Is the Grandview at Vegas right for me?

[Anheiser]

I recently went to Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo, attend some concerts, and all the other usual things. Its the second time doing so and I would like to keep doing it. I took the timeshare tour at the Grandview Resort and liked what I saw. While I know virtually nothing about timeshares I do know enough that I did not buy anything. I've been looking around and found what looks like much better deals right away. Things like buy a 2 bedroom unit for $1000 with a floating week and $380 annual maintenance fee. After finding this site I believe I can do even better, even free and takeover the maintenance fees. Even if I found a timeshare someone wants to give away, I still fear there will be unknown costs beyond the annual maintenance fees and bold print gotcha's that will make me see why the timeshare horror stories are true. Are there other fees, charges, or whatever kind of expenses that can pop up beyond the annual maintenance fee? Will I have a hard time getting my desired week for the rodeo or whenever I decide I want to go? What makes people want out so bad that they give away their timeshares? I asked most of these questions at the resort , but don't trust the salesman.

I'm a single, 43 year old and ideally I'm thinking buying a 2 bedroom unit so I can rent out half to pay my annual maintenance fees and I can use the other half on my annual trip for the rodeo, or another time if I decide. Which is why I don't want locked into a certain week. Not really interested in trading for weeks at other resorts either, so I don't think the points system is necessary. I may be misunderstanding how it all works though.

Hoping to hear from current and past owners with your experiences and suggestions, good or bad. I'm far from completely sold on this, but definitely interested.

 

[Jan M.]

I strongly recommend buying a points week. It is not worth what they charge to convert a fixed week to points and if you ever want to get rid of it more people want points weeks. Second, there is a lot more inventory available to points owners than there is for fixed week owners. Third with a fixed week you will just get your week but you should be able to get at least two weeks and maybe more with the points. You can deposit a fixed week however and get TPU's, trading power units, which you would use like points to book stays at other resorts you just won't see as much inventory available.

Keep looking here on TUG and on eBay too. You should be able to find something fairly inexpensive. Grandview Las Vegas has a very good maintenance fee per point ratio. Keep an eye out for listings for sale at the other resorts in the Vacation Village family. Like the Cliffs at Peace Canyon in Vegas, Vacation Village at Parkway in Orlando and the three in Weston, Florida: Bonaventure, Vacation Village at Weston and Mizner. I frequently see these listed on eBay and here on TUG too in the bargain bin under the timesharing - buying, selling renting heading. All of them have a pretty good ratio of maintenance fees per point. Grandview however has the lowest maintenance fees of all of them.

I have occasionally seen someone selling their RCI membership along with their weeks, fixed or points, and that would save you some money if you found one of those deals.

As a first time owner there will be a $224 fee to RCI that sometimes isn't obvious in the list of closing costs. That fee will include your first year membership fee in RCI. If you were to buy a very small number of points which might actually be all you would need and later decide to buy more points the fee would be $99 for any subsequent points weeks you might buy.
Annual RCI Points® Subscription Fees USD
1 YR $124
2 YRS $229
3 YRS $321
4 YRS $409
5 YRS $499

With points you will pay a $239 per week exchange fee to book a stay. Fixed week owners don't pay that if they are using their week but then they are only getting that one week.

As an owner at Grandview which is part of the Vacation Village family of resorts you will be eligible for 2 free weeks per year that require no points to book just the exchange fee which will be somewhere around the $239 exchange fee. However these are only available 45 days out. But the good news is that there is always plenty of availability at Grandview.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Buying to rent is generally NOT a GOOD idea. Buy to USE ... as timeshares usage rules can change overnight and YOUR interest in those typed of vacations AND travel, can also change.

An ownership that I was happy with is now very MARGINAL in value to me. My favorite line is "It is the economy, stupid" describing my work and resulting with less time off plus more work demands back home (like going to court monthly and local government fees to BOOST their cash to spend.. about $25000 this past year over 10 years ago). Plus my 92yo aunt and next year, all my nieces and nephews will be OUT of college (and working) except the current high school senior.... to see one of them, I could be flying 3000+ miles to go to their wedding (aka Jan 8 next month).

When I first got into timesharing, I met many older couples who had been vacationing at the same resorts for 10-15+ years. Retired winter owners had a or two pension check, social security checks, paid off mortgage, adult children who lived near them back home (and might be travelling with them as their drivers). Summer owners brought multi-generational groups ... staying for 2 weeks (the time the auto plants needed to change over to making the NEW car models each July 4th) from the Midwest... wanting to vacation by the ocean. Just think back to the movie, Dirty Dancing ... the line about the young people wanted to go to Europe (instead of going to the resorts ... very much like timeshare resorts).

Some of the timeshare resorts are trying to operate more as short stay lodging with a kitchen. But the timeshares better have a GREAT LOCATION, be rehabbed to modern decor (every 5-7 years), be drive to locations for family AND have vacation stay VALUE for 3 seasons or YEAR ROUND. And large enough to employ year round staff with full benefits (summer college students while cheap labor, are not going to be working past Labor Day), with 24 hour services & security.

 

[Anheiser]

Thanks for your replies. I think I need a better understanding of the fixed week, floating,and points systems. I understand how the fixed week works, but are the floating and points systems two different things or is points required for the floating week? Also, what additional fees are there when using the points system? Would I be required to purchase points yearly or are points automatically deposited every year?

From what I understand. With the points system to use 1 week I would pay the annual maint charges (let's say $400) + plus the annual membership fee ($124), plus the exchange fee ($239). So the cost of my 1 week stay with the points system would be $763/ year. If I had a floating type I can choose my week and pay only the annual maintenance fee. For my situation where I want to have a nice place to stay one week a year, it seems like I would be better off with a basic floating week, right? I'm not interested really in exchanging points to go to other resorts or paying another $239 for a second week somewhere else.

 

[Passepartout]

Your understanding of a fixed week is solid. You own the same week every year (usually in the same unit- but resorts differ in this). Just show up on the appointed move-in date. Floating week= You select which week you want to use. All you pay is the annual MF. Usually you have to book well in advance if it's a peak week. Points= like you surmise, there are extra fees, but you are not tied to the same resort. They are automatically credited to your account (assuming you've paid the MF), then by paying the exchange fee you use the points as currency to go somewhere else, and yes, you DO also have the RCI membership to pay. CI membership also gives you access to 'Last Calls' which are condos within 45 days of move-in for between $240 and $300 a week all-in, cash (no points). Usually these are off- or shoulder season in 2nd tier resorts. If it was me, (and it was an option) I'd buy one that was already in Points, and try it for a few years. You can always rent your Grandview week, and take another one via Last Calls (they are perennially available), and go somewhere interesting (Florida, Mexico, Williamsburg, Europe, etc) then you can drop the RCI membership and revert back to a floating Grandview week if it turns out to be what you prefer. Owning a points unit at Grandview is a good selling point, as the MF cost-per-point is among the cheapest anywhere.

Happy hunting!

Jim

 

[Anheiser]

Thanks everyone for making this much clearer for me. I believe in my situation I will be happiest with a non points, floating week. I have about 2 weeks of vacation a year to use and would only be using one week of it for my National Finals Rodeo week in Vegas. The other week I use locally for deer/turkey hunting and other odd days here and there. I definitely see the value of the points system if you would like to have access to other resorts and added weeks away.

Anybody have a floating week unit with low maintenance fees they are looking to get out of?

 

[DaveNV]

My two cents: If you're looking to buy at Grandview in Las Vegas, make sure the two bedroom is a lockoff. That way you can stay on one side, rent out the other side, or rent out both sides, (either together, or locked off as two one bedrooms), or even split your vacation into two stays in a one bedroom each time. If you decide to exchange to another resort, you can deposit a lockout as two separate deposits, effectively doubling the return on your investment.

Full disclosure: There are a TON of rentals available at Grandview. I've sent a coworker to LV several years in a row for a big car trade show, (SEMA), and I helped him rent a two bedroom unit at Grandview each time. He had friends along who split the costs with him, and he says it's been great every time. His rental costs, even with the add-on fees, were around $500 for the week. Split that with a friend in the second bedroom, and it brings the costs down considerably.

Short answer: Rent before you buy. It's much easier to get into a timeshare than it is to get out of one.

Dave

 

[Anheiser]

You bring up a good point! I haven't checked to see what I could expect to pay just renting it.

 

[AwayWeGo]

We have downsized our owned timeshare holdings to the bare minimum -- a Grandview At Las Vegas triennial 1BR points unit, which we got for $250 or so via eBay, with free closing & free resort transfer. Basically, it's just our toe-hold into the RCI Points system so we can snag Last Call & Extra Vacation Getaway reservations on sale. Actual points-based exchanges are secondary, although we've done some of those as well.

We like Grandview At Las Vegas & have vacationed there 3 times that I can remember, all before we bought our eBay triennial Grandview unit. If we vacation there again, I expect we'll do so via RCI Last Call or Extra Vacation Getaway, certainly not via exchange & definitely not by using our own paid-for time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Jan M.]

We have downsized our owned timeshare holdings to the bare minimum -- a Grandview At Las Vegas triennial 1BR points unit, which we got for $250 or so via eBay, with free closing & free resort transfer. Basically, it's just our toe-hold into the RCI Points system so we can snag Last Call & Extra Vacation Getaway reservations on sale. Actual points-based exchanges are secondary, although we've done some of those as well.

We like Grandview At Las Vegas & have vacationed there 3 times that I can remember, all before we bought our eBay triennial Grandview unit. If we vacation there again, I expect we'll do so via RCI Last Call or Extra Vacation Getaway, certainly not via exchange & definitely not by using our own paid-for time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

This is exactly what I would recommend for Anheiser. Find something that gets you in for a minimal investment and/or maintenance fees. Use or carry over the points to accumulate enough points to book a bigger vacation then use the sale weeks, last call weeks or VV free weeks to book what you want to use for the Vegas week. If you are pretty sure you can rent out the week you go to other people you can probably make enough to cover all your timeshare related expenses for the year. You might even book and rent more than one unit too.

You can always send friends and family on vacations too. My sister and BIL won't except the weeks I book for them unless I agree to let them reimburse me for the exchange fee or sale week price and guest certificate. Our finances are okay but compared to theirs we look like paupers. Lol. They own a fixed week but can never find the great reservations I find for them as a points owner.

 

[VegasBella]

ALL the 2 bedrooms at Grandview are actually two one bedrooms. They’re all “lock offs”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DeniseM]

Las Vegas is NOT a strong rental. The greater Las Vegas area has more than 52 timeshares and millions of cheap and comped hotel rooms. There is FAR more supply than demand, and you can often rent Grandview for $250 per week on RCI.

A strong rental:
-Is in an area where there is more demand than supply.
-Rents for significantly more than the maintenance fee.
-Often has a major well known brand name like Hyatt, Hilton, Westin and Marriott.

Las Vegas in not what you are looking for.

 

[Anheiser]

After my research, information and advice from everyone here, I am leaning towards just renting for my once a year trip down there. A quick search found a rental in my timeframe for $450 for a 2 bedroom unit. It's like paying the annual maintenance fee without having any of the other obligations or unknowns.

 

[silentg]

Sounds like renting is better for you.