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My Survey - Help! What should I buy? (or should I even buy?)

Joined
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THIS IS SO AMAZING!!! First, let me just say Thank You for creating this, and to all members for keeping it alive. When we first moved to Rhode Island I couldn’t find anyone who knew a thing about steam heat and found a website called Heating Help that taught me all I needed to know. This seems much the same in terms of timeshares. What a find! So, our survey is below and any responses would be greatly appreciated.

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

YES. We live in New England and travel to Florida all the time as we have family near Tampa and LOVE Disney. We were annual passholders to Disney before the pandemic and are considering it again but DVC is probably out of the cards for us due to cost and kids eventually getting older. We will still take trips there often, to escape the cold for cheap. We also like to go to Martinique (been 5 times when flights were cheap on Norwegian) and Europe, especially as we get older and the kids grow. Hawaii and Wine Country/CA are our other favorites, but HI especially is a beast of a flight, so every year may be too much for us.

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 think we would trade more than half the time, if not almost all of the time. This is why we love the idea of “points” programs and are thinking if RCI or II were available without an ownership requirement at all, we might do that. We just want a reliable source for discounted vacation rentals that don’t involve strange transactions and a bunch of cash and wiring fees, etc, like a lot of the international VRBO and AirBNB places seem to have. Also, we like the safety and security of a big resort with an awesome pool and dining options, and having a “guaranteed” vacation at least every 2 years is kind of fun.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

I’m guessing this means destinations in general? Orlando, Hawaii, France (including Martinique), Western Europe in general, and California Wine Country


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

Usually it’s our family of 4, sometimes it’s just my wife and myself, and if we get a timeshare, it will possibly be with in-laws or another family, too, if there’s room.


5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

We are pretty flexible here, pulling the kids out of school for a few days to make a great trip happen, flexible all summer, and also doing weekend getaways when we can.


6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?


No, not really. We’d rather have flexibility as we’ve been burned with forced cancellations for weather and other reasons.


7) Can your vacation for a full week at a time?


Yes, usually at least 2 full weeks a year, either as two one-weekers or one long vacation, plus a couple long weekends when we can.


8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?


4+. Five is great, too, but we’d rather have a nice place with a great pool that allows us to cook our own food and do laundry over a 5-star hotel room with no laundry or kitchen and an ocean view. We’ve been to a few places that are supposedly “4 stars” where people litter and are disrespectful to other guests, blasting music, etc. We’d like to avoid those kinds of places. For reference, we’d consider Kings Land a 4-star place. Just got back from there, and it was great.


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


Since HGVC is our only real reference, we’ve been looking at finding the best way to get somewhere between 3,500 and 7,000 points, either Annually or EOY, with the lowest possible MFs. Hoping to spend <5k to close, plus annual MFs. Florida and SC locations do make us a bit nervous due to elevation and hurricane risk, especially long-term. We’d like the kids to be able to use these, too. Another reason why we like points, but not if our home resort has to be rebuilt or is destroyed and leads to big MF hikes.

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?


Based on what we have started looking for, I think $1,000 seems reasonable, but lower would obviously be better. This is probably the thing we want to keep the lowest. Would rather a place that costs 3k to buy, but has low MFs and low expected longer-term MFs, than a place that’s free but has higher MFs or ends up needing a massive renovation that the reserve can’t cover.

11) Are you a detail-oriented planner?

Yes, unfortunately, for everyone involved.

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. We do hope to give it to the kids and so had a couple questions here. If we want to put it into our trust, should we have the trust buy it (can you do that, or does that make it more difficult to buy?) or should we just transfer it into the trust later? And if we want to protect the kids from having to deal with it at all, can’t we just leave it out of our trust and will it to someone or some organization that we hate? Thinking maybe to will it to the Dodgers organization. 


Final Thoughts/Concerns:

From what we’ve learned so far, HGVC seems like an awesome deal, especially with a secondary market purchase. We love the flexibility of points, and it seems like the 9month vs 12month thing isn’t a huge deal for booking, even in Hawaii, so the plan would be to get something stateside with low MFs, and book Hawaii maybe every 2 or 4 years in the off-season using our points. In a way, we like the idea of the extra stuff through RCI the best. Some great deals to be had just by being a member, right? Seems like RCI, for a fee, takes the guesswork out of whether a rental is legit or not, while also giving you access to tons of properties. If that’s true, in reality, we just want to get a timeshare for that alone, and the ownership thing is a nice bonus. But we don’t want to get a timeshare that’s a money pit, just to have access to RCI. That’s why we were thinking to get something like 3,500-7,000 points EOY, and do one big trip planned every 2 years, and use RCI for good deals in-between. This also cuts our MF in half as it’s only EOY.

Are we on the right track thinking HGVC is the best fit for us or is there a better way to get access to RCI? We don’t really want to get stuck with a timeshare that we HAVE to use, or a company that goes belly-up, or with a contract that ends up requiring assessments or huge MF hikes. Realizing there is no guaranteed, it seems like HGVC checks most of the boxes there and has the best trade-in value for points, but please let us know if we’re totally blind to a way better opportunity, or if you think ownership doesn’t make any sense for us at all. My personal favorite brand is Marriott for their beds, but we have the Hilton Amex Card and love the value it delivers, so we've kind of turned into Hilton people even though they have stiffer beds.

Thank you so much!!
 

CalGalTraveler

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2014
Messages
9,745
Reaction score
8,272
Points
498
Location
California
Resorts Owned
HGVC, MVC Vistana
Welcome to TUG! You are doing the right thing by asking up-front. Timeshares are awesome but they are not for everyone.

Based on #6 that you don't like to make plans 12 months in advance and #10 $1000 or less MF it appears that you would not be a happy timeshare owner. HGVC annual MFs start at just under $1000/year in Vegas which is one of the lowest in the system, but you can expect that to increase 3 - 5% per year. Although an EOY will be less - it would be about $750/year because you will need to pay annual club dues and club booking fees for non-home reservation however there is little you can do during prime season for 3500 pts per year and that usually is a two person studio unit which would not be big enough for your family. Suggest a minimum 4800 - 7000 annual unit to be happy in the HGVC system. Moreover HGVC does not have properties in Wine Country California and France. Only in the countryside in Scotland, Italy and Portugal (but hard to reserve). Based on your answers it sounds like this would cause too much stress on your budget and you would be doubly unhappy if the resorts you desire were booked 3 - 6 months out.

There are other options that have lower MF like Grandview that trade well in RCI but you indicated that you don't like to plan far in advance so this might not work for you either. Good luck!
 
Joined
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Messages
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Welcome to TUG! You are doing the right thing by asking up-front. Timeshares are awesome but they are not for everyone.

Based on #6 that you don't like to make plans 12 months in advance and #10 $1000 or less MF it appears that you would not be a happy timeshare owner. HGVC annual MFs start at just under $1000/year in Vegas which is one of the lowest in the system, but you can expect that to increase 3 - 5% per year. Although an EOY will be less - it would be about $750/year because you will need to pay annual club dues and club booking fees for non-home reservation however there is little you can do during prime season for 3500 pts per year and that usually is a two person studio unit which would not be big enough for your family. Suggest a minimum 4800 - 7000 annual unit to be happy in the HGVC system. Moreover HGVC does not have properties in Wine Country California and France. Only in the countryside in Scotland, Italy and Portugal (but hard to reserve). Based on your answers it sounds like this would cause too much stress on your budget and you would be doubly unhappy if the resorts you desire were booked 3 - 6 months out.

There are other options that have lower MF like Grandview that trade well in RCI but you indicated that you don't like to plan far in advance so this might not work for you either. Good luck!

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts!
 

travelhacker

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
1,331
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THIS IS SO AMAZING!!! First, let me just say Thank You for creating this, and to all members for keeping it alive. When we first moved to Rhode Island I couldn’t find anyone who knew a thing about steam heat and found a website called Heating Help that taught me all I needed to know. This seems much the same in terms of timeshares. What a find! So, our survey is below and any responses would be greatly appreciated.

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

YES. We live in New England and travel to Florida all the time as we have family near Tampa and LOVE Disney. We were annual passholders to Disney before the pandemic and are considering it again but DVC is probably out of the cards for us due to cost and kids eventually getting older. We will still take trips there often, to escape the cold for cheap. We also like to go to Martinique (been 5 times when flights were cheap on Norwegian) and Europe, especially as we get older and the kids grow. Hawaii and Wine Country/CA are our other favorites, but HI especially is a beast of a flight, so every year may be too much for us.

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 think we would trade more than half the time, if not almost all of the time. This is why we love the idea of “points” programs and are thinking if RCI or II were available without an ownership requirement at all, we might do that. We just want a reliable source for discounted vacation rentals that don’t involve strange transactions and a bunch of cash and wiring fees, etc, like a lot of the international VRBO and AirBNB places seem to have. Also, we like the safety and security of a big resort with an awesome pool and dining options, and having a “guaranteed” vacation at least every 2 years is kind of fun.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

I’m guessing this means destinations in general? Orlando, Hawaii, France (including Martinique), Western Europe in general, and California Wine Country


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

Usually it’s our family of 4, sometimes it’s just my wife and myself, and if we get a timeshare, it will possibly be with in-laws or another family, too, if there’s room.


5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

We are pretty flexible here, pulling the kids out of school for a few days to make a great trip happen, flexible all summer, and also doing weekend getaways when we can.


6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

No, not really. We’d rather have flexibility as we’ve been burned with forced cancellations for weather and other reasons.


7) Can your vacation for a full week at a time?

Yes, usually at least 2 full weeks a year, either as two one-weekers or one long vacation, plus a couple long weekends when we can.


8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?

4+. Five is great, too, but we’d rather have a nice place with a great pool that allows us to cook our own food and do laundry over a 5-star hotel room with no laundry or kitchen and an ocean view. We’ve been to a few places that are supposedly “4 stars” where people litter and are disrespectful to other guests, blasting music, etc. We’d like to avoid those kinds of places. For reference, we’d consider Kings Land a 4-star place. Just got back from there, and it was great.


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

Since HGVC is our only real reference, we’ve been looking at finding the best way to get somewhere between 3,500 and 7,000 points, either Annually or EOY, with the lowest possible MFs. Hoping to spend <5k to close, plus annual MFs. Florida and SC locations do make us a bit nervous due to elevation and hurricane risk, especially long-term. We’d like the kids to be able to use these, too. Another reason why we like points, but not if our home resort has to be rebuilt or is destroyed and leads to big MF hikes.

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?

Based on what we have started looking for, I think $1,000 seems reasonable, but lower would obviously be better. This is probably the thing we want to keep the lowest. Would rather a place that costs 3k to buy, but has low MFs and low expected longer-term MFs, than a place that’s free but has higher MFs or ends up needing a massive renovation that the reserve can’t cover.

11) Are you a detail-oriented planner?

Yes, unfortunately, for everyone involved.

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. We do hope to give it to the kids and so had a couple questions here. If we want to put it into our trust, should we have the trust buy it (can you do that, or does that make it more difficult to buy?) or should we just transfer it into the trust later? And if we want to protect the kids from having to deal with it at all, can’t we just leave it out of our trust and will it to someone or some organization that we hate? Thinking maybe to will it to the Dodgers organization. 


Final Thoughts/Concerns:

From what we’ve learned so far, HGVC seems like an awesome deal, especially with a secondary market purchase. We love the flexibility of points, and it seems like the 9month vs 12month thing isn’t a huge deal for booking, even in Hawaii, so the plan would be to get something stateside with low MFs, and book Hawaii maybe every 2 or 4 years in the off-season using our points. In a way, we like the idea of the extra stuff through RCI the best. Some great deals to be had just by being a member, right? Seems like RCI, for a fee, takes the guesswork out of whether a rental is legit or not, while also giving you access to tons of properties. If that’s true, in reality, we just want to get a timeshare for that alone, and the ownership thing is a nice bonus. But we don’t want to get a timeshare that’s a money pit, just to have access to RCI. That’s why we were thinking to get something like 3,500-7,000 points EOY, and do one big trip planned every 2 years, and use RCI for good deals in-between. This also cuts our MF in half as it’s only EOY.

Are we on the right track thinking HGVC is the best fit for us or is there a better way to get access to RCI? We don’t really want to get stuck with a timeshare that we HAVE to use, or a company that goes belly-up, or with a contract that ends up requiring assessments or huge MF hikes. Realizing there is no guaranteed, it seems like HGVC checks most of the boxes there and has the best trade-in value for points, but please let us know if we’re totally blind to a way better opportunity, or if you think ownership doesn’t make any sense for us at all. My personal favorite brand is Marriott for their beds, but we have the Hilton Amex Card and love the value it delivers, so we've kind of turned into Hilton people even though they have stiffer beds.

Thank you so much!!
I think if you were willing to expand your budget a little on the maintenance fees you could realize some good savings. There are a couple of options that I could recommend to just about anyone that is willing to put in a little bit of effort:

1) Buy a Sheraton Desert Oasis (SDO). They have a couple of 1 bedroom options that are about 700-900 in maintenance fees per year depending on the unit size. The 1 bedrooms can be picked up for basically nothing (may have to pay closing fees). The 2 bedrooms can go for about $1000 or so. A 2 bedroom is my preferred option since you can lock off and get two trades. The maintenance fees for the two bedrooms are a shade over $1200 per year.

2) Buy a Marriott Grand Chateau (MGC) Week. Preferably a two bedroom. $2500-$3500 seems to be the going rate for these weeks. The maintenance fees are about $1300 per year or $650 if you go with an EOY. You can lock it off and do two trades.

Both of those options are reasonably good traders and each side of a lockoff should get you good trades into Orlando at nice properties (Marriott and Sheraton). If you can plan a year or so in advance and put in an ongoing search, I think you should be able to snag 1 bedroom units in Hawaii.

It would also give you access to Getaways where you can purchase usage of a week for a good price. I've gotten weeks in early summer for as low as $350 or so with all fees included at nice 2 bedroom Marriotts.

Your total annual costs would be:
$1300 - Maintenance fees (plan on 4% per year in increase)
$99 - Interval membership
$154 x 2 - Interval trade fees

Out of that you will get:
2 weeks of vacation yearly.

If you only travel 1 week a year, maybe your best bet is to get an EOY MGC or SDO. That would drop it down to:

$700 - Maintenance fees
$99 - Interval
$154 - Interval Trade
 

Mongoose

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
2,068
Reaction score
1,081
Points
373
Location
Colorado
Resorts Owned
Hyatt Pinion Pointe, Hilton The Bay Club, Worldmark
THIS IS SO AMAZING!!! First, let me just say Thank You for creating this, and to all members for keeping it alive. When we first moved to Rhode Island I couldn’t find anyone who knew a thing about steam heat and found a website called Heating Help that taught me all I needed to know. This seems much the same in terms of timeshares. What a find! So, our survey is below and any responses would be greatly appreciated.

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

YES. We live in New England and travel to Florida all the time as we have family near Tampa and LOVE Disney. We were annual passholders to Disney before the pandemic and are considering it again but DVC is probably out of the cards for us due to cost and kids eventually getting older. We will still take trips there often, to escape the cold for cheap. We also like to go to Martinique (been 5 times when flights were cheap on Norwegian) and Europe, especially as we get older and the kids grow. Hawaii and Wine Country/CA are our other favorites, but HI especially is a beast of a flight, so every year may be too much for us.

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 think we would trade more than half the time, if not almost all of the time. This is why we love the idea of “points” programs and are thinking if RCI or II were available without an ownership requirement at all, we might do that. We just want a reliable source for discounted vacation rentals that don’t involve strange transactions and a bunch of cash and wiring fees, etc, like a lot of the international VRBO and AirBNB places seem to have. Also, we like the safety and security of a big resort with an awesome pool and dining options, and having a “guaranteed” vacation at least every 2 years is kind of fun.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

I’m guessing this means destinations in general? Orlando, Hawaii, France (including Martinique), Western Europe in general, and California Wine Country


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

Usually it’s our family of 4, sometimes it’s just my wife and myself, and if we get a timeshare, it will possibly be with in-laws or another family, too, if there’s room.


5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

We are pretty flexible here, pulling the kids out of school for a few days to make a great trip happen, flexible all summer, and also doing weekend getaways when we can.


6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

No, not really. We’d rather have flexibility as we’ve been burned with forced cancellations for weather and other reasons.


7) Can your vacation for a full week at a time?

Yes, usually at least 2 full weeks a year, either as two one-weekers or one long vacation, plus a couple long weekends when we can.


8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?

4+. Five is great, too, but we’d rather have a nice place with a great pool that allows us to cook our own food and do laundry over a 5-star hotel room with no laundry or kitchen and an ocean view. We’ve been to a few places that are supposedly “4 stars” where people litter and are disrespectful to other guests, blasting music, etc. We’d like to avoid those kinds of places. For reference, we’d consider Kings Land a 4-star place. Just got back from there, and it was great.


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

Since HGVC is our only real reference, we’ve been looking at finding the best way to get somewhere between 3,500 and 7,000 points, either Annually or EOY, with the lowest possible MFs. Hoping to spend <5k to close, plus annual MFs. Florida and SC locations do make us a bit nervous due to elevation and hurricane risk, especially long-term. We’d like the kids to be able to use these, too. Another reason why we like points, but not if our home resort has to be rebuilt or is destroyed and leads to big MF hikes.

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?

Based on what we have started looking for, I think $1,000 seems reasonable, but lower would obviously be better. This is probably the thing we want to keep the lowest. Would rather a place that costs 3k to buy, but has low MFs and low expected longer-term MFs, than a place that’s free but has higher MFs or ends up needing a massive renovation that the reserve can’t cover.

11) Are you a detail-oriented planner?

Yes, unfortunately, for everyone involved.

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. We do hope to give it to the kids and so had a couple questions here. If we want to put it into our trust, should we have the trust buy it (can you do that, or does that make it more difficult to buy?) or should we just transfer it into the trust later? And if we want to protect the kids from having to deal with it at all, can’t we just leave it out of our trust and will it to someone or some organization that we hate? Thinking maybe to will it to the Dodgers organization. 


Final Thoughts/Concerns:

From what we’ve learned so far, HGVC seems like an awesome deal, especially with a secondary market purchase. We love the flexibility of points, and it seems like the 9month vs 12month thing isn’t a huge deal for booking, even in Hawaii, so the plan would be to get something stateside with low MFs, and book Hawaii maybe every 2 or 4 years in the off-season using our points. In a way, we like the idea of the extra stuff through RCI the best. Some great deals to be had just by being a member, right? Seems like RCI, for a fee, takes the guesswork out of whether a rental is legit or not, while also giving you access to tons of properties. If that’s true, in reality, we just want to get a timeshare for that alone, and the ownership thing is a nice bonus. But we don’t want to get a timeshare that’s a money pit, just to have access to RCI. That’s why we were thinking to get something like 3,500-7,000 points EOY, and do one big trip planned every 2 years, and use RCI for good deals in-between. This also cuts our MF in half as it’s only EOY.

Are we on the right track thinking HGVC is the best fit for us or is there a better way to get access to RCI? We don’t really want to get stuck with a timeshare that we HAVE to use, or a company that goes belly-up, or with a contract that ends up requiring assessments or huge MF hikes. Realizing there is no guaranteed, it seems like HGVC checks most of the boxes there and has the best trade-in value for points, but please let us know if we’re totally blind to a way better opportunity, or if you think ownership doesn’t make any sense for us at all. My personal favorite brand is Marriott for their beds, but we have the Hilton Amex Card and love the value it delivers, so we've kind of turned into Hilton people even though they have stiffer beds.

Thank you so much!!
There are several good options and many not so good options. If you have a favorite destination you want to visit year after year a traditional deeded week with a major brand is a good way to go. We like to jump around so what worked well for me is EOY where I have Hyatt on even years and Marriott on odd years (I just traded my Marriott for an HGVC Bay Club in HI). There will more than likely be major changes with HGVC with the acquisition of Diamond. If you just want a points engine with HGVC look at Vegas. Be patient there are tons of resales and you can get some great values on ebay or Tug.
 

Mongoose

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
2,068
Reaction score
1,081
Points
373
Location
Colorado
Resorts Owned
Hyatt Pinion Pointe, Hilton The Bay Club, Worldmark
I think if you were willing to expand your budget a little on the maintenance fees you could realize some good savings. There are a couple of options that I could recommend to just about anyone that is willing to put in a little bit of effort:

1) Buy a Sheraton Desert Oasis (SDO). They have a couple of 1 bedroom options that are about 700-900 in maintenance fees per year depending on the unit size. The 1 bedrooms can be picked up for basically nothing (may have to pay closing fees). The 2 bedrooms can go for about $1000 or so. A 2 bedroom is my preferred option since you can lock off and get two trades. The maintenance fees for the two bedrooms are a shade over $1200 per year.

2) Buy a Marriott Grand Chateau (MGC) Week. Preferably a two bedroom. $2500-$3500 seems to be the going rate for these weeks. The maintenance fees are about $1300 per year or $650 if you go with an EOY. You can lock it off and do two trades.

Both of those options are reasonably good traders and each side of a lockoff should get you good trades into Orlando at nice properties (Marriott and Sheraton). If you can plan a year or so in advance and put in an ongoing search, I think you should be able to snag 1 bedroom units in Hawaii.

It would also give you access to Getaways where you can purchase usage of a week for a good price. I've gotten weeks in early summer for as low as $350 or so with all fees included at nice 2 bedroom Marriotts.

Your total annual costs would be:
$1300 - Maintenance fees (plan on 4% per year in increase)
$99 - Interval membership
$154 x 2 - Interval trade fees

Out of that you will get:
2 weeks of vacation yearly.

If you only travel 1 week a year, maybe your best bet is to get an EOY MGC or SDO. That would drop it down to:

$700 - Maintenance fees
$99 - Interval
$154 - Interval Trade
My only caution is that you buy where you want to go. It can be very hard to trade into key locations during high season even with Marriott.
 
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This is all great info, so thank you all very much. We do have the means to stretch the maintenance fee quite a bit. I just am a stickler for value and a bit of a cheapskate so I want to keep it as low as I can. Scottsdale seems nice as I'd hope to use it for a week during spring training maybe, but that's about the only reason I'd ever go there. I don't really know how the actual weeks work with Marriott, as I'm only familiar with the points system of HGVC and was talking things over with my wife, and showing her all of this, and where we are is that we have always just stayed at hotels, so this would essentially change the whole way we travel. We're not used to having an actual villa to ourselves unless we do vrbo, which is a hassle and has some risk. We also, being cheap, have avoided villas because it seems like they're 4x as expensive as hotels if you're not in a timeshare. So while timeshares will increase our travel costs a bit, they will open up a TON more space and options it seems, but what I think we will likely end up doing is using the portal to book last minute stuff for less, most of the time, and not using our home week at all. There really is no place we want to go to again and again. We just would like the flexibility to do what you can do with points, anywhere, with a guarantee that you won't get stiffed by someone. We have the ability to do a lot of "off season" travel to places, especially for 4 day weekends, and finding a villa anywhere, without gambling that it's a fake listing or jumping through 1000 hoops has been our reservation. With RCI (or II) as I understand it, you can log in and find a bunch of stuff in 3-4 day blocks, next month, where you want to go. If that's not really the case, timeshare stuff is definitely not for us I guess. There really is no place we absolutely love. Just areas .We go to Orlando and stay at the Bonnet Creek hilton, or the Waldorf astoria. We did a timeshare presentation at the Sheraton Vistana and found it ok. Did the other the HGVC Parc Soleil and liked it but the lack of disney access would preclude us from wanting us to call it "home." The disney resorts are all awesome but seem to be a fortune. Our understanding was that you can often find a 1bedrm that sleeps 4 at one of the disney resorts like old key west or Saratoga springs thru RCI for a lot less than booking thru disney. That kind of thing would be perfect. Anyhow, I'm just rambling here. Thank you again everyone, for your help!
 
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There are several good options and many not so good options. If you have a favorite destination you want to visit year after year a traditional deeded week with a major brand is a good way to go. We like to jump around so what worked well for me is EOY where I have Hyatt on even years and Marriott on odd years (I just traded my Marriott for an HGVC Bay Club in HI). There will more than likely be major changes with HGVC with the acquisition of Diamond. If you just want a points engine with HGVC look at Vegas. Be patient there are tons of resales and you can get some great values on ebay or Tug.
I'm liking this approach the best. I saw lots of names of brokers on here that folks recommended and continue to recommend. This link is 3 years old,


but these folks still seem to be in business. It seems like they have their own listings or links to mls. Do you guys use them that way, or find something on eBay and THEN call them, or just wing it on your own? I am nervous about eBay, but probably not if there's a broker involved. Seems like if you go the points route, you always want to get a platinum week because you get the most points for the same MF, and while I'd love to get a "free" timeshare plus closing costs, I'd gladly pay a few K for a good 7k points destination EOY, I think, and the Vegas places seem not only kind of nice, but places that I actually MIGHT use once in a while for a wedding visit or a football game or fellas weekend or what have you. But a whole week in vegas is probably something I'd never do. I'd be broke. :)
 

travelhacker

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I'm liking this approach the best. I saw lots of names of brokers on here that folks recommended and continue to recommend. This link is 3 years old,


but these folks still seem to be in business. It seems like they have their own listings or links to mls. Do you guys use them that way, or find something on eBay and THEN call them, or just wing it on your own? I am nervous about eBay, but probably not if there's a broker involved. Seems like if you go the points route, you always want to get a platinum week because you get the most points for the same MF, and while I'd love to get a "free" timeshare plus closing costs, I'd gladly pay a few K for a good 7k points destination EOY, I think, and the Vegas places seem not only kind of nice, but places that I actually MIGHT use once in a while for a wedding visit or a football game or fellas weekend or what have you. But a whole week in vegas is probably something I'd never do. I'd be broke. :)
I buy on eBay now, but someone who is new doesn't know how to look out for certain issues or warning signs. I wouldn't recommend eBay for a first purchase. I would work with a broker initially.
 

Mongoose

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I'm liking this approach the best. I saw lots of names of brokers on here that folks recommended and continue to recommend. This link is 3 years old,


but these folks still seem to be in business. It seems like they have their own listings or links to mls. Do you guys use them that way, or find something on eBay and THEN call them, or just wing it on your own? I am nervous about eBay, but probably not if there's a broker involved. Seems like if you go the points route, you always want to get a platinum week because you get the most points for the same MF, and while I'd love to get a "free" timeshare plus closing costs, I'd gladly pay a few K for a good 7k points destination EOY, I think, and the Vegas places seem not only kind of nice, but places that I actually MIGHT use once in a while for a wedding visit or a football game or fellas weekend or what have you. But a whole week in vegas is probably something I'd never do. I'd be broke. :)
Bill Gabrielli <billgabrielli@me.com> is great. I used him on my Hyatt. A real pro and saved me a bunch. He also does HGVC and Marriott.
 
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