Best Trader to buy for US/Canada based ski vacations

[Ajzanner]

Hello- I'm looking for some advice on what would be a good trader to buy for access to US/Canada ski resorts. I currently own an odd year with Grandville in Las Vegas. I'm finding that it's very limiting in its trade ability out side of vacation village resorts. I was thinking of a Diamond Resort, they seem to have several nice colorado and Utah properties.

Looking for some help, again as you all have already saved me from a major error this past week in Myrtle and you saved me thousands! Thank you!!! We tend to visit Myrtle Beach 2-3 and sometimes 4 times a year so it got me into the timeshare thinking. I was up in the air on a TS or purchasing a place and renting it majority of the time. But I like the idea of a TS so when we go to Disney, we can use points there as well. Just trying to see what the best route will be for much of our time visiting Myrtle and every other year a trip to Disneyworld for our girls. And maybe sneak in Hawaii every 4-5 years and maybe a Cancun every now and then. Thanks for reading and thanks for saving me once already. I have repaid the favor with the $15 fee to join to help support TUG!!


1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? We frequent ski resorts in the winter- US or Canada. Hopefully Europe once the kids get older

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? I'd prefer a trader.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Banff, Vail, Aspen, Park City

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? 2 adults and 2 kids

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? 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? 4-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $3,000

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? $1,500

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

 

[jjking42]

Hello- I'm looking for some advice on what would be a good trader to buy for access to US/Canada ski resorts. I currently own an odd year with Grandville in Las Vegas. I'm finding that it's very limiting in its trade ability out side of vacation village resorts. I was thinking of a Diamond Resort, they seem to have several nice colorado and Utah properties.

Looking for some help, again as you all have already saved me from a major error this past week in Myrtle and you saved me thousands! Thank you!!! We tend to visit Myrtle Beach 2-3 and sometimes 4 times a year so it got me into the timeshare thinking. I was up in the air on a TS or purchasing a place and renting it majority of the time. But I like the idea of a TS so when we go to Disney, we can use points there as well. Just trying to see what the best route will be for much of our time visiting Myrtle and every other year a trip to Disneyworld for our girls. And maybe sneak in Hawaii every 4-5 years and maybe a Cancun every now and then. Thanks for reading and thanks for saving me once already. I have repaid the favor with the $15 fee to join to help support TUG!!


1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? We frequent ski resorts in the winter- US or Canada. Hopefully Europe once the kids get older

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? I'd prefer a trader.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Banff, Vail, Aspen, Park City

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? 2 adults and 2 kids

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? 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? 4-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $3,000

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? $1,500

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

1 hgvc has valdoro mountain lodge in Breckinridge . Hyatt has nice resorts in Colorado. Marriott in park city

Internal exchanges and owning points at a ski location is your best bet. I would increase the budget and buy a ski week in hyatt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Passepartout]

Problem is that ski resorts book up solid year after year with owners, leaving very little for exchangers and even less for those requiring school holidays. There re only a half dozen or so reliable ski season weeks (you can't really count on Thanksgiving, and by St Patrick's day it's over). So the better way to go might be to buy a ski week to use and then use it to exchange in years you don't want to ski there. Then, of course is your budget. Not saying it's impossible, but the stars would have to align to catch one on the resale market. And 4-5 stars in prime ski season in a unit large enough for a family with kids will be higher annual fees.

Good luck!

Jim

 

[GT75]

I always advise that it is best to own a ski week at your location of choice because of limited availability. That is if you want consistent ski availability. Another option would be just to rent. HGVC has both Valdoro in Breckenridge and Sunrise Lodge in Park City (Canyons side).

 

[bizaro86]

Worldmark would fit your criteria for ski locations being bookable on school breaks. But the properties aren't 4-5 stars, and are generally a drive to the hills.

 

[sandkastle4966]

I have skied 6-8 weeks every year for the past 6 years using RCI exchanges - usually 2 weeks in Breck, 2 in Steamboat, and 2-4 weeks in Vail. I have also frequently gotten exchanges in Utah, Banff, and Jackson Hole. We mainly do Epic Pass resorts because its such a good deal. In RCI these weeks need 24-32 TPUs. My TPU cost is $17/TPU so quite a good deal - just takes effort and patience.

If you want to purchase a fixed ski weeks - check Tug resales of course first, but also the resorts themselves. The placed I have traded into seem to have a number of units for sale (French Ridge, Vail Run, The Wren, Sandstone Creek, to name a few).

Your problem will be units in RCI aren't 5 star, and will be very difficult to find for 3k....and the MF are quite high. I find most exchanges are 3-4 stars - clean, slightly dated....but LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION !

 

[Marathoner]

Trading into 2BR 4-5 star ski accommodations during school breaks at Vail and Park City is not really possible for 3k purchase price.

For 3-4 star resorts, Worldmark is a great choice. You have strong trading power and you also have good ski resorts that you can book into using your Worldmark ownership - Whistler, Park City, Steamboat Springs, and Heavenly.



Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

 

[Ajzanner]

@sandkastle4966 where do you own? If you don’t mind me asking. We own at a vacation village resort. I’ve noticed that availability is really good within their network all year. I can easily exchange into a popular east coast resort over feb break with no trouble at all.

 

[Ajzanner]

Thanks for the input all. I realize feb break is next to impossible. I was hoping to back door it somehow. Does RCI still have a 10 mo window that owners have preferences within the ownership group ie. vacation village.

 

[sandkastle4966]

For RCI trading (never use):
Riptide Beach Club (Myrtle Beach high season summer) and Aquamarine (SO Cal Beach - high season summer) - never go to either, strictly traders -

After trading into Breck French Ridge for 10 years, just bought 2 weeks back-back Pres weekend in the 3 bedroom

With RCI, I have traded into these ski properties over the years:
Steamboat: Sunburst, Wyndham, Ramada Vaca Club (new name now)
Breckenridge: French ridge; gotten hits on others that I said "no thanks"
Vail: - Sandstone Creek, Vantage point (hit a new years eve week 2 years ago), The Wren, Vail Run
Avon: Christy Lodge (don't take a 1 bedroom with kids - too small)
Jackson Hole: JH racquet club, Jackson Pines and Jackson Towncenter
Utah: Iron Blossom, and several I don't remember in Park City
Tahoe - haven't been in years, but went 4 years in row.

With the exception of Wynhdam, I would put all at 3-4 stars. I don't need "activities". I want clean, maintained units, and LOCATION !

As I mentioned previously, we do 4-6 weeks of TS skiing every winter, sometimes 8 week. usually all of Jan and all of March. That includes MLK, and Pres Weekend. Sometimes it is a 1 bedroom (does sleep 4), sometimes a 2 or 3 bedroom - all depends on what pops up in RCI and how close to travel time it is. I am also not afraid to take a unit, and then take a better one later ($250 exchange cost) - but not very often.

(and I paid less than 3k for each unit I trade....) (The units I use - 3 bedroom French Ridge, and Aruba - are a lot more than 3k)

So it can be done - takes time, patience, reading reviews, and setting expectations.

Hope this helps.

 

[bnoble]

Take a look at WorldMark, that might be a good option even though it may not be right at the ski location. I think Marriott also might be good, though you might need to be in DC points vs. using a week in II as exchange bait. In general, I don't think anyone new to timesharing should buy with an expectation to use third-party exchange. It's a process that is constantly changing, requires a lot of time and effort to understand and do well, and over time one that increasingly is difficult for high-demand locations/times (like winter/spring break weeks at ski locations).

One other thing no one has said much about yet:

But I like the idea of a TS so when we go to Disney, we can use points there as well. ... every other year a trip to Disneyworld for our girls

If you think you will be going every other year to WDW, you might be very well served by DVC. It's not cheap, but it's much more flexible and less stress-inducing than trying to exchange via RCI. Exchanging into DVC is less expensive, and I've been successful doing it over the years, but again I would not recommend that path for someone new to TS ownership.

 

[Ski-Dad]

Ajzanner:

I don't have the same depth of experience as sandkastle4966, as I have only acquired units in the past year. I have a Grandview LV 49K RCI points unit and two - 1 bedroom units at Sheraton Desert Oasis that trade in II.

As my handle indicates, I and my family are skiers. I only have one in school now (2nd yr university), so I am not as locked in to school holidays.

My experience reflects the advice above: you are not going to score 4-5* units on school breaks with a low cost trader. With some diligence, you can score some great deals if you can handle a clean 3* that isn't ski in/out.

I am just back from Presidents week 2020 in Steamboat. Scored a RCI trade into a Legacy Steamboat Suites 2 bedroom. My cost on the points and RCI exchange fee was approx $680 USD for the week. I had a nice clean comfortable unit about 1 mile from the hill with a free regular shuttle service. I booked it in October 2019 as I had only acquired my RCI unit in summer 2019. We had a fabulous week. We may repeat for next year.

I just grabbed a RCI extra vacation for $335 cdn at an older 2 bedroom timeshare for the last week in March 2020 that is about 2 miles from Sunday River, ME. It has good tripadvisor reviews (dated, but clean and comfortable) and free daily shuttle to the hill.

I now have searches in for Week 7 - 2020. I passed on a 3 bedroom Gold Peak Resort at Breckenridge through II. I found it with a manual search in II with my small 1 bedroom Sheraton Desert Oasis. My cost with MF, Exchange Fee and unit upgrade would have been $1015 USD. In hindsight, I should have grabbed it, but I have an Ikon pass that I am likely to renew so I have a mental filter on matching up with an Ikon hill. May have been a mistake to pass up, but time will tell. I am hoping to match with the Sheraton Steamboat (4* on hill) using my Vistana preference (will even take a studio if required).

 

[echino]

Ideally, buy a Hyatt fixed ski week. It's going to cost a lot more than $3,000. More like $15,000.

Alternatively, buy a lower season Hyatt for cheap, and trade for ski weeks internally (smaller units or partial weeks) or via II (full 2br units, full weeks).

Via II, you can easily get early season Whistler, for example Embarc, until mid-December. Free skiing with an Edge card too. January-February-March is more difficult, but possible. Banff is an easy II trade any time.