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[2010] Desperate for help--ROYAL CARIBBEAN OWNERS PLEASE RESPOND

okeeffek

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Green newbie - just joined TUG. Really needing some guidance. Transferred 2 Royal Carribean - cancun weeks from my parents to me in 2007 - been struggling ever since to figure out how to use the timeshare. Maintenance fees are a whopping 869. per week per year whether we use the unit or not!
First year went to the cancun site for one week - husband was sick most of the time - doesn't want to go back. Next year 08 we joined II and transfered a week to Cape Cod MA so had to pay II member fee and an additional exchange fee. My son took the 2nd week in cancun but I had to pay a fee to have someone other than me use the week. 09 we tried using the rental program through royal resorts and they weren't rented so we ended paying 2 horrific maintenance fees without any use or rental income relief.

This year we are planning to use one week (hopefully an exchange) to Lk Tahoe. I will again have to join II and even if I exchange I think I'll have to pay an additional fee to Royal Resorts to have someone other than me use the unit. ??

I know I'm late but I've been so perplexed as to what would be the best course of action to take.

I would sincerely appreciate any feedback as I have such a lack of knowledge about how to proceed and work these things.

Thank you in advance.
 
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geekette

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Someone more knowledgeable about that resort will be along shortly, but my best advice is to first try to rent it out. Get that in motion.

I don't know if you own fixed or float, but be sure you have a reservation that you can change to someone else's name later (GRRRRR on the fee!) Start advertising it, talk about it to people you know at work or wherever, friends and family, blah blah

I'm sorry your husband got sick and I hope he determines that he may have gotten sick whether he had left home or not. It's a shame to not use it. The exchange fees do make that a less appealling option, but if you are getting to vacation, at least you are salvaging some value. Keep trying to do that, but if you can rent what you own, you can rent where you want to go without exchange fees.

Whatever you do, DO NOT pay anyone an upfront fee to sell it for you or rent it out for you. Paying a modest advertising fee (my personal cap is $50) is fine, hundreds or thousands is mostly likely scam.

Good luck!
 

M&M

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Green newbie - just joined TUG. Really needing some guidance. Transferred 2 Royal Carribean - cancun weeks from my parents to me in 2007 - been struggling ever since to figure out how to use the timeshare. Maintenance fees are a whopping 869. per week per year whether we use the unit or not!
First year went to the cancun site for one week - husband was sick most of the time - doesn't want to go back. Next year 08 we joined II and transfered a week to Cape Cod MA so had to pay II member fee and an additional exchange fee. My son took the 2nd week in cancun but I had to pay a fee to have someone other than me use the week. 09 we tried using the rental program through royal resorts and they weren't rented so we ended paying 2 horrific maintenance fees without any use or rental income relief.

This year we are planning to use one week (hopefully an exchange) to Lk Tahoe. I will again have to join II and even if I exchange I think I'll have to pay an additional fee to Royal Resorts to have someone other than me use the unit. ??

I know I'm late but I've been so perplexed as to what would be the best course of action to take.

I would sincerely appreciate any feedback as I have such a lack of knowledge about how to proceed and work these things.

Thank you in advance.

Something's not right. If you exchange your week through II you will have to pay an exchange fee to II, but you can let your son (or anyone else) use your week without incurring any fee from Royal Resorts. You just need to fill out an Owner Loan form and send it in to the resort (do not go through II).

If you do not plan to vacation there, I would sell your weeks. Maybe purchase something that you'd be more inclined to use. Take a look at some of the resale sites to get an idea of whats being asked for similar resales, but keep in mind that asking price doesn't usually equal selling price.

If you do decide to keep your weeks you can rent them out yourself without going through the resort. That way you keep all the proceeds from the rental. Just keep in mind that during that time of year the rental price may be only $1,000 (at least it more than covers your maintenance fees). Again, take a look at some of the rental/resale sites for ideas on pricing.

Good Luck
 

Karen G

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Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
I've added to the title of this post to hopefully get some Royals owners to respond.

It does sound like selling the Royal Caribbean units might be the best route to take if the OP and her family don't intend to use them. They are popular timeshares and this thread might be useful to study.
 

pjrose

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You've come to the right place - don't despair, you own at a great resort and have a lot of options. That $869/week, divided by 7, gives you a two-bedroom villa for less than a plain hotel room. You can sell, rent, trade....there are lot of choices. Many people are stuck with MFs on timeshares they can't give away, or are happy to sell for a dollar. You are not in that situation at all!

Find out the "residual" - the original purchase price printed on the top corner of your blue paperwork - that is what you OR the new owner might get back when the resort sells in 2018. The resort is to be sold for the highest bid, then taxes and legal fees and so forth paid, then the owners of record paid back that residual (original purchase price) IF there is enough money, then the developers paid back a like amount IF there is enough, then the remaining money, IF any, split between owners and developer. The Royals are a class act and they will honor this contract, but how much you get back will depend on the real estate market at the time.

If you want to sell them, advertise them on TUG (free for members), omcancun.com, redweek.com, myresortnetwork.com, and other sites you'll find if you search this forum. Check the asking prices for the same week before you set the price. You could also put them on eBay, but I think it's kind of a pain - you have to sign up as a fair trader or something along those lines, send them your ownership papers, and so forth. (It does help protect you and buyers, of course)

Advertise for rent on the same sites. Usually, Royal Resort weeks will rent for more than the maintenance fee, and if you join TUG, the $15 membership fee will let you advertise for free. If these are back-to-back weeks in the same unit, or beachfront, ground-floor, or penthouse, or during the summer, Easter, or Christmas/New Years, then you can almost certainly rent for well more than the MF. There is also a "rental pool" run by Vacation Club Rentals in San Antonio where rental proceeds for a given two-week period are divided among those who have surrendered their units. Again, depending on the week, you might do well, and you will at least not end up with nothing.

If you haven't got a rental or sale by 60+ days before the interval, deposit them with interval international. You will probably also get a "bonus week" certificate from II (you might need to use a code that they might send you in a mail with a flier asking you to deposit). Then you have one year to use the bonus week to go anywhere (space available) for around $199(?) AND two years to use the deposit to go anywhere (space available) for $139(??) - yes, you are paying around $350 on top of the MF, but you are getting two weeks of vacation in (probably) two-bedroom units at (probably) less than the cost of a basic hotel room.

You can also split the unit - if you only need one half, then rent out the other half. You can deposit the master suite half, and stay in the room half. Quite possibly, your one-bedroom suite deposit might net you a two-bedroom exchange later on.

Keep the questions coming!
 
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pjrose

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I don't know if you own fixed or float, but be sure you have a reservation that you can change to someone else's name later (GRRRRR on the fee!) . . .

Whatever you do, DO NOT pay anyone an upfront fee to sell it for you or rent it out for you. Paying a modest advertising fee (my personal cap is $50) is fine, hundreds or thousands is mostly likely scam.

Good luck!

All Royals are fixed unit, fixed week. You can let anyone you want use it, all you have to do is write a letter to ISCO (Royal Resorts management) and the person, authorizing occupancy. No fee unless there is some new policy.....I believe they now have some kind of online paperwork that might entail a fee, but I do it all the time with just the letters.

Geekette is 100% right on that advice. You may get helpful offers (often on postcards in the mail) to sell your timeshare to "waiting buyers". They are scams. DO NOT FALL FOR THEM.

Karen - thanks for editing the title. It certainly caught my attention.
 
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geekette

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Oh Good!

I knew some people familiar with RC would show up. Much better situation than I expected - YAAAAY!!!
 

okeeffek

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A huge thank you to all of you!

Wow! I never expected to get that much valuable information so quickly. Thank you so much. I can see I've got a lot of research to do. I appreciate every one of your responses. I'll definitely be back with more questions - or hopefully - some solutions!

Thank you.
 

DeniseM

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For clarification:

When you let a guest or renter use your TS, who are you paying the fee to? RCI or the resort?

Just so you know, if you deposit your timeshare in RCI, you may let a "guest" use it, but you cannot rent an RCI exchange, and the penalties are very stiff if you get caught.

If you want to rent your TS, you should rent the weeks you own - not your RCI deposits/exchanges.
 

pjrose

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For clarification:

When you let a guest or renter use your TS, who are you paying the fee to? RCI or the resort?

Just so you know, if you deposit your timeshare in RCI, you may let a "guest" use it, but you cannot rent an RCI exchange, and the penalties are very stiff if you get caught.

If you want to rent your TS, you should rent the weeks you own - not your RCI deposits/exchanges.

The Royals use II, not RCI (The Royal Mayan used to use RCI, and maybe CIC/VCI too, but I think they're all just II now)

I have never paid a fee to the resort when I've transferred occupancy to a guest or renter.

I have paid the $40 guest certificate fee to II (on top of the II exchange fee) when I've let relatives use an exchange.

II is the same as mentioned above in terms of RENTING an exchange - it is a no-no. It's done, but if the person is caught, penalties are stiff.
 

okeeffek

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Clarification

After reading all of your replys I went home and reviewed past paperwork regarding my son's stay at our RC site. Indeed, I had done an exchange through II for him to stay there because he had needed a different week than I own. Therefore, it was the international II exchange fee plus the guest certificate.

Thank you for bringing my attention to that. I'm going to try the exchange and rental programs on Tug to start out with.
 

70mach1428

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Weeks 40 and 41 are not great renters as you can rent them as getaways on ii for 2/3 of the maintenance fees. It is also hurricane season(was there for Hurricane Roxanne week 40 1995 we didn't leave our villa and almost no damage to Royal Caribbean), but I think it is the best time to be there as it is not crowded and very hot(can't go at this time of year anymore due to kids in school). They are also easy to trade internally through the resorts, so you can go almost anytime. As for selling, they seem to be getting around 3000 for non-beach front fall weeks on ebay, selling with no reserve and starting at a 1.

There should be no fees on top of your maintenance fee for using, renting, trading with other members or letting guests use your villa's. There is a fee for internal or ii exchanges.

In 2018, the Royal Caribbean rtu will expire, that will be the last year you can use your villa, at that time the resort will be sold and hopefully residuals values will be returned.
Residual Value = Original purchase price from developer

My parents have had good luck with trading there week 40 at rc for places in Branson, Hawaii, Florida, New York, and Arizona just to name a few . They were original members at VCI and RC. They don't go to Cancun anymore as they have become older and can't take the Sun. They didn't rebuy at VCI and they trade their RC though ii each year.
 

JudyS

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...There is also a "rental pool" run by Vacation Club Rentals in San Antonio where rental proceeds for a given two-week period are divided among those who have surrendered their units. Again, depending on the week, you might do well, and you will at least not end up with nothing....
I've never heard of this program. Is it just for the Royals, or for other timeshares as well?
 

dfoote509

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I've never heard of this program. Is it just for the Royals, or for other timeshares as well?

We used to rent through VCR. In fact some friends rented from them for our trip at the end of April, but I received a letter saying that they were out of business as of the end of April 2010. FYI
 

pjrose

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Here's their site: http://www.mexonline.com/vcr.htm

Yes, just Royal Resorts. The outfit was started by one of the Royal Resort developers, I believe. Too bad if they're going out of business.

ISCO (Royal Resorts management) also runs a rental pool. You deposit your unit for rent with them. The difference is that with ISCO your specific unit must rent for you to get any payment, while with VCR rental proceeds from each two-week period are divided among all those who deposited units.
 

pinmex

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[Advertising]

[Buying/selling/renting are not permitted in the TUG discussion forums. For the classifieds, please click on "Marketplace" in the red bar at the top of the page. - DeniseM Moderator]
 
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