WorldMark Owner Information

    Fred in Colorado, One WorldMark Owner

Owner Education
In this section you will find information concerning how to use your WorldMark ownership. The intent is to explain and supplement the information in the WorldMark Owners Education manual which you can obtain by attending an Owners Education Class or by downloading it from the WorldMark web site. I will also add a few tidbits I have picked up over the years of our ownership. My special thanks to those who have helped me learn over the years I have been a WorldMark owner and have had the patience to put up with my sometimes seemingly dumb questions. As a final note, remember that the following are my interpretations of the Guidelines. I make no guarantees that I am always right.

The Basics
Credits Expiration Date Seasons
Booking Windows Cancellation Windows Group Reservations
Housekeeping Fees Bonus Time Exotic Bonus Time
Inventory Specials The Not So Basics Exchanges

Credits     Top
Credits are your currency for making reservations. You receive a new batch of credits every year on your anniversary date. It's like payday if you are working. For example, if you own 10,000 credits with an anniversary date of September, every year on September 1st 10,000 new credits are added to our account.

Expiration Date     Top
Credits expire 2 years after they are issued. For the example above, the credits issues on September 1, 2007 will expire in September, 2009. You get an extra month to use them since the actual expiration date will be September 30, 2009. In other words, credits are issued on the first day of the month and they expire on the last day of the same month, 2 years later.

Seasons     Top
WorldMark uses 3 seasons to refer to the desirability of visiting a resort at various times. They are labeled Red, White, and Blue Season. Red Season is the most desirable, Blue Season is the least desirable, and White Season is somewhere in between. The number of credits required to book a unit will vary corresponding to the season. Red Season requires the most credits, Blue Season the least credits, and White Season in between.

The season definitions are very subjective so I'll just give an example without comment. At Steamboat Springs Red Season is in the summertime and during the ski season. Late fall is Blue Season. White Season is after ski season but before the summer activities begin and in the early fall. Not all resorts will have all three seasons, and some resorts such as the exotic locations and the "destination" locations like Orlando and Las Vegas are designated Red Season the entire year.

The actual dates of the seasons will vary from year to year. The total number of days in each season will not change, but the dates of the seasons will. Sometimes there are minor adjustments and sometimes there are significant year to year changes to adjust to the booking patterns at a resort. You can find the season designations either in the credit values booklet or online in the resort directory.

Booking Windows     Top
The seasons affect the booking window, or when you can make a reservation. In White and Blue Seasons there are no restrictions. You can book any number of days at a resort at any time, up to 13 months in advance of your check in date.

In Red Season that is not true. In the time frame of 91 days to 13 months before your check in date, you must book a full week during Red Season. You can book the week at multiple resorts, which results in a Group reservation as defined in the next section. If it is 90 days or less until your check in date you can book less than a week.

Cancellation Windows     Top
WorldMark has a very liberal cancellation policy. You can cancel a reservation without penalty as defined by the following table.

For Reservations Made No Penalty Cancellation Date
91 or more days before check in 30 days before check in
15 to 90 days before check in 10 days before check in
48 hours to 14 days before check in 48 hours before check in
48 hrs or less before check in No Cancellation Allowed

Group Reservations     Top
A group reservation does not mean a reservation for you and a group of your friends. From the guidelines, Group reservations "consist of two or more consecutive reservations (segments), at least one of which is in Red Season, that are linked together so that the grouped segments comply with the seven-night minimum stay requirement for a Red Season reservation." For example, you could book a one week Red Season reservation consisting of 3 nights at Depoe Bay followed by 4 nights at Seaside. That reservation could be booked 13 months in advance. There are some special rules concerning Group reservations. You should study the Guidelines and/or ask a Vacation Counsler at the Vacation Planning Center.

Housekeeping Fees     Top
Some people have trouble understanding the housekeeping allocations and fees. It's really fairly simple. When your annual anniversary date rolls around you are given free housekeeping credits to use for your reservations. If you own less than 20,000 credits you receive 1 free housekeeping per year. At 20,000 credits you receive 2 housekeeping credits; at 30,000 credits you receive 3 housekeeping credits, and so on. For each additional 10,000 credits you own you receive one additional free housekeeping credit each year. The housekeeping credits have two year expiration dates just like credits do.

When you make a reservation you use one or more housekeeping credits. Every time you check out of a unit it must be cleaned before the next person occupies it. It doesn't matter if you occupied the unit for one night or for a full week, it still must be cleaned. That takes one housekeeping credit from your account. If you make a Group Reservation, each segment of the group requires a housekeeping credit.

If you condo hop, going from one resort to another with short stays at each you will use up your free housekeeping credits in a hurry. If you run out of free housekeeping credits you will be charged a housekeeping fee. The fee is collected at the time you make your reservation, not when you actually occupy the unit. Housekeeping fees are based on the unit size and are subject to change. You will see the housekeeping fee listed as a charge if you owe one when you make an online reservation. If you call the VPC to make your reservation they will tell you the amount due.

The following table lists the housekeeping fees that were effective January 1, 2008.

 Unit SizeHK Fee Unit SizeHK Fee
 Studio Hotel$42.00 2 Br Chalet   $76.00
 Studio$48.00  2 Br PH$90.00
 1 Br Compact$55.00 3 Br$76.00
 1 Br$63.00 3 Br Chalet$84.00
 2 Br Compact$60.00 3 Br Ph$104.00
 2 Br$70.00 4 Br Ph$118.00

A final note: Housekeeping fees apply only to reservations made with credits. There are no housekeeping fees associated with Bonus Time or Inventory Specials which are discussed in the next sections.

Bonus Time     Top
Bonus Time is booked with cash rather than credits. Bonus Time was introduced to allow last minute booking of units that would otherwise go empty. It is a great way to get some extra vacation days without requiring you to use any of your credits.

There are some special rules for booking Bonus Time. The following restrictions apply:

  • Booking Window - 14 days before the check in date.
  • Booking Window for a guest - 5 days before the check in date.
  • A maximum of 4 consecutive days may be booked.
  • You may have only 1 bonus time reservation at a time.
  • You may have only 1 weekend only bonus time reservation per calendar quarter

Even though a Bonus Time reservation can be for a maximum of 4 nights, those 4 nights do not have to be at the same resort. Similar to grouped reservations made using credits, you can string together a nightly stay at 4 different resorts if you want to, or any other combination of nights and resorts, so long as you stay within the 4 night maximum.

The one "weekend only" bonus time reservation per quarter is tied to the number of credits you own. Owners with less than 20,000 credits can make one weekend only Bonus Time reservation per quarter. If you own at least 20,000 credits but less than 30,000 you can make 2 weekend only reservations per quarter, etc. A weekend only reservation is a two night reservation for Friday and Saturday night.

All those special rules may make Bonus Time seem very restricted, but that is not the case. Depending on where and when you want to travel, bonus time can present some great opportunities. First the bad news. If you are trying to travel to the more popular resorts during prime seasons, especially summer, holidays, or winter at the ski resorts, Bonus Time is difficult to find. Not impossible, but you should consider yourself lucky if you find it.

But at other times, and especially at some of the seasonal resorts, it is readily available. You need to be able to make last minute travel plans since you cannot book bonus time far in advance. If you want to go somewhere for longer than the 4 day bonus time limit, you can book part of the reservation on bonus time and the remainder on credits.

How do you find bonus time? The best way is to use the online booking capability of the WorldMark web site. There is a search feature which can be used to search for bonus time for a specific resort or for an area, such as Mountain, Oregon, Nevada, or any other of the WorldMark areas. That search feature will show you what is available for the resort or area you specified. You can also use the 4 month calendar to check for bonus time at a specific resort. I usually end up doing that, more out of habit than anything else. I step through the various resorts and unit sizes we are interested in and see what I can find.

If the first time you check for Bonus Time you don't find what you want, don't give up. Reservations are cancelled all the time so you need to keep checking, the more frequently the better. Remember that reservations made less than 90 days in advance can be cancelled up to 10 days before check in, so even if there is nothing available when the 14 day Bonus Time window opens, subsequent cancellations can change that. The wait list is not in effect inside of 14 days, so any cancellations after that time are available as Bonus Time.

There is no wait list for Bonus Time, it is first come, first served. If you see something you think you want, book it immediately or you might lose it. If plans change Bonus Time reservations can be cancelled up to 2 days before check in date. If you know your plans have changed, cancel those reservations as soon as possible as a courtesy to other owners who may be looking to book those days you have reserved.

Bonus Time currently costs 4.4 cents per credit to book. For one night in a unit that normally requires 1,000 credits to book the cost is $44. There is a minimum charge of $30, so even if you book a Blue Season studio which is only 300 credits, it will still cost you $30. Take the number of nights you want to book, add up the total credits required, and multiply by 4.4 cents to get the total cost. If the resort has a TOT tax you will also have to pay that. But you pay no housekeeping fees, housekeeping is included in the bonus time cost. That means you can split your reservation among multiple resorts, or multiple units in the same resort, without incurring any additional housekeeping costs. For example, if when you make your 4 night Bonus time reservations the only units available are two nights in a 1 bedroom unit followed by 2 nights in a 2 bedroom unit, you do not pay any additional housekeeping fees.

Exotic Bonus Time     Top
There is also Exotic Bonus time which applies to the resorts in Hawaii, Cabo, and Fiji. Exotic Bonus time has some special rules. You can book Exotic Bonus time up to 30 days in advance of the check in date, both for yourself or for a guest. You can book multiple units and you are not restricted to booking only 4 days.

One important difference with Exotic Bonus time is the cancellation policy. You only have 48 hours from the time you make the reservation to cancel an Exotic Bonus time reservation. That gives you time to check for air travel arrangements but prevents people from making last minute Exotic Bonus Time cancellations which would probably then go unused.

The online reservation system currently is not set up to handle Exotic Bonus Time reservations. You must call the Vacation Planning Center to book Exotic Bonus Time.

Inventory Specials     Top
Inventory Specials are booked with cash like Bonus Time with some of the rules relaxed. Inventory Specials are usually announced 2 or more months in advance both online and in the Destinations magazine. They may include weekend reservations, or may be for mid week Sunday through Thursday night stays only.

You can book Inventory Specials up to 60 days in advance of the check in date for either yourself or for a guest. Unlike Bonus Time, you can have multiple Inventory Special reservations at one time. The 4 night limit does not apply, you can book up to 30 consecutive nights on Inventory Special.

Inventory Specials are typically off season. Do not expect to find Inventory Specials during prime time or at the very popular resorts. But when you do find them at a time and place that you want to visit they are another way to get extra vacation days without using your credits. The cost for Inventory Specials is the same as for Bonus Time, currently 4.4 cents per credit. There are no additional housekeeping fees associated with Inventory Specials.