Hello!
This is our first post here and we do not yet own a timeshare. We have been on a few timeshare and vacation club presentations and are considering jumping in. I have been researching for days but it's confusing and I still feel uncertain about what to do. Here is our situation, hopefully someone can help us with suggestions for starting out wisely.
We have two boys age 6 and 8. We live on a lake in Michigan so we are content to stay home during the summer months. We typically like to get away for a week somewhere warm during the boys spring break to Orlando or the Caribbean, or a cruise. We like the all-inclusives, but also are sold on the idea of getting away from the "box" (normal hotel room, as the timeshare salesmen call it). We also would like to take a week before or after Christmas. The week before has worked out better because it's so much cheaper. For most of the places we like to go, airfare is a requirement, unfortunately. Airfare is cheaper mid week, but I see timeshare check in's are usually weekends.
We are adventurous and like to go to different places. We have never stayed in the same place twice, but would not mind repeat visits to a place we really liked. I was thinking that for us a points system would be best, but talked to a friend who has two red weeks in Vegas and has never had problems exchanging to nice places through II (he never stays at his home resort). If we had to pick one place that we frequent the most I'd say it is Orlando, but then I hear that area is so saturated that the trading power is not as high? We also have family in Southern CA and AZ so we'd consider buying those areas but definitely would not use every year. We want to start small to get our feet wet. Are there any Marriots that would be a bad investment? I have seen some for a couple grand, but of course the maintenance fees are high. Of the 4 main hotel companies, which tends to have the lowest MF?
Should we just start with points? Or focus on finding something in Orlando we'd use every couple years, with lower maintenance fees? As you can see I am confused and want to make a good choice to start out. I saw one ad that seemed good, it's two in one, one points week and one red week in SA, for a total of 98,500 RCI points. Combined maintenance fees for both are under $700. Sale price less than $1000. Seems like a good deal but maybe I'm missing something. Also from what I hear II is better, but this deal I'm referring to is RCI points. We have also been on a bluegreen presentation and like that system too, but hope someone with experience can guide us in some way. If you were me, how would you start out? All we know for sure is that we'll buy resale. Thanks in advance for any direction!
This is our first post here and we do not yet own a timeshare. We have been on a few timeshare and vacation club presentations and are considering jumping in. I have been researching for days but it's confusing and I still feel uncertain about what to do. Here is our situation, hopefully someone can help us with suggestions for starting out wisely.
We have two boys age 6 and 8. We live on a lake in Michigan so we are content to stay home during the summer months. We typically like to get away for a week somewhere warm during the boys spring break to Orlando or the Caribbean, or a cruise. We like the all-inclusives, but also are sold on the idea of getting away from the "box" (normal hotel room, as the timeshare salesmen call it). We also would like to take a week before or after Christmas. The week before has worked out better because it's so much cheaper. For most of the places we like to go, airfare is a requirement, unfortunately. Airfare is cheaper mid week, but I see timeshare check in's are usually weekends.
We are adventurous and like to go to different places. We have never stayed in the same place twice, but would not mind repeat visits to a place we really liked. I was thinking that for us a points system would be best, but talked to a friend who has two red weeks in Vegas and has never had problems exchanging to nice places through II (he never stays at his home resort). If we had to pick one place that we frequent the most I'd say it is Orlando, but then I hear that area is so saturated that the trading power is not as high? We also have family in Southern CA and AZ so we'd consider buying those areas but definitely would not use every year. We want to start small to get our feet wet. Are there any Marriots that would be a bad investment? I have seen some for a couple grand, but of course the maintenance fees are high. Of the 4 main hotel companies, which tends to have the lowest MF?
Should we just start with points? Or focus on finding something in Orlando we'd use every couple years, with lower maintenance fees? As you can see I am confused and want to make a good choice to start out. I saw one ad that seemed good, it's two in one, one points week and one red week in SA, for a total of 98,500 RCI points. Combined maintenance fees for both are under $700. Sale price less than $1000. Seems like a good deal but maybe I'm missing something. Also from what I hear II is better, but this deal I'm referring to is RCI points. We have also been on a bluegreen presentation and like that system too, but hope someone with experience can guide us in some way. If you were me, how would you start out? All we know for sure is that we'll buy resale. Thanks in advance for any direction!
