What do you think of timeshares?

[mombrontrent]

Timeshare is a great deal... for the people who rent the points off the people who can't afford it/don't want it anymore/can't use it. We love timeshare properties and having all the space, but I'll let someone else worry about the maintenance fees and being locked in to contracts.. renting is the way to go for us.

This is exactly what we do. When we vacation we usually always stay in a time share condo because of the space. We are staying at Bonnet Creek for the third time year and we love it there. However I would never commit myself to buying into a timeshare when I can rent someone else’s for whatever week or resort I want to at a very reasonable price.

 

[robinb]

Seems like you’re asking for advice a bit after the fact. I’ve never known anyone that was happy with their timeshare arrangement.

I'm extremely happy with our timeshare.

 

[Sleepy425]

Thanks. I know there have to be more people out there that enjoy it or it wouldn't continue to be a thing. I think how it's used likely makes a big difference. This one isn't a fixed week. Fixed definitely wouldn't work for me.

Williamsburg is one of the places we hope to go. From what I've figured out, I have 400,000 points (paid $3500 for) and 7 nights in Orlando will be about 85-112,000 (depending on resort) and Willamsburg for 7 nights will be about 87,000. When I looked at booking a room on my own at the Orlando resort I was looking at $200-250 a night. They have a resort in the Poconos for a pretty low amount of points that would make for a nice weekend getaway and still leave me with quite a few points. I feel like if planned well it's definitely a savings for our hotel/resort cost. We already travel mostly off season so those are the lower point times.

Whether I want to spend 50K to keep it forever though.....that's the part I'm really unsure about. I have another day to get out of it if I really decide even the Discovery program isn't for me, but I can see the plus side to it.

You can get an AirBnB much cheaper. Or another resort much cheaper. That is not a great deal at all from what I’m seeing.
I own DVC and love it. I’ve even bought more points direct since I bought my first resale contract. I’ve looked into owning other timeshares, but it just makes more sense to rent Air BnB or something similar, so I’m not tied to a timeshare that is worth almost nothing but costs a lot in annual dues.

 

[Deb & Bill]

There are some very good timeshares, but most of them are better if you buy resale, a lot less expensive. If you aren't past your 10 day rescission period, rescind your purchase now. Then log onto the TUG - Timeshare User Group website and read everything you can find there.

 

[monsterkitty]

We have the Marriott Vacation Club and love it. We got it after my in-laws passed away in 2006. It's flexible and we've always gotten our first or second choice of where we wanted to stay. We have a 2-room villa in Vegas but have never used as we cash in that week for points or exchange for another Marriott in another location. We also have points that we purchased. We've been to Hawaii every other year, Spain, Williamsburg, Disney, Boston, California, and a few other places we exchanged for through Interval (which Marriott now owns).

Would I purchase a traditional time share? Nope.

 

[NYCgrrl]

What do you think of timeshares?

It doesn't fit into my life's idea of financially wise decisions.
Doesn't mean I wouldn't sit thru a selling session for extra FPs on a rainy day though.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Not our thing. We've sat through presentations for some good freebies and stayed at a few through friends and family who weren't using their points, but it's never impressed us enough to buy in. My FIL offered us his, but we turned him down.

 

[Monykalyn]

Longtime TS owner here, in fact currently at a resort we "exchanged" into in Orlando (platinum Marriott resort). However- we were gifted the TS many years ago, and our maintenance fees are probably lowest in country for our trading power (Red week 3bed/3 bath) for <$400/yr maintenance fees). Add II trading fee and we get a week somewhere in at least 2bed/2bath villa for ~$600 for the week. Ours is the exception not the rule. Right now you can pick up a foreclosed unit for nearly nothing. Why spend $20-50k for something you can get on resale for free or nearly free?

If you don't understand the terms 'redweek' or 'trade power' or 'platinum' or what 'RCI' or 'II' is then you don't have any business buying a timeshare until you do.
Go to TIMESHARE USERS GROUP NOW and read and research. Seriously.

 

[bcla]

I've stayed in a timeshare property where we were staying in there effectively as a hotel room. There was no timeshare sales pitch as part of the stay though. I didn't even realize it was a timeshare until I got there. It was just a summer single night but the place was really built for skiers. I mean it was extremely well insulated for winter with no A/C and only ceiling fans. But the place was nice though.

I remember getting sucked into timeshare sales in Vegas. My wife was actually thinking it might be a good idea and I was just rolling my eyes over all the assorted stuff that was said to us to try and get us to consider. Of course we got the "final offer" that would have been every other year for a week to try to get us to buy something before leaving.

There's a reason why they can afford to get all those discounts or freebies, pay for transportation, etc. Marketing expenses are about half the operating cost of timeshares.

I only know one person who was happy with a timeshare, but he bought it early and had low maintenance costs. I remember he was talking about where to trade points. But I've also heard that kind of experience is rare.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've stayed in a timeshare property where we were staying in there effectively as a hotel room. There was no timeshare sales pitch as part of the stay though. I didn't even realize it was a timeshare until I got there.

That was how Hilton Grand Vacations was. We stayed there (the one just off the Strip) in Vegas this past October. It's a hotel for all purposes but it is part of their timeshare program. We did get a very low stress offer to go to a presentation but we declined. Technically my husband was on business so they waived the resort fee too. It was booked just like any other hotel would be with the exception of it being booked through my husband's company's travel agency software since he was there on business but you could book through Hilton's own website too.

 

[bcla]

That was how Hilton Grand Vacations was. We stayed there (the one just off the Strip) in Vegas this past October. It's a hotel for all purposes but it is part of their timeshare program. We did get a very low stress offer to go to a presentation but we declined. Technically my husband was on business so they waived the resort fee too. It was booked just like any other hotel would be with the exception of it being booked through my husband's company's travel agency software since he was there on business but you could book through Hilton's own website too.

That might have been the only timeshare I've ever stayed in. It was Cedar Breaks Lodge in Brian Head, Utah. We were there during the summer, so I believe they had very little visitation and low rates. I had a look at their winter rates, which were considerably higher during ski season. I think that might have also been a result of use by timeshare owners and/or trades. I think it was just $80 a night for a one bedroom with kitchenette and whirlpool bath. Check-in was probably right where timeshare owners would have done the same.

The closest thing I remember was staying at a condo in Hawaii. All the units were individually owned and decorated by the owner, but I paid for it like it was a hotel room. They were probably mostly investment properties and every unit used a card key. I'm not completely sure how they pay out to the owners. I'm guessing there's some sort averaged payout to all owners making their units available for a particular day. We had a problem with our first unit and they put us in a similar sized unit.

 

[ronandannette]

OP - do some math on those points/club type schemes. My sister and her husband who are not well-travelled, took their first trip on 20 years to a Palladium AI in Mexico as a gift from family. They weren’t aware they could decline the “invitation” to the club sales presentation and because they had no idea what vacations typically cost, they were easily swayed by the sales pitch. They spent 10’s of 1,000’s (won’t tell us exactly) on points. They have used them for several trips since, which is good I guess, but none of us have the heart to tell them they could book the identical trip to the same resort for substantially less if they just paid cash.

 

[Dis703]

Thanks so much for all the helpful responses! I guess just looking at it like what I would pay to book individual nights at Wyndham Bonnet Creek compared to this Discovery points package it seemed like a great deal, but now knowing you can buy in at resale for next to nothing, it doesn't seem like as great of a deal. I have 5 days to rescind as per SC law and my contract states the same so I'm drafting a letter to mail today. The websites recommended here were super helpful.

So glad I decided to ask here. I can always count on my fellow Disney peeps!

 

[Hrhpd]

never mind, I see you are canceling

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Thanks so much for all the helpful responses! I guess just looking at it like what I would pay to book individual nights at Wyndham Bonnet Creek compared to this Discovery points package it seemed like a great deal, but now knowing you can buy in at resale for next to nothing, it doesn't seem like as great of a deal. I have 5 days to rescind as per SC law and my contract states the same so I'm drafting a letter to mail today. The websites recommended here were super helpful.

So glad I decided to ask here. I can always count on my fellow Disney peeps!

If you do Facebook, there are a couple of really good Wyndham owner sites that can give you guidance on rescinding (make SURE you send that letter registered mail with signature confirmation) and buying resale.

We own at Bonnet Creek and love our timeshare (yes, I know we are one of the few that do). We look at the maintenance fees as paying for a years worth of hotel rooms at one time. We have 400,000 points and most years we either use them all up ourselves or give them away ( we had a lot of unused points last year due to some circumstances beyond our control and gave them to a friend who was taking her son on a last minute 2 week trip to Orlando).

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Glad to see you are recinding. We just unloaded our Worldmark/Wyndham ownership. We had originally bought into Trendwest and had 6,000 points annually. You can save points for 3 years. Allowed us a full week - every other year with a 1 or 2 bedroom unit. When Wyndham bought out Worldmark points needed to rent a unit went up drastically. It became every three years to rent a unit for a week and the maintenance fees kept going up. I just sold our points for pennies on the dollar but at least I got rid of them and the quarterly fees.

 

[JimMIA]

We originally owned DVC.

DD, who was two at the time, convinced me to buy -- one look at her face during the Main Street parade sent me straight to the DVC sales presentation.

When we returned home, I Googled DVC and discovered the DIS's outstanding DVC forums. From there, I learned about resale and bought DVC resale. Later, we did a small add-on directly through DVC because it was actually cheaper than resale. At our max, we owned 430 DVC points which we shared with my two adult daughters and their families.

There is simply no better way to visit WDW than DVC. Our main home resort, and my fave, was OKW. We had many wonderful vacations with DVC, but eventually we encountered two problems. Our interests had changed and we wanted to go other places, and DVC's annual dues had increased greatly. So after about 8 years of ownership we sold at about a 30% loss -- which is amazingly good for timeshares.

My experience with DVC was that their sales force is relatively honest and professional, you can't beat the locations, but their villas (except OKW) are undersized and overpriced. And the portfolio of where you can go is VERY, VERY limited. But...location, location, location!

Having learned from that experience, I discovered TUG (mentioned above) and began researching resale timeshares in other systems. I purchased 501,000 Wyndham points on eBay for a little less than $2,000 all-in, including closing and transfer costs. My thinking, based on my DVC experience, was this: In for nothing; out for nothing; nothing lost.

To give you a sense of the size of that contract, our first trip was to our home resort Smoky Mountains (Sevierville, TN) and we had three two-bedroom villas (side-by-side even!) for a full week in the high summer season -- for 498K points.

Over the years, my two adult daughters and I used Wyndham for many trips (including a couple of RCI exchanges into DVC for WDW trips). I can't begin to list them all, but highlights were Las Vegas, NYC, AZ (Flagstaff & Sedona), Myrtle Beach, and San Francisco. Last year, I gave the contract back to Wyndham through their "Ovation" program for nothing -- no cost to them, or me.

My experience with Wyndham was that their resorts were excellent, their employees were great, their system worked great (may have changed since), there was amazing variety in places to go.

And their sales force is among the sleaziest in a sleazy industry. I think only Westgate compares, but Wyndham is working hard on getting worse (as of last year -- could have changed).

So the bottom line is great system to buy RESALE. Don't even think about buying from them direct, and especially not through the Discovery program.

The other distinction I would make between most timeshares and DVC is that DVC tends to keep the ground rules of the program the same. That is not true on many timeshares -- they can, and will, change the whole format of the system at a moment's notice.

So now I'm done with timeshares.

 

[Jennasis]

Bought our DVC by resale in 2014 before the prices skyrocketed. We are very VERY happy with our purchase. That said we wouldn't by a traditional timeshare. DVC works very well for us, and we've run the numbers. It's allowed us to vacation very affordably.