# Timeshare trade you questioned going to but ending up loving



## Panina (Sep 1, 2017)

I love what I own but also like the excitement of trading to different areas and resorts.  

Sometimes I trade into a resort thinking why did I trade into it? 

Most recently by husband wanted to go up to the mountains. He likes to hike.  I go with him often but it doesn't usually call my name. 

So, I traded into Blue Ridge in Banner Elk. We had never been to that area.  During our drive up I dreaded the thought of going.  

To my surprise, I enjoyed the trip, area and the rustic timeshare so much.  Beautiful country, lots to do. A great experience and yes I hiked and enjoyed it.


----------



## silentg (Sep 1, 2017)

Sometimes the unexpected can be fun. Good for you! We have been traveling to places I never thought to go, but liked them all. Have to keep an open mind.


----------



## littlestar (Sep 1, 2017)

I like to stick with Marriott and Disney because of the quality, but we went to Hilton Head at Waterside at Spinnaker and I loved the resort.  It was clean and the location was awesome.


----------



## LisaH (Sep 1, 2017)

My favorite trade in recent years is Samoset in Maine. It's a gorgeous resort with fabulous views and comfort in a beautiful location. Access to hotel amenities is a nice bonus.


----------



## rickandcindy23 (Sep 1, 2017)

LisaH said:


> My favorite trade in recent years is Samoset in Maine. It's a gorgeous resort with fabulous views and comfort in a beautiful location. Access to hotel amenities is a nice bonus.


This is good to know.  We are staying there next year.  I am so excited to stay in the northeastern part of the country for a change.  Being Coloradoans, it's sometimes easy to get stuck in a rut.  Our rut is CA, HI and Orlando.

My absolute favorite trade of all time was Powell Place in SF.  We had a one bedroom, on the cable car line.  We loved it.  That exchange happened to be SFX.  I loved the attentive staff, the location and the wonderful unit.  They had a jar of coffee in the unit, coffee filters, and they did daily housekeeping and gave us Ghirardelli caramel filled chocolate squares each night on our pillows.  It was a sweet place.  I was assuming it would not be as nice as the Shell resorts, but it was much nicer.


----------



## rhonda (Sep 1, 2017)

Ah, for us it was a super cheap RCI Rental Week ($198/week?) into the Canada Beach Club, Pompano Beach, FL in August 2004 ... the week Hurricane Frances hit.  We went in with extremely low expectations but it captured a piece of our hearts with the view, strong beach connection/access, etc.  We had a delightful time ... up to receiving our evacuation instructions due to the storm.  Our vacation story recap: some rest, lots of fun, some drama and lots of excitement.   What more can one ask from a vacation? ;-)


----------



## missyrcrews (Sep 2, 2017)

Timber Creek Resort in MO.  It's about 30 minutes from my parents, so we go there because of them.  But it's become a family favorite....fishing, mini golf, nice pool.  We'll really miss going there once my parents have passed on.

Jackson Gore Inn in Ludlow, VT:  We tend to like ski resorts in the off-season.  This one was no exception.  Wonderful indoor pool, underground parking garage (!!), beautiful room that slept 10.  We went for April break....would love to get in for the summer.


----------



## geist1223 (Sep 2, 2017)

When I was setting up our trip to Tasmania (also included stays in New Zealand [Rotorua and Pahia] and Sydney) Patti kept asking why are we going to Tasmania. Now she wants to go back but stay longer that a week. So I am working on a 2 to 3 week stay in January 2019. We may addd a week in Melbourne. We have now completed 3 trips down under.


----------



## chapjim (Sep 2, 2017)

LisaH said:


> My favorite trade in recent years is Samoset in Maine. It's a gorgeous resort with fabulous views and comfort in a beautiful location. Access to hotel amenities is a nice bonus.



Samoset would be my choice as well although we had no uncertainty about going.  Great resort in a great area.  Several small towns nearby.  Plenty of things to do in the area.  Lobstah!

Two minor complaints.  One, the small kitchenettes.  Even making toast was a challenge.  Two, I still don't know if Samoset is in Rockland or Rockport.  The resort's address is in one but it is closer to the other and I could never keep them straight.


----------



## Lydlady (Sep 2, 2017)

I'm so excited to read about Samoset as we are going there the end of this month.


----------



## theo (Sep 6, 2017)

chapjim said:


> Samoset would be my choice as well although we had no uncertainty about going.  Great resort in a great area.  Several small towns nearby.  Plenty of things to do in the area.  Lobstah!
> 
> Two minor complaints.  One, the small kitchenettes.  Even making toast was a challenge.  Two, I still don't know if Samoset is in Rockland or Rockport.  The resort's address is in one but it is closer to the other and I could never keep them straight.



Samoset is most definitely in the town of *Rockport* (I just paid my Samoset property tax bill to the town this morning; property taxes are billed separately from maintenance fee bills for timeshares in Maine).

Some of the location / town confusion might arise from the fact that the breakwater extending out from the Samoset property (in Rock*port*) is actually for adjoining Rock*land* Harbor.  Rockport has its' own smaller harbor, a few miles north of the resort, closer to Camden. A century ago, Rockland and Rockport were not actually two separate towns at all. A "split" occurred after some local "spat" I read about once, but whose details I have long since forgotten.

Samoset kitchens are indeed a bit on the small side, but we've never really had a problem with that. It's also nice to have a dishwasher (even if it takes up the space of what would otherwise be an oven compartment, beneath the cooktop).

*My* only "beef" with Samoset is that the golf course groundskeepers are out working with their assorted noisy gas engine mowers and trimmers and blowers *well* before dawn on fall Saturday mornings (they actually use headlights on the mowers). Since our week is "Friday to Friday", Saturday morning follows our first overnight after a relatively long drive to get to the resort. I am always an early riser, but dawn is plenty early enough, thanks --- and I don't play golf.


----------



## theo (Sep 6, 2017)

Some years ago (back when we still played the "exchange game"), we ended up at Bonita Resort & Club in Bonita Beach, FL for a week. Bonita Resort is an older, smallish independent timeshare property, situated right on the waters of Estero Bay (with a nice Gulf Beach right across the street from the resort). There were pontoon boats available for use at Bonita Resort (a very pleasant surprise) and the people we met, most of them long time owners there, were very friendly and welcoming and were truly great company. We made new friends, had a great time and still have wonderful memories of that stay.

As an anecdotal aside, to use the pontoon boats at Bonita Resort you had to first watch a "training video" (about 5 minutes long) and sign a liability waiver.
I grew up on the water in boats (and also had a U.S. Coast Guard license to carry passengers for hire at the time), but that was their "mandatory training".
I still remember a very simple but great line of advice in the video --- "if you see birds standing somewhere in the water, don't go there with the boat".


----------



## chapjim (Sep 6, 2017)

theo said:


> Some years ago (back when we still played the "exchange game"), we ended up at Bonita Resort & Club in Bonita Beach, FL for a week. Bonita Resort is an older, smallish independent timeshare property, situated right on the waters of Estero Bay (with a nice Gulf Beach right across the street). There were pontoon boats available for use at Bonita Resort (a very pleasant surprise) and the people we met, most of them owners there, were very friendly and welcoming and were truly great company. We made new friends, had a great time, still have wonderful memories of that stay.
> 
> As an anecdotal aside, in order to use the pontoon boats at Bonita Resort you had to first watch a "training video" (...about 5 minutes long) and sign a liability waiver. I grew up on the water and in boats (and had a Coast Guard license to carry passengers for hire at the time), but that was their "mandatory training program". I still remember a very simple but great line of advice in the video --- "if you see birds standing in the water, don't go there with the boat".



I had a 24' power boat a few decades ago and to get a reduction in my insurance, I had to take a USCG small boat safety course.  I had been taking 4,000 ton destroyers in and out of ports with no tugs and a 16,000 ton cruiser in and out of ports with tugs but had to take the small boat safety course to get a break on my insurance bill.


----------



## silentg (Sep 6, 2017)

We stayed in many timeshares, all different. I was most surprised how special Santa Fe was. We stayed in a one bedroom unit upstairs from a bookstore/coffee shop.  Would go back.


----------



## Larry M (Sep 9, 2017)

I exchanged into Ocean Ridge on Edisto Island, SC, primarily because it wasn't too far away (7 hours) from home. I liked it so much that I repeated for a few years, then gave my owned Arkansas timeshare back to the HOA and bought a resale time share at Edisto.

The cherry on top was that the resale was not Wyndham, but a small, independent HOA on the Wyndham grounds with much friendlier policies and the timeshare cost was $1500.

This is a wonderful place to stay, a barrier island with the warm Atlantic Ocean one one side with surf and the calmer but cooler St. Helena Sound on the other. Very laid back. Buildings higher than two stories are banned. Primary transportation can be by bicycle and the streets are nearly deserted. Commercial establishments are limited. One grocery plus a well-stocked convenience store/gas station. One liquor outlet. One or two fish and bait stores. Lots of restaurants. Golf included if you like it. HOA policies are that owners can rent weeks during the mild winter for $300--or have them free if one of the party spends a few days painting an adjacent unit.

Larry


----------



## klpca (Sep 9, 2017)

silentg said:


> We stayed in many timeshares, all different. I was most surprised how special Santa Fe was. We stayed in a one bedroom unit upstairs from a bookstore/coffee shop.  Would go back.


Which resort Terry? Santa Fe is on our short list.


----------



## rbsw24 (Sep 10, 2017)

For the most part like my time share at Mystic Dunes Resort, and have traded through Interval many times but the fees are almost, what you can rent a house for a week.


----------



## dsmrp (Sep 10, 2017)

silentg said:


> We stayed in many timeshares, all different. I was most surprised how special Santa Fe was. We stayed in a one bedroom unit upstairs from a bookstore/coffee shop.  Would go back.



That sounds like the one we're going to in a couple of weeks: Otra Vez en Santa Fe.

Looking forward to Santa Fe!!!


----------



## dougp26364 (Sep 11, 2017)

In 2000 we had gone to Orlando and had a miserable time. What can I say, we our daughter to Disneyland but ended up hating Orlando. The next yer I wanted to try something on the atlantic coast and wanted someplace warm in December, so I grabbed an exchange into Marriotts Ocean Pointe. My wife complained all the way until we walked into the unit. After the first day she wanted to own there. We purchased a 3 bedroom. Ocean front unit and have been back every year, except one, since.

We also had a lot of trepidation about Bell Rock Inn in Sedona but found it to be a very nice, acceptable resort. Not our first pick when we go back but was a lot nicer than we thought.

Villas de Santa Fe was also another pleasant surprise. Nice location and nice units. Not to much on amenities but we rarely use those anyway.


----------



## Karen G (Sep 11, 2017)

rickandcindy23 said:


> they did daily housekeeping and gave us Ghirardelli caramel filled chocolate squares each night on our pillows.


That alone would make me want to stay there!


----------



## rickandcindy23 (Sep 11, 2017)

rbsw24 said:


> For the most part like my time share at Mystic Dunes Resort, and have traded through Interval many times but the fees are almost, what you can rent a house for a week.


And it's a VERY easy trade, not being a Marriott.  My stepsister loved her week last year for Thanksgiving.


----------



## FLDVCFamily (Sep 13, 2017)

Oceanique in Indian Harbour Beach FL...traded my parents in several years ago as it's local to me. I was never impressed with the place just driving by, but it ended up being such a great resort that I'd do a staycation there if I ever saw a week I could use. The units are large with lovely views.


----------



## Sandy VDH (Sep 13, 2017)

Panina said:


> I love what I own but also like the excitement of trading to different areas and resorts.
> 
> Sometimes I trade into a resort thinking why did I trade into it?
> 
> ...



I'm trading into this resort in 2 weeks.  I am a HUGE Outlander fan, so I am visiting the area as it is the Fraser's Ridge which was established in the forth book in the series.  They are just prepping for filming season 4, although they will not be filming in NC, they will continue filming with Scotland doubling for NC.


----------



## chapjim (Sep 23, 2017)

Got another one -- Las Olas in Cocoa Beach.  Love the little room with two chairs and a TV.

Could post this in the favorite smaller resorts, too.


----------



## silentg (Sep 23, 2017)

littlestar said:


> I like to stick with Marriott and Disney because of the quality, but we went to Hilton Head at Waterside at Spinnaker and I loved the resort.  It was clean and the location was awesome.


We stayed there too, very nice resort.
Silentg


----------

