Selling Vacation Club Points vs Timeshare Points

What You Need to Know About Selling Your Timeshare or Vacation Club Points

With the evolution of the timeshare industry over the past five decades, consumers often ask about the difference between vacation club points and timeshare points, and how selling these points works on the resale market.

Understanding Points Programs

Points programs are now the preferred vacation ownership option, emerging from the 1990s when Disney entered the market with its Disney Vacation Club points program.

WorldMark and Hilton Grand Vacations also created programs in the 1990s, and as the points programs gained traction, more programs launched, including Club Wyndham and Marriott Vacation Club points, which are called Destinations Points.

So, What Happened to Timeshare Weeks?

Resorts continued to sell timeshare fixed weeks at its locations, but a new option became available with the help of exchange companies RCI and Interval International.

The exchange companies developed points-based products that gave timeshare owners more flexibility in their ownership. With programs such as RCI Points, owners were able to either overlay timeshare points onto their week or convert their week into points, depending on the resort. These points could then be used for a variety of travel options beyond week-to-week exchanges.

Some timeshare resorts created their own points programs, which essentially was the genesis leading to today’s Club Wyndham points program.  

How are Vacation Club Points Different from Timeshare Points?

Before looking at the difference between selling vacation club points and timeshare points, we should note that vacation clubs can operate differently depending on the club.

Vacation clubs are basically structured in one of two ways:

• Deeded points to a specific resort. Deeded points are how programs such as the Hilton Vacation Club and Disney Vacation Club points programs work. 

• Pure points programs. Points can be used at other resorts within the network, operating more like a travel club. For example, Club Wyndham members can use their points to vacation at any Club Wyndham resort. 

For club owners, it’s important to understand the difference when selling vacation club points since there are unique aspects to both types of ownership that buyers will want to know.

With deeded points ownership, your home resort provides benefits such as an early booking window to reserve your stay. Owners still have the option of using points to stay at other resorts affiliated with the club. Pure points owners choose any resort within the club network in a first-come, first-served method of reserving vacation dates. 

Check out our earlier article for more specifics about the differences between timeshares and vacation clubs.

How does Selling Vacation Club Points Differ from Timeshare Points?

As we touched on earlier, there are distinctions between the types of points programs, so let’s delve into the differences between selling vacation club points vs timeshare points.

For sellers, it is all about understanding the specifics of your ownership so you can properly promote them to prospective buyers. Whether it is vacation club or timeshare points, verifying your ownership details first will avoid the type of confusion that can arise once a sale goes to closing.

For Selling Vacation Club Points:

Vacation club points owners should first know what type of ownership they have, whether it is deeded or non-deeded (otherwise known as pure points, right-to-use, or leased). New club products are coming onto the market each year, so what you own will determine how you promote your club points for sale.

If the points are deeded to a resort, you’ll promote them under the name of the resort. For instance, Disney vacation club points deeded to Disney’s Beach Club Villas would be promoted under the resort name rather than the vacation club.

Non-deeded points such as Marriott vacation club points as part of Destinations would be promoted as Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Points rather than under a specific resort. The number of points and season information is crucial, as is the annual or biennial usage type.

Also – because point values are specific to the club, be sure to know what type of accommodation your points can provide to the buyer.

For example, a one-bedroom unit for a week at Marriott’s Grande Vista in Orlando will need about 2,000 points to cover most weeks, whereas a one-bedroom at Hilton Grand Vacations Club at SeaWorld in Orlando would need nearly twice that number of Hilton vacation club points for most Platinum and Gold season weeks. Meanwhile, 400 Disney vacation club points will get you any week you want at Disney's BoardWalk Villas.

Buyers may look at your advertisement and wonder if your points package is enough to get them the type of unit they want on vacation. Be ready to answer that inquiry.

For Selling Timeshare Points:

The first thing timeshare sellers need to verify is whether their timeshare points will transfer on the resale market.

In certain instances, such as when RCI points are overlayed onto a timeshare week, those points may not transfer and the seller would need to sell their timeshare as the original product. Check with your resort to know whether the points will transfer.

If you have converted your ownership into points that do transfer, you will have the opportunity to promote those points. In many cases, you can also promote specifics such as the season, usage (annual vs biennial), and how many bedrooms and bathrooms your ownership will provide. You may even be able to promote the week number and unit number, depending on how your ownership is structured at your resort.  

How to Sell Vacation Club Points

Selling vacation club points is all about effectively promoting your points online with a reputable resale company.

In business since 2000, our platform attracts more than one million visitors a year searching for timeshare information. These are the consumers you need to market to when selling your timeshare or vacation club points.

Our self-service program lets you build your advertisement right onto our platform at no cost to you. No high-pressure sales or appraisal fees, and you can cancel the service at any time.

Learn the difference between timeshares and vacation clubs.