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New Family looking to join a vacation club

macwilson

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Hi everyone

My parents bought a disney time share and it seems like they are always traveling. The accommodations were so nice I couldn't imagine traveling with my growing family and not having a kitchen! I have a little one with plans on 3. I have been researching all the different vacation clubs and its painful weeding through all the specifics. Id prefer my home base to be williamsburg, VA. Its within driving range in the event 5 plane tickets aren't in the budget. I do want the option to travel outside of my home base regularly and do not want to pay full price, I'm looking for a resale. This kicks the marriot and starwood out as options. The holiday Inn seems a bit much up front considering people are giving away wyndham timeshares and the maintenance fees seem comparable. Any advice on the best company for buying at resale.

Thank you
Cindy
 

DeniseM

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macwilson

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Here are some questions for you to answer - you can copy and paste them below, and then answer them:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208742

Here are some questions you can answer to focus your timeshare wants/needs.

If you click on QUOTE at the end of my post, the questions will open up in a new window for you to answer:

1) Where do you want your home resort to be?
Virginia, Williamsburg

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 more than half

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Hard to say...I feel you only live once so get as much out of it as you can. I am interested in the option to travel abroad

4) How many people do you usually travel with?
My husband and son with the thought to expand our family to 5. My parents have a time share so I am interested in being able to rollover my points to use in getting larger accommodations.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
With kids there will eventually be a school barrier but I am not opposed to using martin luther king day and teacher in service days to squeeze in an off season vaca. So pretty flexible

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?
Mid to upper 3/4

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
A couple thousand but not too much...Im looking for a resale where its mainly maintenece fees and closing costs

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?
Im not looking to spend much over a thousand

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Yes

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-with a growing family the accommodations including a kitchen will be necessary for many years. We will get our money out of it.
 

LannyPC

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I have been researching all the different vacation clubs and its painful weeding through all the specifics.

Just to clarify, are you looking for a vacation club (VC) or a timeshare (TS)? I know it might be splitting hairs but there is a big difference.

VCs might or might not charge an initiation fee and then might or might not charge annual maintenance fees. But what you usually get is access to certain resorts for a discount off the rack rates. The VC might also give you discounts to other travel-related costs such as car rentals, airfare, theme park tickets, etc. But they are not usually recommended here on TUG for at least a couple of reasons. First, you have no underlying deed so if the VC were to go out of business tomorrow, you would have absolutely nothing to show for all that money you clunked down to this point (annual and initiation fees). As well, many of the discounts offered are usually available elsewhere (such as Travelocity) for free.

A TS is actual deeded property, although in Mexico and the Caribbean, most are right-to-use. In your potential case, you would own property in Virginia that you could sell down the road (provided it has resale value). You would also have an owner's say or vote in certain decisions regarding the resort. And as well, you could rent out or exchange your interval although there is usually a cost for exchanging.

But from what you described at the beginning, it appears you are looking for a TS and not a VC.
 

puppymommo

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But from what you described at the beginning, it appears you are looking for a TS and not a VC.

The distinction is important to be made but OP was talking about some TS companies that call themselves a vacation club (eg Holiday Inn Vacation Club, HIVC) so it gets confusing.
 

Ty1on

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and thank you for your help Denise!

You might look into Club Wyndham. You can pick up a contract at Williamsburg or elsewhere and use points to reserve in other Wyndham properties, without the exchange fee. If you do plan on staying in WBurg often, finding a UDI contract at a WBurg property would give you 13 month reservation priority at that property and the standard 10 month at any other Wyndham property. Alternatively, you could pick up a Club Wyndham Access (CWA) contract and reserve at 13 months at a large number of resorts. The going rate for CWA has been ranging from $5 to over $15 per thousand points, I'd use $12 as a guide. Another advantage to CWA is that you can buy the points you would need for a studio or 1 BR now, and buy contracts to add more points as the family grows.

I'd look at a minimum of 154,000 points as a starting point. More points will get you better resorts and seasons, at a higher upfront and maintenance fee cost.
 
Last edited:

macwilson

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Thank you all for your help. It is confusing but I do want a time share with the options of points such as puppymommo said. Ty1on I had looked into Wyndham extensively. I was sold except for the inability to convert the points to hotel points. Are there any point system time shares that will give you the ability to use their basic hotel and not just the resorts on resale? Thank you in advance
 
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