Wondering how to cancel Wyndham timeshares? First keep in mind that this Orlando, Florida-based vacation ownership company is one of the largest in the timeshare industry. Club Wyndham did not become as huge as it is by allowing its customers to easily transition out of timeshare ownership. The power and capital they’ve gained has come from their strategic way of getting customers to casually sign into hefty timeshare contracts that they hope will last a lifetime.
Though many large timeshare companies make cancellation nearly impossible, Wyndham is one of the few that has its own timeshare exit program. This program acknowledges the financial strains that timeshare owners go through to keep up with their payments and allegedly provides them with exit options. But if you’re familiar with the nature of large timeshare developers, you’ll know that many of them will do anything to keep customers on their good side.
So does Wyndham Cares actually provide owners with feasible options for exiting their contracts? Or is this program a scam that doesn’t actually help? Let’s get into the depths of the Wyndham Cares program and see what possibilities it offers — for both long-term customers with paid off mortgages and more recent customers who have yet to pay off their mortgage but still want out of their timeshare contracts.
Wyndham’s Timeshare Exit Program
Timeshare sales pitches are designed to sell customers on the idea that timeshare purchases are convenient and affordable investments that provide you with luxurious places to return to every year. Timeshare companies make money by charging customers maintenance fees for life. However, many timeshare sales people neglect to mention how permanent timeshare contracts can be and how difficult canceling after your rescission period is. Offering a program that allows customers to end their contracts isn’t common among large timeshare developers, so the fact that Wyndham provides exit options to their timeshare-owning customers may come as a surprise.
Wydham’s certified exit program was originally named Ovation but is now called Wyndham Cares. This program claims to provide timeshare cancellation options for customers who want out of their contracts. It is intended to help current owners manage their leftover points, navigate timeshare resales, and create an exit plan for ending timeshare ownership. Wyndham Cares boasts a team of specialists who are dedicated to finding the right exit strategy for their customers — all for no added cost or upfront fees.
Qualifying for Wyndham Cares
How to cancel wyndham timeshare: golden pen checking off tick boxes
Wyndham Cares isn’t offered to just anyone. In fact, most people who apply for the program are not granted the option to end their contract. Wyndham’s buyback program, which allows approved customers to sell their timeshare property back, requires owners to be up to date on all their annual fees, have a paid off mortgage, and be in good standing with the company. Basically, only long-term Wyndham owners who’ve already paid a substantial amount to Wyndham are allowed into the program.
There are limitations for all other Wyndham customers looking for a way out of their contract. Wyndham offers a hardship exception for customers who’ve suffered personal tragedies that have compromised their ability to pay for their timeshare; however, not all people who apply are accepted. And for Wyndham owners who still have a loan balance but want out of their timeshare, Wyndham provides limited options.
Processing a Resale With Wyndham
One of the options for Wyndham owners who haven’t paid off their mortgage is processing a timeshare resale. Wyndham claims that they’ll be able to find you a featured reseller that’ll help you get the best deal on your property.
If you choose this option, however, you will have to go along with Wyndham’s specific protocols for selling your timeshare on the resale market. That means only working with Wyndham’s select pool of timeshare resellers and following their exact resale process. Depending on how much you trust Wyndham to find you a fair price on your timeshare resale, this may or may not be a good decision.
If you decide to take the resale route with Wyndham, you will have to draw up a listing agreement with your broker and offer up your property or timeshare points on the resale market. In theory, your resale agent will market your property online, find a willing buyer, negotiate a sales price, process the paperwork and escrow deposit, and complete the sale.
This process may sound like a convenient, stress-free way to take the property off your hands, but think again. Handing the responsibility of a timeshare resale onto someone else might not guarantee you the best price on your timeshare property. In fact, it might not guarantee you a sale at all.
A quick skim of the timeshare resale market on websites like eBay and Craigslist will reveal a long list of unsold timeshare properties marked at little to no cost. Why? Because the demand for timeshare resales is much lower than the actual availability of timeshares. So who’s to say that Wyndham’s highly evaluated selection of timeshare resellers will be able to achieve a sale for you?
Just because brokers have a larger pool of contacts to market your property to doesn’t mean that your timeshare is going to get scooped up. And even if it is, who’s to say that you’ll make any sort of profit off of it? In reality, timeshare resales are extremely hard to achieve. Even people with properties at highly desirable locations like Wyndham Vacation Resorts struggle to find a buyer.
Wyndham Cares’ oversimplification of the timeshare resale process is not the only cause for concern. Their stance on timeshare cancellation companies puts into question how trustworthy Wyndham actually is. Wyndham Cares states that if you work with anyone other than their certified exit specialists, your options for exiting can be limited to nonexistent. Many timeshare developers take this stance when trying to discourage customers from using a third party to navigate timeshare cancellation. But these developers don’t say this because it’s necessarily true. They say this to make sure they lose the least amount of money, stay in the good graces of their customers, and aren’t exposed for sneaky tactics they’ve pulled over on them.
Ultimately, Wyndham is in the business of selling timeshares. Even though they do take back timeshare properties and supposedly help you sell them to approved third parties, why would they make it easy for you to sell to a third party when they would rather sell the person one of their units and make more money? This is a glaring conflict of interest and a good indication that this solution may not be what they claim it is.
Wyndham plays the waiting game. While your property sits on the marketplace, Wyndham is still collecting maintenance fees despite their claims to help you escape the financial stress of owning a timeshare. If Wyndham has promised to sell a timeshare that you have yet to see offers on, it’s probably time to seek outside help.
