I recently was notified that I was a “grand prize winner” and was entitled to 4 free RT airline tickets and a $50 food card.
I simply needed to attend a presentation by Wyndham Vacation Ownership.
I asked were there any hidden costs, and they simply read the fine print on the offer.
“Nightly room taxes ranging from 0% – 22%, airport taxes ranging form $28 – $98 per ticket and any additional fees, fuel surcharges and incidental expenses are not included.”
In my head, I am thinking a flight to Europe costs $1,000+ and don’t mind paying a couple $100 or even $200 for free tickets.
After attending the presentation, you find out that the part in bold above results in lot of extra fees. For example, the fuel surcharge is $250 dollars. The end result is a flight to Europe that costs $650 – $700 dollars. A flight to the Virgin Islands will cost $140 – $180 dollars according to the agent..
While flights to Milan are going for $670 now from NYC, this is still a “relatively” good deal for airfare.
The other catch is that you need to stay at one of their designated hotels. These hotels are NOT cheap. For Europe, you are talking $250 – $400 dollars / night depending on the season with cheapest season being in January and February. For the Caribbean, you are talking $500+ / night hotel. You also need to stay a minimum of 7 nights or more if traveling to Europe. The hotels are nice hotels that were highly rated on TripAdvisor. One of the hotels that they were putting people in Rome is Donna Laura Palace. (2 listed in booklet had been sold out the time that I was reviewing). I was told that the price for the rooms would be the price listed on these hotels website.
The other catch is limited flexibility. As mentioned earlier, you need to spend at least 7 days at their designated hotels for European adventure. Within Europe, there are four cities – London, Paris, Rome, and Venice. If you travel to London, you can also make Paris count towards those 7 days. You can not attend other cities (e.g., Berlin) and have them count towards your 7 days. If you travel to Italy, the 7 days will need to be across Rome and Venice. This is fine if you plan to spend 7 days in those 2 cities, but it could be a deterrent if you are looking to spend less time in those cities.
In short, this is a good deal if you were planning to spend a significant amount of money on hotels and don’t mind the impact on your flexibility. If NOT, it is probably not worth attending the presentation. If you do take the deal, you can expect to save a couple hundred and not a couple thousand on this deal.
Pics from the Offer Book:
Wyndham Vacation Ownership – Turks & Caicos – 4 free airline tickets
Wyndham Vacation Ownership – Oahu (Hawaii) – 4 free airline tickets
Wyndham Ownership – Orlando – 4 free airline tickets
