• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Looking for advice about my timeshare

kod4krome

newbie
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I’m hoping someone can help me out with some advice on my timeshare. I have 1 week / 1 bd with Royal Aloha Vacation Club (RAVC). It’s a modest club, but it’s always clean and the units are reasonably sized. My parents bought 2 weeks (1 bedroom each) in the late 70’s / early 80’s, but I wasn’t around yet  so I don’t remember, and I’m sure they overpaid but I’d say that’s water under the bridge at this point. I remember having a number of nice family vacations over the years, mostly as a teenager where my sister and I would get one unit and my parents the other. Having stayed at all the Hawaii locations I would say Oahu is the best of the bunch.

My parents transferred a week to me after college, and while their heart is in the right place, I have unfortunately never used it, and after accumulating 3weeks, I lose one every year. I have looks at RCI and II but have never tried exchanging. My wife and I are just at a point in our lives that we really don’t take that much vacation, and when we do its usually planned less than a month in advance.

I’ve been pretty resolved to just pay the maintenance fee every year since it keeps the idea alive for my parents, and I do have fond memories of our trips it’s just not fitting into my life right now. I’m really not sure what the best thing to do is, but I’m not stuck on any specific value of the week: if the smartest thing to do is to basically ‘give’ the membership away to stop paying the maintenance I would consider it.

  • Would RCI TPU be an option? Maybe convert multiple weeks and get a few days at a higher end property?
  • Is it worth anything to rent the week on TUG? Probably not the full maintenance but maybe enough to cut my yearly loss?
  • Can I donate a week to charity somehow? Is that even advisable?

Sorry for such a long post, I’ve done a lot of ‘looking’ online but this is my first post. Thanks for the advice.
 

sjsharkie

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
2,321
Reaction score
441
Points
293
I don't know much about this timeshare club.

I did a search though and there are several threads about trading power as well as for sale offers in bargain deals. These will give you better advice than I could.

I suspect that you may be able to trade easier into one of RAVC's other locations. If not, researching some of the other threads can help you figure out if it is worth trading with RCI or other independent exchange companies.

Giving away for free is also another way to go if you can't find any use for it. I've seen this resort pop up in the bargain deals section before.

Good luck. You've come to the right place.

-ryan
 

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,096
Reaction score
7,679
Points
1,099
Location
Florida

LannyPC

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2010
Messages
4,779
Reaction score
2,407
Points
448
Location
British Columbia
  • Can I donate a week to charity somehow? Is that even advisable?

That question has been discussed countless times on these boards. I'll try to give you the Coles' Notes version.

You can "donate" but the charity has to accept it willingly. Most charities will charge thousands of dollars to take it off your hands. Some do a questionable tactic (bordering on illegal) that could come back to haunt the donor called the "Viking Ship" scheme. If the charity in question charges about $1500 or less, then likely it's a Viking Ship scheme and we TUGgers generally advise against using such a method.

If you want to get rid of your timeshare, there are cheaper methods if you can be patient and are willing to do a little work.

1) Try selling it:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44

2) Try asking the resort if it will take the TS back:

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/give_back_timeshare.html

3) While you're trying that, try the free giveaway method here on TUG:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132509
 

DaveNV

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
22,003
Reaction score
29,217
Points
1,348
Location
Mesquite, Nevada
Resorts Owned
Free Agent
I used to own RAVC (my home resort also was the Waikiki location.) I found it difficult to get my money's worth, since they had limited exchange opportunities to their other locations, and the resort quality just wasn't very high. (e.g. RAVC Kona is a dump.) I found there was minimal to no interest in selling it. Exchanging into RCI was an option, but the TPU given wasn't very high.

What I finally did was contacted RAVC and asked to cancel the membership. I explained it just wasn't what I wanted, and I asked to be able to resign the membership. They agreed. Since this is a Club Membership, not a deeded timeshare ownership, there was nothing required to get out of it other than to put the cancellation request in writing. It was handled quickly, and I was done with them in a few weeks' time.

Undoubtedly your parents paid dearly when they bought back in the 1970's, but you're paying even more if you're on the hook for maintenance fees every year for something you aren't using. If cancelling the membership isn't an option, you could always ask your parents if they'd like to take the membership back.

Good luck,
Dave
 
Last edited:

JohnPaul

TUG Review Crew: Elite
TUG Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
1,649
Reaction score
845
Points
323
Location
Sacramento, CA
Resorts Owned
Vacation Internationale, HGVC - NYC, Worldmark, Shell Vacations, Sedona Pines, RCI Points, Starwood (Avon, CO)
Tahoe

They also have units at South Lake Tahoe. Don't know the inside quality but they are up on the top of Kingsbury by the Stagecoach entrance to Heavenly Ski Area.
 

Rent_Share

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
5,091
Reaction score
3
Points
473
Location
SOCAL (562)
That question has been discussed countless times on these boards. I'll try to give you the Coles' Notes version.

You can "donate" but the charity has to accept it willingly. Most charities will charge thousands of dollars to take it off your hands.

IMHO - The OP has done a lot of research before asking his questions :cheer:

The way I read is post he asked if he could donate a week, not the week.

Earlier in his post

I have unfortunately never used it, and after accumulating 3weeks, I lose one every year
I read his question to be could he donate the use of the week instead of losing it.
The conventional Tug mantra (1) is the cost (Maintenance Fees) associated with that donation are not deductible, so other than feeling better about the charity getting some use or value, there is no financial reward for donating the use. Generally who ever stays in the week becomes your guest with whatever pitfalls might arise from an unknown guest occupying a room on your account. There is also the challenge of either reserving a specific week or trying to play the reservation game with an organization an/or individual that might be clueless as to the challenges of reserving timeshares.
So yes you could donate the usage, but you wouldn't get a tax deduction and you would be faced with trying to reserve a week, something you are unable/unwilling to do to get usage out of the units for yourselves
(1) With Adult children 28, 25, 23 there are never enough points to around, plus my points can be rented for cash and my reservations can be cancelled up to 30 days before check in, so I have never personally read the postings on tax doctrine and donating
 

presley

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
6,313
Reaction score
1,121
Points
448
My parents transferred a week to me after college, and while their heart is in the right place, I have unfortunately never used it, and after accumulating 3weeks, I lose one every year. I have looks at RCI and II but have never tried exchanging. My wife and I are just at a point in our lives that we really don’t take that much vacation, and when we do its usually planned less than a month in advance.

Rather than continue to pay for a gift which you do not use, can you get rid of it without letting your parents know to spare their feelings?

If not, you can still bank your week(s) with RCI or maybe even a smaller exchange company like Platinum or SFX. Depending on where you live, both often have last minute inventory which you could exchange for. It does cost to exchange, though. So, you would be paying out even more money to do it this way.
 

HawaiiTrader

newbie
Joined
Jul 31, 2017
Messages
13
Reaction score
5
Points
13
Resorts Owned
Royal Aloha Vacation Club x4
Just what I was looking for, TS advice!

I tried searching, did not come up, but alwysonvac linked this up (Thanks!!!)

(Need to read/research this some more, to fully understand the details.)
 
Top