What should I buy?

[jeffason]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

Nope

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?

Trade I think? We want to travel a lot

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Orlando, Vegas, Colorado, Italy, California

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself?

4

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

Any time

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

Yes

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?

3-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
$1-3k

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?
$1500

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Usually

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

 

[StarSailer]

Hello from a fellow low-budget timeshare hunter!

It sounds like HGVC might be a good fit. Their two biggest downsides are the premiums they charge for prime/platinum-season travel and the fine print that resell doesn't come with MAX. However Gold season is a good mid-season value since you can travel any time and Max might not be a deal breaker since there are HGVC resorts at every one of your travel locations (except Italy).

You have the budget for one of the annual 1BR Gold season annual weeks in the free giveaway marketplace. If you would rather not have two people sleep on the pullout sofa then those points could either be stretched into a 2BR by booking 4-5 weekday-night stay in a Gold season and/or booking Silver season stays in the off season

A 1BR Platinum week would be even better. More points for the same maintenance... but those aren't given away free and it might take some hunting/luck to find one for less than $3K up front including closing/activation/etc fees.

HGVC also has right of first refusal on contracts which can be a bit of a wildcard on if a cheap deal will be allowed to sell or reclaimed by Hilton.



Honorable mention to Wyndham.



Cautious mention to Sapphire Resorts. Sapphire is the cheapest option I've found for a 3-star stay. On the upside they have at least one resort in three of your five locations mentioned (nothing in Italy and Florida locations are all outside Orlando). If you prefer frequent stays and can work with a pullout couch then annual 1BR weeks (15,000/annual credits) are being given away free with maintenance fees totals only costing about $1000/year. First downside is accepting a lower quality stay when you could be booking HGVC/Wyndham/etc. Second downside is Sapphire is less flexible with splitting weeks so booking 2BR (25,000cr typical) would require banking points for every other year travel.

 

[Tahiya]

Worldmark is another possible option. It has resorts in all your locations except Italy. The resorts are generally spacious and well-kept, although the term "resort" is a stretch for some of them. It's an excellent exchanger, so you wouldn't be restricted to just the 90 or so locations in the Worldmark system.

You might be able to pick up 10,000 credits for free--or certainly for less than your budget. The maintenance fee for 10,000 credits is currently between $1200 and $1300 per year.

 

[jp10558]

HGVC does have one resort in Italy I'm pretty sure - it's just in the north countryside I think. If you were going to go HGVC, I'd recommend trying to cover buy in in Scotland / Craig lodges, because it's probably the most flexible - has historically had low MFs (though there is the exchange risk if the dollar drops a lot vs the GBP), and easiest to buy / close via their sales office directly (and doesn't have closing costs really). Next best is hunting for low MF Vegas deeds. Personally the sweet spot for HGVC is a 2BR that gives 11,200 pts a year.

The other, possibly better option, might be an RCI trader. Grandview is well regarded, and while it's generally underappreciated, @augustdav tends to recommend magic tree. Either should make it possible to get 2BR under $1k MF, and bonus, you get access to the RCI cash stays, which is where RCI really shines IMO, though good grandview points also has been shown to work well in exchanges. And for Orlando and Las Vegas, and to a slightly lesser extent Colorado and California - almost no reason to not pick from Last Calls or Extra Vacations where you can book for sub $1k a week in a 2BR almost any time, and certainly SOME time during the year at any of those locations. LV and Orlando almost always have something in a Last Call so you book at 45 days out from your trip and pay the $379 +tax and fees, usually works out to $500. These are usually the 3 star locations. If you're willing to spend closer to $1,300 for a 2BR you can frequently find HGVC in Extra Vacations for LV and Orlando, and those are pretty much top of the range at 4 stars.

 

[geist1223]

It is Wyndham South Pacific that has 3 Timeshares in Europe - Normandy, Bavaria, and Tuscany. So you have to have WM+A or WMTS Credits.