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Drury Hotel Chain (as an example)

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Anyone a fan? We took a road trip from MN to New Orleans a few years ago and stayed almost exclusively in the Drury chain including their property in downtown New Orleans. It was absolutely wonderful! Hot breakfast every morning, a light supper and drinks in the evening. Pet friendly. Rates are low - $80-$120 night in many locations. I apply this experience to my timeshare research and wonder what is so great about timeshares? I can book most of them at tripadvisor on a nightly basis with no up front fees or strings attached.

Who wants a full kitchen and washer and dryer when they go on vacation? I just don't get it.

The more I read here, the less interested I am in "owning" a timeshare.
 

rapmarks

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My one night at a druzy inn, no sleep because we were over the break room and clearly heard three women conversing all night long
 

Luanne

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The Drury here in Santa Fe, which opened only a few years ago, was converted from the old hospital, which was said to be haunted. Some people can't get past that. :) The property however, is very nice.
 

Sandy VDH

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I can't get over the name. Sound like a Dreary place to stay.
 

moonstone

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77,000 RCI points (Sunrise Ridge Resort, TN)
Anyone a fan? We took a road trip from MN to New Orleans a few years ago and stayed almost exclusively in the Drury chain including their property in downtown New Orleans. It was absolutely wonderful! Hot breakfast every morning, a light supper and drinks in the evening. Pet friendly. Rates are low - $80-$120 night in many locations. I apply this experience to my timeshare research and wonder what is so great about timeshares? I can book most of them at tripadvisor on a nightly basis with no up front fees or strings attached.

Who wants a full kitchen and washer and dryer when they go on vacation? I just don't get it.

The more I read here, the less interested I am in "owning" a timeshare.

We stayed in one once, only because the state troupers made us get off the road as they were closing the Interstate due to heavy snow. It was ok but we thought it was very overpriced (about 1/2 the cost of our RCI Last Call week we were trying to get to). When our DS has to work out of town (sometimes for weeks or months at a time) he chooses a Marriott Residence Inn, Homewood Suite (Hilton) or some other extended stay hotel. The company pays and he has shown them the numbers proving it costs them less since they aren't paying for him to eat all his meals in restaurants. He grew up spending his vacations in timeshares, not hotel rooms, and appreciates the spaciousness and convenience of a living area, separate bedroom and kitchen for longer stays. The few times he has had to work in a remote area he rented an RV to park at the job site rather than staying in a regular hotel/motel room.

I for one absolutely want a full kitchen and washer/dryer in the unit. They were essential when vacationing with our kids, and now that we are empty nesters we still want and use a kitchen. It is very expensive to eat in restaurants for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week for 2 or 3 weeks. If we had to do that it would have meant maybe a 1 week vacation instead of 2 or 3 due to the cost. Who wants to have to get up and get dressed to go out for breakfast, especially if you have children. It is even worse when one wakes at 6 and is starving but the others sleep until 8 or 9. By having a washer/dryer in the unit I could bring half as many clothes by doing laundry one evening while watching TV. I would do another load or 2 the night before leaving and then there was no pile of laundry to do when we got home, all the clean clothes could just be put away right from the suitcase.

When you get a timeshare week for free or next to nothing you have no 'upfront fees' and the only 'string attached' is the yearly maintenance fee. The annual maintenance fees on each of our timeshares works out costing us less than what a hotel/motel room would cost for 7 nights at that destination. Who would want to spend a week in 1 hotel/motel room when you can have a 1, 2 or 3 bedroom condo with 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, 2 or 3 TV's and space to spread out for less cost? Not us!


~Diane
 

Luanne

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Who wants a full kitchen and washer and dryer when they go on vacation? I just don't get it.

The more I read here, the less interested I am in "owning" a timeshare.
Who wants a full kitchen and washer/dryer when they go on vacation? I do.

I like the roominess of a timeshare. With a family of four, or even when it's just two of us traveling I feel like we're on top of each other in a hotel room.

We don't need three meals out each day. Eating breakfast in, and even lunch and dinner, is nice and saves some money.

As for the washer/dryer it cuts down on how much stuff we have to bring, cuts down on laundry costs.

But, to each his/her own. Enjoy your hotel stays.
 
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The reason I brought up Drury, besides the fact that their properties are very nice, is the fact that breakfast and a light supper are included in the room rate. We ate out 1 meal per day which mixed things up very nicely without having to do grocery shopping, meal planning, clean up etc. Also, the name of the chain is "Drury Inn and Suites" so many of the "rooms" were much larger than a standard hotel room. They also included a coffee maker, microwave and fridge in most cases.

2 of my "target" destinations (where the RV doesn't work as well for us) are San Antonio and New Orleans. Both cities have Drury Inn's rated at 4.5 on tripadvisor.

Las Vegas is another favorite destination where rving doesn't appeal to me. I can book any timeshare there (Grandview and Marriott Chateau look fantastic) on a nightly basis for about the same as the MF without buying in or committing to an MF and/or having to pay hefty RCI membership fees and exchange fees.

Nothing against kitchens or washer or dryers, but in all likelihood, wouldn't use either when I visit these cities.

I follow a number of Rver's who "fulltime" and was intrigued by one couple who FT in their RV and combine their lifestyle with heavy timeshare ownership and usage. I do find it intriguing but don't see the benefits for me given the cities I like to visit and the availability of many hotel/suite chains with free breakfast in these locations (Boston and NYC excepted). (Embassy Suites also comes to mind!).

Other cities I like to travel to are Boston and NYC and timeshares in NYC look few and far between and lock you into very high MF. The one TS I have seen in NYC was like a closet.

I can see the appeal for folks heading to resort type destinations but again, you're locked into a lifetime contract with high MF and exchange fees. Your stays are usually going to be a mandatory 7 days. And again, you can book these same locations on an annual basis for the number of nights you need them on travel websites or by renting from owners on TUG.

I don't see a timeshare in my future but I'm glad they work well for many folks. And a confession, I primarily travel in my RV which is by far and away my favorite way to go.
 
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missyrcrews

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To each his own. Glad it works for you.

RVing would drive me nutty. Bugs. Parking. Cramped space. Hooking up and unhooking. BLECH. To echo you, I don't get it. :)

I want a full kitchen, because I want to choose what I eat and when I eat it. I travel with a couple of picky eaters who may or may not eat what is on a hotel breakfast. I want a washer and dryer because I don't want to pack as much stuff. I don't want to cram my groceries into a mini-fridge. I want space.

Just spent four nights in hotels on our trip to Missouri to see my folks. Two nights were in a Staybridge Suites. Two nights were in a Fairfield Inn and Suites....and thse nights we had to have 2 hotel rooms, because we don't fit in one. Those four nights were more than my maintenance fee for a whole week. And we still had to eat supper out two of the nights on top of that, because we only had microwaves.

I'll leave the RV parks to you, and we'll both enjoy our vacations just fine!
 

elaine

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With family, dinners in saves a lot of $. Plus more space and I like to wash clothes on vacation. I did 6 loads of wash on a 9 day trip. We went biking hiking etc and it was nice to pack just 1small bag each.
Plus TS have nice amenities.
For short couples trip, hotel is fine.
 

PigsDad

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For me, hotels are fine for two people (and often the only choice) when wanting to visit cities and stay "in the center" of it all. But when it comes to vacations at the beach or destinations or when there are more than 2 of us, being cramped up in a small hotel room is not near as comfortable as being able to spread out in a 1BR or 2BR condo. While hotel breakfasts are a nice perk, I have never considered the afternoon "light meal" perks that several hotels offer a substitute for a real dinner. Just our preference, but when on vacation we really enjoy going out and finding new and interesting restaurants to experience. The option of having breakfast and often lunch in the comfort of our condo is priceless to us.

As for the money thing, the examples you gave of being able to rent for the same or less MFs do happen (especially Vegas or Orlando), but for the majority of places we visit it is not even close. I do several ski trips a year, and timeshare cost is often 1/4 to 1/3 of the rate compared to best cash price one could obtain.

Kurt
 

Luanne

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We do a combination of timeshare stays and hotel stays. Dh and I have been visiting NYC for a week each fall. We stay in a serviced apartment. Haven't been able to get a timeshare trade for the time we want to go. With the apartment we have a separate bedroom, living room and small kitchen. Again, necessary so we're not tripping over each other. We have been picking another city, one year Philadelphia, one year Boston, last year Quebec City and Montreal and this year Chicago to go along with NYC. We use hotels for those stays.

But, when we go to Hawaii, it's in a timeshare. We're there for two weeks, sometimes just the two of us, but when our dds were growing up there could be as many as 5 or 6 (sometimes requiring two timeshare units). The washer/dryer was a necessity and the kitchen as well. We also loved the spaciousness, the lanai, just feels like home.
 

bogey21

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Back in the days when I was on the road Drury Inns were my first choice of where to spend a night. My second choice was Motel 6. To me a motel is no more than a place to sleep and shower and I didn't want to pay more than I had to for the privilege...

George
 

chellej

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DH used to be a road warrior for work and he really liked the Drury properties. There just aren't as many as Marriott or hilton family of hotels.

For vacations, we still prefer timeshares.
 
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