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Clock is ticking on rescind!

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We just came back from a trip to Orlando with the kids. We took advantage of a great incentive from Sheraton Vistana Villages ($150 for 4 nights if we attend a 90 min presentation).

Bottom line is: we don't like Orlando, Disney is okay, but we prefer beaches and relaxation....oh, and somehow we bought a 2bdrm villa! This all went down on Friday (today is Sunday).

I have since found this site and I am thinking we will rescind and then buy on ebay. We really liked the villa concept. We are foodies and I love to cook. And my hubby has lots of anxiety about the $$$ he spends on vacation. We like the spaciousness of the villas too....we have 2 girls (6 and 4) and we like to carve out some quite family time when on vacation.

We are not exotic travellers (a trip or 2 to China in 6 yrs or so--where our girls were born--is the exception)....we like the idea of having easy hassle free exchanges in the us or carribean.

So my question is. If we assume Starwood...which resort should we buy. We have only seen Vistana Villages but we don't like Orlando and would only buy it for exchange (and the odd year we caved-in to the girls to go to Disney). I'm guessing Aruba or St. John would be our preferred destination.

My gut tells me to buy where we want to go....I guess I don't trust the exchange "thing" (we don't want to travel in summer and are tied down to school vacation for the next 14 years).

Please help!

-hardworkingmomma
 

johnmfaeth

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Welcome home !!!

1) Rescind Immediately

2) Buy where you are happy going - exchanging is not a good plan but a fallback

3) You may want to consider buying a points system. Wyndham/Fairfield is the largest and has over 100 resorts.

4) No rush, spend a good amount of time learning. This site is a great resource.

5) Ask questions galore. The folks here love sharing info.

6) Join TUG as a member. Not mandatory but everything costs money, including running this site. And each new member makes the TUG member collection more valuable to all.

Make sure you following the rescind procedures 100% as laid out in your contract.

Good Luck !!!

John
 

Denise L

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Welcome to TUG!

It sounds like if you don't want to go to Orlando much, you should rescind and then take your time and decide what to buy. If you want Starwood, St. John is very expensive (even resale), but the owners there love it and rarely exchange out. Starwood is not currently selling anything in Aruba, but I know that they have plans for something there in the near future.

If you haven't already done so, take a look at the Hotel-Based Timeshare Systems board for a lot of great information about Starwood. If you do buy resale, make sure that you pick a mandatory resort that comes with Staroptions. No resales allow Starpoint conversion.

How many Staroptions did you buy at Vistana Villages? What size unit would you want to reserve for your vacations with your children?
 
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Thanks for the replies!

We will rescind, and research Aruba/St.John and similar. How do y'all know that St John has no inventory and owners don't exchange much???? Is it just experience????

Timeshare is the way I want to go (hubby will remain committed to vacation if $$ is already committed!) we really want 2bdrm villa or 2bdrm lockout, but we need to do it smartly! My searches to date haven't turned up too much re: bargains for what I want :-(

Any thoughts about The Keys???

Summers are good in Marion, MA...but the winters, yuk!
 

Denise L

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We will rescind, and research Aruba/St.John and similar. How do y'all know that St John has no inventory and owners don't exchange much???? Is it just experience????

Timeshare is the way I want to go (hubby will remain committed to vacation if $$ is already committed!) we really want 2bdrm villa or 2bdrm lockout, but we need to do it smartly! My searches to date haven't turned up too much re: bargains for what I want :-(

I wrote that St. John was expensive, not sold out. Starwood will sell you a week there, and you can find some resales. I don't know about exchanges from personal experience, just from TUG and reading what owners there do with their weeks. It is also talked about as a hard/difficult/impossible exchange for those NOT owning there.

If there are only certain weeks of the year when you want to/can travel, make sure you buy a week that is either fixed or floats during that time.

Good luck!
 

Jennie

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There are many nice timeshare resorts in other parts of Florida. If you want to go in the winter, does your school have the same vacation period every year. Many schools in the U.S. close for "winter recess" during the week that includes President's Day (the third Monday in February). It is almost always Week 7. It is almost as difficult to exchange into a timeshare that week as during Christmas and Easter week.

Since trading has become very difficult, the best suggestion is to purchase the week you need via RESALE (preferably as a fixed/deeded week rather than "floating") or purchase enough Points based at the resort you want that week. Points-based systems like Fairfield allow you to reserve time at your "home resort" months before they open up the bookings to people who own their points at another Fairfield property. Again, buy the Points RESALE.

Rescind immediately and then take your time studying the various options available.

You could also rent a week directly from an owner and see how you like a resort. Check the Classified ads here on TUG and also at www.redweek.com

If you become a paid (vs. free) TUG member, you will gain access to the Resort Reviews section which contains 1000's of reviews of timeshares world-wide. I would not buy a week, let alone even rent one, without first checking out what other TUG members have written about their first hand experience at a resort.

Many of us have husbands like yours who would not make time for vacations. But paying too much $$$$ to buy a week at a place you don't even like is a foolish way to entice him to go on vacation. After you do your research and determine which timeshare seems to meet your needs, just rent a week and tell him to plan around it. If you need to fib a little, tell him you had to make an instant decision because someone else was competing with you for the privilege of renting it :D . It will accomplish the same thing. He will feel compelled to squeeze the vacation into his plans so as not to lose the money you spent renting it.
 

riverdees05

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Good that you are going to recind. Be sure to do it by their requirements to the minimum. Also, send a register letter to recind with a return card that way you know they got it and can prove it, if needed. Places to do research, here, ebay, redweek, timeshareforum, etc. We purchased our first timeshare from the developer and the rest resale. Could have saved a bundle on the first, if we had done our homework. Live and learn.
 

johnmfaeth

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The Westin St. John is a great place but very expensive to buy into, even resale.

There are some very decent timeshares on St. Thomas next door that sell for 20% of what the Westin costs resale. The Wyndham resorts are all 3-4 star and are great base camps for the many activities and world class beaches of St. Thomas while serving as a great base for a day trip to St. John (15 minute ferry ride) or the British Virgin Islands which are just paradise.

I would suggest you spend the next month learning. Then book a summer trip to where you think you like using a rented timeshare unit.

And don't sign anything this time :)

If you like it, shop for one resale when you return.

John
 

johnmfaeth

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The two that currently have timeshares are the Wyndham Bluebeards Beach Club (not to be confused with SPM's Bluebeards Castle) and the Wyndham Elysian Beach Resort. The Renaissance was recently purchased by Wyndham and will be doing 50 new timeshares in late 2007/2008. The Wyndham Sugar Bay is also contemplation timeshare units.

The classically bad movie "Weekend at Bernies II" was filmed at Sugar Bay.

If you send me an Private Message with your email address, I'll send you the 8 page to-do's writeup I give folks who rent my Elysian unts (I have a bunch)/

John

PS. The Sugar Bay and Westin St. John resorts both had the same architects and very similar construction. They are almost twins as far as the hotel rooms.
 
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DavidnRobin

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We would own a STJ TS over a STT TS (and do) - even at the higher price - but maybe that is just us...

They are remarkedly different islands even though they are right next to one another.

If you like the SVO/SVN system (after researching) - consider buying resale SVO Mandatory, then if you want the complete benefits the SVO/SVN system - you can requalify your resale(s) with a SVO purchase (or not)

Us SVO folks hang out on the Hotel-based section of TUG - and there is a lot of info there (probably more than you want to know...) that discusses SVO resale - SVO/SVN Mandatory resorts, and the requal process.

Good TSing...
 

irish

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i know that some tuggers like st.thomas, however, and this is JMO, i found st. thomas to be a really economically depressed island. we were scared to death to leave the resort at night.yes, i know crime is everywhere, but for some reason we were extremely fearful on st. thomas. luckily, we stayed at a resort which had 3 fabulous restaurants so we just ate there every night. we did take cabs during the day to town and megans bay(which is really beautiful). we wouldn't return to st thomas.
loved st. john's but can't justify plunking down $$$$ for a week when there are websites where you can rent a beautiful privately owned home for A LOST LESS MONEY. as i said JMO.
 

DavidnRobin

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i know that some tuggers like st.thomas, however, and this is JMO, i found st. thomas to be a really economically depressed island. we were scared to death to leave the resort at night.yes, i know crime is everywhere, but for some reason we were extremely fearful on st. thomas. luckily, we stayed at a resort which had 3 fabulous restaurants so we just ate there every night. we did take cabs during the day to town and megans bay(which is really beautiful). we wouldn't return to st thomas.
loved st. john's but can't justify plunking down $$$$ for a week when there are websites where you can rent a beautiful privately owned home for A LOST LESS MONEY. as i said JMO.

I would agree with you on St Thomas (as I wrote).

As to renting cheaply on ST JOHN - we own a 2Bd/3Ba, 1250sqft, Townhouse-style TS at WSJ (completely loaded) that we bought resale (eBay) that has a MF of ~$1250 - that has a great view, a pool/BBQ 15 steps away - and complete use of the Westin Resort amenities (free).

At the end of the day we still own it - and can resale for more, and could rent it for much more than the MFs - although we have no plans to either. Also, we get great offers for direct exchanges. Also, while it is not a good deal, we can exchange it for other SVN locations if we wanted since the Hillside TS are SVN Mandatory.

I know there are some good deals for rentals on STJ, but when you rent - at the end of the day - you have given your $ to someone else for a very nice vacation to help pay for their investment.
 
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