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My timeshare profile

CydeSwype

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
8
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Location
San Diego
1) Where do you want your home resort to be? Flexible, care little about this because I don't want to stay in the same place very frequently

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? trade nearly all the time (we want to visit a lot of new places, family proximity unimportant)

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Very flexible, we want to see the world. Paris, Rome, Venice, Athens, anywhere in India, Thailand, Eastern Europe. Seriously, we want to see it all.

4) How many people do you usually travel with? Just my wife and me, but interested in travelling with some family (especially if it's more economical)

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Anytime, no kids now or in the future.

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

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 3-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $10k now, but happy to start saving as needed if that gets more bang for the buck

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? $2500 max for now, maybe more in the future

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes, especially if it means saving money or getting more out of a vacation

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, and I'm comfortable with that when it makes sense. I'm looking for the right blend of ownership, renting TSs and doing the hotel thing as needed. Whatever makes the most sense.
 

DeniseM

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
58,773
Reaction score
10,679
Location
Northern, CA
Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim) NEW: 3 Lawa'i Beach Resort!
3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Very flexible, we want to see the world. Paris, Rome, Venice, Athens, anywhere in India, Thailand, Eastern Europe. Seriously, we want to see it all.

Exchanging for resorts outside the US is considerably more difficult - especially during high season. I would not buy a timeshare strictly for foreign travel.

Most of the US systems do not have many international resorts in their system.

Most European timeshares that are available through exchange companies are in rural areas, where Europeans get out of the city and go to ski resorts, hiking, cottages in the countryside, etc. - not in major cities.

You might want to consider Hapimag, which is an European System, but there isn't much discussion about it here on TUG, which focuses on the US and Mexico systems, for the most part.
 
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Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
29,161
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18,436
Location
Twin Falls, Eye-Duh-Hoe
Based on the answers here, I'd suggest a point system with lots of internal trading possibilities. Wyndham is one such. As Denise said, using timeshares for international travel simply doesn't work well. There are afewgood 'luxury' resorts operated by U.S. hotel based companies in Europe, and Thailand, but they are the exception.

Many of us like to travel a LOT, and congratulations on being able to afford it at a (I assume) young age.

Timeshares can offer these well touted 'trading opportunities', but they don't tell the whole story. There are costs associated and ongoing. the 2 big exchange companies charge about $100/yr for membership alone, then over $200 EACH for those exchanges on top of the maintenance fees to your resort, and then there is the expense of getting there. On top of that is the loss of income while you are enjoying your globe trotting.

Happy travels. I'd suggest you hang around TUG for a while. Like, several months before buying anything. Use the search function in the blue stripe above. It can provide answers to darn near every timeshare question you can imagine. Of course you can ask questions of the group in any of the forums that interest you.

Welcome to TUG

Jim
 

silentg

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
6,365
Reaction score
3,505
Location
Central Florida
Resorts Owned
Fitzpatrick's Castle Holiday Homes
Exchanging for resorts outside the US is considerably more difficult - especially during high season. I would not buy a timeshare strictly for foreign travel.

Most of the US systems do not have many international resorts in their system.

Most European timeshares that are available through exchange companies are in rural areas, where Europeans get out of the city and go to ski resorts, hiking, cottages in the countryside, etc. - not in major cities.

You might want to consider Hapimag, which is an European System, but there isn't much discussion about it here on TUG, which focuses on the US and Mexico systems, for the most part.

I disagree, we own a timeshare in Dublin, Ireland ( bought from another TUG member) and it is just wonderful! We combined our week with IHG points and stayed in Rome for 6 nights before going to Dublin. Nonstop flights from US to Dublin then Dublin to Rome, back to Dublin then back to US all nonstop, we exchanged 2016 Dublin for Maui. Will let you know how that goes! I have become addicted to timeshare travel and thru Tug have obtained many timeshares, but consider our Dublin timeshare the best one of all!
Silentg
 

DeniseM

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
58,773
Reaction score
10,679
Location
Northern, CA
Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim) NEW: 3 Lawa'i Beach Resort!
We combined our week with IHG points and stayed in Rome for 6 nights before going to Dublin.

So you used your home resort in Ireland, and then made a hotel reservation with Holiday Inn points? That sounds like a wonderful trip, but it doesn't sound like you did any exchanging. Trying to exchange for international travel every year, would be challenging.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Very flexible, we want to see the world. Paris, Rome, Venice, Athens, anywhere in India, Thailand, Eastern Europe. Seriously, we want to see it all.
 
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sjsharkie

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
2,333
Reaction score
441
I disagree, we own a timeshare in Dublin, Ireland ( bought from another TUG member) and it is just wonderful! We combined our week with IHG points and stayed in Rome for 6 nights before going to Dublin. Nonstop flights from US to Dublin then Dublin to Rome, back to Dublin then back to US all nonstop, we exchanged 2016 Dublin for Maui. Will let you know how that goes! I have become addicted to timeshare travel and thru Tug have obtained many timeshares, but consider our Dublin timeshare the best one of all!
Silentg
The operative word in Denise's post is "strictly".

I concur with her advise. It is not advisable to purchase a timeshare for the purposes of strictly exchanging for international travel.

Of course, corner cases exist and if that works for you, fantastic!

Ryan

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
 

CydeSwype

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Location
San Diego
Great tip on Hapimag! Haven't heard of them before and sounds like a really different timeshare group. Now that I have that keyword, I'm reading the other threads posted here on them.

Regarding lost wages due to travel: I'm lucky enough to have an employer that covers me for paid time off each year (and I get a bump at my two-year anniversary which is coming up in April) and I know I'll have to pay for the airfare in any case. I'll try to figure out how to get the most good out of my HICV points (through II, since I bought in Williamsburg) and then it sounds like I should look into the TS rental market as a starting point. Thanks everyone!
 

geist1223

TUG Member
Joined
May 20, 2015
Messages
6,455
Reaction score
6,301
Location
Salem Oregon
Resorts Owned
Worldmark 97,000 Credits
DRI Cabo Azul 50,500
Royal Solaris San Jose del Cabo
We have easily traded Worldmark Points through RCI for weeks in Dalky (just outside Dublin), Fife Scotland, two different locations in Wales. However we recently joined Diamond Resorts International for easy access to Europe, Africa, and Asia.
 
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