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dori47

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So my significant other and I attended a presentation in Florida two weeks ago. It sounded great, it was a good deal and we bought it. When we got home we found out it wasn't the good deal we thought it was, turned out it was EOY not annual ( thereby making it twice as expensive as we thought) and they hadn't explained all the costs, so we canceled ( still waiting to make sure it has canceled) and are only out $200 which is what we would have spent on tickets to Disney they gave us.

I really like the idea of the timeshare though. I own my own business, work 6 days a week, have a hard time getting away, need to book time off long in advance ( need to book someone to take my place) and felt that if I had a place to go, it would encourage me to go more often . Other than long weekends, this trip was my first trip in 5 years and my first vacation in 8 years.
My partner on the other hand gets as many as 5 weeks vacation a year- he went to Hawaii this year without me and went on the Florida trip and had some time off at home.

So when we do buy a timeshare, and I am pretty sure we will, should we be looking for something that is closer to home ( driving distance) so we are more likely to use it, can check it out personally before we consider buying (via resale) or should we look for something with good exchange value so when we do use it, we can go wherever we really want to go or can rent it out when we don't use it.

If we get something we want to use ourselves, I am thinking floating week is best since I can never guarantee from one year to the next when I can get away, but if we get something with the intention to trade, can we trade a fixed week for another time of year or are we stuck using just that week?

Should we look for points so we might be able to book two 3- day -long trips closer to home or weeks?

We live in an area that a lot of people vacation to ( Vancouver Island) but I don't think I would want to vacation here myself and was thinking either Whistler, or somewhere in Washington or Oregon but on the other hand, I am not a skier and summer vacations are close to impossible so we might want someplace warmer.

I just have so much information that I have gathered since we got back that I cannot process it all. Any and all advice, personal experiences etc are welcome
FYI we are about 20 years away from retirement and I am hopefully 10 years away from when I can start to take more time away from work

Thanks so much
Carole Ann
 

falmouth3

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Welcome to TUG. :wave: You've come to the right place for advice. Take a look through the various areas. Don't miss reading the "stickies" at the top of some of the forums. They contain good general information of topics of perennial interest.

If you have a specific question on an locale, a type of timeshare group (such as Hilton, Marriott, etc) there are also special areas for discussing those.

People here love to give advice - and their opinions. It sounds like you already did what most of us would have suggested - to rescind. I hope you did it correctly and you get your money back

BTW, I have been to Vancouver Island and I loved it. Just yesterday I suggested to my sister that she consider it for her next vacation.

Sue
 

DeniseM

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Welcome to TUG! :hi:

Congrats on rescinding! You're smarter than I was the first time! :D

A good place to start your research is the Advice Page, linked in the red bar at the top of the page.

My #1 advice is to take your time and really do you homework before you buy again. - I'd wait at least 6 mos. It's a buyer's market and you have nothing to gain by rushing into another purchase.
 

Karen G

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Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
we canceled ( still waiting to make sure it has canceled) and are only out $200 which is what we would have spent on tickets to Disney they gave us.
Were you offered the Disney tickets as an incentive to come hear their timeshare presentation? If so, that was a gift to you in exchange for your time to listen to their sales pitch. You shouldn't have to pay that back.
 

dori47

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Were you offered the Disney tickets as an incentive to come hear their timeshare presentation? If so, that was a gift to you in exchange for your time to listen to their sales pitch. You shouldn't have to pay that back.
The deposit we gave was $200, that is why we are out that much. They wanted $1200, but I was not comfortable paying that much as a deposit. They ran the other $1000 on the credit card on a future date, so I am making sure it does not go through.

We were given a one week car rental ( I paid $80 to upgrade to a better car) and 3 night stay at the Sheraton as well as two tickets for disney.
we flew there on air miles, stayed the other nights in hotels we arranged through hotwire so all in all , the trip was pretty inexpensive
 

calgarygary

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The deposit we gave was $200, that is why we are out that much. They wanted $1200, but I was not comfortable paying that much as a deposit. They ran the other $1000 on the credit card on a future date, so I am making sure it does not go through.

We were given a one week car rental ( I paid $80 to upgrade to a better car) and 3 night stay at the Sheraton as well as two tickets for disney.
we flew there on air miles, stayed the other nights in hotels we arranged through hotwire so all in all , the trip was pretty inexpensive

If the $200 deposit is on your ts purchase that you rescinded, then you will get the money back.
 

rhonda

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Welcome, Carole Ann!

What specific attributes did you like about the plan you bought then later, wisely, rescinded? Were you drawn to the units you were shown (decor, layout), the resort amenities, certain program features ... ?? Knowing what you liked, beyond the idea of forced vacations, would help us tailor our suggestions.

Personally, I love the "drive to" concept, option to take both weeklong and weekend trips, internal "mini-system" with many locations, flexibility in exchange programs, etc. For us, Worldmark makes a great "first choice" in our timeshare adventures ... but if you fell in love with an extremely high-end unit ... this may not be your cup of tea.
 

dori47

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Welcome, Carole Ann!

What specific attributes did you like about the plan you bought then later, wisely, rescinded? Were you drawn to the units you were shown (decor, layout), the resort amenities, certain program features ... ?? Knowing what you liked, beyond the idea of forced vacations, would help us tailor our suggestions.

.
It did seem to be a good value ( averaged out at $1000/year including maintenance fees if it had been a yearly plan expecting a 20 year period of me being able to take vacations and incorporating the exchange value of the dollar)
I liked the condo aspect rather than a hotel room, as well as having so many amenities included. It was an II affliated resort, so I did like that it was upscale, clean. Everyone we talked to there were glad they had bought at that resort. Although Orlando is far from where we live, I have a conference in Orlando every year that I would work harder to get to if I had a place to stay or I even thought about renting it out to my associates going to the conference.

A lot of what I liked about it, I have since learned is available with any timeshare. I am leaning a bit toward Worldmark for the reason that I could book 3 day stays and not use up an entire week.

I am leaning towards something within driving distance but far enough away from home to make it a real vacation- I remember summer holidays with my Dad- we would stay in a camp ground not far out of the city limits and my father would drive to work every day, spend the nights and weekends with us at the trailer as he felt he couldn't get away from work
 

Passepartout

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Worldmark, from what little I know about them might be a good fit for you. A large plus for is the number of resorts in the West. Many that you can drive to and of course be able to take mini vacations. The only negative to this is that (I understand) you have to pay a 'cleaning fee' after the first less-than-a-week exchange. You just get one free cleaning a year.

And, Welcome to TUG.

Jim Ricks
 

dori47

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I asked someone who was a Worldmark owner about the cleaning fee and he said he never heard of it, but maybe he only uses one full week a year
 

rhonda

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Worldmark accounts receive one free housekeeping token for each whole block of 10,000 credits owned (accounts < 20000 credits receive 1 housekeeping token; 20000-29000 credits receive 2 tokens; 30000-39000 credits receive 3 tokens; etc.). Unused housekeeping tokens may be carried over into the following year. Each Worldmark reservation booked on credits will require one housekeeping token. Once you've run out of tokens ... you will pay a housekeeping fee based on the unit size.

Recommended reading: Worldmark Owner's Guide available from the Owner Education page.
 
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Debbyd57

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We owned WM when we lived on the west coast and loved it. We did a lot of extra weekends with the bonus time we could get. The units are not plush but they are well kept and nice. They have a lot of locations on the west coast. Debby
 

dori47

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Why buy?

I have been looking at maintenance fees for some of the resorts I am interested in, and the fees seem to be $800-$1100 per year. Yet, I can rent a week at the same resort for $900.

Most of the posts I have read on maintenance fees discuss yearly increases in the neighbourhood of 5% which is a little higher than inflation, so I might assume that next year a rental would be available for around 5% more as well.

If I can rent for about what I would pay in maintenance fees as an owner, why buy, why not just rent? I am worried I will be paying for something that I just don't get the value out of it

I am certainly thinking of renting to get the experience and see if the resort is right for me before I buy.

The second part of my question is, if I buy, how easy is it to rent out my week if I don't get the opportunity to use it every year? At this point in time, I am thinking of Whistler, as it is reasonable driving distance from where I live and obviously a very desirable vacation spot even if I don't ski, golf or mountain bike ( my significant other does ski and golf)

Carole Ann- interested in becoming an owner but significant other keeps questioning my sanity
 

Karen G

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I have been looking at maintenance fees for some of the resorts I am interested in, and the fees seem to be $800-$1100 per year. Yet, I can rent a week at the same resort for $900.
. . . . If I can rent for about what I would pay in maintenance fees as an owner, why buy, why not just rent? I am worried I will be paying for something that I just don't get the value out of it
I think you've answered your own question. I think today the only reason to buy a timeshare is if you plan to use it yourself and you consider the price to be reasonable. Renting one's own unit or even exchanging it for something you want at the time you want it is getting more and more uncertain.
 

lprstn

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Now I recommend to most people. Don't buy right away. See if you are really into this first. Also, remember when buying, they are very hard to get rid of (one of the things I hate about owning timeshares).

If you are not a large family that requires a lot of room, then buying may not be very economical for you.

In my case I have 4 kids and we usually take people with us. Quite frankly before I purchased a TS we didn't vacation at all. We just visited folks. Timesharing for my family has definately improved our love of traveling, and knowledge of the importance of family vacations. So for me it's worth it.

Also, for me, Wyndham gets me more bang for my buck. We have the system down to a science and I spend about $300-$500 per week of vacation when I bank my points with RCI. These are always 2 bedroom units in nice places. I also purchased most of my TS resale, so it saved me a lot of $.

Lastly, I don't have to come up with the MF's at one time. I pay them monthly, and I also TRAVEL MONTHLY so for me that is well worth it. I would not travel monthly if I didn't own a timeshare that allowed me to pick up a week a month for under $500 for my stay in a unit large enough for my family.
 
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1950bing

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Fees will continue to go up and they are always thinking up new fees too.
 

Bill4728

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For a person living in the NW, there are several TS systems which may be a good fit for you. Worldmark is a great one. Vacations Internationael, Club Interwest & Shell Vacations also have a lot of resorts in the west ( all 4 have resorts at Whistler)

The biggest TS system in Whistler is WhiskiJack AKA Raintree but I know so little about how they work that I'd be afraid of recommending them. (They seem to be a fix of fixed, floating and point weeks)

Any of the other four TS systems would be a good choice for someone living in Vancouver. Club Intrawest would be by far the most costly but have the nicest resorts ( also they have a lot of rooms available at 14 days before checkin so last minute vacatiosn are a possiblity) Shell is likely the cheapest of the four. All of them I'd strongly recommend that you buy them resale and save many thousands of dollars.
 
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