any suggestions... points or non points? locations, etc.?

fishermanfifty · Mar 12, 2015

DeniseM said:
Here are some questions you can answer to focus your timeshare wants/needs.

If you click on QUOTE at the end of my post, the questions will open up in a new window for you to answer:

1) Where do you want your home resort to be?
That's my main question...not sure. Considerations: Lower MFs, close to home (Milwaukee, WI), place we want to go most often (don't really know yet)

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time? depends on where the home resort is.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Cancun - stayed at Westin Lagunama and liked it. Would definitely go back to Cancun. Haven't been to Jamaica but want to go, stvame with Hawaii. Been to Disney World but no hurry to go back. Have family we visit near Seattle so maybe there? We visit the Wisconsin Dells frequently - stayed at Glacier Bay - that's what made me interested in timeshares -bought a weekend off EBay. Kids are 17 and 12 so we probably will go to the water parks for a couple more years. Been to Niagara Falls a few times and love it there. So many places to go and see yet.

4) How many people do you usually travel with? Usually 4, but have gone with 6 (in laws or friends with the kids)

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Mostly matching with school breaks including summer.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 3+

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? Would like to spend less than 10k but have flexibility for the right opportunity

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? Would like to spend less than 2k but again it depends on the opportunity. We usually spend about 4k per year on hotels for about 2 weeks that could be local weekend getaways or a week trip to Cancun.

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do? Yes
__________________

Thank you for your help

planzfortomorrow · Mar 26, 2015

I'm by no means an expert, but I'd suggest some point system timeshare, since it sounds like you'd like the flexibility of going to different locations, have different sized rooms, etc. You've got 2 kids, but one is 17--they aren't going to be traveling with you much longer.

You might look into either worldmark and/or wyndham. I own at wyndham, and have found that I can book fairly easily, at most places, with only 2-3 months if I'm flexible with my dates. The locations are limited, and might not work with the places you're more interested in. Worldmark & Wyndham trade with RCI, and wyndham at least, the buy in can be "$1".

WinniWoman · Mar 27, 2015

"You've got 2 kids, but one is 17--they aren't going to be traveling with you much longer."

Don't count on it. Our single 27 year old still meets up with us on our vacations.

LannyPC · Mar 27, 2015

Beck02 said:
...and wyndham at least, the buy in can be "$1".

Don't forget to include Wyndham's $299 transfer fee.

valadezm · Mar 27, 2015

Beck02 said:
I'm by no means an expert, but I'd suggest some point system timeshare, since it sounds like you'd like the flexibility of going to different locations, have different sized rooms, etc. You've got 2 kids, but one is 17--they aren't going to be traveling with you much longer.

You might look into either worldmark and/or wyndham. I own at wyndham, and have found that I can book fairly easily, at most places, with only 2-3 months if I'm flexible with my dates. The locations are limited, and might not work with the places you're more interested in. Worldmark & Wyndham trade with RCI, and wyndham at least, the buy in can be "$1".

Out of curiosity, as a Wyndham owner, what do you suggest is a good number of points to have in order to trade into some great deals. Have done some reading and what I have seen is around 126,000 seems to be a good number. Your thoughts?

valadezm · Mar 27, 2015

fishermanfifty said:
Thank you for your help

I would also suggest a point based system, that is what I have under HGVC and it has allowed to book into Hawaii, New York, Orlando, Disney and others through the exchange with RCI. However, I would suggest reading all the advice articles for all the point systems to see which one matches up with your travel needs.

ronparise · Mar 27, 2015

valadezm said:
Out of curiosity, as a Wyndham owner, what do you suggest is a good number of points to have in order to trade into some great deals. Have done some reading and what I have seen is around 126,000 seems to be a good number. Your thoughts?

I have many millions of points and still dont feel its enough (for me)

Your needs will be different , but I will say that 126000 is not much to work with. Its not even a week (prime week) at most resorts

Bill4728 · Mar 27, 2015

One thing about point based TS systems. Most people buy their TS from the developer at a huge cost. Because of the cost many people buy only a small number of pts in the system. People with a small number of pts often find that they can not use the system well and therefore don't like timesharing.

So IMHO be sure that if you do buy a resale point based TS, BUY enough pts to make it work for you.

Since each system has a different scale of what points are needed for reservations, before buying anything ask here for what is a good number of pts in that system.

Good Luck

vacationhopeful · Mar 27, 2015

ronparise said:
....What you might need will be different , but I will say that 126000 is not much to work with. Its not even a week (prime week) at most resorts

If you can afford $125 a month in MFs, a good Wyndham number might be 231K in points. 3 RTs would be included; could be a 126K booked unit & 105K week (2 weeks of vacations).... or a 1/1 week in a newer resort or in a 2/2 off-prime season (or older resort).

markb53 · Mar 28, 2015

vacationhopeful said:
If you can afford $125 a month in MFs, a good Wyndham number might be 231K in points. 3 RTs would be included; could be a 126K booked unit & 105K week (2 weeks of vacations).... or a 1/1 week in a newer resort or in a 2/2 off-prime season (or older resort).

I agree. A 231k contract is a good amount to buy. In addition to the excellent reasons Vacationhopeful mentioned, there is another advantage of a 231k account. 231k will currently put you above the minimum program fee. All Wyndham points owners pay a program fee as part of there maintenance fee. I believe it is currently $.55 per 1000 points with a minimum of $118.00. If you purchase more than 215k you are above the minimum, which lowers your cost per point.

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bogey21 · Mar 28, 2015

I only have one TS Week left and that is a ski week which is now in my Son's name but if I had to do it all over again, traveled a lot, and was flexible on when and where I would be going, I would try to buy a tri-annual already converted to RCI Points. Front end cost and MFs would be minimal and it would qualify Owner for RCI Last Call and bargain Point offers.

There are a couple that come to mind, Grandview in Las Vegas and another whose name I don't recall in Orlando. It may have been Vacation Village Parkway.

George

planzfortomorrow · Mar 29, 2015

I don't think the previous advice for a triennial is good advice for the original poster... he wants to travel holiday's & school breaks, so that's not flexible. And he's planning on 4 to 6 people, which means 2 bedroom would probably be preferred. And although he doesn't really state, I'm sure that most locations he's interested in AREN'T the same as the ones listed on last call.

Last call is great, but sometimes very limited on locations.

uscav8r · Mar 30, 2015

LannyPC said:
Don't forget to include Wyndham's $299 transfer fee.

Depending on the deal and/or resort, this might even be covered by the seller... Whatever the case may be, list price means nothing, but take-home-price is everything.

any suggestions... points or non points? locations, etc.?

fishermanfifty

planzfortomorrow

WinniWoman

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LannyPC

valadezm

valadezm

ronparise

Bill4728

vacationhopeful

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markb53

bogey21

planzfortomorrow

uscav8r

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