# How are you using your timeshares in 2020/2021? [Canada Forum]



## Quinte (Nov 13, 2020)

I'm wondering what others are doing with their timeshares for 2020 and 2021?  

We cancelled our summer trip to Florida, and will likely cancel a ski trip in Nevada scheduled for January 2021

Florida cancellation saw 1400 pts refunded as LCUP (last day to make a booking was Aug 29, and the stay had to start by Oct 29). Those were lost.
Nevada trip will likely result in a loss of 800 pts.
That's the risk you take with a "perishable" commodity. 

We have transferred as many points as we could to World of Hyatt and Interval (External Exchange); will likely have to do that again this year, as we hope to use them post-covid.

Assuming some travel in Canada might be possible next summer, we also tried to book a Canadian timeshare, but find it hard to find any availability in eastern Canada. Spouse works in healthcare, so at the moment it is drive-only trips. Kids in school, so stuck on peak times. 

What are you planning to do with your points?


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## DeniseM (Nov 13, 2020)

Our favorite timeshare is our Kauai Beach Villas TS. Purely by luck, we went to KBV the first 3 weeks of the year, before C-19 hit.  Our other TS's have been rented or deposited (mostly.)  I have Christmas week reserved at KBV at the end of 2021, and I hope we will get to use it, but I'm prepared to deposit it.  I have deposits in II and RCI that I will probably have to pay to extend.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 13, 2020)

Shouldn't "Depositing to Exchange Company" be an option on the poll?


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## easyrider (Nov 13, 2020)

I see some Canadians will be at the Villa Properties this winter. It seems that most are doing a month or more and most are retired. Even so, the Canadian count will be way down at the Villa properties as most of you have decided to bank your time. On the bright side it has made it really easy for us USA owners to make reservations for this next winter, so thanks I guess. You will be missed for at least one round.

Bill


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## pedro47 (Nov 14, 2020)

Your poll is to limited. IMO. You have exclude timeshare Tuggers in the United States.

Is your poll only for Canadian timeshare Tuggers?


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## CanuckTravlr (Nov 14, 2020)

pedro47 said:


> Your poll is to limited. IMO. You have exclude timeshare Tuggers in the United States.
> 
> Is your poll only for Canadian timeshare Tuggers?



I suspect that is the intention of the OP, Pedro, since the poll is in the "Canada Timesharing" section.  As Canadians, particularly if our timeshares are outside Canada, we have some unique issues in using our timeshares right now.  For instance, we own in HGVC.  There are NO HGVC timeshares or affiliates in Canada.  The number of good, quality timeshares in Canada through RCI is very limited.

We cannot drive to the USA, so long as the land border remains closed, which is how we normally prefer to get to any non-Hawaiian US resorts.  We can fly, but would need to quarantine for 14-days upon our return.  The bigger issue as seniors, is going through airports and travelling in a confined space on an aircraft for several hours.  We are not prepared to take that risk at this time, with cases increasing geometrically both here and in the USA.

We cancelled our March 2020 and December 2020 trips to Florida and our 5-week stay in St, Martin in January/February 2021.  HGVC has been great.  It has moved both our 2020 points and even any "saved" 2019 points (that would normally have expired at the end of this year) to 2021 at no charge.  But we will have to hope we can use them somewhere in 2021 or pay to move them to RCI.

I do agree with DeniseM that the poll should include an option for "deposit points into an exchange company".  Since I could only pick one option on the poll, I picked "hoping we can travel internationally in 2021".

If we don't get to use some of our points and they eventually expire, we are prepared for that and can live with it.  It will be disappointing, but we would rather be safe and alive and keep our family members safe, too.  That is the more important thing to us.


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## jabberwocky (Nov 14, 2020)

Assuming WestJet doesn’t cancel our flights to Palm Springs, we’ll be on the US side of the border in 35 days. That will let us use up our restricted Star Options with Vistana and some HGVC points.  The family visits will be pared down significantly, with the large, extended family gathering for Christmas being replaced with us only spending time with one BIL and my wife’s mother/step-dad.  

In Alberta we will only have to quarantine for two days if we fly back through Calgary and do testing on arrival - so that takes a lot of pressure off. 

I am strongly considering cancelling my Hawaii reservations (possibly renting them out) and banking my 2021 StarOptions as it isn’t clear that Hawaii will have a testing option available for Canadian residents, or if the flights will go ahead.

We still have Lagunamar scheduled for March, but that one is on the bubble and I may cancel.

We are looking for some Canadian options as well. I’m currently at the Fairmont Mountainside Villas on an II AC. Very pleased with our stay so far. II does have some good options in the Rockies which are within driving distance - so we may try to exchange for one of those for next Christmas with our Orlando unit.


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## NOLA47 (Nov 14, 2020)

Even though I own a couple of timeshares, I rent a couple of properties annually to the same location from folks who rent their many properties for a profit and/or to cover their maintenance fees.  I don’t feel comfortable asking them but wonder how those with so many properties are managing the maintenance fees without having the help of rental income.


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## pedro47 (Nov 14, 2020)

CanuckTravlr said:


> I suspect that is the intention of the OP, Pedro, since the poll is in the "Canada Timesharing" section.  As Canadians, particularly if our timeshares are outside Canada, we have some unique issues in using our timeshares right now.  For instance, we own in HGVC.  There are NO HGVC timeshares or affiliates in Canada.  The number of good, timeshares in Canada through RCI is very limited.
> 
> We cannot drive to the USA, so long as the land border remains closed, which is how we normally prefer to get to any non-Hawaiian US resorts.  We can fly, but would need to quarantine for 14-days upon our return.  The bigger issue as seniors, is going through airports and travelling in a confined space on an aircraft for several hours.  We are not prepared to take that risk at this time, with cases increasing geometrically both here and in the USA.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the clarification. No harm.  Take care my Canadian Tuggers friends.


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## bogey21 (Nov 14, 2020)

There should be a "Selling" option...

George


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## CanuckTravlr (Nov 14, 2020)

bogey21 said:


> There should be a "Selling" option...
> 
> George



Maybe.  But this is a short-term issue, IMO.  Selling is the solution to other or longer-term issues.  Covid-19 will not be an issue forever (he said hopefully).  We certainly have no interest in selling.  We enjoy our timeshare vacations too much.  We look forward to being able to use them again.


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## moonstone (Nov 14, 2020)

We cancelled 3 separate weeks of timeshare stays this summer and fall and were able to get all our points refunded and a credit for the exchange fees. RCI says we need to book something by the end of the year to use the exchange fee credit but I am leery of booking anything at this point, even into next fall.  We have so many points to use and will get even more next May.  We  also had to cancel and reschedule our home resort week just 10 days before check-in when the border closure extension was extended. We were lucky to be able to spacebank that and will add it to our available time next year. We live less than an hour from most of the Ontario timeshares so we don't really want to vacation so close to home.  If airfare was cheaper to fly within Canada we might consider a trip to Alberta or BC but we really prefer to drive to our stays. Banff is a 3200 Km, 33 hour drive from here and we have done it before, but aren't really interested in doing it again. I wish there were more timeshares in the Maritimes, that is about the same drive for us as going to Florida. 

My one and only niece is getting married in The Netherlands next October and if things look ok to travel and attend the wedding we may use some points to book a stay somewhere afterwards. 


~Diane


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## BM243923 (Nov 14, 2020)

We own 3 winter weeks in Fort Lauderdale.  All units are 2 bedroom lockouts.  We will be unable to go this year because of Covid.  I immediately deposited the studio portions with II to exchange in 2022 for additional weeks at the resort.  I rented out the 1 bedroom portion of week 7.  I will be depositing week 8 and 9 the 1 bedroom portion very shortly for future exchange.


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## pedro47 (Nov 14, 2020)

IMHO, weeks 8 and 9 are powerful weeks for Fort Lauderdale,  FL; for those of us who loved to cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. Now with that COVID-19 for 2021 those weeks are not that value for cruisers. Praying, that all cruise lines will be allow to cruise out of the United States ports by March 2021.


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## AJCts411 (Nov 16, 2020)

We had to cancel our 2 bedroom 39/40 2020 weeks in Key West.  Reserved the farthest out we could in the HRC system, which starts mid Feb 2021.  Now we have 2 1/2 weeks in a 1 bedroom during higher point value weeks.  If the boarder is open we will fly from DTW, if not YYZ.  Being an optimist I'm believing an improvement is imminent with the recent vaccine announcements.


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## Tacoma (Nov 17, 2020)

All of the timeshares I own are either in Canada or Worldmark which has Canadian locations except for my EOY in Puerto Vallarta. This summer the person who was going to use my BRMR week was American so they had to cancel. We used it instead, tacking on a couple of nights in Jasper.  Even though we are only about 5 hours from Jasper I had only been there twice before.  It was a great 9 nights enjoying the Rockies - perfect weather and almost no tourists. We always use our annual week in Kelowna ( I own at 2 resorts there but each is an every other year) so this year was no different. Had to cancel a few nights at the Worldmark on Orcas Island so I just picked up more days in Vancouver.  It is an easy jaunt form Kelowna to Vancouver. 

Next summer I have a prime week booked at Marina Dunes that I am hoping I can make use of. I will spend some time in Bend Oregon at the 7th Mountain Resort on the way back if we can go. If not I have backup bookings in Victoria and since I live an hour from Canmore any time I am in danger of losing points I can book there.  That will take care of my Worldmark points. I am hoping that my BRMR prime week will rent this year but I may focus only on Canadian tourists.  We will use Kelowna as always.  I booked the week at Puerto Vallarta for early February but am going to move it to early November and hope it is safe to travel there then.  Like everyone else I am hopeful that we will be able to return to a semblance of normal by the middle of next year. 

Joan


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## Quinte (Dec 26, 2020)

pedro47 said:


> Your poll is to limited. IMO. You have exclude timeshare Tuggers in the United States.
> 
> Is your poll only for Canadian timeshare Tuggers?


Yup, it was focused on what Canadians were doing with their timeshares.  It will likely be some time before a family with school age kids can take a quick week timeshare to a US destination.


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## Quinte (Dec 26, 2020)

CanuckTravlr said:


> I do agree with DeniseM that the poll should include an option for "deposit points into an exchange company".  Since I could only pick one option on the poll, I picked "hoping we can travel internationally in 2021".


At the time I was thinking about it, we did not have any points we could deposit to II.  That's why I didn't include it, but it is a good point because that's likey what we will do...though we will shortly have over 6000 HRC points in II...not certain what are doing...


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## VanX (Dec 26, 2020)

This year we’ve stayed in Vancouver, Comox, Whistler x 4 and Kelowna x 3 using RCI Points and/or RCI Weeks accounts.    About 10 trips and we mostly worked from “home” while away and mainly stuck to ourselves due to Covid.  

Was a change of view mostly and a good chance to try a bunch of different places nearby.


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## keith (Dec 27, 2020)

Most of our timeshares happen to be Marriott - Maui Ocean Club, Kauai Beach Club, Newport Coast, Frenchman's Cove, Boston and Monarch  .... We had to cancel our visit to Marriott's Kauai last April due to COVID and unable to use the rest of our weeks last year. Had to deposit them all to Interval International for 2020. 

We have booked 2 weeks at Marriott's Maui Ocean Club at the end May 2021 - fingers crossed that we will be able to head over safely by then.


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## Maple_Leaf (Dec 29, 2020)

We are going to try to rent a summer week in Hilton Head. Otherwise, I'll take the loss.


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## Ironwood (Dec 29, 2020)

We are just playing 'wait and see'!


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## jmdickie (Mar 28, 2021)

Pretty much nothing. Points going unused as there are so little options here in Canada and of course haven't been able to leave!! Sure hope things will turn around soon, not looking too promising.


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## Tacoma (Mar 28, 2021)

Just got back from a week in Canmore at the Grand Canadian and then a week at Sun Peaks in Pinnacle Lodge. Both were replacements for weeks cancelled last year. Ironically one of the cancelled weeks was for a week at Sun Peaks in the Pinnacle Lodge.  Worldmark I just keepgoing back to Canmore, Vancouver and Victoria.


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