $2500.00. They told me that it's the same as the regular program, except that the number of locations is more limited (Wyndham only), but that everything else was the same. I was still a VIP and entitled to free room size upgrades, etc.
I bought the $2500 deal thinking it would be great way to give this a shot. About a week later, I'm browsing through the book of properties and I notice that instead of having a fixed point value for all properties based three season, this book outlines four or five different seasons with different point values for every location for each of the seasons. The problem is that now instead of getting two weeks at a resort during high season, I don't even have enough points to get one week at most locations during high or the new 'prime' season (which at some locations is 50 weeks out of the year).
When I tried to schedule, I advised that I was VIP as noted in my contract, and I was promptly told that free room size upgrades aren't available for what she called "discount" memberships. When I told here I didn't understand, she asked me to hold while she went to find a supervisor. After putting me on old for about 10 minutes, my call was disconnected. So yet another lie that I fell for.
Unfortunately, after 7 days, the contract is not cancellable, so I've just bought $2500 worth of education that I will have a hard time putting out of my memory if and when I do get to use the points (which expire in one year). I can see myself begrudgingly walking about the resort grounds somewhere cranky about the ridiculously overpriced rate I'm paying for my room.
Bottom line: Wyndham is a first-class ripoff on all fronts. As soon as I figure out how to redeem the points I've purchased, Wyndham will never find me booking a room at their properties ever again - resorts or otherwise.
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