MVC newbie

[TUGBrian]

did they mention how much they saved?

 

[b3achlife]

@TUGBrian another to add to the cancelation dollars saved?

34k for 2500 Abound points, rescinded thanks to you guys!!

 

[b3achlife]

So glad you found TUG and are exploring your options, learning before buying! I wish we had discovered timeshares when our kids were younger!
A few thoughts- some of which others have made but bear repeating -
-what will your travel schedule look like in 5 years? In 10?
- do you like Orlando because it’s convenient with the kids being young, or do you just really like Orlando?
- you mention the Caribbean- do you have a favorite island?
-obviously a big attraction of timeshares is the space and the convenience of a kitchen/laundry. Are you ok without the 5 star amenities like daily housekeeping and room service? Don’t want to sound negative- for us it’s ideal, but sone consider it a huge step down.
- locking off is great and allows you to trade for another week. As the kids get older are you ok with a 1 BR?
- what’s your job flexibility? Many great trades to be had, and better work flexibility makes it easier to use. Sone people have to request vacation times far in advance and many great trades pop up months to even weeks in advance.

Personally, buying was one of the best decisions we ever made! But we both had the work flexibility to plan a few months out and since we’ve retired it’s been great. You’re far from this point, but the same concepts apply- as expenses and income change, owning at least partially takes away the question of whether to spend the money on vacations or not. We travel way more than we otherwise would. So that’s another intangible benefit of ownership. And being able to take family and friends is priceless.

My suggestion would be to dip your toes in. Just because you can afford 20-30k doesn’t mean you have yo spend it at once. You mention lining Grand Vista- but a resale week and see how it works for you, how you like the trades. Especially with kids your ages Id big a 3BR Platinum week. Use the 2BR and trade the studio, or when you want to go someplace else have a strong 2 BR trader. Understand that for trading size really matters. And price and NFs for a 3BR are only a little more than for a 2BR.
IF you really love it buy another resale week or two, and then later on you can think of s developer week in Aruba or a hybrid purchase from Marriott to enroll your resale weeks as an incentive to purchase.
Good luck and welcome to Tug!

H

So glad you found TUG and are exploring your options, learning before buying! I wish we had discovered timeshares when our kids were younger!
A few thoughts- some of which others have made but bear repeating -
-what will your travel schedule look like in 5 years? In 10?
- do you like Orlando because it’s convenient with the kids being young, or do you just really like Orlando?
- you mention the Caribbean- do you have a favorite island?
-obviously a big attraction of timeshares is the space and the convenience of a kitchen/laundry. Are you ok without the 5 star amenities like daily housekeeping and room service? Don’t want to sound negative- for us it’s ideal, but sone consider it a huge step down.
- locking off is great and allows you to trade for another week. As the kids get older are you ok with a 1 BR?
- what’s your job flexibility? Many great trades to be had, and better work flexibility makes it easier to use. Sone people have to request vacation times far in advance and many great trades pop up months to even weeks in advance.

Personally, buying was one of the best decisions we ever made! But we both had the work flexibility to plan a few months out and since we’ve retired it’s been great. You’re far from this point, but the same concepts apply- as expenses and income change, owning at least partially takes away the question of whether to spend the money on vacations or not. We travel way more than we otherwise would. So that’s another intangible benefit of ownership. And being able to take family and friends is priceless.

My suggestion would be to dip your toes in. Just because you can afford 20-30k doesn’t mean you have yo spend it at once. You mention lining Grand Vista- but a resale week and see how it works for you, how you like the trades. Especially with kids your ages Id big a 3BR Platinum week. Use the 2BR and trade the studio, or when you want to go someplace else have a strong 2 BR trader. Understand that for trading size really matters. And price and NFs for a 3BR are only a little more than for a 2BR.
IF you really love it buy another resale week or two, and then later on you can think of s developer week in Aruba or a hybrid purchase from Marriott to enroll your resale weeks as an incentive to purchase.
Good luck and welcome to Tug!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the advice/welcome Marilyn!

Travel schedule, 4-6 weeks vaca/year ongoing
like Orlando for the kids
no favorite island yet, haven't explored it much and looking forward to it I am from Australia.
good with no/little housekeeping, prefer the privacy
as they get older 2/3 bedroom would be better
flexibility good I have my own business can work from anywhere, will need to vaca around kids school when they are 6+

 

[NorcalDisFan]

The program is similar for this year on the Abound points purchases as well.

3K points = 1 week
4K points = 2 weeks
5K points = 3 weeks
6K points = 4 weeks
7K points = 5 weeks

Hope this would not be fixed like someone got a better offer 1k point for 1week in https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/post-update-timber-lodge-is-this-a-good-deal.351843/ .
Otherwise, I will go with WVC for cheaper retro since my goal is to get abound points. It seems like no one knows yet, but I wonder if a good deal would be possible to enroll 1 Westin week and 1 Marriott week.

 

[DanCali]

If that is correct, and you can buy one Aruba week for $35k ish to enroll 5-7 weeks, that could be a decent value. Likely not worth it for just two weeks. I'm sure we will end up buying more in time although I'm not entirely sure where yet. I could see getting a second MGC trading week and a second MGO week so we can book family to stay with us, and possibly a couple Hawaii weeks to use every other year except flights to Hawaii from Ohio are long and expensive.

If you already have a few enrolled weeks and access to Abound (which allows you to rent points from others) then these purchase-to-enroll considerations should depend more on the "quality" of the weeks rather than the "quantity" of the weeks.

For example, I really wouldn't care that much about enrolling a Platinum NCV week (3475 points) since that's a week that's relatively easy to rent out as a week for $1+/point, assuming you can get the summer reservation. So, one could out rent the week and then rent any points you need from others. But if it was a PP26 NCV (5300 points) then those weeks would be much more valuable to enroll since the number of points is substantially greater (and not necessarily reflected in the rental value of the actual 4th of July week relative to any other July Platinum week).

 

[Dean]

Hope this would not be fixed like someone got a better offer 1k point for 1week in https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/post-update-timber-lodge-is-this-a-good-deal.351843/ .
Otherwise, I will go with WVC for cheaper retro since my goal is to get abound points. It seems like no one knows yet, but I wonder if a good deal would be possible to enroll 1 Westin week and 1 Marriott week.

The one you linked is a wierd one. It looks like their week is listed as eligible in the MVC system even though it might not be supposed to. We've seen sales try to sell 1000 pots to enroll people who were eligible to do so without buying additional points and I suspect this was the case here. While that week may ultimately not be eligible at the end of the day, sales would not have known that in all likelihood.