What was your first exposure to Timesharing?

[jackio]

South African timeshares. That brings back memories. We never got into the RCI trading scene and the the idea of purchasing a timeshare that we would NEVER visit, I could not embrace.

Yes, my husband thought I was crazy when I told him I wanted to buy a unit in South Africa based on the recommendations of people I had never met.
I paid $500 for that unit and got 10 years RCI along with it.
We stayed at the Manhattan Club 3or 4 times exchanging that gem, when there were no daily fees.

 

[rhonda]

South African timeshares. That brings back memories. We never got into the RCI trading scene and the the idea of purchasing a timeshare that we would NEVER visit, I could not embrace.

Awww, I really enjoyed that period. We got some great trades from our SA week ... but, at that point in my life, I was pretty much tied to a keyboard and able to frequently search RCI as a form of escapism. Just searching and dreaming was a mini-vacation!

 

[rickandcindy23]

Timeshare has a bad reputation that is not deserved. But there are some resorts that are not worthy of the MF's, let alone aging timeshares with fees that have increased way beyond what the week is worth.

When we were young, I mean 1973, newlyweds, we received a lot of invitations to go to presentations in town, Denver, for timeshare sales. They were hokey, just pictures of timeshares in places like the mountains and Hawaii. I could never buy off of a picture. They would have huge numbers of us in a room, and then you could stay or go, depending on your interest. We received things that were inconsequential, even though the card had big prizes listed. The one I remember most was a "silver-plated" turkey platter that would never need polishing, which I still have, but it's not silver.

We bought in 1981 at Twin Rivers in Fraser, then a year later at Val Chatelle in Frisco. The rest is history.

I see why people feel they were taken in back then. There was literally no easy way to look at timeshare in any meaningful way. It was a concept no one understood, and those who bought are trying to get out, any way they can. Then because of these people who were taken back then, we have people who bought SBP or SDO and think they were taken. They weren't, but the commercials told them so, and they believed it.

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

I got introduced to timeshares very gently. One of aunt and uncles were very well-to-do, and had purchased timeshares at Hilton Head, (Marriott Monarch fixed week week 12 and 1, I think. The Aunt's brother had bought the same weeks, and had a get together during azalea bloom season. I got invited in 1993 for a week (they were two bedroom units). It was nice, but I wasn't overly impressed (too cold for me - I'm a south Texan).

Anyways, they liked Marriott and ended up buying 5 units/weeks (2 Hilton Head, 1 Royal Palms hurricane season, and 2 Grand Vista units all 2 bedroom). In the mid 2000's they offered us Royal Palms for free, we paid the MF's. (They were simplifying their ownership). Despite passing several years due to hurricanes at reservation time, it was a nice vacation. The units were built like rocks.

Then came the DC point system, and as a single week owner, it became difficult to book weeks. I had bought a Red week at Royal Palms, after market, but in 2015, I literally couldn't get any reservation for my maintenance fees. Single week season owners had become third class citizens in the Marriott pecking order. So I sold both weeks back to Marriott. (and at a net profit too!)

But by then, I was hooked on timeshares for vacationing. I am not the "travel everywhere once" type of person, So I thought about where I wanted to go, year after year. Big Island, Hawaii. I had spent 2 months there in 1999-2000. No Marriotts there anyways. Looked at the Hilton system. Its structure solved all the problems that I had run into with Marriott. Waikiola wasn't bad, and The Bay Club was really cheap in the aftermarket (no ROFR), spacious, and highly rated here on TUG. So I bought on with the proceeds from my two Marriotts.

It was just what I wanted. Now I have 4 weeks odd/3 weeks even. I can't take them in block yet, (vacation time limits from work), but I have had friends and relative come along in the spare weeks, and a grand time is had by all. And I never have had a problem getting the weeks I want.

 

[Panina]

Sweet Memories. I was with my husband, passed away too young. It was our first anniversary and we went to Atlantic City. It was thriving then and he loved going there more for the food, entertainment and boardwalk then the gambling. We were walking on the boardwalk and we were offered a gift for taking a tour of La Renassance, which was on the boardwalk and unfortunately went bankrupt a few years ago. We didn’t buy on the spot but loved the concept so we proactively went to all the other timeshare in the area. Nothing compare, so we went back and purchased. This was my only timeshare that was purchased from a developer, the rest resale.

 

[Icc5]

Our first experience was my wife's parents getting an invite to the Donatello in San Francisco and them putting the invite at our house with our mail. They thought we might enjoy spending the few days and nights in S.F. along with a free meal,a show, and reduced parking all for sitting through a presentation.
Glad we did because it got us started 30 years ago and since then we bought into 4 timeshare programs and enjoyed making many memories with our children.
Bart

 

[Big Matt]

I went with my friend to his parent's timeshare in OBX at Seascape. It was nothing special, but I got to understand the concept. That was when I was about 21. I bought into Marriott and then Foxrun about 15 years after that when I had some money and a young family.

 

[jme]

During the 90s when our family was relatively young, we enjoyed many summer beach vacations.
Being the closest destination, our default spot was Hilton Head.
We stayed at a few different places, hotels or small cottages mostly, but in the late 90s we had 2 stays at the Westin Hotel,
whose pools and accommodations we liked. Around 1998, when our kids were 9 & 12, the cost at the Westin
was about $2500 per week for one hotel room. For the first time it really hit me hard-----it was far too crowded for 4 people
in one room for that price, so when we checked out one Sunday afternoon, we decided to ride around and look at other options.

After about 30 minutes we happened to ride by Marriott Grande Ocean....had no clue about the name of it,
or that it was a timeshare, but it looked extremely nice so we pulled in and walked around.
Asked somebody lounging poolside how much it cost to stay there, and they said, "You can't do that, you have to be an owner."
Didn't exactly know what that meant (didn't know about timeshares), but they pointed to the office.
It was 5:05pm, and when approaching the door I could see that it was closed.
I peered through the glass and saw no one.....then I caught sight of a head down the hallway peeking around a corner.
He saw me and came to the door and opened it. I said something for a minute, and he said, "Come on in".

We sat and talked about 15 minutes, and he said "We're officially closed, but let's quickly go see a unit".
We did, and while walking up a stairwell on the way to the unit, I asked what it would cost to stay there in the summer.
He told me what the approximate price was, and I immediately (and quietly) motioned to my wife "NO, NO, NO"
with a hand gesture meaning "Cut!".
We saw the unit and it was indeed awesome---and it was big, far bigger than one room in a hotel. Hmmm, that seemed nice.

We went back to the office and he walked us around quickly, showing us the photos on the wall, and a neat table map.
He must have felt the cold reaction from us at that moment, so he said that it seemed like something we should sleep on,
and suggested that we shouldn't rush into it, maybe come back.
One last option he threw out was that if we did anything (he really wasn't recommending it, but...)
we could consider a cheaper bronze week to start off with.
I looked at my wife, and then I distinctly remember turning to him and saying,
"No thanks, but I think we'd like one Platinum Oceanfront week, and one Gold Oceanside week, please."
He literally fell backward in his chair and clumsily caught himself.

What had happened was that ten minutes before he had shown us that little small-scale flat topographical map of the world
on a tabletop---the one that when you press a button the little lights begin traveling in a line to about a dozen
different locations around the country, and another button started the lights traveling to two or three places in Europe,
Australia, and beyond.
At that precise moment, although I remained quiet, it hit me that "This is the way I am going to show my family the world",
and the rest was history.
So after collecting himself, he made a phone call, we waited 10 minutes, and another guy came in and drew up
the contract and suddenly we were new Marriott Owners.
From then on we never wavered and we were 100% satisfied that we had made a good decision.

Never knew about about TUG until 6 months later, but we were happy, and I have to say over the years
we have never regretted it. We did later buy additional resale weeks, but our initial purchase of developer weeks was fine.
Our kids loved it, my wife and I loved it, and we have now visited about 2/3+ of every possible destination around the country,
and have been to Europe three times. It started our travel addiction, and we have never slowed down.....busier now than ever.

There were huge incentives to buy back then----we got 2 "World Trips" for buying the first two weeks.
That was 2 Rewards Gifts of 250,000 Rewards Points each, and for each 250,000 points we got a 7-night stay
anywhere in the world, plus two airfares. Those were the days.

Later in 2010 we enrolled our weeks (developer weeks & resale weeks) and we soon understood how to play the game.
TUG taught us well. Yes, we could have benefitted from ONLY buying resale weeks, but it didn't happen that way
because of our initial ignorance, like most people, but it's been good since then.
Never would have done any of that traveling had it not been for the entrance into the Marriott system of weeks,
Rewards Points, trades, and ultimately Destination Points through enrollment.
Enrolled points annually give us 18,000 if we desire to use them, so we have a multitude of options....too many.

I will say this about our developer purchases "way back when"-----they were FAR cheaper
(considering the valuable incentives we received) than today's Destination Points purchases.
Back then everybody took a lot of heat on TUG for buying from the developer, but compared to now, it's not even close.
Today's prices for DC Points plus maintenance fees, plus the number of points you actually need to get the high-end stays
are ridiculous! So looking back I don't feel any regrets at all.

 

[x3 skier]

First contact was at a Resort (don’t recall the name or year, maybe in the 80’s) in Whistler BC. We were on a ski vacation and I saw a ad for a tour of a new resort that would give me a free ski vest if I took the tour. Absolutely no clue about Timesharing. I tuned out all attempts to sell me and I walked out with the vest.

Much later and considerably smarter, I bought a Raintree resale, an Allen House resale (my absolute hands down favorite) and a fractional at The Grand in Steamboat Springs. Still own Raintree (leaving a few weeks for a week in PV) and The Grand and enjoy using them both.

Cheers

 

[chellej]

1980's Towncenter Jackson Hole....was walking down the boardwalk with DH, sil & bil. Guy offered us dinner certs if we would go to the presentation. Sat through the presentation and were amazed that the salesman wanted to have us commit and sign without telling us the price. We told him he was crazy if he thought we would commit to something without knowing that detail.

Fast forward to 1990s & I tried to book a summer week in Island Park at a hotel for DH to go fishing and could not find any availability. I remembered back to that presentation and remembered that there was a timeshare in island park. Looked on ebay and found 2-week bundle for $1750. Found tug and learned about SA timeshares and while I don't own those original 2, sold them both for a really nice profit, I do still own 2 weeks at Island Park. That original summer week at island park was such a good RCI trader, I couldn't let him use it, so I had to find another way to get his summer weeks....and well you know....more weeks.

 

[pedro47]

My first exposure to timeshare was a referral from a co-worker to Fairfield New Bern in NC. We went down to purchase this timeshare but the salesperson went on and on about their personal life and New Bern,NC. It just turned us off. We asked him how much several times and he kept on talking. We ended up walking out of the room and I feel he did not even missed us.
We ended up purchasing a timeshare in Williamsburg,VA from the developer.

We ended up purchasing a second reale week at the Manor Club. Thanks you "Dave M," from Mass.
Dave M, now lived in HHI, SC. I missed his knowledge about Marriott’s timeshare.

 

[Krteczech]

While driving through Wisconsin back in late 80’s we probably entered some drawing... and we won “free mini vacation at Wisconsin Dells”. Nice area, nice sales rep, we signed the contract for about 7k and drove back home. We realized TS had strings attached and trading was not as easy as rep said. Two days later I sent in my rescind letter. Fast forward to 2005, our daughter was turning 10 and there was no way to share one bedroom at hotels any more. eBay, TUG, and new job lead to fixed Christmas week purchase at St Maarten. Few years later eBay summer fixed week at Estes Park. Great memories.

 

[SPG900NY]

We've since added three weeks, all at the same resort. We do a mix of trading, staying in our owned week, and adding extra weeks through Extra Vacations. We usually are timesharing for 6 or 7 weeks a year, plus any long weekends I can find a great deal for! It is rare for us to venture out of New England...there is so much to see/experience close by. We have four children, though Elliott is now on his own, so three still travel with us. We like that we can have space to spread out, enjoy nice facilities, and cook our own meals. Many of these resorts are places that feel like home to us, because we visit so often. Cold Spring, Smuggs, and Attitash fall into that category.

My family's first experience with timesharing was about 10 years ago. My folks had bought a unit in Las Vegas when they were out there and after a couple years had lots of points (they hadn't gone back) and said if my wife and 2 year old and I wanted to take a week in New England somewhere, they would cover it. We hadn't taken a real vacation in years. I knew nothing about timesharing, only that my folks had paid a lot for something they weren't using and now had annual fees on top of it.

My relatives had lived in North Conway, NH and we always took a week up there to visit when I was a kid in the '70s and early '80s, so I thought it would be cool to go back. I looked on RCI and gave them a couple resorts in the area and my folks booked us in Attitash for a week (it was my last choice, but I was grateful for the paid vacation).

We ended up having an amazing time. My son LOVED the train going by a few times an afternoon - we had a unit with a balcony overlooking the tracks. Loved Storyland, the pool, and ALL THE SPACE!! SO much different than staying at a hotel. I couldn't believe it. Totally fell in love with Attitash.

Ended up buying a studio for $1 on eBay and when we stopped by the office for our "presentation," they gave us full value to exchange it toward a 3-way lock off at the end of June. Until my son was in school, we'd sell a unit, bank a unit for another vacation, and use the studio. These days because my son is usually in school until the end of June, we've just been banking the whole thing and trading it for a 2BR in July every year. I keep thinking we should go somewhere else, but it's become kind of a tradition that we all love - we visit my folks in southern NH for four days, then head up to Bartlett for our week at Attitash.

Every year we seem to find something new to do, so it's nice to have the familiar and then find new things too. One year we went up to Pittsburgh for a night on Back Lake with the loons, last year we did Saco tubing for the first time (SO cool), etc.

I ended up buying another $1 week at the beginning of October for leaf peeping and with work I haven't been able to use it for a few years, so my in-laws cover the maintenance and they have also fallen in love with Attitash and now go every year. They used to go up to the White Mountains every fall and stay in a hotel. It cost them more and they didn't have a kitchen!

When I hear people saying timesharing is a scam, I always disagree and say it all depends on how you vacation. I love that it forces me to take at least one decent vacation every year, and the memories have been priceless really.

Sorry for going on. Just saw you mentioned Attitash is one of the places that feels like home to you, and it does to us and my in-laws as well! It's also let us stay in downtown San Francisco, on Cape Cod, and a few other awesome places that we probably wouldn't have spent the money on.

 

[silentg]

Around 2000 I was an Ebay addict. Went to lodging and bid and won a week long stay at the Seasons @ Sugarbush. We had a great ski week and fell in love with the charm of the place. A year later we bought a resale after a few more ebay timeshare stays.

This was our first timeshare Seasons at Sugarbush. We saw an ad in Boston Globe a 3 day weekend for$9.00. My husband never took vacations but the idea intrigued him. We went on a 5 hour ride to Vermont with an 18 month old and not much more than the $9.00. We bought a RTU 4 th of July week and borrowed money from my parents for a one bedroom timeshare. We started staying in 1981 and really loved the place. Our daughter was born 1983 and we took both kids up each summer for 4 years ..
We started exchanging with II and our resort went thru many management changes and closed for a year due to storm damage. When it reopened RCI was the exchange company. We bought our own membership which I was glad, because RCI dropped the Seasons after a couple of years. At this time 1988 we had moved to Florida and mostly exchanged instead of going to Vermont.
In the early 90 ‘s I found TUG and got lot of advice on timeshares. The Seasons was reinstated with RCI and I was never dropped from my affiliation. We bought our first resale at Dikhololo on recommendation of TUG . We made very good exchanges with that week. Then we acquired a studio at OL and a 2 bedroom from a TUG member. The ball started rolling and we bought a week at Calini, Fitzpatrick’s Castle, The Pines, Summer Bay ( short lived),Holly Tree, Fishermen’s Village ( disaster), and most recent Oyster Point.
We are down to 4 weeks now, Seasons at Sugarbush ended 2011, Dikhololo, returned the Deed. Gave away all except Fitzpatrick’s, Orange Lake, Pines, Oyster Point.
I have learned so much about timesharing and we have stayed in many places we probably wouldn’t have without timeshares. Have utilized TUG marketplace buying, renting,selling, exchanges, and offering and getting great advice.
For a person who wasn’t too keen on the timeshare idea at first, I feel it’s the best way to travel now. Thanks to my husband for having the foresight that timeshares would be a good thing for our family.
Silentg

 

[SteelerGal]

3yrs ago a friend invited my family and I to the pool at the resort they were staying at. Marriott’s NCV. I always thought it was just another Condo Association. That’s when she told me about Redweek. Then Dh’s colleague offered him an opportunity to stay at a TS locally, San Diego. We choose MarBrisa. W/ the limited knowledge, we purchased a resale there. And now we are primarily Westin/Hyatt family.
Although I have known about the “Bad TS”, I refused the free weekends because I hate presentations. So my friends and I would use SkyAuction or other bidding sites to travel. Mostly hotels. Then VBRO came into play so we would go that route as well. Once I found Redweek and Tug, I caught the TS bug. We haven’t stayed in a hotel since.

 

[rapmarks]

I'm sitting here on my Sycamores 23 balcony at Smuggs. Last day of spring break. Heading home tomorrow. I've been thinking about all of the great vacations we've taken as a family because of our timeshare. I've been reading the Tug Memory Lane threads, which got me thinking back to when I was first exposed to Timeshares. (Time to actually savor a cup of coffee will get one thinking about random "stuff!")

My parents bought a "floating blue week" from Lakewood at Lake of the Ozarks for $5000. They had rented a week there, and were sold on the space and the fact that it had a kitchen. (For those of you who are familiar with Branson...our vacations used to be staying at Rockaway Beach on Lake Taneycomo in horrible "housekeeping cabins." These units were definitely a step up!) What Dad didn't understand was that he would NEVER get a prime week. He didn't understand how to use what he had. I was still in college, so this was 1990 or so. I learned fast! I used the week some years to trade, once I moved to Maine in 1992. And they used it to trade to visit me. These days, they use them (they've subsequently added a second blue float week...they never. learn.) to go to Branson in the off-season.

They exchanged in to Cold Spring Resort one year on one of those New England visits. We also used the week to trade in there in January 2001. We saw that we could purchase a sleeps 8 unit for April break week (Elliott was 4, so we knew enough to watch the school calendar!) for $1500. We paid $300 upfront, and the resort carried the rest until we paid it off. I had that week paid off in less than a year, and we were off on our timesharing journey!

We've since added three weeks, all at the same resort. We do a mix of trading, staying in our owned week, and adding extra weeks through Extra Vacations. We usually are timesharing for 6 or 7 weeks a year, plus any long weekends I can find a great deal for! It is rare for us to venture out of New England...there is so much to see/experience close by. We have four children, though Elliott is now on his own, so three still travel with us. We like that we can have space to spread out, enjoy nice facilities, and cook our own meals. Many of these resorts are places that feel like home to us, because we visit so often. Cold Spring, Smuggs, and Attitash fall into that category.

Hats off to those of you who try new things every trip and venture to the other side of the globe. Timesharing can definitely do those kinds of adventures, or it can lead to familiar and well-loved spots.

Safe journeys!

That was our first timeshare. We were in Branson on a guest certificate at Roark, for $99. On a rainy day we went with friends who were looking at whole ownership condos. The salesman had taken two weeks from Lakewood as part of a sale. We ended up buying the two weeks for $1000 in 1991. We went in June that year and had a great time. Since we were teachers, we could only go one particular week in June, and we couldn’t always get it. We sold the weeks in 2012.

 

[JohnPaul]

About 1988-or '89, I was single and trucking. My widowed mom had a neighbor who was some kind of BOD person with SunTerra (a predecessor of (unknown) TS). Somehow, she got a week from him in a 2 BR at Torres Mazatlan in Mexico,...
Jim

Sunterra managed Vaction Internationale awhile (hence your access to Torres Mazatlan). They eventually went bankrupt (no real effect to VI - despite some peoples aversion to points)and were merged into Diamond. VI got out of their management contract with Sunterra and went back to being run by an owner board.

 

[missyrcrews]

My family's first experience with timesharing was about 10 years ago. My folks had bought a unit in Las Vegas when they were out there and after a couple years had lots of points (they hadn't gone back) and said if my wife and 2 year old and I wanted to take a week in New England somewhere, they would cover it. We hadn't taken a real vacation in years. I knew nothing about timesharing, only that my folks had paid a lot for something they weren't using and now had annual fees on top of it.

My relatives had lived in North Conway, NH and we always took a week up there to visit when I was a kid in the '70s and early '80s, so I thought it would be cool to go back. I looked on RCI and gave them a couple resorts in the area and my folks booked us in Attitash for a week (it was my last choice, but I was grateful for the paid vacation).

We ended up having an amazing time. My son LOVED the train going by a few times an afternoon - we had a unit with a balcony overlooking the tracks. Loved Storyland, the pool, and ALL THE SPACE!! SO much different than staying at a hotel. I couldn't believe it. Totally fell in love with Attitash.

Ended up buying a studio for $1 on eBay and when we stopped by the office for our "presentation," they gave us full value to exchange it toward a 3-way lock off at the end of June. Until my son was in school, we'd sell a unit, bank a unit for another vacation, and use the studio. These days because my son is usually in school until the end of June, we've just been banking the whole thing and trading it for a 2BR in July every year. I keep thinking we should go somewhere else, but it's become kind of a tradition that we all love - we visit my folks in southern NH for four days, then head up to Bartlett for our week at Attitash.

Every year we seem to find something new to do, so it's nice to have the familiar and then find new things too. One year we went up to Pittsburgh for a night on Back Lake with the loons, last year we did Saco tubing for the first time (SO cool), etc.

I ended up buying another $1 week at the beginning of October for leaf peeping and with work I haven't been able to use it for a few years, so my in-laws cover the maintenance and they have also fallen in love with Attitash and now go every year. They used to go up to the White Mountains every fall and stay in a hotel. It cost them more and they didn't have a kitchen!

When I hear people saying timesharing is a scam, I always disagree and say it all depends on how you vacation. I love that it forces me to take at least one decent vacation every year, and the memories have been priceless really.

Sorry for going on. Just saw you mentioned Attitash is one of the places that feels like home to you, and it does to us and my in-laws as well! It's also let us stay in downtown San Francisco, on Cape Cod, and a few other awesome places that we probably wouldn't have spent the money on.

We're spending Christmas at Attitash this year. With Christmas in the middle of the week, I needed a Sunday checkin, so that we didn't lose much of the week. (I work for Target...I'll be there until the 24th!) The rest of my family will be able to check in and enjoy a couple of days before I head over. I am excited to see the resort at holiday time!

 

[Robin G]

Our first exposure to TS was in Kona Hawaii. We went for our 10th anniversary and did a presentation and we fell in love . We have exchanged many times over the past 25 years and honestly I’m spoiled. It’s hard to not have a nice “villa” with all the comforts of home when going away.

 

[PcflEZFlng]

We were newlyweds in the summer of 1981, and we went to several timeshare presentations in the Colorado mountains (we lived near Denver at the time). We had no intention of buying anything, nor could we afford to if we wanted to, but for us it was just an excuse to enjoy a nice drive into the mountains and get a free gift. All the presentations were pretty cheesy. One of them had a large group of people in a room with loud, upbeat music playing (to create "group dynamic" enthusiasm, I suppose). At another one, we visited a plain-looking brick apartment building out in the middle of nowhere, with units that looked like converted motel rooms. Oh, boy. I think we got a cheap snapshot camera out of that visit.

The third one actually featured pretty decent-looking units on a lake near Frisco, but again we weren't buying. The salesman kept trying, and when it began to dawn on him that we weren't going to bite, he asked us where DID we typically go on vacation. When I told him one of our favorite destinations was San Diego, he brightened and said that we would be able to trade into a property they had in Carlsbad. I said why would we need to do that when we could just stay with my parents, who lived in San Diego. He responded with, "well, are you always just going to mooch off your parents?" to which DW and I both looked at each other and in unison said "Yeah!" With a dejected look, he said "go get your gift."

The "gift" was a cheap plastic grandfather clock with particle board housing that ran on a single AA battery. That thing adorned the front entryway to our humble little starter home for about 3 years!

 

[Grammarhero]

Many of you know my story, which is relatively new. Twenty-three (23) days ago, I went on a "free" vacation, including a $100 gift card. Before the sales presentation, I read TUG for five (5) hours and practiced saying "No." I've since learned that's not enough research time to evaluate whether to buy a TS wisely.

So, first salesman tried to sell a unit for $25k. I declined saying I wanted to buy resale on RedWeek. The supervisor tried to sell me a unit for $9k. I declined saying I wanted to buy resale on RedWeek. The "closer" sold me a $4.5k TS and gave me a second week for lifetime (second week has $200 redemption). I've since learned that the "free week" was really RCI Last Minute deals for $400, but discounted to $200. Based on TUG advice, I rescinded the next day. The same day I rescinded, I got the same TS offer for $1 resale.

Upon talking with my wife, Massanutten Resort is not the resort for us. We venture outside the resort for our vacations. Upon talking with my little sister who would vacation with us, I eventually bought a $1 TUG resale TS for DRI Varsity Clubs at South Bend, EY, red floating week, with options to split into two stays of 3/4 days each. We love visiting South Bend and Chicago (a two-hour train ride away). As I'm more detail-oriented, planner, and TS-engaged of the two, this TS is in my name only.

We are considering an EY Wyndham Canterbury (where my family is) and EY Williamsburg (2.5 hours drive). Wife and I love SF, and I love Williamsburg. However, we have to see how the little one responds to or likes traveling to/visiting SF or Williamsburg for a week.

 

[rapmarks]

We were staying in a motel in Wisconsin Dells and my husband went golfing at Christmas mountain. He discovered they were selling lots and we ended up buying one. We built a vacation home and could use the facilities. We had a guest and he bought a timeshare. In return we were given RCI certificates. We went to Branson for spring break, and ended up buying at Lakewood Resort in Osage Beach which I explained in a previous post.
But our actual first exposure was taking advantage of an offer in the Chicago tribune and going to French Lick where the sales pitch was so strong I would never do it again.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Our first exposure to TSing was renting an Orlando TS from a friend. We really liked the 2BDRM spread because my plan was always to create a vacation plan for my family and my lovely SIL's family. During the stay we went to a high pressure Westgate presentation for Disney tickets with no intention of buying anything. We actually lost those tickets so decided to do another and this time it was Marriott.

I was really impressed with their program especially when I heard they had a Maui location which I had already developed an obsession with from our honeymoon at the Marriott Maui Hotel before it was converted. We went to the presentation and really couldn't afford much and really had the main goal of going to Maui in the winter. The sales guy could tell I couldn't afford Maui so sized me up and said buy the max trading power unit and easily trade into Maui. Somehow he determined a Grande Vista gold fit the bill and me not knowing any better bit on it and we bought a 2BDRM GV gold for $14800.

I was so pumped up and immediately put in my trade for a winter week 2BDRM for Maui and waited. And waited...... and waited. 9 months past and nothing of course. I was so disappointed because I soon realized the truth about the trading game and thought I had wasted alot of money on a GV that wasn't going to get me to Maui in the winter which was always my overwhelming driving force to go the TS route in the first place.

Then in a terrible bit of irony something very tragic changed my TS path Sept 11th 2001. Only a few days after that my trade came through for a 2BDRM MOC for Jan 4th 2002. There is no doubt in my mind that if not for Sept 11th I don't get that trade and the rest of my Marriott TS journey doesn't happen.

Here's why I say that. After getting the trade we flew over to Maui in a practically empty plane. I'm not even sure what I expected as far as a room with a view but we were given a 6th floor OV overlooking the pool. I will never forget the feeling of walking into that room for the first time and seeing the view.

So now we were hooked but had the useless GV as far as what we wanted and again wasn't made of money so it didn't look promising until I heard about the new trade up program where Marriott would apply for money paid to a new TS purchase. It was a really new program and I was only of the first few to take advantage of it I was told. They gave me full credit of the GV purchase and even another set of incentive points so it was really a good deal I thought. Only a few months later Marriott realized they were giving away too much and started to implement a 40% commission on their trade-ups.

So from just looking to score some free Disney tickets timing is everything. I really am fairly certain that if not for Sept 11th I would have never made it to Maui and had a bad TS taste in my mouth and if I missed that free trade up and had to give up 40% commission I would never have done so and most likely faded away from TSs in general instead of now owning 14 MOCs and 27 Marriotts overall.

 

[bobmnu]

I got exposed to time sharing by getting a free vacation to the Wisconsin Dells, back in the early 1980's. The presentation was wonderful and sounded great but everything seemed geared to young married or singles and I had a family with young children. The two did not seem comparable. I did like the idea of taking vacations in other than a small hotel room. The other thing holding me back was the price, $13,500 for a white week. We did several presentations and were great at saying no. We got an invitation to visit one near us and went for the "Free Vacation". This resort had a problem in that they had two units left to sell in the present buildings and could not start construction until those units were sold. They had people there being put on a waiting list for the new building to purchase Red Weeks. We were offered one of the Blue weeks for $7,000 only to have it sold before us (they did the cheer thing when one was sold. I told our person that was still too much. The manager talked to him and he offered us a one bedroom deluxe unit for $3500 and they would finance it. They waved the down payment and financed the whole thing with the first years maintenance fee paid. At that time the week could be traded for an blue week, but 45 days out it could be traded for anything that was available regardless of week or unit size. We bought it for trading not to visit and it was 20 years before we used our week at the resort there. First year we traded (45 days out) for a two bedroom unit in the Pocono Mt in PA. We were in the middle nowhere but found things to see and do. For several years we enjoyed our last minute vacations and even gave a week to may parents for an anniversary present, they were surprised at the resort, much better than a motel room. I was able to trade for a week in Orlando, a 3 bedroom sleeps 10 unit. With the inlaws we had a great vacation and did another time share presentation to get tickets for the family for another theme park. They wanted $30.000 for a red week and I turned them down. I did ask why not the high pressure I had heard about. His answer surprised me, he said industry research shows that of all the people who attend a presentation 80% will buy a time share at a later presentation. He was also surprised at my ability to trade a 1 bedroom blue week for a 3 bedroom red week. As I neared retirement my wife and I wanted to travel so we started seriously studying Time Shares. I have purchased points in Shell Vacation (now Wyndam) and Bluegreen Resorts, which is affiliated with Shell Vacations so there is no exchange fee between the two. I have enjoyed many vacations in the US and Europe using our timeshares. My children have learned different tricks to get the vacation they want. I have used the weeks for wedding presents for relatives. I have not used the resale market but have used the benefits of the different clubs I belong to. Over all I am very pleased with my time shares and plan to use them fully every year and enjoy a longer vacation or just a weekend get away.

 

[overthehill]

My family had been renting a beachfront unit in eastern Washington on Lake Chelan the third week of July every year since 1980. In 1985, the owners sold the resort to the largest hotel operator on the lake and everything changed. Fees were charged to moor one's boat, the beach was rarely cleaned, access to free use of fishing poles and other water activities disappeared as did many other benefits we had enjoyed. Up lake is Wapato Point, a waterfront timeshare complex which began development in the late 60's. Sub-lease ownerships were sold in four week increments, one week in each season. We bought a four week ownership directly from the owner and enjoyed using the weeks until 1989 when we sold our ownership for what we paid for it (a rare opportunity these days). After that we bought in to two resorts in Canada, one bought on the secondary market for next to nothing and the other from the developer who's salesman misrepresented the features and benefits of that ownership (sound familiar). We dumped the first purchase once we figured out we were paying the same fees for our one bedroom unit as those being paid by owners of two bedroom unit with twice the square footage. We stopped paying the annual fees and told the management company we were done (no repercussions). The second one we never stayed in, only trying to exchange it during our 8 years of ownership. We sold back to the developer for 30 cents on the dollar. Lesson learned.... Enter TUG.
In 1998, we bought our first of five WorldMark contracts on the secondary market which we still own today but are beginning to sell off as access to resorts has diminished over time since Wyndham took over management from Trendwest. It's been a fun ride but but our travels and interests take us elsewhere.