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Don't buy a timeshare. It's the worst deal they can do.

P

ppina

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Resorts Owned
Westin USVI / Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando
Don't buy a timeshare. It's the worst deal they can do.

I own two timeshares: one in the USVI (1BD) and another one in Orlando, Florida (2BD).

In 2003 I bought the USVI Westin timeshare for 40,000$ and 20,000$ for Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando timeshare.

Now they want me to pay 1,800$ and 2,900$ maintenance fees for Orlando and USVI Westin, respectively.

Booking offers you the same units for a much cheaper price. We are being deceived and stolen from.

I just want to sell this timeshare that unfortunately has downgraded to less than half of its price.

The only way out is to sell it back to Vistana but they only accept it back with the maintenance fees all paid.

They are playing with our investment.

Financial terrorism. Scam companies
 
ppina said:
They are playing with our investment.
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Timeshares are not an investment. I’m sorry that you were lied to and misled to believe that it was. You paid to get the use. It sounds like you got 20 years of use out of them. Would you have been much better off if you had purchased on the resale market (such as it was) back in 2003? Yes. However, at this point you need to stop looking at your timeshares as an asset and start looking at them as a liability. Your line about “downgraded to less than half of its price” makes it seem like you still think it’s worth something. If your timeshares are staroptions mandatory (depends on which phase of Villages you own), then it might have some slight residual value. Otherwise, it’s worthless and if you want to be rid of it, you can try to deed it back or give it away.
 
And I love mine and think it's the best toy I have ever purchased. We've traveled around the world -- months at a time -- on our silly little timeshare week.

We just got back from Carmel, San Francisco and Napa. And we paid less than $100/per night in maintenance and exchange fees. We couldn't stay at a Motel 6 so cheaply.

Timeshares are great: for the right kind of person, who does his or her homework.
 
For our Hiltons and our WKV and WKORVN OF we have saved thousands because we bought resale. Great deal compared to renting.

BTW...Although I can believe that Orlando rents for cheap, I would expect that the USVI unit would rent for a profit.
 
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You are preaching to the choir here. Almost all of us bought from a sales presentation (luckily our FL beach 1bdrm one only cost $2,500. in 1982), long before we found out about resales and free ones.
Having timeshares (we have a floating week and a deeded week converted to 77K RCI points by the previous owner that we got for free) have allowed us to have vacations in nicer more spacious accommodations than we could have afforded to rent. Staying in a timeshare when our 3 kids were young allowed us to put them to bed and still have a livingroom to relax in while they were sleeping. We always booked a unit with a full kitchen and by making almost all of our meals we figure we saved enough for another vacation. Our maintenance fee for our floating FL beach week is less than half of what it would cost somebody to rent the same size unit for the same week. With our points we always get 3-5 vacations, all 7-13 nights long from them. When I divide our maintenance fee by the number of nights we booked, and add the RCI fees, our nightly cost is always well under $100. When you have no purchase loan/costs and only a maintenance fee, timeshares make for some pretty cheap vacations in much nicer accommodations than a little hotel room.

Sorry you got taken, if you don't want the ongoing maintenance fees you will need to deed it back or give it away, cut your losses and chalk the whole thing up to experience.


~Diane
 
I hope you did enjoy some nice vacations all these years.
 
I know that you will not agree with what I am about to say, but for my husband and I, we think that buying our first timeshare was the best thing we ever did. We did buy from the developer, Marriott, in 1995. Up until that time we had only taken a few vacations here and there. Our timeshare forced us to plan and vacation every year to places and countries we had never been to before. Our maintenance fee the first year for a 2 bedroom was approximately $650. It is now about $2200. As I tell my adult daughters, I would never buy from the developer again, but it taught me to plan ahead every year and we have had some amazing experiences. After learning about the resale market, we even bought three more timeshares for less than a dollar from people who were wanting to get out of their maintenance fee obligations. Timesharing is not for everyone, but we enjoy thinking that we own a condo in any place that we want to visit, even if it is only for a week or two. It is more economical than paying hotel fees. As you know, hotel fees have risen a lot over the years. We used to get a hotel for under $100 a night back in the 90's, now you have to expect about $200 to $400 a night and that does not include the kitchen, living room and balcony that you can get in timeshares.
 
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You should consider giving them away on the TUG Free Timeshare Forum at no cost to you. If they are paid off, there may be Tuggers who would like to adpot them. You can ask the new owner to pay the 2024 maintenance fee as long as they get the 2024 usage.
 
20 years of going to USVI is not bad and if you bought developer then you could have used those staroptions to go to Maui. 7 nights in Maui is not cheap. A friend of mine took her family to Maui and spent $10,000 for 1 week!!! Another friend rented a villa in St John for $8000 for a week. You have been going for 20 years. Buying resale would have saved you more money but eventually your investment in taking vacations will pay off if you keep using it.
 
I have been very happy with my timeshare and find it well worth the cost. I bought my 2BR fixed week in Orlando in 2004. I bought it from someone on eBay and got it for a total of $1500 (which was the cost of the timeshare week, the current maintenance fee and the cost to transfer the title). I've actually never stayed at that resort as I bought into DVC the following year. But I've exchanged the week through Interval for Maui, Waikiki, Myrtle Beach, Newport Beach, San Diego, Palm Springs, St. Martin to name a few. Now that I am retired, plan to get away (with Getaways!) as much as possible.
 
Buying timeshares at a decent price where you like to vacation can give great value. We own two summer weeks on the NC Outer Banks which we bought resale at good prices (you almost never find a summer OBX week free) and our maintenance fees are about half what it would cost to rent the same units those weeks.

Years ago, timeshare exchanging was really a good deal, too, if you bought resale, but the exchange situation has changed a lot for the worse.
 
I simply amortize my purchase price into my stays each year. Up until now, a 2BR costs about $1K per week in MF through II exchange and such, and I simply add $400 to each week for 10 years. Each of my 2BR week costs $1,400 to stay and we use timeshare for about 14 weeks each year. After 10 years of use, I no longer add the $400 to each week but MF keeps going up, so my 2BR week quickly goes up to about $1,400 per week again. We love timesharing and have never pretended that it is an investment.
 
moonstone said:
You are preaching to the choir here. Almost all of us bought from a sales presentation (luckily our FL beach 1bdrm one only cost $2,500. in 1982), long before we found out about resales and free ones.
Having timeshares (we have a floating week and a deeded week converted to 77K RCI points by the previous owner that we got for free) have allowed us to have vacations in nicer more spacious accommodations than we could have afforded to rent. Staying in a timeshare when our 3 kids were young allowed us to put them to bed and still have a livingroom to relax in while they were sleeping. We always booked a unit with a full kitchen and by making almost all of our meals we figure we saved enough for another vacation. Our maintenance fee for our floating FL beach week is less than half of what it would cost somebody to rent the same size unit for the same week. With our points we always get 3-5 vacations, all 7-13 nights long from them. When I divide our maintenance fee by the number of nights we booked, and add the RCI fees, our nightly cost is always well under $100. When you have no purchase loan/costs and only a maintenance fee, timeshares make for some pretty cheap vacations in much nicer accommodations than a little hotel room.

Sorry you got taken, if you don't want the ongoing maintenance fees you will need to deed it back or give it away, cut your losses and chalk the whole thing up to experience.


~Diane
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We rented Cabo Azul for about $100/night and were not charged the Resort Fees. Probably won't happen again, but the under 45 day deals are good.

Without owning a timeshare this deal would not have existed for me.

I agree this is a TOY and a place to waste time and money... Then again what is living without wasting time and money?
 
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It has been nine days since the original post, and the original poster hasn't been back. Maybe somebody just wanted to vent on New Year's Eve. :rolleyes:
 
ScoopKona said:
And I love mine and think it's the best toy I have ever purchased. We've traveled around the world -- months at a time -- on our silly little timeshare week.

We just got back from Carmel, San Francisco and Napa. And we paid less than $100/per night in maintenance and exchange fees. We couldn't stay at a Motel 6 so cheaply.

Timeshares are great: for the right kind of person, who does his or her homework.
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@ScoopKona
Would you mind elaborating on how you calculated your cost per week to be $100/per night (including maintenance and exchange fees)?
More specifically, how much is your maintenance fee at your home resort? Your exchange fees in the exchange company you belong to? Your membership fees? How did you manage to get other weeks (Carmel, San Francisco or Napa)?

Which exchange company do you use? Can you get into Carmel, San Francisco or Napa always?
 
It’s all about playing the game. Of course it’s dependent upon on your MF and which exchange company you are able to use for a particular week. It might be that when you get a GREAT or exceptional weekly deal, that would average out with a week that might be higher.
Last year, in answer to my request, Platinum Interchange found a deposit for Las Olas in Satellite Beach, FL for me. I was able to use a bonus week since it was within the 120- day window. The bonus week i received when I had deposited may have been 1/2 our MF plus the exchange fee, but it may have been one of the deposits I made to get two bonus weeks, in which case , it would be 1/3 of the MF .
Let’s take the 1/2 cost of MF.. our MF here at St Augustine was $550 ( it’s $800 now. ) the Platinum Interchange exchange fee ( and no membership fee) is $129, so that HUGE 2 bd oceanfront Las Olas unit cost $404 for the week last year. ( now with the $800 MF fee the bonus week cost would be $529.)

The Laguna Shores ( CA) timeshare is GREAT and side by side to hotels offering hotel rooms for $400/night, whereas we had a whole condo .. for $400/week from PI .
That was pretty typical for our 7 years of full - time Timesharing, sometimes even CHEAPER playing with point ownership .
Obviously, with higher MF, the price would be more, but it would average out.
As far as getting places to go, it requires planning and searching. Being flexible is also usually necessary. I actually thought that was our middle name!!
 
Hopi said:
@ScoopKona
Would you mind elaborating on how you calculated your cost per week to be $100/per night (including maintenance and exchange fees)?
More specifically, how much is your maintenance fee at your home resort? Your exchange fees in the exchange company you belong to? Your membership fees? How did you manage to get other weeks (Carmel, San Francisco or Napa)?

Which exchange company do you use? Can you get into Carmel, San Francisco or Napa always?
Click to expand...

My maintenance fee last year was $1600. Two Interval Exchanges at $150 per; and one Internal exchange at $40. A skosh less than $2000 for 21 days vacation.

And yes, I do this every year. Some years I get more than three weeks. But three has been a fairly standard amount. Unfortunately, the plan was unilaterally changed on Jan. 1 and I'll have to settle for 2-4 weeks every year instead of 3-5. Oh well.

And, yes, I can get Carmel, SF and Napa pretty much any time I want to go there.

Why? I did my homework.
 
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I am curious though. Can booking price actually be cheaper than MF?
 
gggllm said:
I am curious though. Can booking price actually be cheaper than MF?
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Booking price of what, when, where, what view, what size? Compared to what MF? Your question is very vague so can't be answered. Your posts are very sporadic and generally not more than one per thread. Can you elaborate?
 
davidvel said:
Booking price of what, when, where, what view, what size? Compared to what MF? Your question is very vague so can't be answered. Your posts are very sporadic and generally not more than one per thread. Can you elaborate?
Click to expand...
I was just quoting what the OP said:

Booking offers you the same units for a much cheaper price. We are being deceived and stolen from.
Click to expand...
 
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