Wyndham's new "Ovation" program offers exit solutions for their owners... interested?

Ovation is just a way for them to take back the inventory you already purchased once, then they jack the price back up and resell it again. I'd be more than happy to answer questions on how this works.

saram280 wrote:

I'd be more than happy to answer questions on how this works.

It's very obvious how Ovation works and it has been discussed and explained ad nauseum in these forums since it was first adopted back in 2015. Whatever "answers" you'd be happy to offer already exist within these forums, provided by others in clear and specific detail.

You clearly have something to peddle here in your sudden onslaught of "offers to help", but I believe that your marketing attempts (and phone number) will all be promptly removed from these discussion forums, as is entirely appropriate. These discussion forums are not for advertising, let alone for advertising an "exit / escape" entity of dubious legality or merit.

I wish we had...Awful!!!

We are current owners in Wyndham, but were "grandfathered" in when Wyndham purchased WorldMark. We would like to exit, so I am curious if anyone has successfully used the Ovation program that originally purchased with WorldMark. Since WorldMark is a points based system, I am wondering if it even qualifies for Ovation. We have sent an email to the Ovation people, so I will update if we receive a response back.

So an update on my post. We received the following for our inquiry to the Ovation program:

"The Ovation program is designed to assist owners whose vacation needs have changed. The program allows owners the opportunity to participate with an option that may assist with the return of their inventory back to Wyndham if all eligibility requirements are met. We are not able to disclose any of the programs via email as they do vary based on an owner's specific account. Please call us to find out more information and to decide if Ovation is right for you. Again, this is a voluntary program and not a buyback program. If you are interested in selling your timeshare, we are able to provide you with two featured reseller companies that we do endorse as good business partners. These resellers do not require an upfront charge for listing your property."

So the only answer we recieved was: "Again, this is a voluntary program and not a buyback program." We are unclear why anyone would just surrender their timeshare or points, but there may be situations where it makes sense.

If you are able to use all of your points, and have no trouble with coming up with the maintenance fees, then there may not be a reason for you to surrender your ownership. However, it made sense to us to bail out because of how much we were paying for maintenance -- and because we were unwilling to use the points for things we no longer cared to do (or that we could not do). We had more than a million points (OK, we were suckers for the sales force), but are now retired on a pleasant acre in North Carolina. We could travel a few hundred miles and enjoy the quiet and the scenery, or we can walk out to our gazebo and sit in our swing and enjoy the quiet and the scenery. And we can enjoy a week in a modest motel on the beach for little more than a month's maintenance fee.

Newcomers need to recognize the basic truth of timeshare ownership: buying a time share IS NOT AN INVESTMENT IN REAL ESTATE! Meaning that you can't easily sell it once you have it. And the pleasant, friendly sales people will be replaced by the nasty, growling and very UNfriendly finance types.

loriy40 wrote:

We are unclear why anyone would just surrender their timeshare or points, but there may be situations where it makes sense.

Maybe it has to do with age. Our estate planning attorney admonished us more than once, "Don't die with all those @#$%& timeshares!"

We still have several timeshares, but we used to have a lot more. One by one we've sold several of our fixed week, deeded timeshares, sometimes for more than we paid -- thanks to the fact that we purchased most of them via Redweek, eBay, TimeSharing Today and other ads. (Sold 'em the same way.) But Wyndham points, even tho they were based in two of Wyndham's most popular resorts, were effectively worthless in the resale market (you can buy hundreds of thousands of Wyndham points for almost nothing). And they were increasingly hard to use except, of course, at our "home" resorts.

Long story short, it was cheaper to give the points back to Wyndham than to pay our attorney to dump them into our trust.

And in the meantime, we've picked up rental weeks through RCI and II at top locations and properties for hundreds less per week than we were paying Wyndham in maintenance fees. I guess we were slow learners.

We fully own all our points; our issue is that it is extremely difficult to get reservations at the resorts we want to use and the maintenance fees just keep increasing every year. It just seems like a waste of money to pay maintenance fees when not fully utilizing the program as a whole. We are in the exploratory stage of what our next steps are. We have owned WorldMark since 2002, so quite a bit has changed in our lives since we first purchased. We will continue to explore our options to determine if we sell or keep. Thanks for your input!

Here's some news for Limited Edition people. You CAN sign into their website now, though you may be asked to give a new username and password. You CAN attempt to book a vacation on line. (Unfortunately, the places I was trying to book all said "not available" for the dates I wanted -- Thanksgiving week.)

A few weeks ago, if you called the reservation number, you were advised that your hold time would be 60 minutes or more. This afternoon, I called the number and a representative answered on the first ring. He couldn't help me with my Thanksgiving reservations either, however.

I would be interested to see posts from people who have been able to book online in the last couple of weeks, and whether it "feels" right when you have done so.

I'm looking forward to the next three years of points without maintenance fees!

Jim

I keep seeing mentioned that you get "three years of points" when you successfully get out of if the timeshare. How is the three years of points determined....by the number of points you had in the first place?

Not everyone will qualify for the 3 years of points usage without maintenance.

karenk817 wrote:

I keep seeing mentioned that you get "three years of points" when you successfully get out of if the timeshare. How is the three years of points determined....by the number of points you had in the first place?

Our "deal" was to give them back (i. e. deed back) our million + points, have the same number of points with no maintenance fees for 3 years. Then everything goes away. I believe if you call the Ovation phone number, someone will walk you through the steps.

Not having to pay maintenance fees increases our spendable cash by several hundred dollars a month. Not a good deal, all in all, but we are enjoying the extra in our bank balance every month. Other commenters have said that Wyndham can "pull the plug" at any time, so that makes us pleased that we've gotten out. Not so pleased to have stupidly bought points upon points -- the sales force is "good".

As limited edition members we have been trying for the past two weeks to make a reservation online, but keep getting a message that we do not have enough points, even though we have many more available than required for the booking. Then, we have called the reservation number and each time have been told that it is an issue with the computer system and IT is working to fix it. The customer service person is also unable to make the reservation. Some of the dates we intended to book have become unavailable in the meantime. Is this Wyndham's new scam - to offer points that should be available for three years but make it impossible to use them?

Is Limited Edition the name they are using for the three years of points they allow on the Ovation program or are you referring to something else? I was wondering how reservations would be made. They told me there would be a special number you would have to call and I envisioned an impossible situation. This was 6 months or so ago. I still haven't decided what to do.

louisw40 wrote:

As limited edition members we have been trying for the past two weeks to make a reservation online, but keep getting a message that we do not have enough points, even though we have many more available than required for the booking. Then, we have called the reservation number and each time have been told that it is an issue with the computer system and IT is working to fix it. The customer service person is also unable to make the reservation. Some of the dates we intended to book have become unavailable in the meantime. Is this Wyndham's new scam - to offer points that should be available for three years but make it impossible to use them?

My experience (until recently) was that they would report 60 minutes of wait time for a response on that number. Last week, however, I called it again and a representative answered on the first ring. Having said that, though, I wasn't able to land a reservation with him -- nothing available on the dates I wanted to travel. That may be a sign that the "Limited Edition" is really limited. My feeling is that things are getting better, though, and I hope that they do. Good luck to you (and all the others)

lollis3 wrote:

Is Limited Edition the name they are using for the three years of points they allow on the Ovation program or are you referring to something else? I was wondering how reservations would be made. They told me there would be a special number you would have to call and I envisioned an impossible situation. This was 6 months or so ago. I still haven't decided what to do.

Yes, "Limited Edition" is the name they are using for the "membership" based on the three years' points. Only a limited number of resorts are available to Limited Edition members, so the name makes sense.

How do I go about getting out of these timeshares. Since my husband passed away I have no need for them. Patsy

jerryl138 wrote:

How do I go about getting out of these timeshares? Since my husband passed away I have no need for them.

If you look at the first post in this thread, it will give you some links for some contact information. That will help you contact the right people so that you can inquire about giving your unit to Wyndham. If Wyndham accepts (it does not accept all requests for deed backs), then there will probably be a charge of about $250 to do so. That is probably your safest bet since there are no third parties to bumble things up or scam you.

If Wyndham says No, you can try other forms of giving away such as listing here on RedWeek or other reputable web sites such as E-Bay, Craigslist, My Resort Network, or Timeshare Users Group (aka "TUG") which has a Bargain Deals section that will allow you to list for free that you want to give your unit away.

Just never ever pay anyone a large, upfront fee to sell, rent out, market, or "cancel" your timeshare because that is always as scam. And there is no need to look for law firms or other so-called "exit" companies as they are very expensive and sometimes do not even accomplish what you paid them to do.

jerryl138 wrote:

How do I go about getting out of these timeshares. Since my husband passed away I have no need for them. Patsy

First and foremost, be forewarned that Wyndham points have virtually no value on the secondary market so finding someone to take them off your hands may be very difficult. To prove that for yourself, act like you were trying to buy some on the secondary market -- that is, go shopping. Go to ebay (in the search field type Wyndham points, Wyndham timeshares, etc), read Redweek ads, and check For Sale listings on TUG (timeshare users group), tstoday.com (the web site for TimeSharing Today magazine), MyResortNetwork and perhaps others. See how many points are offered, how much people are asking for them, and learn what kinds of terms and conditions are being tried by sellers. Some will give their points away for, say, $1, and will also pay all closing costs. Some will do that and throw in a year's maintenance, too. Desperation rules the marketplace.

After doing all that, you'll almost certainly want to call Wyndham on the phone (the number is 855-312-9040) to tell them that you are a widow and that you would like to participate in their Ovation program. Have your account number handy. You have to know how many points you own, where they are located or "anchored" (e.g. Williamsburg, Nashville, etc.), and whether your loan, if you had one, is paid or not. Loans must be paid off. Maintenance payments must be current. And if you have any reservations using your points you'll be asked to cancel them. That's how it worked for us, anyway, about a year and a half ago.

Yes. How much do they charge yo to GIVEt them your timeshare?