Pahio resorts bought over by Wyndham Resorts

We own at Pahio Bali Hai Villas. Recently, Oct. of 2006 the Wyndham Resorts bought out all of the Pahio Resorts which are located in Kauai. What we find frustrating is that even though we received a welcome letter stating that they bought the Pahio Resorts and welcomed us into the Wyndham family we really cannot use the Wyndham inventory unless we go through RCI. Previously Fairfield owners which were also bought out by Wyndham can use the Wyndham inventory. So even though we now own at a Wydham Resort-because our resort was bought by them we are not acknowledged as a Wyndham Owner. When you call Wyndham Resorts they won't talk to you unless you have a member #. We talked to a sales person yesterday at our resort in Kauai and they said even though our resort was bought by Wyndham Resorts in order for us to get an id # we had to buy another unit at our same resort or pay $10,000.00 for the member id#. I thought that was an easy way for them to make some big bucks, and I felt this system seemed unfair. So I kind of feel that the owners that don't pay for the Wyndham name are on their own. Has anybody understood this any differently?

Hi, Rachel, That sounds just like what we've come to expect from the sleazy timeshare business. I had the same experience when my Kauai timeshare--formerly Embassy, then bought out by Sunterra--changed hands. I have an annual week arrangement, but to get "points," they wanted me to buy another unit. -SM

I assume you still have the same access to your resort and all the benefits from your original purchase that you always had right?

If this is not the case then I would be ripping mad... but if it is, then I don't see where there is room to complain. You are getting what you paid for.

- Gary

garyc141 wrote:

I assume you still have the same access to your resort and all the benefits from your original purchase that you always had right?

If this is not the case then I would be ripping mad... but if it is, then I don't see where there is room to complain. You are getting what you paid for.

- Gary

I hope that we have the same access to our resort. We will be staying there this July, but we made our reservations with our resort before it was bought by Wyndham. So time will tell. I hope I have nothing to complain about that would make this a happy ending.

I have a resort through Pahio at Bali Hai Villas. We had made our reservation at the beginning of 2006 for February of this year. We didn't have any problems when the time came for our week, and we don't have any complaints. There doesn't seem to be anything that has changed from when it was Pahio. The only thing that came about was that they were very pushy for us to do our "Owners update", they would tell us that it is so much easier to do while we are there. Which really didn't seem any different than any other time we have gone, they just wanted us to do a "Timeshare Presentation" all of the other years. They offered us all of the same perks that they had offered during the other years. The $100. restaurant certificate or money towards any activity of our choice per couple who attended it. But, here it is 4 months later, and they haven't sent us anything else regarding the "Owners Update" as we did not do it while we were on Kauai. I think that you should be fine in regards to your upcoming reservation, but I would make sure you have your confirmation letter with you when you go, Just in Case. Have a wonderful trip to the most beautiful place on earth.

It is a long time since this thread started, but I thought I'd post a followup. We spent Week 2 of '08 at Pahio at Bali Hai. (Not ours, but as guests of my wife's folks.) We didn't sit through the pushy sales presentation, but later I did go back and talk to one of the sales managers. He emphasized that whatever was purchased through Pahio, you still own. But as people convert to Wyndham, the pool of available Pahio exchanges will shrink. If you own a fixed week, it might eventually get hard to do anything except that week. If you own a floater, I'm not sure how that would play out. If all you want to do is exchange it for points, then you're okay. If you like that resort and want to stay there, your options might be limited over time.

stevew242 wrote:

It is a long time since this thread started, but I thought I'd post a followup. We spent Week 2 of '08 at Pahio at Bali Hai. (Not ours, but as guests of my wife's folks.) We didn't sit through the pushy sales presentation, but later I did go back and talk to one of the sales managers. He emphasized that whatever was purchased through Pahio, you still own. But as people convert to Wyndham, the pool of available Pahio exchanges will shrink. If you own a fixed week, it might eventually get hard to do anything except that week. If you own a floater, I'm not sure how that would play out. If all you want to do is exchange it for points, then you're okay. If you like that resort and want to stay there, your options might be limited over time.

Thank you for responding to the forum. We did go there this past July-07. We did attend an owners update because we had lots of questions. Of course they want you to became a Wyndham owner, but in able to do that you have to buy another timeshare unit at Bali Hai. We don't need two units at the same resort, and of course the units are very pricey. They told us for the existing Pahio rooms to get updated to the new wyndham look there had to be certain percentage of owners that own at the same building to buy into Wyndham. I can't remember the percentage. They also said that most owners are buying another room. So we thought that the chances might be good since most of the other owner are buying into Wyndham that we will just stay with our existing Pahio ownership and hopefully our building will get the updated look. We are points owners at Pahio-Wyndham, and we do use this timeshare about once every 3-5 years. So hopefully we will not have a problem using our timeshare in the future.

I'm also a Pahio Bali Hai owner with 1 bd & 1 bth. We have usage for every odd year float - not points. 2007 was the first year we were back after Pahio was bought by Wyndham. The welcome letter we received seemed so promising that we signed up for the presentation. The sales pitch was really great but very confusing because of the many details. A huge pressure was put on us to upgrade to points and to spend another 18K which we explained we cannot afford. After 3 hours of listening to the sales pitch, the sale manager finally realized that we were not going to upgrade no matter what pressure he puts on us, he then change his tone and became very rude to us. He actually walk away from us without finishing the presentation. I complained about his actions but nobody seemed to care. We thought that the whole presentation was a pressure sale and very deceiving. We were given the impression that with Pahio now part of Wyndham our odd year float timeshare will not be worth anything unless we sign up with Wyndham. The resort is really a gold crown by itself and with the plans for expansion and renovation, I'm sure that it would definitely be worth a lot but the whole new owners benefits is a joke unless you're rich enough to shell out another 18K-20K. I'm actually looking at selling my timeshare now after my experience last year.

Do NOT go to these Wyndham owner "updates". They are a deceptive pitch to get your current time share in their inventory pool and a big chunk of you money to boot. We did it yesterday and today were told we can't get copies of notes we were promised, or a paper we signed, both of which we were promised less than 24 hours ago. They were deceptive about many aspects of the presentation. Lisa Reynolds benicialisa@netscape.net

The Wyndham organization wants you to buy into their Travelshare program which is way overpriced and does not compare to the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest program. Your owner update can be painful because their people are trying to sell more property to get you enrolled. Wyndham now owns RCI and is high pressure. Be happy you skipped your socalled "owner update."