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interesting article about who would benefit from owning a timeshare, and who would not

rickandcindy23

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That is a great article. He never has stayed in his timeshare that he's owned for 25 years, which I found especially interesting. I guess he hasn't read the TUG advice about buying where you want to go. He didn't say exactly what he bought, either. That's weird.
 

silentg

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Is he a member of TUG?
 

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Very good article. This had me thinking and I realized that we have never stayed at our home resort and we have owned there for 17 years. :eek: I'm guessing that that is not the norm but it works for us. I have an ongoing list of places I'd like to trade into.
 

Eric B

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I’m fairly well in agreement with his concepts. We own several timeshares, but predominantly go to just one of them. They others are on the inexpensive side with good to great trading power; we use those to visit other places, although we did go to them early on. It works for us despite matching the advice of some on TUG to buy where you want to go; we did that but use the others as a form of “currency” to go other places less expensively.
 

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This guy has a good read on the industry, and the points that make a timeshare worthwhile. He seems to be a perfect candidate for ownership. I wonder if he has ever done an "owner update." :ponder:
 

klpca

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Very good article. This had me thinking and I realized that we have never stayed at our home resort and we have owned there for 17 years. :eek: I'm guessing that that is not the norm but it works for us. I have an ongoing list of places I'd like to trade into.
I like your idea of having an ongoing list of places to visit.

We have also never stayed in a couple of places that we own. :D
 

easyrider

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The Dr makes some good points in this article. Especially about having enough time off to actually utilize the timeshare and paying cash for the timeshare. Many of us did buy resale and did pay cash.

The other points are not so relevant, imo. I am not very flexible regarding my reservations as we like winter travel to warm areas in a nice resort. I don't consider my timeshares as "upscale" even though they are fully furnished and very nice.

Regarding "the long haul" point, I have an exit plan for everything we own. Most are rtu contracts that will expire before we are 65 -70 years old.

It was an interesting article. :thumbup:

Bill
 

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There are different ways to look at TimeShares. Some like to trade; some like upscale facilities; some like to go different places every year and some like to back to the same place year after year. In my TimeSharing heyday I did a little of each. My Monarch Crown Suite Week on HHI was way upscale; my Weeks in places like Biloxi, Ruidoso, Deerfield Beach and Myrtle Beach were Fixed Week/Fixed Units and nowhere near upscale but were places I wanted to visit every year. Their purchase was based on location, price, low MFs and the specific unit. I also had a small RCI Points Week which I used when I wanted to go other places. All in all it was a great run!

George
 

aandmrun

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This is a very good and thorough article. Timeshares are certainly not for everyone. I get a lot of comments like "I don't understand timeshares" from my family. Sometimes they don't even want to understand, they have just heard the horror stories of people that can't afford them after buying and start complaining about how expensive it is to pay maintenance fees. We have also timeshared(?is this even a word?) for over 20 years and are very happy with all the vacations we have taken.
 

Glynda

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That is a great article. He never has stayed in his timeshare that he's owned for 25 years, which I found especially interesting. I guess he hasn't read the TUG advice about buying where you want to go. He didn't say exactly what he bought, either. That's weird.

We've only used our points for our home resort once in 17 years and that was for guests. Have always traded it with RCI or for other Bluegreen Properties. It's worked out well except we just don't own enough points to go where we want, exactly when we want and for the size unit we want. We've managed. But the TUG advice is still the best advice.
 

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I'll certainly agree with one point that was made/inferred: For those that have sufficient income and allocated vacation to own and use a timeshare......it's a way to force you and your family to take vacations that you simply wouldn't take otherwise. I'm not talking about being rich, just being too busy to plan and unwilling to spend the cash on a whim...

I wish we had purchased Marriott pre 2010...even if it was from the developer. We missed a lot of vacations that could have been chock full o' memories.

But, we're trying our best to make up for that now.... If I can remember where my home resort is....I'll let you know. (JK, we've never been and won't unless the gran-kids come rolling along soon...)
 

rapmarks

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This is a good article but I was surprised a surgeon could take 8 to 12 weeks vacation each year. Also how is his cost per week 600 when it sounds like he is counting maintenance and original cost. When he mentions upscale I figure the better brands.
 

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Wish he would have mentioned the resale market.

And I wouldn't consider all timeshares to be "upscale". For me, it's mostly about having a kitchen and a bit of extra space. But many resorts I've stayed in would not be considered upscale.

But otherwise a pretty good article.
 

rickandcindy23

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I would guess this surgeon only stays at upscale places, but he did talk Silver Crown and Gold Crown, which is quite subjective, if indeed this is RCI, as I suspect.
 

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Ha. Silver Crown at RCI: well, that could be a Hilton or a Holiday Inn.
 

rickandcindy23

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RCI has had Magic Tree in Orlando as Gold Crown. That is not even close. It's not nice at all.

I understand what he is saying. If you can stay at the nicer resorts in RCI each year, it would cost a bundle to rent those accommodations. Think of how expensive Disney one bedrooms are through Disney direct. Those are very valuable, even the one bedrooms at SSR, which seem to be the only option.

People are upset they cannot get Bay Lake and Beach Club anymore.
 

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That is a great article. He never has stayed in his timeshare that he's owned for 25 years, which I found especially interesting. I guess he hasn't read the TUG advice about buying where you want to go. He didn't say exactly what he bought, either. That's weird.

The TUG advice is only true for some. We always go somewhere new. Been to over 50 resorts. Buying where we want to go is impossible.

Sounds like the author may have bought from a developer, that can work out also though more expensive of course. Our first ownership was developer, and, not sorry at all.

"When the wrong people purchase timeshares, they have a bad experience, often lose a lot of money, and then they tell all their friends how bad a deal timeshares really are."

That is certainly true. But the opposite appears hopeless. Everyone we know marvels at our trips. They ask, and when we say timeshare, all they have is a negative view. Despite the fact they are always asking how we could afford it, etc. It makes no sense!
 
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This guy has a good read on the industry, and the points that make a timeshare worthwhile. He seems to be a perfect candidate for ownership. I wonder if he has ever done an "owner update." :ponder:
He doesn't have points he has a week. He trades the week of a 2 bedroom lockout into points on RCI. He refuses to do owner updates and suggests to anyone vacationing, it's not worth your valuable vacation time either.
 
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That is a great article. He never has stayed in his timeshare that he's owned for 25 years, which I found especially interesting. I guess he hasn't read the TUG advice about buying where you want to go. He didn't say exactly what he bought, either. That's weird.
He had stated he had bought a 2 bedroom lockout in New Orleans. There is more than one article that he has written.
 

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People who are ignorant about a subject shouldn't write as if they're an expert.
 
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bbodb1

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That is a great article. He never has stayed in his timeshare that he's owned for 25 years, which I found especially interesting. I guess he hasn't read the TUG advice about buying where you want to go. He didn't say exactly what he bought, either. That's weird.

As I think about this, I have never stayed at one of the resorts I own but I have certainly gotten full use of that week via trades and PIC. I wonder if there isn't a follow up (more recent version) of that advice.
 

Steve Fatula

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As I think about this, I have never stayed at one of the resorts I own but I have certainly gotten full use of that week via trades and PIC. I wonder if there isn't a follow up (more recent version) of that advice.

There are many here on TUG who firmly espouse this belief and regularly post the "advice". I suppose they do not realize there are others who have equally valid ways of using their timeshares. There is some logic in the belief, but only if one goes to the same place over and over. And even then, it's not necessarily the best as sometimes places are easy to trade into for less MF. There are a lot of non II believers here as well. If you won't use II, obviously, own where you want to go is pretty good advice! So, in some respects, it's an argument against II IMHO. For those of us like me, who almost never goes to the same place twice, kind of bad advice! Though I do own one property which I do almost always return to each year, so, I guess I follow it some. I will go to some of the same places, but those are on Getaways and why in the world would I pay to own those places when I can go for a tiny fraction of the MF with no ongoing MF? I have such a stay coming up, two weeks at the Estates at Kings Creek where I get to visit old friends of ours. For my exchanges and points, I almost always go somewhere different and go overseas as much as possible.
 

bbodb1

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I'll certainly agree with one point that was made/inferred: For those that have sufficient income and allocated vacation to own and use a timeshare......it's a way to force you and your family to take vacations that you simply wouldn't take otherwise. I'm not talking about being rich, just being too busy to plan and unwilling to spend the cash on a whim...

I wish we had purchased Marriott pre 2010...even if it was from the developer. We missed a lot of vacations that could have been chock full o' memories.

But, we're trying our best to make up for that now.... If I can remember where my home resort is....I'll let you know. (JK, we've never been and won't unless the gran-kids come rolling along soon...)

Precisely our experience.
I know for a fact we would never had made many of the trips we have without timeshare 'compeling' us to go. The cash outlay for many trips was still significant but cutting out lodging eliminated our largest expense.
 
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