Have timeshares gotten any better?

[disneysteve]

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Originally Posted by Music Lover Wyndham. We said no to buying a timeshare so they offered a "discovery" package of XX number of points. No other commitment, no maintenance fee...just use the points until they ran out. We turned that down and they kept dropping the price until we decided that the price was low enough where the price per night became very reasonable.

Nice. That sounds like a great deal.

[ChrisC]

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Originally Posted by TrvlBug +1. We also own Marriott (5 ) and love them. They are not 'investments' and take a bit of learning to maximize use if you plan on trading.

Ditto. Owner of Marriott Timeshares/VCP over 4 decades, since 1999. Used them for priceless family vacations in the past and continuing to enjoy them in retirement. They are by no means our exclusive method of leisure travel, but we’ve leveraged them for great travel junkets. Works for me in my family.

Of course, timeshare haters gonna hate; and timeshare owners who know good deals and good trips, gonna keep on keepin on. More informed debates can be found at the Timeshare Users Group forum.

[samcat]

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Originally Posted by Dalmore I was one of the lucky(?) ones and inherited a timeshare (two actually). One was very hard to use and expensive so I sold it on the aftermarket for $.01 - at least I wasn't paying the maintenance fees anymore. The other one, WorldMark, is not too bad so long as you have a place you like to go. DW and I love the Sonoma, CA area and go there several times a year. We plan far enough ahead that we rarely have a problem booking and the room is very nice and centrally located for us. We don't like to dine out too much, even when we are on vacation and like the kitchen amenities. It is also very easy to bring guests with us. I definitely prefer it to the hotel option for what we do in Sonoma. If we didn't have that resort to go to, then it would be a waste of money for us and I would get rid of it.

My parents have Worldmark also. We have loved it over the years. We are actually going to Angels Camp in May. Love the gold country and the wine tasting. We especially like the variety of locations we have access to.

[BGH1]

We have a timeshare in Myrtle, 3 bed lockoff and have traded into Maui several times, kuwai, st Thomas, Cancun twice, Disney world, and most stays have been 2 weeks in a unit that sleeps 8 and more, kitchen laundry full set up condo, Westin to boot. I think we have been very fortunate. It’s not for everyone but it sure has worked well for us.

[marion10]

Timeshare Users Group www.tug2.net has great forums and listings of timeshares for sale and rent. I would never buy from a developer. I had two timeshares I bought from a broker in South Africa in the 90s that we traded for some great vacations- but I paid $425 for each of them and the maintenance fees were very low. Sold then later for what I paid for them.

[isisdave]

Read TUG (tug2.net) and look on Redweek. You can buy some fairly nice places for $1 in the TUG marketplace, and there's a forum for last minute rentals (45 days out) that's limited in price to $115 a night. Never buy from a developer.

[Jerry1]

I used to work with a lady that worked the point system mercilessly. Not my cup of tea, but she was very happy with it. I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t a braggart. She stayed at some really nice places for the money and was satisfied that she got her money’s worth. It wasn’t a passive activity though, she worked it like a travel agent.

[Still_Waters_43]

Timeshare? no way!..... I use Airbnb, so no commitment,and vacation wherever and whenever I like

[Bagabonz]

I have a couple contracts with Hilton Grand Vacation Club for the Big Island of Hawaii. Before you do anything else join TUGG the timeshare users group. I’m super happy with Hilton. Staying here right now. Paid $100 for one and $1 for the other. Both on ebay. Never buy or even attend a presentation.

[troutnut1]

My parents got stuck with one 40 years ago and ended up buying a second week from a friend at about 1/4 of what they paid. I think they amassed an entire month. Luckily, back then gringos couldn’t own fee simple in Mexico. They were set up as 30 year leases. My wife and I had a few great times there because nobody wanted to use it. They did do a little trading that they liked. Learning about that resort “Costa Vida Vallarta” and what I could buy weeks for made great ammo against other timeshare salespeople. We lived at Lake Tahoe at the time and anytime we wanted extra gambling money we would just go to a presentation. We would then tell them we already had 4 weeks and although we liked their resort, we could simply trade some of our weeks for their weeks at a tiny fraction of the price. So why would we want to buy one? Sometimes they made us sit through the whole thing as punishment, other times they would just give us the money (in casino chips at the time) and send us on our way. Made my dad smile. He used to haggle over 25 cent books at garage sales and go harass new car dealers just for sport.

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Prob still ok if youre the developer of one.

Now if you mean BUYING one? Rarely to no

[ychuck46]

We have owned a couple of weeks in the RCI system for over 30 years now and they worked out well. But starting about ten years ago we bought into the Wyndham points system and use them exclusively, doing something called PIC weeks with our RCI weeks into the Wyndham system for a lot more points. The wife and I went with this approach because we did not want to have a second home to maintain in addition to our large primary home, particularly on the oceanfront with their high maintenance costs (think salt air and hurricanes primarily). The wife and I are retired and we travel 4-5 months out the year with our timeshare points, and it is great. We spend three months every winter on the ocean, and the other weeks we spend primarily in places like here in the mountains of TN, New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast.

Your mileage varies but we love 'em and even timeshare naysayers tell us we did it right when they see what we are doing.

[meleana]

We have owned 2 weeks at Smugglers Notch in VT for 22 years and used it every single year. Made lots of memories there. Our family just loved it and it was a 6 hour drive for us so flying or renting a car.

For us it was like having a second home. We had the same condo for both weeks and same prime summer week every year, though we could trade if we wanted to.

We also used the other week, which was a varied off season week- to trade and go all over the country. Really the best purchase we ever made and we more than got our money’s worth.

We also acquired a free timeshare at Innseason Pollard Brook in NH in 2015 and we have enjoyed it as well. We found it on Timeshare Nation.

And now that we live just an hour from that resort we we can also take advantage of day use of the amenities.

It’s all about doing your homework and due diligence and understanding what you are buying. Really for the most part resale is the way to go and free is even better.

[disneysteve]

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Originally Posted by meleana We also acquired a free timeshare at Innseason Pollard Brook in NH in 2015 and we have enjoyed it as well. We found it on Timeshare Nation.

By free, I'm assuming you mean no upfront cost. That's actually not that hard to find. Lots of timeshares get sold for $.01 or $1.00 online because people are so desperate to get rid of them.


How much is your annual fee? It may be well worth it if you've been able to make use of it every year. The problem arises when you no longer want it. You need to find a willing "buyer" to take it off your hands, even if you're giving it away for nothing. Otherwise you're stuck with that annual fee indefinitely.

[EdL3]

They have worked well for family+ vacations in our younger days, not so much as empty nesters. We enjoyed the space 2BR apartment & resort amenities. Own in Orlando but have traded to The Big Island & Kauai, Cayman Islands, St. Lucia, Branson, Lake of the Ozarks, & Williamsburg just to name a few. Proper advance planning is the key. Timeshare Users Group www.tug2.net is a great resource.

At this point in time, I feel I can get better value out of $1k in maintenance fees by buying a vacation package or VRBO, and will probably sell it.

[meleana]

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Originally Posted by disneysteve By free, I'm assuming you mean no upfront cost. That's actually not that hard to find. Lots of timeshares get sold for $.01 or $1.00 online because people are so desperate to get rid of them. How much is your annual fee? It may be well worth it if you've been able to make use of it every year. The problem arises when you no longer want it. You need to find a willing "buyer" to take it off your hands, even if you're giving it away for nothing. Otherwise you're stuck with that annual fee indefinitely.

Ummmm- well you can see I’ve owned timeshares for 22 years so I am an expert owner so I get it.

Yes- we had no upfront purchase cost for the Pollard Brook timeshare abs our annual fee is $850.

You can’t rent anything in that area for 8 days/ 7 nights - a condo with 2 bedrooms, and a loft with 2 more beds, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen and a fireplace and 2 big screen TVs with a balcony overlooking the mountains- anywhere. Nice indoor and outdoor pool, sauna, hot tub, game room, tennis, playground....activities. Well worth it for a prime summer week in the White Mountains.

Same with our timeshare in VT. Was well worth the huge price we paid back in 1999 because we owned a long time and always used it.

In fact- the resort in VT has a take back program and we are turning it back this year as part of our retirement plan. No cost to us.

[disneysteve]

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Originally Posted by meleana In fact- the resort in VT has a take back program and we are turning it back this year as part of our retirement plan. No cost to us.

That’s great. I guess they’re confident they can resell it.

[Vinnygret]

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Originally Posted by Jerry1 I used to work with a lady that worked the point system mercilessly. Not my cup of tea, but she was very happy with it. I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t a braggart. She stayed at some really nice places for the money and was satisfied that she got her money’s worth. It wasn’t a passive activity though, she worked it like a travel agent.

I'd like to meet HER. She must have developed an amazing skill set. I have two friends who bought a TS together and later bought yet another. I stayed with them twice. Both are very smart at math - I have to count on my fingers - but not so smart at other thinking skills. They rhapsodized about how cheap it was to stay at these units and I got a very nice price for my week there (New Orleans). However, when thinking about how cheap it was, they never seemed to factor in what they paid (A LOT as I recall) for a property they don't own that has no tax advantages PLUS yearly fees that increase annually plus some sort of (rather minimal) fee they had to pay for the week they rented. I may be math impaired, but that nonsense just didn't seem like any kind of a bargain to me except inasmuch as I had a benefit since I didn't pay anything except my share for the week. The second time I went (Las Vegas), my friend was additionally obligated to attend a sales meeting. If it's good for you, enjoy it. I just don't see it as a deal - unless you learn to really work it as your friend did. Good on her. All the other chumps are financing her reward for her skills.

[meleana]

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Originally Posted by disneysteve That’s great. I guess they’re confident they can resell it.

Years ago Wyndham got involved with the sales and things changed a bit. The resort is still managed by the same family, but over the years some of the fixed week ownerships converted to RCI points and then to Wyndham Points.

But lots of owners like ourselves refused to convert. No need since we always went to the resort as opposed to trading. If we wanted to go somewhere else we just rented for an additional vacation that year or used our floating week to trade.

Now we live in a vacation area and we can drive to Vermont when we want since we are just an hour and a half from the border. So we decided to downsize the timeshares abs just keep the Pollard Brook one.

Wyndham needs more inventory there for their owners so our weeks will go to them and be converted to points.

[LJ Dem]

Great idea! Do you have a tip on finding timeshares to rent? (ie: is there a unique method or site, as opposed to airbnb and vrbo etc?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by disneysteve This exactly. If you want to stay in a timeshare resort, just rent a unit for the time you will be visiting. We've done this numerous times. No long term commitment. No huge upfront cost. No worries about trying to unload it when we no longer need it. No need to book a year in advance. We have rented beautiful 2-bedroom, 2-bath timeshare units as little as 3 or 4 weeks in advance and paid as little as $40/night. There is no possible situation in which buying would have made sense.