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My Survey

AndySamuels

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1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
Las Vegas / Atlantic City / Europe
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?
Visit.
3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Las Vegas / Atlantic City
4) How many people do you usually travel with?
3
5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
School schedule
6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
No
7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
Yes
8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
3 or 4
9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
What I can and want to afford are two separate topics
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?
Based on my annual hotel spend: $2000
11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Yes
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?
Yes
 

DeniseM

Moderator
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Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
Las Vegas / Atlantic City / Europe
Las Vegas and Atlantic City are cheap and easy to own and rent - but it's difficult to make reservations in Europe, because tourists want to visit big cities, and Europeans build timeshares outside of big cities, to escape from them.

Do you take your child to Atlantic City and Las Vegas or are there family destinations that you are interested in as well?

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
No
This is really important, because you are competing with all other owners for the school holidays, and if you can't plan in advance, you will be stuck with the leftovers.

I think you are a good candidate to rent timeshares, but not a good candidate to buy one:

TUG timeshares for $100 or less per night: https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/timeshare-rentals-offered.45/
 

AndySamuels

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Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

Europe: I typically go home once or twice a year and just stay with my parents. So we can disregard that for all intents and purposes.

Vegas/AC: we always brings the kids. Vegas: their uncle/aunt/cousins are there so loads of fun. AC: nowhere to leave them really plus AC has the aquarium, boardwalk, pier, beach and other fun kids stuff.

Renting may be an option. I will need to explore that a bit more. However: finding a rental is a bit convoluted compared to going to hotel websites.
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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Try renting a couple of times. You'll find that compared to a hotel room, having a full condo/apartment with bedrooms for everyone and a full kitchen and laundry, make going to a hotel room nearly torture. I agree with DeniseM that you are probably not a good candidate for owning a TS- at least not as you have outlined your view of how you'd use it. Being tied to the school schedule, you might find you'd like a fixed week near Atlantic City during school vacation. Like having a second home there on a fixed schedule every year. And as your desire to travel to other destinations comes up, those weeks are good for you to exchange to other places.

Jim
 

AndySamuels

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Yep. Probably a good assessment. Although AC is relatively expensive during the summer (especially weekends) as that is prime-time for NYC and Philly. So we typically avoid it. I am not a big fan of crowds of people.
 

DannyTS

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Yep. Probably a good assessment. Although AC is relatively expensive during the summer (especially weekends) as that is prime-time for NYC and Philly. So we typically avoid it. I am not a big fan of crowds of people.

Besides renting from owners, it may be a good idea to get a small contract that is not expensive to maintain (low maintenance fees, every other year) just to be able to register in Interval international or RCI. The cash deals are sometimes phenomenal and it seems you are not very picky about the hotels you just look for a good value.
I do not know if these would be of interest to you but i see for example a one bedroom in AC at [a very low price.]

[REDACTED: Friendly reminder - it is TUG policy to post exchange company sightings on the member's only Sightings Forum, because access is a benefit of membership. You can contact the OP privately with more info if you wish.]

If you ever decide to buy anything, even the smallest contract, buy good quality (brand names, high season, low M/F)
 
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bizaro86

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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If you can't make plans in advance you probably shouldn't buy. Try renting and see if you like TS.

If you do, Wyndham had locations in both Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and would meet your other requirements. If you decide to research further I'd probably start there.
 

AndySamuels

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Wyndham Skyline Tower is too far from the boardwalk to walk and too close to drive. AC is extremely dangerous/unsafe after sunset in the areas behind the boardwalk. Atlantic Palace would be great: on the boardwalk. $1200 a year in MF for two beds is a bit steep though: $85 a night. Plus 7 nights AC is a bit much.

Grandview would be excellent. The drawback of Vegas is that flying there from NC is expensive: $1200 - $2000 for four seats plus $300 car rental. AC is cheap: just some gas, tolls and no rental car.
 

AndySamuels

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Looks like Wyndham or BlueGreen are the best choice. Points.

BlueGreen
AC: Atlantic Palace: on the boardwalk: not on a great stretch though.
Vegas: Club 36.
BlueGreen sales ads are not that common compared to Wyndham obviously.

Would need 40,000 points annually to match our typical travel. Works out to > $100 a night based on MFs: expensive!

Wyndham
AC: Skyline Tower: off the boardwalk: not safe after hours.
Vegas: Grand Desert & Grandview.
Wyndham sales ads are dime a dozen.

Not sure how many points we would need: need to research a bit.
 
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Panina

TUG Review Crew: Elite
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Hgvc Anderson, Blue Ride Village Resort
Let me throw out a different idea. As time goes on and your kids get older you might find AC might not be the place you would want to go. The Hgvc system has nice choices in Las Vegas and you will will also have future options to go to Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head,etc, within the hgvc system that are great family vacations. You will also have the ability to purchase extra vacations in RCI so that would give you access to AC. You could also can trade thru the RCI portal for AC but better value would be not using your points that way.
 

bbodb1

TUG Review Crew: Expert
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RCI Weeks: LaCosta Beach Club, RCI Points: Oakmont Resort, Vacation Village at Parkway. Wyndham: CWA and La Belle Maison, and WorldMark.
Andy,

To add to Panina's point above, I just looked at RCI's current list of last minute vacation inventory and there are at least five resorts in the AC area (including Brigantine in that definition) with availability. Edit: I have interest in this area because I have a dependent in the CG based at AC. If you have access to RCI's system, you should be able to find lots of last minute specials in the AC area I would think. Obviously, availability will vary depending when you want to travel to the AC area but if you are a spur of the moment sort of traveler, last minute bargains can be your friend - for many destinations.
 

AndySamuels

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Cool. What is a good RCI exchange with low MFs? I am having trouble finding how many RCI points are needed when. That is available online with BlueGreen / Wyndham.

Reading up on BlueGreen it appears they frequently exercise ROFR.
 
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Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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Cool. What is a good RCI exchange with low MFs?
You simply cannot get your toe in the door for less than a tri-ennial at Grandview in Las Vegas. That's going there once each 3 years, but with access to cash paid Extra Vacations & Last Calls.

Jim
 

AndySamuels

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I have been reading a lot and have been following along on exchanges and also resort fees. It appears the latter is spreading beyond the hotel industry into timeshares. Very disturbing. The former also appears to be decreasing in attractiveness in conjunction with the latter.
 

dayooper

TUG Review Crew
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The Land of Ice and Snow
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HGVC: The Flamingo, The Boulevard
I have been reading a lot and have been following along on exchanges and also resort fees. It appears the latter is spreading beyond the hotel industry into timeshares. Very disturbing. The former also appears to be decreasing in attractiveness in conjunction with the latter.

I think this is the main reason I wanted to buy into a system that had internal trading. HGVC has a club booking fee for non-home week reservations and, except for certain locations in Hawaii, that’s it. I own in Vegas and am going to Myrtle Beach next June and the only fee I payed was the $65 club booking fee. No resort fee, no parking fee. We will be bringing our own beach umbrellas, chairs and blankets, but now daily fee. With a HGVC, you can still trade into RCI (and still have topay those exchange fees).

Finding the right system for you is the best means to do this endeavor. We found that the flexibility, quality and price was the best for us with HGVC. The fact that we are treated just like a developer purchaser even though we are are a resale buyer was icing on the cake.
 

AndySamuels

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Cool. I am still assessing what may or not work for us. Vegas, AC and Myrtle Beach are under consideration. Bluegreen and Wyndham appear to have coverage in all three. Wyndham points are easily found. Bluegreen not so much. A key hang up is booking 12 months out: not realistic at this point in time.
 
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