One of the little-used features of your Worldmark by Wyndham timeshare ownership is the ability to reserve units for cash when you don’t want to use points and are within 14 days of your travel dates.
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Worldmark by Wyndham Bonus Time
An Owner favorite! Bonus Time allows Owners to pick up any available units or last-minute cancellations 14 days prior to arrival for a nominal fee.
The limitation when using Bonus Time is that the locations and or units that you want may not be available. However, if there are units available, you will get them at a significant savings!!!
Why did you book Bonus Time?
I’m flying up to San Francisco in a couple of weeks for work meetings and a finance conference at the Marriott Union Square, so I need a place to stay. The host hotel didn’t have any more rooms available at the conference rate, so I wanted to check out other options before paying $300+ a night for that hotel.
I looked at options on PointsHound and Rocketmiles, which are my go-to sources for hotel rooms because I can earn airline miles with my reservations. However, the options were pretty expensive unless I stayed outside San Fran or someplace sketchy.
PointsHound is my first choice because you can often earn hotel points & stay credits AND airline miles with their DoubleUp offers. After setting the filter to a minimum 3-star hotel and sorted for low prices, the cheapest option was $229 per night.
On Rocketmiles, you only earn airline miles and the hotels tend to be higher-end. In this case, they offered a cheaper 3-star option for $169.
On Expedia, there weren’t any 3-star hotels available for the night I needed. And what available for 4 and 5 star accommodations were $500+.
So, I decided to check the Bonus Time option at the Worldmark San Francisco. My wife and I have stayed there numerous times, and we love its central location and proximity to Union Square.
How do you book Bonus Time?
Bonus Time is very easy to book. First thing to do is to log in to your Worldmark by Wyndham account.
- Once you’re logged in, click on Bonus Time and select either the region or the specific timeshare location you want to search for. In my case, I’m searching for the “Worldmark San Francisco”.
- The units that are available will show up for your search criteria.
- There were many choices to choose from, but not each type of room had availability for the day I needed. The search will return every option available during the two-week Bonus Time window. Since I won’t be in my room, except to sleep, I chose the smallest room option to save cash. A Studio Hotel unit is the same thing as a normal hotel room. I selected the date I needed and clicked Book it!
- Once I selected my unit and dates, I was presented with a few options to pay for my room.
- 775 Worldmark Vacation Credits (which would also require me to pay a housekeeping fee of $50)
- Bonus Time for $43.40 (cost of $0.056 per credit)
- Fax Time for $62.00 (cost of $0.08 per credit)
- Elite Rental Credits for $108.50 (cost of $0.14 per credit).
- Obviously, the Bonus Time option was cheapest, so I went with that. The total page allowed me to verify the reservation I was about to make and enter my credit card information before submitting to finalize my reservation.
- The total amount of $50.13 included taxes and gave me until February 23, 2014 to cancel for a full refund.
The best thing is that by using Bonus Time, I paid the same amount in cash as if I used Worldmark Vacation Credits because of the required housekeeping fee!
Wyndham Rewards Signature Visa
Whenever I book with Worldmark, I use the Wyndham Rewards Signature Visa to earn additional points for future travel because of the 3 points I earn for every $1 I spend with Wyndham. If you’re going to spend the money anyway, you need to maximize the return on your spend!
- Earn 12,000 bonus points after your first purchase
- Earn 3 points per $1 spent on hotel stays at 14 popular brands
- Earn 2 points per $1 spent everywhere else
- No Annual Fee
- Participating hotels in the Wyndham Rewards Visa Card Program include Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Grand Hotels and Resorts, and Wyndham Garden Hotels
- Program also includes TRYP, Wingate, Hawthorn, Microtel, Dream, Ramada Worldwide, Night Hotels, Baymont Inn and Suites, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, and Knights Inn
- Please see Terms and Conditions for complete details
The Wyndham Rewards Signature Visa (application link)
Conclusion
Flexibility is always key. When you keep an open mind and know the various benefits of your memberships, you can find great deals at unbelievable prices. There are many travel bloggers out there who are anti-timeshare, but this is another example of why I’m happy with my timeshare ownership. With my ownership, I saved at least $125 off the cheapest comparable hotel room in San Francisco.
Has anyone else used Worldmark by Wyndham Bonus Time? What was your experience like? Where did you go? How much money did you save?
Read your guest blog today on MMS. Intrigued about your timeshare info as it is something I have never even considered. Always felt like it was too restrictive & expensive when really I know nothing about them. Looking forward to reading more from you. Thanks!
Michelle, thank you for reading and commenting. I view timeshares just like airline and hotel award programs, they can be very valuable in your overall travel strategy, so long as you acquire them economically and know how best to use them. Unfortunately for me, I bought mine directly, so I paid much more than I should have. Luckily, I’m frugal and was able to pay them off quickly so I avoided the huge interest rates on top of the inflated prices when buying retail (aka directly from the timeshare company).
We like to travel with friends and family, and we have a 3 year old boy and will try for a 2nd child once my wife is done with her MBA. Timeshares offer larger rooms and multi-bedroom units that are difficult to find in a normal hotel. We love having a full kitchen to save money on meals. Since we use miles and points for our travel, food and attractions tend to be our biggest expenses when we travel. When staying with other families, the common area for the children to play while the adults get some space is also key for us.
As I mentioned, timeshares get a bad rap about finding the space you want at the time you want it. That sounds exactly like the negative comments people make when I first explain how we are able to fly all over the world using airline miles for pennies.
What I tell people who are thinking about owning a timeshare is to evaluate several brands by taking advantage of their 3 day / 2 night or 4 day / 3 night promotions where you can stay at a resort and sample the amenities. A weekend like that will probably run about $200 and you’ll have to sit through a presentation, but you’ll learn a lot about the company and be able to ask pointed questions. Once you’ve sampled a couple and know which program you want to pursue, then buy them online on eBay or something similar for about 80% off the price they’re quoting you at the end of the presentation!
Whatever you do, do not be pressured into buying during the presentation. They are very good at selling and what they are selling really does sound good… certainly works for me and my family. However, remember that the price you’ll pay on the secondary market (like eBay) is about 80% off!!!
I do have a couple of opportunities that I can refer you to, so that you can enjoy a 3d/2n or 4d/3n stay. If you’re interested, please send me a message.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.