Are you over 65? Do you timeshare more or less?

[Panina]

I can hardly believe I turned 65 this year—officially a senior! I certainly don’t feel or look it, though, haha.

A few years back, I owned over 20 timeshares, which I actively used and traded too. I've always been a strong advocate for timesharing when it's done well.

About five years ago, I made the move to Florida, and gradually, I've rehomed or sold most of my timeshares. Living in Florida has made me realize that I don’t feel the need to travel as much anymore, especially since most of my trades and ownerships were right here.

Currently, I’m down to just two timeshares. One is with my ex, and we’re in the process of deeding it back. The other is a high-point Hilton Grand Vacations club membership, which allows me to enjoy plenty of mid-week vacations. I also occasionally use RCI within the system.

Now, I’m considering selling my last timeshare. However, I find myself hesitating. I think it’s the nostalgia of my love for timesharing that’s holding me back. I’m genuinely happy with my life and the endless activities in Florida, which leaves me with limited time to travel.

 

[rapmarks]

I know just how you feel. I disposed of my Little Sweden week, I still own at Christmas Mountain, but don’t deposit it anymore. I will let my RCI membership lapse at the end of the month
. I do all this with a heavy heart. My family used to meet up at Little Sweden, but none of us feel capable of making the drive anymore. I really have no one else to travel with. My own children are too busy to use them.
I would still love to do timeshare exchanges, but I paid maintenance fees, combination fees, membership, exchange fees, and extension fees the last few years. This totaled thousands of dollars for what amounted to one exchange.
And I am way over 65

 

[Pennytx]

I’m 60
Travel about half the year. I can’t imagine my life without timeshares. I love the space, the people I meet etc. When I stay in a hotel traveling from one spot to another, it reminds me how much I love timeshares .

 

[kanerf]

More. I have more time now, though I am still working. I get more vacation and use it.

 

[billymach4]

Not over 65 so I am not qualified to answer this question.
But I would love to travel more when the time comes. However DW hesitates even the little we do travel these days.

 

[chapjim]

Over 65? I retired 3½ years ago, two days before my 76th birthday! Shortly after that, Wyndham sent me "the letter," which gave me the nudge to do what I had been contemplating anyway -- reduce the size of our Wyndham timeshare account. I sold over 2.3 million Wyndham points over the next five months, then bought modestly into HGVC. Just recently, I sold another Wyndham contract (140,000 points) and three of our four weeks at Quarter House in New Orleans.

We were away from home 40% of the time in 2024 and the projection for 2025 is close to 50%. Lord willing, I expect we'll continue in the 40-50% range of time on the road.

Since I retired, we've spent four nights in motels -- two in El Paso, TX and two in Rapid City, SD. I can't imagine going back to that.

 

[VacationForever]

When we first acquired a ton of timeshare we were working and more, shortly after we retired. We love timesharing and made many trips to Hawaii and Mexico, in addition to mainland US. Now we avoid flying and stick to drive-to locations. The use of timeshare has morphed into travelling to better weather locations when our summers turn hot and winters turn cool/cold. The pattern of our use is now 1 to 2 months away in the summer to coastal CA, and this year we are also adding a month at Park City, Utah to see if we like it there. In winter, we spend a couple of weeks in Scottsdale (more like early Dec), and a month in Palm Desert, CA. Wherever we travel to, we continue to golf 3 to 4 times a week, like what we do when we are home.

We will continue to keep our timeshare for as long as we feel good about long drives. We have had many discussions about when to divest our timeshare and I believe it will be when my husband turns 82, sooner if his health goes south, or later if he continues to stay healthy.

 

[missyrcrews]

I was just thinking about this today....my 55th birthday. I'm timesharing for the long weekend (of course I am!) and was thinking how nice it will be when my off-season long weekends morph into full weeks. All of my timeshares are drive to locations..one is around 50 miles from home. I hope to use them for many, many more years. But I'm not waiting until I retire...I'm enjoying them NOW. I usually manage to timeshare 7 weeks a year, and then every long weekend. Can't wait until that number can go up. <3 And chapjim...I hear you on the hotels. HATE THEM. I am so spoiled! Only stay in hotels for the trek to Missouri and back. And that's enough for me!

 

[Luanne]

Only have two timeshares. That is all we've ever had. We tend to do less traveling these days. Still go to Maui every year, so we do use our week there. I have traded our other week a few times. Our San Diego Country Estates timeshare is in the process of being liquidated. They are trying to sell the property and we may see some money from that. When that one goes I'll drop my membership in RCI. Our daughters say they want the Maui timeshare so we'll hold onto that.

 

[artringwald]

We bought our first week in The Point at Poipu in 2004, 2nd in 2012, and 3rd in 2014. We're 75 and we've used every week since purchasing them, except for this year due to medical issues. Fortunately, our son was able to use one of the weeks, and the other two we deposited in Hilton's exchange program, so we can book them at a future date. We already booked all 3 weeks for 2026.

 

[pedro47]

Over 65 and retired 24 1/2 years ago. Still own two timeshares but primarily only used one. I hate to drive more than six hours and flying is now just so outrageous expensive.

 

[CO skier]

Owning a points based timeshare made it easy to ramp-up ownership, sell the house, and live a nomadic life traveling from resort to resort 100% of the time for the last 3 years and into the foreseeable future (15 years, at least, one would hope). It is not everyone's cup of tea, and it has its challenges, but it is just the thing for me. Timesharing, between my ownership resorts and RCI/Interval International timeshares, is the only way this lifestyle could be both possible and affordable.

 

[Pennytx]

Owning a points based timeshare made it easy to ramp-up ownership, sell the house, and live a nomadic life traveling from resort to resort 100% of the time for the last 3 years and into the foreseeable future (15 years, at least, one would hope). It is not everyone's cup of tea, and it has its challenges, but it is just the thing for me. Timesharing, between my ownership resorts and RCI/Interval International timeshares, is the only way this lifestyle could be both possible and affordable.

Omg that’s amazing
I’m actually trying to do that also
Facinsting
I would love to here your adventures

 

[rickandcindy23]

I would like to travel more than we do. Rick is a homebody, and we do have those grandkids, and we miss them so much while on vacations without them, which is why I am always glad when they want to go with us. Plus we use multiple units at once, which is a bonus.

We are getting rid of a bunch of timeshares. We just need to downsize.

 

[rapmarks]

Rethinking my response. Panini, you are too young to give up timesharing.
We enjoyed our timeshares until the year 2000.
COVID hit, things were closed, my husbands Alzheimer’s was very bad, three big falls with broken bones, numerous hospitalizations, and me fighting my third cancer for two and a half years, put an end to wanting to travel far. I own two homes, and one is in a timeshare resort. The other one has every activity I still want to do, and It is half an hour to gulf beaches.
Add in the fact that I am 80, my health is not optimal, so when I read about staying in a timeshare year round, it sounds awful to me.. People that get this old with no health concerns are very fortunate

 

[PrairieGirl]

This is a great topic! I am pushing 70 (this year) and really, for me, it was more retirement than age that changed our timeshare travel plans. When I was working, the "it MAKES you take your vacation" was absolutely true. Also, the "break" from work before the madness of year-end, the fact that we lived in a horribly cold winter climate (yes, -40 is real) made our timeshare time invaluable. We owned 7 weeks back then.

Now that we are retired (no more "break" needed), live in AZ all winter (no more escape from -40!) and the lure of sun and sand (well, we do have 6 months of sun, if not sand) has faded. We have divested most of our weeks, find that we want to travel differently than we did when we were younger (and working!) and only have 1.5 weeks left in our portfolio.

I feel that our timeshares provided us fabulous value for the time that we owned them. But as we grow older, it is time to take stock of what "works" for our current lifestyle and make the appropriate decisions. The hardest one I've made recently was GIVING AWAY a fabulous Sedona ts (to another Tugger, at least) that we paid developer prices ($16,000) for back in 1996. The reality was that it had more than paid for itself, but we just did not currently get enough value for the annual MF at this stage of our lives. It's hard to work timeshares into a month of travelling through SE Asia (las year) or Greece (this year).

While it was very hard for me to let them go, I now understand that it was a positive business decision for this stage of our lives.

 

[clifffaith]

I’ll be 70 at the end of the year, Cliff is 87. We basically live in a resort now that we’ve moved to a continuing life community. Gave up the last of five timeshares at the end of last year. I keep trying to have a conversation about where to go for our anniversary in October, but he can no longer remember which anniversary it will be (40th), which is the reason I decided it was time to give up the maintenance fees and opt into occasional hotel room costs. Groups from the old folks home also put trips together, so that is something to consider. Unfortunately last month the group of 50 who went on a Mexican cruise came back with only 49 — a man with fairly advanced Parkinson’s ended his life by jumping overboard in the early morning hours.

 

[Pennytx]

I’ll be 70 at the end of the year, Cliff is 87. We basically live in a resort now that we’ve moved to a continuing life community. Gave up the last of five timeshares at the end of last year. I keep trying to have a conversation about where to go for our anniversary in October, but he can no longer remember which anniversary it will be (40th), which is the reason I decided it was time to give up the maintenance fees and opt into occasional hotel room costs. Groups from the old folks home also put trips together, so that is something to consider. Unfortunately last month the group of 50 who went on a Mexican cruise came back with only 49 — a man with fairly advanced Parkinson’s ended his life by jumping overboard in the early morning

So sorry for his family
May he rest in peace now

 

[wmgjr]

Owning a points based timeshare made it easy to ramp-up ownership, sell the house, and live a nomadic life traveling from resort to resort 100% of the time for the last 3 years and into the foreseeable future (15 years, at least, one would hope). It is not everyone's cup of tea, and it has its challenges, but it is just the thing for me. Timesharing, between my ownership resorts and RCI/Interval International timeshares, is the only way this lifestyle could be both possible and affordable.

Same except we didn't sell the house.
Going on 2 years now

 

[wmgjr]

Rethinking my response. Panini, you are too young to give up timesharing.
We enjoyed our timeshares until the year 2000.
COVID hit, things were closed, my husbands Alzheimer’s was very bad, three big falls with broken bones, numerous hospitalizations, and me fighting my third cancer for two and a half years, put an end to wanting to travel far. I own two homes, and one is in a timeshare resort. The other one has every activity I still want to do, and It is half an hour to gulf beaches.
Add in the fact that I am 80, my health is not optimal, so when I read about staying in a timeshare year round, it sounds awful to me.. People that get this old with no health concerns are very fortunate

Sorry to hear about the numerous health issues.
Just lost someone close to me who was battling cancer.
Prayers for you and your partner.

 

[geist1223]

Patti and I are both 71. We retired at 58. We started into Timesharing over 22 years ago. Before retiring we would take 1 2-week trip a year (Hawaii, Europe, Mexico, and Down Under) per year with flying. Supplement with 1 or 2 weeks driving to locations. We still do 1 flying trip per year but now they are at least 3 weeks. We also do at least 2 long driving trips per year also but they are also at least 3 weeks long. The big change is with the driving trips. We can not drive more than 500 to 600 miles in a day. More stops - use a bathroom more often, change drivers, walk around, etc. We also tend to stop for meals mid day vice eating while we drive. An example is we are about finished with a 3 week stay to coastal areas of California. We drove from Salem Oregon to Windsor California on day 1. Then stop for 2 nights 1 day rest. Drive to Carlsbad for a 2 week stay. Then drive to Avila Beach for a 1 week stay. Drive to to Windsor (current location) for 2 night 1 day rest. We do at least 2 long road trips and 1 week short drive per year.

As long as we are physically capable we will continue with this schedule.

 

[WinniWoman]

When were still working- towards the final years- we were up to doing 3 weeks of our drive to timeshares and one week to a fly to destination renting a timeshare.

We divested of our Vermont Smuggs 2 week timeshare when we retired and moved to New Hampshire in 2020. I was 64 and hubby was 66. We kept our New Hampshire timeshare because it is just an hour away and gives us a change of pace for a week in the mountains in summer. Plus the resort allows day use and that helps a lot because living in this 4 season climate we can take a drive there to swim in the heated pools (one is indoors. The outdoor opens Memorial wknd), use the indoor/ outdoor hot tubs and sauna, gym, movie theater, whatever - when the unheated pool is closed here where we live at our HOA community and the lake is frozen over.

We always feel like we are on vacation anyway between not working and the fact that we live in a lakes vacation area.

That said, we still take a week to go back to Vermont, usually during Bike Week since we live in the heart of it and it gets too crazy here. Noise. Traffic. It’s relentless.

Last year we rented at a log cabin resort right near Smuggs. This year we are renting at a timeshare resort in Stowe through booking.com (Vacasa). At least now it’s just a 2 1/2 hr drive instead of 5 1/2 hrs when we lived in NY. Next year I already booked a week at Smuggs through booking.Com ( Vacasa).

Yes it’s more expensive than our maintenance fee was, but at this point in life we like having the flexibility of not being tied down to the timeshare.

One year we did take a one week tour of South Dakota instead during bike week. This past fall we went on a tour of Sicily and Southern Italy. Those were hotels, of course. No like!

I just don’t want to fly anywhere anymore and there’s really no one place I want to go to so badly enough that I’d put up with flying. If flying was quick and simple and comfortable and not so expensive sure- I’d go on another trip. But it’s not.

Also long road trips are not for us either. Right now my husband has one blurry eye and due to how bad healthcare is now he can’t even get in for a consult on cataract surgery until September! Me, I don’t have the same energy due to my back pain dragging me down. I feel like I’m too young for this, but this is what I have to deal with. I’m 69 and my husband is 71.

Another thing- I also hate packing - and for sure if we had to fly- and also leaving our house. lol! Once I’m out I’m fine, but I have bad OCD. But at least with a drive to vacation we can just throw stuff in the car.

Also- don’t like being away from home for more than 2 weeks at a time. One week is enough really.

I don’t like living out of a suitcase. I don’t like it taking forever to get somewhere like on a long road trip where you’d have to keep stopping at hotels on your way to your destination. I like to get there and settle in and get to know a place.

I feel kind of sad- and ridiculous- that traveling seems too overwhelming to me now. I feel like I’m too “ young” to feel this way but every time I think of trying to plan a big trip somewhere all the negatives present themselves and I say forget it.

 

[heathpack]

I’m 59 and still love timesharing in my head and still want to “optimize” what we own. I have a job that is suited to remote work at times, and I get plenty of vacation. But 40% of the time, I must be at home 24/7 (on call), and some of the remaining 60% of the time, I travel for work. Two weeks a year we go visit my Mom in NY. We travel but can’t just go “whenever,” which doesn’t always work great with timeshares.

Also- we now have 4 dogs. They are amazing travelers- they have all spent thousands of miles on the road field trialing (even the puppy who is not quite 5 months old). Apparently if you bring a dog to a pet friendly AirBnB, the host rates your pets. Our dogs have a super rating on AirBnB. So if it’s a dog-reasonable trip (visiting family, traveling for dog events, outdoorsy travel), it’s easier to take them than to leave them in the hands of a pet sitter (we have had several less than optimal experiences). So we find ourselves using AirBnB a lot.

I am developing some new “rules” of my timeshare ownership:
1. I have to want to use the underlying week, at least sometimes.
2. I have to be able to use it with minimal required extra expense (ie no flights to get there, ideally no II membership + exchange and associated fees)
3. Must be cost effective vs other options
4. Flexible is nice
5. Easy to get rid of

I don’t love II, Hyatt came to disgust me, and Marriott is the evil empire that won.

So I got rid of all the Hyatt.

I’m keeping what I have: an EOY unenrolled Barony week (to use), an enrolled EOY Mountainside lock off (for Marriott trading), small VGC and HHI DVC contract for use at WDW and Hilton Head.

I added two more small points DVC contracts this year, which was a bit of a violation of my rule about adding ownership with required extra expense (park tickets)- but I’m actually not sure part tickets are required to enjoy DVC and definitely the dates you can book are flexible. I don’t love 100% of everything about DVC but hands down it’s a timeshare ownership that still provides decent service, or at least seems to believe they should. Plus treating owners reasonably.

I have “ideas” about units I want to add (a drivable lock off Marriott platinum trader- which means Manor Club or something in Florida, but then I have the II expenses), maybe a points based timeshare that would allow travel to some southern cities/locations. Maybe more DVC points. But really I should just see how it goes once I’m leveraging what I own, and supplementing with timeshare or Abound points rentals and Airbnbs as needed. I foresee a time within the lifespan of a timeshare ownership in which we don’t use them any more so I want to be cautious about adding more until I know what we need.

 

[Bucky]

Traveled extensively until I turned 66 and my heart problems kicked in full force. With all the medical equipment I have to carry with me and not being a fan of air travel at all anymore we pretty much just don’t travel very far off the path anymore. We did manage to pick up a vacation home in Myrtle Beach during Covid so that’s pretty much the extent of our travel anymore. Been renting our two MOW weeks for the last 8 years now. Probably going to sell them soon and be done with timeshares completely.

 

[Rolltydr]

Living in Florida has made me realize that I don’t feel the need to travel as much anymore, especially since most of my trades and ownerships were right here.

I’m right with you on the statement above. We moved here a little over 3 years ago and we’re struggling to use our points. We take a lot of trips to WDW and different beach locations in Florida, but we’ve only taken one real vacation outside the state since moving here, spending a week in New Orleans over a year ago.

We have 3 Wyndham contracts, 2 resale (329k) and a developer CWA contract (450k). I can see us selling, or giving away, the resale points in the next couple years.

Edited to add: Forgot to say that we are 70 and, although we are in good health, the actual travel, planes, trains and automobiles, can be a pain in the butt.