Lock Out

I am new to the forum and TS. I have seen the terms Lockout and Lockout notices. From what I can understand this refers to TS's that can become 2 units because they are dividable. Hence if you keep half of the unit for yourself you can give the other half back to II and you can get a trade for it. Is my understanding of this correct?


Thank you,

Lockout, Shmockout.

There may be inconsistencies of terminology from 1 timeshare to another, I don't know. However, I think of lock-out & lock-off as 2 separate timeshare phenomena.

Lock-out is what happens to me if I don't pay my mandatory timeshare maintenance fee on time. I'm locked out -- can't use my time at the resort because I didn't pay for it. When I'm locked out, the governing association has the right to rent out my unit that I didn't pay for & keep the rent money as a way of making up for my nonpayment of fees. Shame on me.

Lock-off is a 2BR or 3BR or sometimes 4BR timeshare unit that can be separated into smaller stand-alone components for use at different times or by different people at the same time. For example, down in Orlando FL I have a 3BR lock-off timeshare that is extremely nice. It's on the floating weeks system so we can reserve any week of the year that we want, subject to availability.

One time we reserved the whole 3BR unit. The Chief Of Staff & I used the 1BR "B" unit, & over in the adjoining 2BR "A" unit were our son & daughter-in-law & grandson & our grandson's other set of grandparents. We were all there for Thanksgiving -- had a great time.

Other times we've split our lock-off time, taking a 2BR timeshare vacation early in the year & saving the 1BR for later in the year. We've also split the "A" & "B" lock-off units so we could use 1 ourselves & deposit the other for exchange, ditto to use 1 ourselves & rent the other out for cash -- very flexible & convenient.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Thanks

Thank you for the information.

But not all management companies will treat the lock off the same way...most do, as Alan mentioned.

So, you have a L/O unit at Marriott. It is a very desireable week, and Interval would love to have it.....so much so that:

You L/O the unit after you have reserved the best possible week in your float period-both through Marriott....not Interval. (And there is a charge)

OK...you now have two great units at a great bright RED time. You now let II know what you have. If they are in need, they may give you a bonus or Accomodation week (week with restrictions) for your one full bedroom side.

Restrictions include a fee, must be used in a year, and sometimes no trade back to your home resort.

So...from your one week and its related maintance fees....you ended up with htree weeks.

If Alans' week (a three bedroom that can L/O-and configured correctly) is managed by a similiar contract rules, he might be able to get 4 weeks from his one....but that is real rare..but has been reported on the TUG.

This doesn't work with most resorts that trade with points....because the week you own has a specific number of points....but in off times, a resort will 'cost' less points....and this will just confuse, as you list a Marriott...and they aren't really a points program yet.

Lockoff, Shmockoff.

KenK said:

If Alans' week (a three bedroom that can L/O-and configured correctly) is managed by a similiar contract rules, he might be able to get 4 weeks from his one.

Click to expand...

There are additional wrinkles when points are figured into the mix. For 1 thing, the points total I get for reserving the 2BR unit & the lock-off 1BR unit separately, as a stand-alone 1BR unit & a separately reserved stand-alone 2BR unit, is significantly more points than I get for reserving the whole works combined as a single 3BR unit. Go figure. Then after the points are in my account, I can use them (subject to availability of last-minute timeshares) for a bunch of those 7,500-point Instant Exchange reservations -- up to 9,000 points outside Florida. By doing that & playing my cards right, I could conceivably get 5-6 weeks of timeshare reservations out of that 1 3BR lock-off. But it's not free -- both points deposits (the 2BR & the separate 1BR) cost me $26 apiece, just for doing the deposits. (Sheesh!) And then I pay a separate exchange fee for each Instant Exchange reservation that I am able to snag. It still works out to luxury timeshare accommodations for Motel 6 & Super 8 rates, but RCI comes out way ahead at the same time -- not that anything's wrong with that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​