Question on Gift Certificates..

[Ernie]

Ive been reading here about GC and Im a little confused. We ask the weasel sales person if we wanted to let our adult kids use our week what did we have to do. He said we just had to send a letter letting them know who would be using it. So is this a lie also? Do I have to pay a fee and get a GC through II?

Westgate Planet Hollywood Towers.

 

[DeniseM]

If your children are using the resort you own, II has nothing to do with it. However, I wouldn't just give them a letter. I'd contact the resort in advance and put the reservation in their name and have the resort send them a confirmation.

If you make a II exchange and want to give that exchange to someone else, yes you need a GC.

 

[djs]

First things first. If you purchased from the weasel, recind immediately. You will always get a better deal on resale, and if you're so inclined can get just as crappy a deal from a developer today as you can tomorrow.

I don't know how it works when booking directly with your resort, but if you were to do an exchange through Interval you can have that exchange put in a friend or family member's name for an additional fee of $39; this may be what the bottom feeder weasel was referring to.

Also, you are sure to hear from people who strongly feel that Westgate is the worst place you could purchase (whether or not it's resale). Personally, I've stayed at one Westgate resort in Orlando, and although I made the mistake of showing up for whatever "survey" they wanted me to do I did not fall for their high pressure sales tatics. Other than that I thought the resort was great, and had a great vacation. I would exchange there again, only this time I would just unplug the phone in the room.

 

[Ernie]

Thanks Denise and sorry djs its to late to recind. I wish I would have found this place sooner. Im trying to keep and open mind about Westgate for now. Good thing it will be paid off soon and the Maintence fees dont start until 2011 so I have some time to decide what to do with it.

 

[AwayWeGo]

The No. 1 Timeshare In The Whole U. S. A.

There are some semi-savvy timeshare folks out there who seriously consider Planet Hollywood Towers to be The No. 1 Timeshare In The Whole USA, WestGate or non-WestGate mox nix.

Other super-savvy timeshare folks won't touch WestGate timeshares with a 10-foot pole, regardless of location.

As for us, we won't pay full freight for any timeshare anywhere, WestGate or non-Westgate, so everything the timeshare sellers tell us across those little tables about Guest Certificates & exchanges, etc., goes in 1 ear & out the other.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Bill4728]

Most but not all TS systems, allow you to have a freind or family use your TS week ( the one you own) for free. You just have to conteact the resort in advance to notify them that someone other than yourselves will be using the week.

Unfortunatly, a few TS sytems (ie. Wyndham) are staring to charge it's owners for allowing a guest to use their TS. So just because it free now doesn't mean that the company can't change the rules and start charging.

 

[djs]

Thanks Denise and sorry djs its to late to recind. I wish I would have found this place sooner. Im trying to keep and open mind about Westgate for now. Good thing it will be paid off soon and the Maintence fees dont start until 2011 so I have some time to decide what to do with it.

Since you're beyond the time to recind, the best thing you can do now is learn to make the best of what you own and enjoy it. Selling it is not an option as you wont get near what you paid, but paying your maintenance fees and having a great vacation each year is what you should be doing. Find out the procedures for exchanging within Westgatge (I have no clue how that would work); you may find that they have enough locations where you don't need to join II or RCI.

The one thing to keep in mind is to NEVER purchase any add-ons, upgrades etc. through them. If you decide that you love timesharing and want additional weeks go to to the bargain basement here or eBay instead.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Our kids are all added as owners to our timeshares, and this was important because none of them need guest certificates through either company now. The kids are all gone, married and all vacation, so we needed to make it easy for them to use our weeks, and the savings is good enough to go through the hassle of getting their names added to our II membership.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was with II, who had to literally call every resort and have them check our ownership records for the kids' names. It took weeks and weeks and a bunch of nagging on my part. But with RCI, it was very easy because we added the kids to the RCI Points account at the time we set it up. The exchanges through our free weeks' account have just required a phone call to RCI to explain that they are under our points account, and no such problems.

Now to figure out how to get my sister on our accounts, without being on our ownership.

 

[Ernie]

Thanks for all the input. I'll make sure I call WG to see if we can just exchange within their resorts without going through II.