[Response to unnecessary remark deleted.]
They feel that they were had and now they are trapped
I hate this attitude. How long have they been "had?" Let's not go back 30 years ago and blame the developers for taking advantage of this poor couple, who are now stuck with MF's. Please.
Here is what I know about some of our family members:
BIL and SIL bought a timeshare at the same time we bought, around fall of 1981. They pay the fees every year and rarely go up and use the darned thing. They own an early summer week that gets about 22 TPU's. Their daughter, SIL, and their kids, plus their best friends and their kids, wanted to go to Orlando, so SIL booked them two hotel rooms for a week, $69 per night each room + taxes. She called me to tell me of the bargain she got on the hotel room. It was a Howard Johnson's.
(She doesn't even use Hotwire?).
I check for the same week and tell her if she wouldn't have let her II membership expire the first year they owned, she could have gotten the kids a Marriott or Vistana Villages for that week. Her fees are $470. I also told her Platinum Interchange had a 3 bedroom at Cypress Pointe for that week.
Another BIL bought a timeshare at a resort in Breckenridge, and it's in the season where they get usage in prime season some years, some years it's lower season. (Rockridge.) They don't use it at all in the off years, yet they pay the fees. I showed them that instead of paying for a hotel in San Francisco, they could use their off--season week to get Canterbury in SF for September. So they joined RCI and now have a week coming up this September.
The thing is people travel. They just do. And for someone to assume their kids cannot make use of a timeshare, well that is likely a wrong assumption. TUG is all about timeshare. It's not about telling people how to get out. I am sick of the threads that go on and on about how to get out. USE IT. You liked it once, so find the value in it and use it however you can. There are free exchange companies, including TPMaui, who can get you to Maui in the off-season very easily.