Before I answer, I will warn you that it all sounds complicated--and it is. Wyndham is a big system, with more than 70 locations, many of those hosting multiple resorts (there are easily more than 100 different resorts). It has been sold under several different ownership models, all of them glommed together. But, the basic idea is:
Most vacations you'd want to take can be booked at ten months using points at any Wyndham resort(s). This is very different from, say, DVC. In Wyndham, where you own doesn't really matter, except in how much it costs you.
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This is a simplification, but for Wyndham points-based ownerships, there are two reservation periods. The first is the
Advanced Reservation Priority window, or ARP. This lasts from 13 months prior to check in, until 10 months plus one day. During ARP, you can only reserve at the resort(s) at which you own. The second is the
Standard window, which starts at 10 months prior to check in. During the Standard window, points are points, and you can book any available unit in the system no matter where you own.
So, suppose you want to check in for a vacation on
February 17th, 2024. If you owned at Bonnet Creek, you can start booking that stay as early
January 17th, 2023. If you own
anywhere else, you can start booking that stay as early as
April 17th, 2023. ARP seems like it might be important, but in practice it usually isn't.
In most Wyndham resorts, most times of year, ARP isn't really necessary for most reservations. There are some exceptions to this, but they are few and far between. For example, Clearwater during spring break, race week in Daytona, the two Myrtle Beach resorts that have low
point charts during peak summer, etc.
Bonnet Creek is not one of these exceptions. You can expect to be able to get a 1BR or 2BR at any time of year (and probably a 3BR most times of year) as long as you are willing to book promptly at ten months prior to check in. And, most of the time, you don't need to be nearly that early--as I wrote above, you can still book the two weeks around Easter, and those are barely three months from now. So, there is no particular need to own at Bonnet Creek to stay at Bonnet Creek, even if that's the only place you want to stay.
That means you could buy
any Wyndham points ownership and use it at Bonnet. That's important for two reasons. The first reason is that the resort you own
might be one at which ARP matters. For example, I own oceanfront at a Hawaii resort, and only someone who owns that view at that resort can book it during ARP. That view can be booked at 10 months, but it goes very very quickly once we get to that point, and it is nice not to have to worry about booking something right at midnight on the dot for a resort that we go back to regularly.
The second reason is more important: the fees per point are based on the costs of the underlying resort and its
point chart structure. The per-point costs can vary WILDLY from place to place---by factors of two or more in some cases. Bonnet is near the middle. There are definitely more expensive places to own, but there are also places that are cheaper. And, because you don't particularly need to own Bonnet to stay there, you may as well own someplace that is less expensive.
(As an aside: If you are not regularly planning your vacations more than ten months in advance, ARP rights are completely useless. At ten months, points are points.)
The twist to this is that Wyndham has been sold in (at least) two different ways: the first is deeded ownership at a specific resort. The second is a "blended trust" product called Club Wyndham Access, or CWA. CWA owners do not own at any one resort. Instead, they own a small fraction of many many different resorts. So, CWA owners can book at
any CWA resort (availability permitting) at 13 months, and any
other resort starting at ten months. Not all resorts are part of CWA, and many that are were sold as both resort-specific and blended, with some inventory allocated to each. Bonnet Creek is one of those that has been sold both as a Bonnet Creek-specific ownership, and as part of CWA.
CWA is attractive because it has such broad privileges during ARP. But, it is also more expensive than many other ownership alternatives. On balance, it's probably about average--and it has to be, because its costs are the average across all of the underlying resorts in the trust. But most people don't need ARP at most resorts most of the time. So it may not be worth paying for, and it may be better to own at a less expensive location.
