A Wyndham Rewards timeshare offer came in via email today that sounds pedestrian enough: get 3 nights plus 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points for $199 plus tax when you agree to attend a 120-minute timeshare presentation. Destinations include places like Las Vegas, Orlando, San Antonio or even the Smoky Mountains. I’ve bolded that last one because I had an excellent 4-night stay there at my first Vacasa vacation rental booked via Wyndham Rewards. As my cabin would have been north of $400 per night with cleaning fees, getting enough points to book a night for $199 sounds pretty tempting even before you consider the 3 night stay that comes with the package. But looking at the accommodation options made me wonder: will I also earn Marriott points and elite nights for booking the Fairfield Inn or Springhill Suites with this offer?
The Deal
- Club Wyndham is offering a timeshare presentation incentive of 3 nights in select destinations (subject to blackout dates) plus 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points for $199 in exchange for attending a 120-minute timeshare presentation
- Offer expires April 3, 2023 and stay must be completed
within 12 months of purchase.
Key Terms
- Vacation Package Details: Attendance to a 120-minute timeshare sales presentation is required in order to participate.
- Offer expires April 3, 2023 and stay must be completed
within 12 months of purchase. - This offer is valid in all US states except for residents of: HI, MT, ND, SD, UT, WV, and WI.
- This promotional offer is available to individuals meeting financial eligibility requirements who are 28 or older with full-time employment or 60+ and fully retired. Minimum annual household income may be required where financial eligibility requirements are not met.
- Guests who are showing signs of intoxication that may impair their decision making may not attend the presentation.
- Must bring a valid photo ID and a major credit card to check-in at your accommodations and presentation
- There is a maximum of four presentations per household per year
- Link to full terms
Quick Thoughts
This deal isn’t as strong as the one they ran previously that also included a $100 coupon for a future hotel stay (and at that time, at least one reader called and was offered an even better deal of 30K points and a $175 coupon).
The only reason this deal initially caught my eye was because I was just in the Smoky Mountains using Wyndham points last Fall. Of course, I was staying at a Vacasa vacation rental. I didn’t expect Wyndham would be putting guests up in one of those, but while I was there in Pigeon Forge I passed the “Club Wyndham” timeshare resort a couple of times (and also a Wyndham “welcome center” of sorts in the middle of Pigeon Forge at “The Island”). I even thought about wandering in to one of those locations to ask if they had any timeshare presentation deals, but I didn’t expect they’d let us bring the kids and I wouldn’t have left them with anyone.
So when I saw the email today and saw that they were advertising the Smoky Mountains, I clicked through. I input some dates in the fall to check availability. I checked that time of year because we thought that the fall foliage must be beautiful there and I had previously looked through Vacasa and all of the fall weekends were pricing in the $600’s and up for rentals that were ordinarily less than $350 (and thus ordinarily available with Wyndham points, but surely blacked out every weekend). I wondered what availability would be like for Club Wyndham.
I expected that Wyndham would put you up at the timeshare property they are trying to sell. However, when I clicked through the email to search, I was surprised to see that it says “Stay at a local area hotel which can sleep up to 2 adults and 2 children” (bold is mine).
I got a chuckle out of the fact that despite it saying the room would sleep up to 2 adults and 2 children, the search tool allowed for 1 child maximum.
But that chuckle quickly morphed into a full-on belly laugh when I saw that the first search result to book this Wyndham timeshare offer is at 2 different Marriott properties (Fairfield Inn and Springhill Suites) or a Holiday Inn (which belongs to IHG).
Lest you think that is some glitch that would error out at the next step, I assure you that Wyndham will gladly sell you a room at the Fairfield Inn at $250.09 with tax.
I looked up the Fairfield for the same dates through Marriott.com. The best flexible rate for a room for the same dates came to $589.32.
That said, it’s worth noting a few things:
- I assume that you will not earn Marriott points or elite credit on a booking made through Club Wyndham.
- While the Club Wyndham package notes free cancellation, you have to click for details to find out that you must request that cancellation within 7 days of purchase via mail. In other words, good luck cancelling. You can reschedule dates once for free, but after that or within 5 days of arrival greater penalties apply.
I suppose a more fair comparison then is to the prepaid / nonrefundable Marriott rate, which would be about $459 for the same dates. The timeshare package is still a deal considering that it would cost less than $250 for the room and the 15,000 points.
If you value the room at all, this can be a pretty good deal. Wyndham ordinarily only allows a member to buy up to 45,000 points per year. Since the points here are an additional incentive, I assume they do not count toward the purchase cap. If you’ve already bought 45K points this year, this may therefore be a way of getting a combination of a cheap room and reasonably priced points beyond that cap (depending on how you value each side).
If you think you might book this, I would certainly recommend calling and seeing if you can get a better deal. Stephen reported a few years ago on a better deal he got in person in Myrtle Beach (I’ve tried a couple of times to replicate it but haven’t been able to do so). You should also be ready to say “no” a lot (do yourself a favor and read Stephen’s post). The fine print notes that timeshare prices range from $11,800 to $92,700. I’ll let you guess at which end to expect the pitch to begin.
In all honesty, maybe this practice of putting guests up in hotels from other chains is more common than I realize as I don’t make a habit of attending timeshare presentations. However, I’m certainly not opposed to the idea of listening to the pitch for a decent incentive — though the salesperson would certainly have their work cut out for them in convincing me why I need to spend tens of thousands on a timeshare when I have the Wyndham Earner Business card for 8x at gas stations.
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I’d rather be cornered in a Turkish carpet shop than go thru a timeshare presentation again. Never the f again.
Rotflmao. Because I HAVE been cornered in a Turkish carpet shop.
Me too! At least at the carpet shop you will get a glass of tasty tea.
Dare to explain why?
Same thing will a suit Manny’s by me had Billboards with his photo on it !!! Turned the tables on him got a nice suit at a nice price and fitted right then..Guy was 80 and I Thanked Him for a Great 3 hrs Priceless ..No smile on his Face too also Priceless..
That Stuff is BS isn’t Fun Today but was !!!
I did something similar in April 2021 with a Choice Privileges (BlueGreen Vacations) timeshare package in Arizona. They didn’t want to set me up at the preview resort without an extra fee, so they put me at a nearby Hampton Inn. The Hampton Inn booking was completely regular and I got full points/benefits/credit for it. YMMV for Wyndham…
Bonus points for anyone who does this timeshare offer and stays at a Marriott during the double elite promo and earns double elite nights.
You know I like my bonus points — so I just called Choice for their current offer. Here’s hoping for double elite night credits!
I called today, and they initially offered me 30k points. I asked if they could do more, and they threw in a $175 credit and a $50 amex gift card. I thought that was pretty good.
You lost me at “120 minute timeshare presentation.” Been there. Done that. Never again.
That’s fair – it’s not for everyone. I have two young kids, so I can say no for far longer than 120 straight minutes.
Haha, yes parents have this one down!
I just came back from a Wyndham presentation deal. A bit better that this one, but six on one, half a dozen on the other, as it cost $299 plus $54 in taxes. I finagled it on the phone: 1) 3/4 (3 Nights 4 Days), 2) a coupon for $100 for future Wyndham stay, (careful with this. It is a one off print using a link included in the first acceptance email. If not printed then, the coupon disappears. I print to pdf so I can have it later), 3) a $50 Amex gift card, and 4) 30,000 Wyndham points. These two I negotiated for, as initially I was offered the usual 15K points and $25 in gift card. I also negotiated the place, I wanted Clearwater Beach, Florida, which was not on the list. The key word here is ‘timeshare presentation’. Wyndham took over a couple of big timeshare companies recently and has set up presentation offices in their most desirable areas and newest resorts. I thought the stay was for Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach, which is currently the hottest thing in timeshares, – (after seeing it, I wonder why) – and was surprised when they agreed. It turned out the stay is for a hotel room, just as your offer states. About a month after paying for the package, I received an email, offering me an extra $50 Amex gift card if I’d complete my travel and presentation before June 30; (for a total of $100 Amex gift card on top of the 30K points and coupon/certificate for $100 off future Wyndham stay). Of course I called and booked immediately! I was offered a hotel I didn’t know but asked for the Holiday Inn & Suites Clearwater Beach – which I like, it has a nice adult pool 8 ft deep at its deepest end – and they agreed. Given that I booked for Memorial weekend, the actual hotel cost would have been about $1K. Normally the Holiday Inn goes for about $130-$150/night, so the “package cost” is truly worth only if you can use it on high demand times ($275+/night when I went). As for the IHG points: you get points/credit for what you pay directly to the hotel only, i.e., parking and other extras – drinks, food, etc. – but not for the nights stayed because Club Wyndham pays for the stay. So, this doesn’t stack. I assume it wouldn’t stack on Marriott nor Wyndham of your offer.
Regarding timeshare presentation offers: If inclined to accept, call and ask where ‘else’ they have places you could go, and if you don’t hear what you want, ask for a place you know there are timeshares. Chances are there is a newly acquired Wyndham near by.
We did this offer a couple of years ago in Alexandria, VA during cherry blossoms and they put us up in a Marriott – the Alexandrian Old Alexandria. It was a very nice hotel and we did get my husband’s elite benefits. We didn’t get Marriott points, though. We had to get ourselves to the timeshare property which was not walking distance.
My husband and I have done a several timeshare deals over the years. Wyndham was the only one that fed us – croissant sandwiches, salads, lots of packaged snacks.
Since you like the area as much as you seem to, you can book directly into Club Wyndham using points (on the Wyndham website) then wait for the ask at check-in. During your stay, hold out (or ask) for 45k points to attend the presentation. That way you’re in a unit suitable for your family & get some of your points reimbursed.
good suggestion. Happens we did something similar early last nov while staying in off-peak suites @ Wyndham towers properties around North Myrtle Beach, SC. (15k per night for 4 very nice nights. yes, enduring an awful, severe high pressure old-tech time share presentation…. but got back 45k for the time.
Yeah I find those mtgs are more like 3 hrs, but then I also figure I spend about that to: apply for/manage spend/follow-up to make sure I receive, a 45k SUB on one of their their cc’s. And I own anyway & get tons of value from it so those mtgs are completely painless now, almost enjoyable tossing around point hacks like we do here on the cc side.
Wyndham is alway wanting to sell existing owners more pkgs so I have pocketed probs 300k points over the last 10 yrs letting them try!
Timeshare owners, like Pam below, are pros in dealing with the presentation pros. We have seen and heard it for 30+ years now. If we are the types who take advantage of the best and really truly use and enjoy our timesharing, we get ‘tons of value’ as Pam says and don’t usually get into a ‘severe high pressure old-tech’ situation. If we go, it is to get the latest in timesharing because the bigger companies (with the best incentives) keep trying to reinvent the wheel. Nice to know the latest change of the emperor’s clothes….
I made out on Mine NEVER paid a Fee in 15 years.Deeded one week a year as in Race Week Daytona 500. Sold my 1/6 share to a friend for a BUCK then he sold it 5 years later for $2K in Race tickets.Gone or Worthless now as in Storms.It’s like how many times do u want to go to the same place ??
This is the list of proposed hotels for the packages: https://www.wyndhamtrips.com/details/
Most of them are not Wyndhams except in major resort locations like Orlando (where I stayed at the Club Wyndham under this offer).
Since I stayed at a Wyndham under this Wyndham timeshare offer, they knew not to credit me. But when I did it through BlueGreen Vacations (for Choice Hotels points) and they stuck me at a Hampton Inn, I did get a bunch of Hilton points. So you have better luck in general cross-brand, I think.
Of course by booking through the website instead of calling you sacrifice the chance for a greater reward – when I called in I negotiated the same offer but for 30K points and a Spend a Night on Us certificate.
I tried Vegas. Options for $199 (3 nights, 4 days) included Caesar’s Palace and Paris, along with a number of others (Rio, Linq, Harrah’s, Flamingo, Club Wyndham, Bally’s). That list is from a 12/20 arrival; hotel options vary depending on dates. Impressive deal!