Philliefan33
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2014
- Messages
- 1,677
DH and I just returned from Myrtle Beach, where we spent three nights in a nice Hilton Grand Vacation resort for $150 + two hours of our time listening to a timeshare sales pitch.
We've never been through one of these, but we were interested enough in the pitch to sacrifice our time in return for the cheap beach getaway. The reason we were interested was not for ourselves, but because my parents have recently been hoodwinked into a timeshare (oops, did I write that? ). I meant to write "my parents recently bought a timeshare".
We went through the presentation and tour with our personal tour guide. It was almost comical how he tried to build rapport and give us the reasons he thought would sway us. I really just wanted to see the numbers but it was hard to get him to lay it all out until the end. After two hours and fifteen minutes I declared that I wasn't interested and was ready to leave and get on with our day at the beach. To his credit, and the manager that had to sign off on our form, there wasn't a high-pressure sell once we said that we weren't interested at any price.
What I recall from the numbers they were showing us: $25,000 bought us 3400 points / year, which was good for about one week in a suite during shoulder season. There is also a HOA of about $850/year.
So over the next ten years we would spend at least $35 K (the HOA is subject to increase) for a week of lodging per year. Of course the numbers get a little lower if you use a twenty year time frame.
Either way, the math doesn't make sense to me and I doubt it makes sense to many of the LBYM crowd that hangs out here.
So why do people buy timeshares? Is it to be part of the "club"? (HGV salesmen always referred to their product as club membership, not a timeshare). Is it to have access to nicer resorts? To force a reluctant spouse to take time for a yearly vacation?
I don't want to bash anyone who owns a timeshare-- it's your money and you can spend however you wish. But if you own a timeshare, what were the factors that swayed you to buy?
We've never been through one of these, but we were interested enough in the pitch to sacrifice our time in return for the cheap beach getaway. The reason we were interested was not for ourselves, but because my parents have recently been hoodwinked into a timeshare (oops, did I write that? ). I meant to write "my parents recently bought a timeshare".
We went through the presentation and tour with our personal tour guide. It was almost comical how he tried to build rapport and give us the reasons he thought would sway us. I really just wanted to see the numbers but it was hard to get him to lay it all out until the end. After two hours and fifteen minutes I declared that I wasn't interested and was ready to leave and get on with our day at the beach. To his credit, and the manager that had to sign off on our form, there wasn't a high-pressure sell once we said that we weren't interested at any price.
What I recall from the numbers they were showing us: $25,000 bought us 3400 points / year, which was good for about one week in a suite during shoulder season. There is also a HOA of about $850/year.
So over the next ten years we would spend at least $35 K (the HOA is subject to increase) for a week of lodging per year. Of course the numbers get a little lower if you use a twenty year time frame.
Either way, the math doesn't make sense to me and I doubt it makes sense to many of the LBYM crowd that hangs out here.
So why do people buy timeshares? Is it to be part of the "club"? (HGV salesmen always referred to their product as club membership, not a timeshare). Is it to have access to nicer resorts? To force a reluctant spouse to take time for a yearly vacation?
I don't want to bash anyone who owns a timeshare-- it's your money and you can spend however you wish. But if you own a timeshare, what were the factors that swayed you to buy?