iwanttoflyaway
TUG Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2018
- Messages
- 91
- Reaction score
- 36
- Points
- 78
1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
Sort of - we would LOVE to stay in Daytona Beach for a few nights frequently, and would be very interested in either a few nights or whole weeks anywhere in Florida. Otherwise, we enjoy those three nights pretty much anywhere, and rarely repeat trips. Well, that's not true, we find ourselves visiting places we enjoy multiple times, but with no amount of consistency whatsoever. As an example, we love Las Vegas, but somehow never managed to visit in the two years we were living 'nearby' in Idaho - now we're back in Florida and Vegas seems so far to travel for just a few nights.
2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?
Unless we found an ownership in Daytona Beach with great maintenance fees, I don't imagine us staying at a 'home resort' even a quarter of the time. From what I've found, this would have to be a PFD thing and I'd still have to purchase an RCI points ownership first.
3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
We're spectacularly unpicky. Aside from frequent 'local' trips to Daytona Beach and elsewhere in Florida, we like everywhere. The Southeast/MidAtlantic regions are appealing, because they're such an easy flight out of Fort Lauderdale. Basically we'd be happy with literally anything that has nature stuff (hiking, fishing, and the like) onsite, or anywhere in a city with plenty to eat and drink. Proximity to an airport serviced by Southwest is a perk, because our trips are short and having to drive more than a few hours after we land or check out isn't terribly appealing.
4) How many people do you usually travel with?
It's been just the two of us for years, but our friends are finally getting to the time in life where they can travel with us a little more frequently, if I find them good deals. As such, we don't care much about unit size - if it's a studio/hotel, we'd go alone, if it's larger we'd ask around and see if anyone could get away to join us.
5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
We can travel year round, and actually much prefer shoulder and off season over peak season. There are few events that make it worth dealing with crowds - like St. Paddy's day in Daytona Beach or Savannah - otherwise we mostly try to stay away from popular times in popular destinations.
6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
Well, we can, but we usually only pick one week that we book in advance (this year, Munich for Oktoberfest!) and the rest are last minute trips dictated by airfare and accommodation deals.
7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
Rarely - once a year at most. That said, for a great deal, paying for a week and only using four days is not a bad option for us. Especially if it's vaguely local, and we can perhaps let friends make use of the remainder of the week.
8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
We are spectacularly unpicky here, too - I don't think there is a single resort that is worse than some of the hotels we've stayed at. I play the points game with hotels fiercely, mostly with Wyndham and Choice, so there are some really skeezy motel/hotels in our history. I'm going to say 2-5 stars, but I suspect that a 1* timeshare would still suit us just fine.
9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
We have a large amount of disposable income - hard to put a number on it, but we spent about $10k on hotels, airfare, and admissions last year. I'd be able, but likely unwilling, to easily spend that much on up front costs on ownerships that bought us into exceptional long term value. I believe (hopefully accurately!) that our up front costs will be significantly lower if I can have the tiniest bit of patience.
10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?
I'd be willing to spend perhaps half our annual vacation budget, which was 10k last year and will be more like $15k this year. Actually, let's call that a third, because we intend to cruise semi-frequently and the exchanges for cruises look awful, so the timeshare wouldn't be able to touch that expense. So $5,000 a year would be our max, though I'd prefer to end up with several properties that don't add up to close to that number.
11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Sort of. I'm a points freak in hotels and airline miles, so I choose our sale flights and promo stays very carefully. On the trip itself, not so much - we MIGHT have a certain event (concert, festival) that we have to attend at a certain time, but otherwise we just do what feels like fun at any given time.
12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?
Yep. That's why I'm being so DAMNED picky with what, where, and when I buy. I refuse to buy RCI points unless the maintenance fees are under a penny a point, and while I'm still a bit up in the air re: their TPUs, I wouldn't pay more than $15 apiece. That's why I'm willing to pay a little something up front if I have to, to increase the chances that I'd always be able to dispose of them by paying maintenance fees early, reserving a prime week, and giving them away.
I should have done this last week ago, before I bid on (and then won!) a triennial Grandview points membership. It's 16,333 points for $140 a year, plus RCI fees. I'm 95% sure I'm going to go ahead and buy it, but my original intent was for that to be a cornerstone of a larger property collection, and the whole idea seems daunting this morning.
My basic plan was to buy into points and pay for RCI, and see if points work for us. We'll have 32,666 points to play with our first year, so hopefully a couple last minute weeks and a few short offseason points stays. If it does, then I want to buy either larger points ownerships, or weeks ownerships that I can PFD - both would have to hit that penny a point mark, preferably more like .8c/p because I can redeem via points partners for that. It looks like I'm going to be looking at larger lockoffs (more points/tpus per $mf that way, in many cases) for peak weeks - just so I could always rent to recoup our fees if we were unable to travel for some reason.
Sorry for being so wordy! I don't know how to write any other way =p All advice is much appreciated!
Sort of - we would LOVE to stay in Daytona Beach for a few nights frequently, and would be very interested in either a few nights or whole weeks anywhere in Florida. Otherwise, we enjoy those three nights pretty much anywhere, and rarely repeat trips. Well, that's not true, we find ourselves visiting places we enjoy multiple times, but with no amount of consistency whatsoever. As an example, we love Las Vegas, but somehow never managed to visit in the two years we were living 'nearby' in Idaho - now we're back in Florida and Vegas seems so far to travel for just a few nights.
2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?
Unless we found an ownership in Daytona Beach with great maintenance fees, I don't imagine us staying at a 'home resort' even a quarter of the time. From what I've found, this would have to be a PFD thing and I'd still have to purchase an RCI points ownership first.
3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
We're spectacularly unpicky. Aside from frequent 'local' trips to Daytona Beach and elsewhere in Florida, we like everywhere. The Southeast/MidAtlantic regions are appealing, because they're such an easy flight out of Fort Lauderdale. Basically we'd be happy with literally anything that has nature stuff (hiking, fishing, and the like) onsite, or anywhere in a city with plenty to eat and drink. Proximity to an airport serviced by Southwest is a perk, because our trips are short and having to drive more than a few hours after we land or check out isn't terribly appealing.
4) How many people do you usually travel with?
It's been just the two of us for years, but our friends are finally getting to the time in life where they can travel with us a little more frequently, if I find them good deals. As such, we don't care much about unit size - if it's a studio/hotel, we'd go alone, if it's larger we'd ask around and see if anyone could get away to join us.
5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
We can travel year round, and actually much prefer shoulder and off season over peak season. There are few events that make it worth dealing with crowds - like St. Paddy's day in Daytona Beach or Savannah - otherwise we mostly try to stay away from popular times in popular destinations.
6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
Well, we can, but we usually only pick one week that we book in advance (this year, Munich for Oktoberfest!) and the rest are last minute trips dictated by airfare and accommodation deals.
7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
Rarely - once a year at most. That said, for a great deal, paying for a week and only using four days is not a bad option for us. Especially if it's vaguely local, and we can perhaps let friends make use of the remainder of the week.
8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
We are spectacularly unpicky here, too - I don't think there is a single resort that is worse than some of the hotels we've stayed at. I play the points game with hotels fiercely, mostly with Wyndham and Choice, so there are some really skeezy motel/hotels in our history. I'm going to say 2-5 stars, but I suspect that a 1* timeshare would still suit us just fine.
9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
We have a large amount of disposable income - hard to put a number on it, but we spent about $10k on hotels, airfare, and admissions last year. I'd be able, but likely unwilling, to easily spend that much on up front costs on ownerships that bought us into exceptional long term value. I believe (hopefully accurately!) that our up front costs will be significantly lower if I can have the tiniest bit of patience.
10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?
I'd be willing to spend perhaps half our annual vacation budget, which was 10k last year and will be more like $15k this year. Actually, let's call that a third, because we intend to cruise semi-frequently and the exchanges for cruises look awful, so the timeshare wouldn't be able to touch that expense. So $5,000 a year would be our max, though I'd prefer to end up with several properties that don't add up to close to that number.
11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Sort of. I'm a points freak in hotels and airline miles, so I choose our sale flights and promo stays very carefully. On the trip itself, not so much - we MIGHT have a certain event (concert, festival) that we have to attend at a certain time, but otherwise we just do what feels like fun at any given time.
12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?
Yep. That's why I'm being so DAMNED picky with what, where, and when I buy. I refuse to buy RCI points unless the maintenance fees are under a penny a point, and while I'm still a bit up in the air re: their TPUs, I wouldn't pay more than $15 apiece. That's why I'm willing to pay a little something up front if I have to, to increase the chances that I'd always be able to dispose of them by paying maintenance fees early, reserving a prime week, and giving them away.
I should have done this last week ago, before I bid on (and then won!) a triennial Grandview points membership. It's 16,333 points for $140 a year, plus RCI fees. I'm 95% sure I'm going to go ahead and buy it, but my original intent was for that to be a cornerstone of a larger property collection, and the whole idea seems daunting this morning.
My basic plan was to buy into points and pay for RCI, and see if points work for us. We'll have 32,666 points to play with our first year, so hopefully a couple last minute weeks and a few short offseason points stays. If it does, then I want to buy either larger points ownerships, or weeks ownerships that I can PFD - both would have to hit that penny a point mark, preferably more like .8c/p because I can redeem via points partners for that. It looks like I'm going to be looking at larger lockoffs (more points/tpus per $mf that way, in many cases) for peak weeks - just so I could always rent to recoup our fees if we were unable to travel for some reason.
Sorry for being so wordy! I don't know how to write any other way =p All advice is much appreciated!