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Five Reasons Why We Bought a Timeshare

anderik1

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I wrote this post on my personal blog, but thought it may help other folks here on the TUG since so much of what I learned about my situation came from advise here on the forums.

I’d love any feedback you have, but more than anything, I hope this helps someone else. The original post follows:

20181006_114743.jpg


My wife and I have gone to more than our fair share of timeshare presentations. I’d imagine that we’re somewhere in the neighborhood of ten different pitches. Most of the recent ones have been through Book VIP. The deal is always that you can get a significant discount on accommodations (and often they include All-Inclusive packages) in return for selling your soul for a few hours ( aka the obligation of sitting through a timeshare pitch.)

Having been through as many as we have, I’ve actually gained quite a bit of knowledge of not only how the sales pitches work and how to combat the tactics used by the parade of sales people, but I’ve also learned about the different timeshare systems themselves. And when you look past the sales info, there’s no doubt in my mind that there is at least some truth behind the story that you can either save money on travel or travel with nicer accomodations — ASSUMING that you are able to pay a reasonable amount of money to acquire your week.

It’s also no secret that we like to travel, which is why I’ve always given the idea about buying a timeshare some thought. But like many of you, I’ve often heard horror stories about them. You can’t book when you want. Maintenance fees are expensive. And you can’t get rid of them. Any of the ones that are worth owning are ridiculously expensive to purchase. Other than that, sounds great, right?

Based on the things that I’ve read, a lot of that can be true.

However, if you do your research and know what you’re getting into, owning a timeshare can improve the way you vacation… or at least that’s my theory and hope going into this. I’ve done quite a bit of research so I do feel good about it going into this.

Here are five reasons why I believe buying a timeshare is the right move for us:

1. We travel most years. Who am I kidding, we travel every year. Quite often a few times a year. We buy “things” on occasion, but we are definitely of the mindset that experiences and memories are more important than accumulating stuff or always driving a new car. Because we know that we like to travel, we include money to cover those expenses in our monthly budget, so that it’s covered when the time comes.

Knowing that we are going to prioritize travel means that I’m ok with the commitment to pay a maintenance fee every year.

2. We like going to places where there are timeshare locations. Well, perhaps more accurately, we like to go a lot of different places, and a lot of those locations also have timeshares. If you’re going to buy into a timeshare system, you should either really want to go back to that same location or the other locations that are operated by the same or partner companies. If your vacation destinations don’t line up with where there is resort availability, owning a timeshare isn’t likely for you.

20181005_143034.jpg

3. We’d enjoy having a bit more space when we travel. This one is probably a bit more subjective to us right now. With the kids being the ages that they are, we’re all really ok piling into a single standard hotel room with two queen beds. Half the time, we end up splitting up the adult and kids anyway. When we were in Hawaii, we only had an adult bed and a kid bed for one night.

That being said, the kids are starting to get older, and it would be nice (not required, but nice) to have some more private space. We also bought enough HGVC points for a two bedroom unit, which would also give us the flexibility to have grandparents or friends potentially travel with us. We also don’t have to eat out every meal — especially breakfast — so having a working kitchen will be nice.

4. We’re getting a high quality unit at a low price. If you go out to timeshare sales sites, you can quite often find units for sale for $1 — or in some cases, I’ve even seen where people are paying all of others closing costs just to get them to take them. Quite often, those locations are with questionable companies with high maintenance fees. I have no idea what the prices of timeshares will do in the future, but I feel confident that in the worst case scenario, I won’t be out too much capital — and could easily pass on the unit to someone else. However, my expectation is that we’ll hold on to this for a long time.

The high quality unit also means that we should have good trading power if we wanted to go outside the Hilton Grand Vacation Club system. The location we’re buying into trades into both RCI and II — the two major players.

There’s one additional benefit from a high quality unit which takes me to my final point.

5. The week at the location that we’re buying rents for more than double the maintenance fees. Owning a high demand week in a high demand location also means that if we wanted to, we could reserve the week and rent it out and more than cover the maintenance fees for the year. If we actually did rent it out every other year, it would essentially pay for a free vacation for us every other year as well. I don’t know how often that we would consider renting it out, but I love having that as a fallback option if we don’t need it for one reason or another.

We’re definitely still early in our journey, but I’ve done enough research that I feel very comfortable with our decidsion. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out and thank you to the friendly folks at the TUG (Timeshare User Group) forums. They not only helped by answering a few of my specific questions, but just reading through others’ posts was exteremely beneficial.

Stay tuned for more updates as we actually begin to use our new timeshare. Do you have a good or bad timeshare experience to share? Let me know @TalkToErik.
 

DrQ

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I'm onboard with points 1-4.

Our first was a slick developer presentation off site for an Orlando T/S and we had visions of Disneyworld dancing in our heads. Big mistake.

We definitely were onboard with #3 and I looked for a regional system on resale where we were a day's drive away. When we checked out the unit, we were disappointed but we liked the resort locations, so we doubled down and upgraded. We could visit family, but still stay in the condo each night to decompress :thumbup:. We were able to use the benefits to save the cost of a motel room on the way up and back.

We purchased a couple of weeks on eBay for $1 and $100 and we really love those weeks. Again, a day's drive away.

The unit we purchased resale had 2 weeks deposited in RCI and we traded to Hot Springs AR and had a great time. Unfortunately, the game RCI was playing left a bad taste and we left and retreated into the system with internal exchanges and were happy.

Our system was purchased by HICV so again we doubled down again and converted because our family has moved and HICV has resorts close to two of them and we can use the system to vacation close to family.

On pont #5, none of our T/S have much rental value. :rolleyes:
 

anderik1

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I'm onboard with points 1-4.

Our first was a slick developer presentation off site for an Orlando T/S and we had visions of Disneyworld dancing in our heads. Big mistake.

We definitely were onboard with #3 and I looked for a regional system on resale where we were a day's drive away. When we checked out the unit, we were disappointed but we liked the resort locations, so we doubled down and upgraded. We could visit family, but still stay in the condo each night to decompress . We were able to use the benefits to save the cost of a motel room on the way up and back.

We purchased a couple of weeks on eBay for $1 and $100 and we really love those weeks. Again, a day's drive away.

The unit we purchased resale had 2 weeks deposited in RCI and we traded to Hot Springs AR and had a great time. Unfortunately, the game RCI was playing left a bad taste and we left and retreated into the system with internal exchanges and were happy.

Our system was purchased by HICV so again we doubled down again and converted because our family has moved and HICV has resorts close to two of them and we can use the system to vacation close to family.

On pont #5, none of our T/S have much rental value. :rolleyes:
I agree with you @DrQ that #5 may not come to fruition, but I'm optimistic. Worst case scenario, if it doesn't rent, we can use them for the rest of the year since we own week 1.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

LannyPC

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We're not TS owners (we used to be) but I agree with your points if such suits one's travel needs, preferences, and circumstances.

It would be nice if people could see a thread like this before they go on social media totally lambasting the idea of owning a TS. It's a real shame when some people who have had bad, personal experiences with TSs blast the whole TS industry and emphatically try to tell everybody not to buy a TS.
 

anderik1

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We're not TS owners (we used to be) but I agree with your points if such suits one's travel needs, preferences, and circumstances.

It would be nice if people could see a thread like this before they go on social media totally lambasting the idea of owning a TS. It's a real shame when some people who have had bad, personal experiences with TSs blast the whole TS industry and emphatically try to tell everybody not to buy a TS.
I'd have to imagine that a significant portion of those folks bought under a high pressure sales pitch and also pay way too much for what they got.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

CalGalTraveler

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Nice well thought-out article. What TS are you buying?
 

breezez

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Wyndham 406K
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Hyatt Pinon Pointe
Hyatt Coconut Plantation
Timeshares for me have been a learning curve. As I dabble in different brands I learn more about each system what I like and don’t like. So currently I am constantly adjusting my portfolio to get me where I hope to be when I retire and can travel more.

But ultimately I have taken many vacations to places I have never been before. Some I had never even heard of before we went. Being involved in TS have given me many awesome vacations with hopefully many more to come.
 

CalGalTraveler

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@anderik1 Good choice. We own 2 HGVC (W57 bHC, Vegas) and this is high on our list to add to our portfolio in the future so we could get to Elite and have lower our MF/point.

+1 @breezez I agree. It makes us aware of locations we haven't thought of before. Through HGVC we stayed in Tuscany. We now have Barbados, Scotland, Japan and Portugal on the list for the future.
 
Last edited:

Panina

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Timeshares for me have been a learning curve. As I dabble in different brands I learn more about each system what I like and don’t like. So currently I am constantly adjusting my portfolio to get me where I hope to be when I retire and can travel more.

But ultimately I have taken many vacations to places I have never been before. Some I had never even heard of before we went. Being involved in TS have given me many awesome vacations with hopefully many more to come.
I am retired and can travel more and do and even though I recently felt I was done and my portfolio was perfect I just adjusted. This time it was my hubby who wanted the change. He wanted to go to Key West a few weeks later then we currently go.
 

bbodb1

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RCI Weeks: LaCosta Beach Club, RCI Points: Oakmont Resort, Vacation Village at Parkway. Wyndham: CWA and La Belle Maison, and WorldMark.
Excellent points, Anderik1.

From our perspective, I would add that TS ownership has 'forced' us to include vacation planning as part of the yearly routine. I'm not saying that as a negative, rather as a push factor. I am very confident that TS ownership has 'made' us go many more places than we would have if we had to start from scratch each year, and consider the type of room/unit we wanted. We have been to areas of this country we would not otherwise have visited.
 

Panina

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I wrote this post on my personal blog, but thought it may help other folks here on the TUG since so much of what I learned about my situation came from advise here on the forums.

I’d love any feedback you have, but more than anything, I hope this helps someone else. The original post follows:

20181006_114743.jpg


My wife and I have gone to more than our fair share of timeshare presentations. I’d imagine that we’re somewhere in the neighborhood of ten different pitches. Most of the recent ones have been through Book VIP. The deal is always that you can get a significant discount on accommodations (and often they include All-Inclusive packages) in return for selling your soul for a few hours ( aka the obligation of sitting through a timeshare pitch.)

Having been through as many as we have, I’ve actually gained quite a bit of knowledge of not only how the sales pitches work and how to combat the tactics used by the parade of sales people, but I’ve also learned about the different timeshare systems themselves. And when you look past the sales info, there’s no doubt in my mind that there is at least some truth behind the story that you can either save money on travel or travel with nicer accomodations — ASSUMING that you are able to pay a reasonable amount of money to acquire your week.

It’s also no secret that we like to travel, which is why I’ve always given the idea about buying a timeshare some thought. But like many of you, I’ve often heard horror stories about them. You can’t book when you want. Maintenance fees are expensive. And you can’t get rid of them. Any of the ones that are worth owning are ridiculously expensive to purchase. Other than that, sounds great, right?

Based on the things that I’ve read, a lot of that can be true.

However, if you do your research and know what you’re getting into, owning a timeshare can improve the way you vacation… or at least that’s my theory and hope going into this. I’ve done quite a bit of research so I do feel good about it going into this.

Here are five reasons why I believe buying a timeshare is the right move for us:

1. We travel most years. Who am I kidding, we travel every year. Quite often a few times a year. We buy “things” on occasion, but we are definitely of the mindset that experiences and memories are more important than accumulating stuff or always driving a new car. Because we know that we like to travel, we include money to cover those expenses in our monthly budget, so that it’s covered when the time comes.

Knowing that we are going to prioritize travel means that I’m ok with the commitment to pay a maintenance fee every year.

2. We like going to places where there are timeshare locations. Well, perhaps more accurately, we like to go a lot of different places, and a lot of those locations also have timeshares. If you’re going to buy into a timeshare system, you should either really want to go back to that same location or the other locations that are operated by the same or partner companies. If your vacation destinations don’t line up with where there is resort availability, owning a timeshare isn’t likely for you.

20181005_143034.jpg

3. We’d enjoy having a bit more space when we travel. This one is probably a bit more subjective to us right now. With the kids being the ages that they are, we’re all really ok piling into a single standard hotel room with two queen beds. Half the time, we end up splitting up the adult and kids anyway. When we were in Hawaii, we only had an adult bed and a kid bed for one night.

That being said, the kids are starting to get older, and it would be nice (not required, but nice) to have some more private space. We also bought enough HGVC points for a two bedroom unit, which would also give us the flexibility to have grandparents or friends potentially travel with us. We also don’t have to eat out every meal — especially breakfast — so having a working kitchen will be nice.

4. We’re getting a high quality unit at a low price. If you go out to timeshare sales sites, you can quite often find units for sale for $1 — or in some cases, I’ve even seen where people are paying all of others closing costs just to get them to take them. Quite often, those locations are with questionable companies with high maintenance fees. I have no idea what the prices of timeshares will do in the future, but I feel confident that in the worst case scenario, I won’t be out too much capital — and could easily pass on the unit to someone else. However, my expectation is that we’ll hold on to this for a long time.

The high quality unit also means that we should have good trading power if we wanted to go outside the Hilton Grand Vacation Club system. The location we’re buying into trades into both RCI and II — the two major players.

There’s one additional benefit from a high quality unit which takes me to my final point.

5. The week at the location that we’re buying rents for more than double the maintenance fees. Owning a high demand week in a high demand location also means that if we wanted to, we could reserve the week and rent it out and more than cover the maintenance fees for the year. If we actually did rent it out every other year, it would essentially pay for a free vacation for us every other year as well. I don’t know how often that we would consider renting it out, but I love having that as a fallback option if we don’t need it for one reason or another.

We’re definitely still early in our journey, but I’ve done enough research that I feel very comfortable with our decidsion. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out and thank you to the friendly folks at the TUG (Timeshare User Group) forums. They not only helped by answering a few of my specific questions, but just reading through others’ posts was exteremely beneficial.

Stay tuned for more updates as we actually begin to use our new timeshare. Do you have a good or bad timeshare experience to share? Let me know @TalkToErik.
Would just add you are guaranteed the resort, unit size, time and view if you buy a fixed week. You get exactly what you want.
 

DannyTS

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I agree with you @DrQ that #5 may not come to fruition, but I'm optimistic. Worst case scenario, if it doesn't rent, we can use them for the rest of the year since we own week 1.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Congratulations on the purchase. Week 1 is the New Year's week at Hilton Craigendarroch Lodges so it is the best in terms of rental value.
 
Last edited:

anderik1

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Congratulations on the purchase. Week 1 is the New Year's week at Hilton Craigendarroch Lodges so it is the best in terms of rental value.
Thank you! That's a big reason why we picked that one. We could have purchased a few different weeks for at least $1000 less, but I thought between the higher potential rental, better resale (maybe), and flexibility to use it the whole year was worth a bit more up front.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

DannyTS

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Thank you! That's a big reason why we picked that one. We could have purchased a few different weeks for at least $1000 less, but I thought between the higher potential rental, better resale (maybe), and flexibility to use it the whole year was worth a bit more up front.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
as others said, it is wise to buy the best you can afford. congrats again
 
Last edited:

sharewhereMiMi

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Virginia
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Massanutten VA,
Presidential Resorts Wilderness VA, Wyndham Myrtle Beach SC,
The Quarter House, New Orleans LA
I wrote this post on my personal blog, but thought it may help other folks here on the TUG since so much of what I learned about my situation came from advise here on the forums.

I’d love any feedback you have, but more than anything, I hope this helps someone else. The original post follows:

20181006_114743.jpg


My wife and I have gone to more than our fair share of timeshare presentations. I’d imagine that we’re somewhere in the neighborhood of ten different pitches. Most of the recent ones have been through Book VIP. The deal is always that you can get a significant discount on accommodations (and often they include All-Inclusive packages) in return for selling your soul for a few hours ( aka the obligation of sitting through a timeshare pitch.)

Having been through as many as we have, I’ve actually gained quite a bit of knowledge of not only how the sales pitches work and how to combat the tactics used by the parade of sales people, but I’ve also learned about the different timeshare systems themselves. And when you look past the sales info, there’s no doubt in my mind that there is at least some truth behind the story that you can either save money on travel or travel with nicer accomodations — ASSUMING that you are able to pay a reasonable amount of money to acquire your week.

It’s also no secret that we like to travel, which is why I’ve always given the idea about buying a timeshare some thought. But like many of you, I’ve often heard horror stories about them. You can’t book when you want. Maintenance fees are expensive. And you can’t get rid of them. Any of the ones that are worth owning are ridiculously expensive to purchase. Other than that, sounds great, right?

Based on the things that I’ve read, a lot of that can be true.

However, if you do your research and know what you’re getting into, owning a timeshare can improve the way you vacation… or at least that’s my theory and hope going into this. I’ve done quite a bit of research so I do feel good about it going into this.

Here are five reasons why I believe buying a timeshare is the right move for us:

1. We travel most years. Who am I kidding, we travel every year. Quite often a few times a year. We buy “things” on occasion, but we are definitely of the mindset that experiences and memories are more important than accumulating stuff or always driving a new car. Because we know that we like to travel, we include money to cover those expenses in our monthly budget, so that it’s covered when the time comes.

Knowing that we are going to prioritize travel means that I’m ok with the commitment to pay a maintenance fee every year.

2. We like going to places where there are timeshare locations. Well, perhaps more accurately, we like to go a lot of different places, and a lot of those locations also have timeshares. If you’re going to buy into a timeshare system, you should either really want to go back to that same location or the other locations that are operated by the same or partner companies. If your vacation destinations don’t line up with where there is resort availability, owning a timeshare isn’t likely for you.

20181005_143034.jpg

3. We’d enjoy having a bit more space when we travel. This one is probably a bit more subjective to us right now. With the kids being the ages that they are, we’re all really ok piling into a single standard hotel room with two queen beds. Half the time, we end up splitting up the adult and kids anyway. When we were in Hawaii, we only had an adult bed and a kid bed for one night.

That being said, the kids are starting to get older, and it would be nice (not required, but nice) to have some more private space. We also bought enough HGVC points for a two bedroom unit, which would also give us the flexibility to have grandparents or friends potentially travel with us. We also don’t have to eat out every meal — especially breakfast — so having a working kitchen will be nice.

4. We’re getting a high quality unit at a low price. If you go out to timeshare sales sites, you can quite often find units for sale for $1 — or in some cases, I’ve even seen where people are paying all of others closing costs just to get them to take them. Quite often, those locations are with questionable companies with high maintenance fees. I have no idea what the prices of timeshares will do in the future, but I feel confident that in the worst case scenario, I won’t be out too much capital — and could easily pass on the unit to someone else. However, my expectation is that we’ll hold on to this for a long time.

The high quality unit also means that we should have good trading power if we wanted to go outside the Hilton Grand Vacation Club system. The location we’re buying into trades into both RCI and II — the two major players.

There’s one additional benefit from a high quality unit which takes me to my final point.

5. The week at the location that we’re buying rents for more than double the maintenance fees. Owning a high demand week in a high demand location also means that if we wanted to, we could reserve the week and rent it out and more than cover the maintenance fees for the year. If we actually did rent it out every other year, it would essentially pay for a free vacation for us every other year as well. I don’t know how often that we would consider renting it out, but I love having that as a fallback option if we don’t need it for one reason or another.

We’re definitely still early in our journey, but I’ve done enough research that I feel very comfortable with our decidsion. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out and thank you to the friendly folks at the TUG (Timeshare User Group) forums. They not only helped by answering a few of my specific questions, but just reading through others’ posts was exteremely beneficial.

Stay tuned for more updates as we actually begin to use our new timeshare. Do you have a good or bad timeshare experience to share? Let me know @TalkToErik.

Good reading. Thank you for sharing. We are pretty new at TS. I am glad that my husband is of the same vein, same value driven approach... geared towards family use of destinations purchased. our current dilemma is leaving our beloved homestead every time we journey to one of our TS. Wonder how you fellow TUGs prepare your home for a week or more absence? Especially those with older Victorian era homes. Is anyone else out there with a 100+ year old home?
Perhaps a new thread?
 
Last edited:

JudiZ

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Thanks, anderik1. This is a lovely post and I may need to memorize it for every time someone asks me about vacations and I mention my timeshares. Their eyes roll back and they usually unleash tales of frustration and/or horror about their own or someone else's experiences. This would be immediately after they have noted, usually with a bit of envy, that I seem to go on nice vacations and stay in nice places. I do, however, agree with you that they or someone else bought under pressure. In many instances, either they or someone they know could not figure out how to use the week and/or couldn't sell it.

A woman at work was telling me about her daughter's timeshare and complained that she couldn't sell it. For the record, I would have loved to have had it but I knew she would think I was trying to cheat her daughter if I had offered what it was worth. When I told her that her daughter would not get the thousands she expected, she got really frustrated with me. I directed her to TUG but to no avail. Shortly later, her daughter was enticed by some PCC so she assumed I was wrong and all would end well. We all know how it ended. So I understand how frustrated people can be but, for some of us, timeshares "work" and I am always appreciative of those who can articulate as well as you did.

Judi
 

anderik1

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Thanks, anderik1. This is a lovely post and I may need to memorize it for every time someone asks me about vacations and I mention my timeshares. Their eyes roll back and they usually unleash tales of frustration and/or horror about their own or someone else's experiences. This would be immediately after they have noted, usually with a bit of envy, that I seem to go on nice vacations and stay in nice places. I do, however, agree with you that they or someone else bought under pressure. In many instances, either they or someone they know could not figure out how to use the week and/or couldn't sell it.

A woman at work was telling me about her daughter's timeshare and complained that she couldn't sell it. For the record, I would have loved to have had it but I knew she would think I was trying to cheat her daughter if I had offered what it was worth. When I told her that her daughter would not get the thousands she expected, she got really frustrated with me. I directed her to TUG but to no avail. Shortly later, her daughter was enticed by some PCC so she assumed I was wrong and all would end well. We all know how it ended. So I understand how frustrated people can be but, for some of us, timeshares "work" and I am always appreciative of those who can articulate as well as you did.

Judi
Thanks for the kind words, Judi! My family is still early in their journey, but my wife is already excited looking at up all the opportunities that we have to go on vacation. Perhaps I created a monster.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

geist1223

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Good reading. Thank you for sharing. We are pretty new at TS. I am glad that my husband is of the same vein, same value driven approach... geared towards family use of destinations purchased. our current dilemma is leaving our beloved homestead every time we journey to one of our TS. Wonder how you fellow TUGs prepare your home for a week or more absence? Especially those with older Victorian era homes. Is anyone else out there with a 100+ year old home?
Perhaps a new thread?

We have a Craftman Chalet that turned 100 this year. But plumbing, electrical, heating, and A.C. were all updated in the past 9 years. We also have 3 pets. So we hire a House/Pet Sitter that moves into our House when we travel.
 

ginah777

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Great blog/article. Here are my added comments. :)

I love timeshares because:
  • They large kitchens and living rooms.
  • I save money and time cooking together in the TS rather than going to expensive restaurants three times a day.
    • I have a friend who owns a TS and she and another friend took their families on vacation, same time. She stayed in a timeshare and her friend in a hotel. Her friend spent three times more money because of restaurants and needing extra hotel rooms to accommodate her family.
  • I don't hear vacuuming in the morning and feel pressured to be out of my room for cleaning service.
  • The culture is family/friendly oriented and the service is higher quality in my opinion.
  • You are treated like family and they lavish you with amenities versus hotels where there is a charge for everything.
  • Timeshares have been one of my favorite investments. In my opinion, there is no investment that can give me such great memories, laughs and time well spent with people I treasure.
  • I could go on. :)
 

WinniWoman

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Good reading. Thank you for sharing. We are pretty new at TS. I am glad that my husband is of the same vein, same value driven approach... geared towards family use of destinations purchased. our current dilemma is leaving our beloved homestead every time we journey to one of our TS. Wonder how you fellow TUGs prepare your home for a week or more absence? Especially those with older Victorian era homes. Is anyone else out there with a 100+ year old home?
Perhaps a new thread?

I am assuming you are planning to leave your home in the winter? Our house is not like yours, but was built in the 80's and is set back 700 feet in the woods, but we just don't travel in winter. Too many things can go wrong and we don't have any neighbors, family or friends here to check on our house. Plus- we wouldn't want to deal with any issues from afar.

The most we do is go away for a couple of days for XMAS to see our son- who happens to live up north anyway. We keep the heat up during that time.

BTW- we do have a whole house generator for the frequent power outages we get year round. I would consider that a must. It automatically comes on when the power goes out. We shut off the main water valve also. They do have gadgets that monitor water pipes. We have a monitored alarm system and we set a light timer and stop the mail. Alexa can pay guard dogs barking round the clock if you have the Echo gadget. We used to keep a car out in the driveway for the appearance of someone being home, but this summer a rodent ate through some wires that cost us $350 to fix, so not sure we will do that vs. keeping it in the garage. Then again, rodents can get to it in the garage also.
 

Goaltender

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Great blog/article. Here are my added comments. :)

I love timeshares because:
  • They large kitchens and living rooms.
  • I save money and time cooking together in the TS rather than going to expensive restaurants three times a day.
    • I have a friend who owns a TS and she and another friend took their families on vacation, same time. She stayed in a timeshare and her friend in a hotel. Her friend spent three times more money because of restaurants and needing extra hotel rooms to accommodate her family.
  • I don't hear vacuuming in the morning and feel pressured to be out of my room for cleaning service.
  • The culture is family/friendly oriented and the service is higher quality in my opinion.
  • You are treated like family and they lavish you with amenities versus hotels where there is a charge for everything.
  • Timeshares have been one of my favorite investments. In my opinion, there is no investment that can give me such great memories, laughs and time well spent with people I treasure.
  • I could go on. :)
You forgot the damn resort fees hotels are charging now!
 

AndySamuels

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After reviewing the concept again I am still not sold on it.

The lifetime & beyond annual maintenance and occasional special assessment commitment + club fees are a lot even when a timeshare is (near) free.

Our travel is mostly to Vegas and AC. Two locations with excessive hotel room capacity and a lot of special offers and casino comps.

8 nights (2X 4 nights) in AC in a flagship hotel on the Boardwalk will set us back $200. Hard to justify a $1100 annual maintenance fee for 14 nights.

Although it would be really fun to have a timeshare.
 

DannyTS

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After reviewing the concept again I am still not sold on it.

The lifetime & beyond annual maintenance and occasional special assessment commitment + club fees are a lot even when a timeshare is (near) free.

Our travel is mostly to Vegas and AC. Two locations with excessive hotel room capacity and a lot of special offers and casino comps.

8 nights (2X 4 nights) in AC in a flagship hotel on the Boardwalk will set us back $200. Hard to justify a $1100 annual maintenance fee for 14 nights.

Although it would be really fun to have a timeshare.
For $1100 maintenance fee (or less) you can get 7000 points if you buy platinum season. You can stretch the points for 6.5 weeks silver season or 4.5 weeks gold season in a studio at Flamingo. I am not sure what hotel, unit size, season you are referring to, the differences can be huge within the same city.

Las Vegas though is not even the best use of points , from a value standpoint there are other places in the club where you can get the best bang for the buck.

I like to calculate the cost of our vacations factoring in the maintenance fees and and an amortized initial cost. Most times this cost is 60-70% less of what we would pay online (Expedia etc) for the same resort or something very similar for the exact same dates.



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TravelTime

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After reviewing the concept again I am still not sold on it.

The lifetime & beyond annual maintenance and occasional special assessment commitment + club fees are a lot even when a timeshare is (near) free.

Our travel is mostly to Vegas and AC. Two locations with excessive hotel room capacity and a lot of special offers and casino comps.

8 nights (2X 4 nights) in AC in a flagship hotel on the Boardwalk will set us back $200. Hard to justify a $1100 annual maintenance fee for 14 nights.

Although it would be really fun to have a timeshare.

I do not think you should buy a time share. It makes no sense for you. It is cheap and easy to rent where you travel most frequently.
 
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