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Do you abide by Timsharing 101?

T

Troopers

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One of the timesharing 101 principles is BUY WHERE YOU WANT TO GO. I think this is especially true with our Starwood system. But, there's seems to be numerous of threads regarding I.I. and trading. Do you tend to abide by this 101 principle?

I'm just curious. Thanks.
 
Well, I didn't. I thought I would but after much research, I opted for "cheaper". Maybe I will regret it in the long run. So far so good though.

We own lots in Orlando, which is not a place that we go to more than once every 3-4 years (too far from CA). But I convert my units to SOs, SPs and trade via II into the places I do want to go to (WKV, WKORV, WMH, WLR so far).

If we lived closer to WSJ or HRA, I would definitely buy there though. With the difficulty trading into these resorts, I would think it would be worth while purchasing there just to get in when you want to. Hawaii would have been on this list before this year too but thanks to the overall economy and flight prices, it is now so easy to get into Maui or Princeville (via II, SOs, SPs, cash and points...) that it's not worth the MFs IMO.

Katherine
 
R Chen said:
Do you tend to abide by this 101 principle?
Click to expand...

No, because there isn't one place that I want to go to every year (or even every 2 years). Internal exchange ability was one of the main reasons I was attracted to Starwood. I ended up buying most of my units in Arizona as the maintenance fees are lower (well, for Starwood), and I can drive there.

Glorian
 
Sort of...

We own 2 weeks every year in Maui and another week every other year in Maui plus a points system with resorts in Maui. Maui is the one place we want to go every year. We also own the points system which gives us short (2-3 night stays) in driving distance for quick getaways during the year and a fixed week resort at the coast for one week each year. But... we also own 6 fixed weeks we've never seen and may never see... we trade them to other locations we want to go to... so we really do both and it's been working pretty well for about 8 years. but... none of these are Starwood - thinking of a Starwood purchase, though...
 
Yes. We do subscribe to the principle of buying at a resort that you would like to go to every year. We own at Royal Vista which is an oceanfront resort in Pompano Beach Florida that we like to visit every January and February. It is the resort with the highest occupancy in the Wyndham (formerly Fairfield) system, and is hard to reserve unless you have owners advance reservation priority. We also own at Westin Kierland and like to visit there during spring training in March. Since this is their most popular period, we wanted the advantage of owning there in order to make sure that we could visit each year. We have used both internal (Wyndham or Starwood) network exchanges to trade into Orlando, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Maui, as well as RCI to visit Scottsdale (before we purchased WKV) and Lake of the Ozarks. We view exchanging as a bonus if we can't use our normal home resort time for some reason or just want to do something different - perhaps off season. We have found external exchanges to be rather spotty because some of the nicer places never make it to those exchange companies. For example, both Wyndham and Starwood decide what to deposit, so it is rare for them to put in prime properties at prime times. That hurts your trading power somewhat but also is indicative of the type of properties that you might find available from other companies with similar policies.
Doug
Naperville, Illinois
 
dcdowden said:
Yes. We do subscribe to the principle of buying at a resort that you would like to go to every year. We own at Royal Vista which is an oceanfront resort in Pompano Beach Florida that we like to visit every January and February. It is the resort with the highest occupancy in the Wyndham (formerly Fairfield) system, and is hard to reserve unless you have owners advance reservation priority. We also own at Westin Kierland and like to visit there during spring training in March. Since this is their most popular period, we wanted the advantage of owning there in order to make sure that we could visit each year. We have used both internal (Wyndham or Starwood) network exchanges to trade into Orlando, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Maui, as well as RCI to visit Scottsdale (before we purchased WKV) and Lake of the Ozarks. We view exchanging as a bonus if we can't use our normal home resort time for some reason or just want to do something different - perhaps off season. We have found external exchanges to be rather spotty because some of the nicer places never make it to those exchange companies. For example, both Wyndham and Starwood decide what to deposit, so it is rare for them to put in prime properties at prime times. That hurts your trading power somewhat but also is indicative of the type of properties that you might find available from other companies with similar policies.
Doug
Naperville, Illinois
Click to expand...

Very well stated and a perfect example as why to buy where you want to go.
 
It started off that way...

I purchased my first one at Presidential Resort, we still go there 2 to 3 times a year, Sheraton Vistana - we went for the first 3 years then we started trading it into Wyndam. My Wyndam Bonnet Creek, I go to every year, but my Wyndam-Nashville I only went to only 1 time.

Therefore, you have to decide how you want to vacation, but how you want to vacation in the future is hard to decide. I started out wanting to only go 1 place then realized we liked spreading out to new destinations...that's why the points system worked so much better for us. However, we do have friends that love certain locations, and their resorts there (aka: Marriott Surf Club/Ocean Club in Aruba) every year...I am just not that kinda traveler. However, even they realized they liked going other places, and added Wyndam to their portfolio as a compliment to what they already had.

Also, by the time you add your MF of $688 (for a weeks resort) and a trade fee $169 you do not have a cheap vacation, so then is it really worth it to trade when you are not with a system that allows you more bang for your buck?...another reason why what I have works for me...because when I am ready to bank my points into weeks (like if I had 154,000pts with Wyndam) I can turn 1 week into 3 or more...and get great locations if I plan it into advance...which makes that ($688 + 169) / 3 = $286 a week opposed to $857 for just 1 week if I only had just 1 week to trade (like my Vistana) for another location.
 
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Ignore "buy where you want to go" at great risk to your pocketbook as well as your satisfaction as a timeshare owner. If everyone followed that one simple rule a good portion of problems and complaints about timeshare would disappear tomorrow. Not that you actually have to go there but as a fallback it is infallible. Same with "buy within driving distance". It may save you big time. Ask those who own where it requires a plane flight to visit in today's environment.
 
Good point. My problem is that our vacation patterns are changing. When DH and I had no kids, we were all over the place, including internationally. Then the kids came along and while they were small, we went to Orlando lots and go to Disneyland are quite a bit. Now my older DD, 9 years old, is starting to ask about going someplace OTHER than where Mickey is. Even though my younger DD is still little (3) and happy to be at these theme parks, I know that will change quickly too. In about 5-7 years, we will be going to the Caribbean and Hawaii more than FL I think. Plus we can go ski as a family. And then when the kids think it's waaaay UNCOOL to travel with the parents, DH and I will have a chance to go back to WKV (and WMH) to golf and enjoy the peace. Heck, when we retire, I would think a fractional ownership would look real good.

And then the grand kids come along and the pattern changes again! :shrug:

So I don't think a younger family with changing needs can stick to this rule easily. ;)

Katherine
 
SDKath said:
Good point. My problem is that our vacation patterns are changing. When DH and I had no kids, we were all over the place, including internationally. Then the kids came along and while they were small, we went to Orlando lots and go to Disneyland are quite a bit. Now my older DD, 9 years old, is starting to ask about going someplace OTHER than where Mickey is. Even though my younger DD is still little (3) and happy to be at these theme parks, I know that will change quickly too. In about 5-7 years, we will be going to the Caribbean and Hawaii more than FL I think. Plus we can go ski as a family. And then when the kids think it's waaaay UNCOOL to travel with the parents, DH and I will have a chance to go back to WKV (and WMH) to golf and enjoy the peace. Heck, when we retire, I would think a fractional ownership would look real good.

And then the grand kids come along and the pattern changes again! :shrug:

So I don't think a younger family with changing needs can stick to this rule easily. ;)

Katherine
Click to expand...

Thats what trades or a good mini-system are for! But as a fall back owning where you can drive to at a place you wouldn't mind going (not saying its your first choice every year but that as an option you wouldn't hate it). You wouldn't change your ownership to all those areas over those years so make your "home base" one you can get to and enjoy if need be. Use the tools to get where you want using that base. Timeshare 101.
 
Yes and no. We originally bought because we liked the resort, but have not been back in four years. So that resort has become a trader. Since then I have bought 6 more, and most are for direct use. I am sure things will change over time, they already have.
 
Yes...I bought a point system that I knew I could use regularly...close to home...no matter what gas and air costs were like (and I've used it like crazy). Having said that...I think I'd keep it (providing the developer doesnt trash it, that is...) even if I moved across the country where there was limited access...but I'd likely buy a different close-to-home-TS to compliment it if that occurred.
 
I use a combination of buying where I want to go and buying traders:

  • HGVC Affiliate ... use or trade within Hilton
  • Hyatt Coconut Plantation ... almost always use or trade within Hyatt (have done one external trade)
  • Harborside ... use ... can't see myself ever trading it
  • WSJ... (new) ... can't see myself ever trading it
  • 5 or 6 (I try not to count them) inexpensive resales used for trading only
 
Ignored TUG's collective wisdom and have done really well!

timeos2 said:
Ignore "buy where you want to go" at great risk to your pocketbook as well as your satisfaction as a timeshare owner.
Click to expand...

Ignored it ... and we've done fantastically well! :D Only a positive impact to our pocketbooks and immense satisfaction as a timeshare owner!

We have gone completely against the collective wisdom at TUG by buying ONLY to trade, and it as worked amazingly well for us. At one point in time, we owned 5 weeks, and we had never been to ANY of the resorts. In fact, we'd bought all of them sight unseen, based purely upon their trading value. And of course, that's the trick: get great traders! Now to be fair, we researched the heck out of trading value (in RCI) before we purchased (on the resale market of course), and we looked for great traders with low mf's (doesn't everybody? :) ) As a result, we've stayed at FANTASTIC resorts year after year. These resorts have mf's waaaay higher than what we pay at our TIGER traders. There's no way that I would be willing to pay mf's at that level, but yet we stay at those resorts for a fraction of those amounts. Great system, and pretty darn good deal!

The biggest factor in our ongoing success is that we are not tied into specific weeks for travel. I provide a really broad range of dates and request several specific resorts in specific destinations, and it has never failed us.

About two years ago, we sold one of the five weeks so we had four traders remaining. Then shortly after we bought into the Shell points system - enough points to equate to roughly two weeks. We specifically liked Shell's high-end resorts in Hawaii and California so that's why we bought. The plan was to spend two weeks a year in Hawaii and the other four elsewhere using our tiger traders. But as plans are sometimes apt to do, ours have changed, as we have bought a vacation home in Mexico where we have access to all 52 weeks in the year! So we will be consolidating down to only 2 weeks in timeshares (to keep giving us some variety).

Bottom line: sometimes it pays to go against the collective wisdom ... but you do need to know what you are doing and have reasonable expectations. Anyway, to answer your original question, nope, we didn't follow this "basic" principle in Timesharing 101!

Always a rebel in the crowd! :D
 
Yes, I am a firm believer in "Buy Where You Want To Go," plus I am a bonafide "II chicken :D ."

We have been going to Maui every year for the past 19 years, so we bought a week on Maui at WKORV. We went to Walt Disney World for the first time with our kids and rented a place at Beach Club Villas...loved it...came home and bought resale points there. I have been wanting to stay at the Hyatt in Carmel and Tahoe for years, so bought some Hyatt resale points and had our first visits this year.

After being convinced by GrayFal and others to try my hand at trading, I am finally going to get a chance to play around with II sometime this year! Then I'll go from II chicken to II newbie :) .
 
As many of you know by now, I trade within SVN and II.

I bought WMH to have the option to go there, as it's close to LA, but have only stayed there once while using my ownership. I've purchased II Getaway weeks for myself and my family 3-4 times, though.

And, I used some of the StarOptions from my WKR Platinum week to stay at Kierland once, during the summer (it wasn't quite that hot...!).

Other than those notable exceptions, I've used WMH exclusively as a trader with II and been extremely pleased with the results. And, I've used and am booked to use my SOs from WKR to go to WKORV, WKORV-N, Harborside, WPORV, and Lagunamar. I've been able to go everywhere I wanted to go - I inquired into St Johns once and it wasn't available but Harborside was so I went there - and now I just want to return to Harborside.

Recently I bought two Vistana Resort weeks. More on that in other threads... but I fully expect to use them solely for trading.

Other than the Orlando weeks, which is an extreme exception to my timeshare purchase strategy (strategy?), both WMH and WKR are within driving distance of my home and are great resorts. If I had to, I would be happy going to both those locations now and then.

The reality is that trading has worked very well for me, and I see no reason to believe it will change. Like most things, if you put enough time and energy into figuring out how the game is played, you will probably do well at it. The people who seem to complain the most (almost all of whom do not know what TUG is) don't seem to realize that fact...and are the same people who believe the developer sales staff. Of course, there are exceptions - and if you need to travel during a peak period, then purchasing where you want to go offers a huge advantage at actually getting the week you can go. I'm more flexible, and for those like me, trading works very, very well.
 
Ken555 said:
Like most things, if you put enough time and energy into figuring out how the game is played, you will probably do well at it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ken. I'm glad it works for you and the others here.

I think you summed it up for me...I'm not interested in trading because it requires time and energy (and unwanted stress and fingercrossing). I shouldn't have to deal with it after spending that kind of money. And I don't want to (my life is already busy and crazy). I do want to go Maui every week so the system works great for me, simply pick up the phone about 12 months out and make my reservation. No hassels, no worries.

However, I'm not as opposed to SVN trading as it seems to be 10x easier than I.I. trading.
 
R Chen said:
I do want to go Maui every week so the system works great for me, simply pick up the phone about 12 months out and make my reservation. No hassels, no worries.
Click to expand...

Ooh, I want to go every week too :whoopie: , though if you owned 52 weeks, you probably wouldn't need to call every week at 6am....:D .
 
We bought half where we want to go every year - Maui every year and Park City during Sundance and Sedona every other year. We usually trade our Westin Mission Hills and Puerto Vallarta.
 
R Chen said:
I'm not interested in trading because it requires time and energy (and unwanted stress and fingercrossing). I shouldn't have to deal with it after spending that kind of money. And I don't want to (my life is already busy and crazy).
Click to expand...

Yup, that's the single best reason to pay top dollar and buy where you want to go. For myself, I don't mind the extra work, and trading within SVN is a breeze. Either the week is available or it's not, and I haven't had any of the difficult exchanges other people refer to, primarily because I travel in the off-season. I also don't really care where I go, as long as I'm able to escape LA (!), so it's easy for me to just accept whatever's available (within reason, of course, and I've been happy with my results).

I wouldn't want to purchase the expensive weeks nor pay their higher MFs (a prime reason I chose Kierland). But if I needed to travel during school holidays, I would have done so out of necessity. And, this is why each individual's t/s purchases are unique based on their own needs.
 
We bought a cheap timeshare only to trade, but we are very realistic about the kinds of trades we can expect. Plus our kids get a week off in October, so we can travel low-season if need be.
 
Timesharing 101 is a basic strategic guide to timesharing.The are many ways to use a timeshare as there are may various timeshares.Wild trades to castles from boxes are not the norm they are an exception. Buying a resort that you do not want to go to IMO is a bad idea.Even if you buy a resort just for trading it should be a resort you wouldn't mind going to.
 
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We first bought a points system timeshare when our kids were younger because of drive to locations. We found that the resorts and locations were not what we expected. But we did get some good use out of it. We then found Starwood and it was just what we wanted are are very happy with Maui. We've had luck trading into Harborside. Sold the other points system last year.
 
The Wisdom Of T. U. G.

I had been thinking of these practical timeshare tips as The Wisdom Of TUG, but now that you mention it I think Timesharing 101 is more apt -- specially that part about buying a timeshare (if you must buy 1) at a location you actually like going to & that doesn't involve formidable travel to get there.

In the minds & motivations of those who dispense other Wisdom Of TUG gems that are semi-controversial -- e.g., Buy Resale -- ROFR = ROFL -- VIP Is Next To Worthless, etc. -- I don't believe there is any intent to point fingers & chant Nanny Nanny Boo Boo at those whose timeshare preferences go in different directions. Rather, I believe it is an attempt to help the newbies among us see more clearly through the smoke & mirrors of the timeshare sellers' weasel-speak.

Once folks have a clear understanding of Timesharing 101, then they are perfectly capable of making up their own minds on (for example) whether VIP status is worth it, whether the benefits of paying full freight to timeshare developers outweigh the economies of buying timeshares resale, whether buying timeshares on which the timeshare company holds ROFR provides advantages to the individual timeshare owner, whether it makes sense to buy timeshares strictly for exchange, & all the rest. One size does not necessarily fit all. Your mileage may vary.

In fact, an appropriate footnote to The Wisdom Of TUG -- & to Timesharing 101 alike -- might well be Take What You Like & Leave The Rest.

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


 
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