Renting vs. Buying

[Larock-001]

Is it cheaper to buy a timeshare or rent a timeshare by the week? Lets say that I wanted a weeks vacation every year.

I know that this probably depends on quite a few things such as season, location, etc but I just want to know in general.

Thanks,

 

[Bill4728]

If you're talking about Orlando, which has an oversupply of TS then renting would be cheaper. BUT if you're talking Hawaii or SoCal then likely it would be cheaper to own.

Where do you want to vacation?

 

[denverbob]

I have rented in both Hawaii and So Cal and found rents to be lower than yearly (weekly?) maintenance fees at the same resort. Another advantage of renting is that you can make reservations only 2-3 months out (or sometimes much less for much bigger savings) rather than having to call a year or more out and take a chance on getting the week wanted.

It also seems that both RCI and II are doing much more rentals than ever before (at the disadvantage of trading owners) and of course we have no control over what they do.

I used to own a fixed week (51) at Vistana in Orlando and had some great trades until RCI arbitraily changed the trading power of my week so that it wouldn't 'draw AZ in the summertime'.

I am always on the lookout for a great week to purchase, but when it is fairly easy to rent at less than MF then it doesn't seen worth it to me. If the economy/market turns around, this could change.

 

[Vacation4us]

It also seems that both RCI and II are doing much more rentals than ever before (at the disadvantage of trading owners) and of course we have no control over what they do.

Question from a newbie here...does one need to be a member of RCI or II in order to view and take advantage of the rentals they offer?

Thanks!

 

[DeniseM]

Question from a newbie here...does one need to be a member of RCI or II in order to view and take advantage of the rentals they offer?

Thanks!

Yes - although a friend who is a member can reserve a week for you and get a guest certificate.

 

[denverbob]

I am no longer a member of RCI and II, but I do believe you have to be a member to take advantage of their rentals (called getaways I think).

Hopefully a member will correct this if wrong.

 

[Jennie]

If you would like to vacation at the same resort every year, or most every year, it usually makes sense to buy a week or two there, especially if it is a prime time in the area.

If you own a prime week and want to go somewhere else once in awhile, you can rent out your week and use the money to rent what you want from another owner, or through one of the many timeshare rental outlets. Assuming they have what you want, it will usually be cheaper than you would have paid in maintenance fees if you owned the same unit.

I don't advise you to buy a timeshare for exchange purposes. There is too much dishonesty going on in the industry. You may wait a long time for a desired trade and never get it, or get it so close to the check-in date that the cost of transportation becomes prohibitively high, or it is difficult to get time off from work, etc...

Purchasing a week requires an upfront fee to acquire it, plus payment of annual maintenance fees, real estate taxes, and possible Special Assessments. To then exchange your week requires payment of membership fees to belong to an exchange company (up to about $130. a year), and payment of an exchange fee (around 140 to $199) if they ever offer you something you want. There's also a guest certificate fee if you want to let a friend or relative use it. The exchange companies do not permit you to rent out the week. If you own a week, rentals are perfectly okay to do.

 

[robertr55]

I say it definitely depends on the location, season, and you're willingness to be flexible and plan ahead. Our favorite locations are (strangely enough) SoCal and Hawaii, and we've owned 2 small studio units in Honolulu, each with a current yearly maintenance fee of $530 (15 years ago when we bought them the fee was in the mid-$200 range). However, 80+% of the time we've traded them for much larger & nicer 2-bedroom places, also in Hawaii, but mostly on the other islands...along with some very nice 2-bdrm units on the beach in SoCal.

The price we've paid for working through RCI this way is flexibility....instead of getting exactly what we want when we want it, we look for what's available (nice places) and plan our trips around their availability...often 12-18 months in advance...many people don't want to or can't plan their vacations this way.

However, the total cost of lodging is then:
- $530 maint fee
- $164 RCI trade fee
- $~40 RCI membership fee (this is spread across several TSs)
-------
$734 for a nice 2-bedroom place for a week.

This is the cost we compare rentals against...and it certainly wouldn't be worth it for our studio units, but usually we feel pretty good about the larger units we've traded into.

But...this has only been our experience, and there's no way to know what RCI will offer in the future, so as Jennie points out, it's best to get something you'd be happy using if you couldn't trade it for anything.

 

[geekette]

RCI has plenty of rental sites available to the public. I don't happen to have any of those links handy and cannot tell you how pricing compares but the point is, you do NOT have to belong to RCI to join the rental pillage.

rent vs own - Depends. I need to cover my maint to rent out, so would charge you more than my maint. If my purchase price was $1 and seller paid all costs, Owner wins that round.

 

[eschjw]

Please keep depositing your RCI weeks so I can rent

RCI has plenty of rental sites available to the public.

I use this site and have found some good deals in the past. A few weeks ago they ran a special and I rented a 2 bedroom at Wyndham Smokey Mountains for a week in November for $369. They also deeply discount rates for rentals less than 30 days before checkin. http://www.wyndham-vacations.com/index.html

 

[brianfox]

I have to disagree with Bill about Hawaii. Renting (especially about a month out) is far cheaper than the maintenance fees. It's not uncommon to be able to pick up a 2BR Ko Olina for $1200 a month out.

The difficulty is that airfare a month out will be sky high. One plan is to lock in your airfare way in advance, arriving on a Fri and returning home on a Sun. That leaves you options for arrival days for last minute rentals. Of course, you'll need to pay for a couple of nights a a hotel.

One big positive about rentals is that you never have to pay a Special Assessment.

The big downside will be in the event that you are ripped off by a dishonest renter, which is always a nagging possiblity in the back of your mind.

 

[Timeshare Von]

One Size Doesn't Fit All

I own a week in Waikiki (floating 1-52) and my MF's are under $400 . . . couldn't touch that with a 10' pole as a rental for $60/night.

 

[dchilds]

Depends

If you don't care when you go or where you stay, it's cheaper to rent. Just go check cheap rentals, and book the cheapest one. If you need a specific week, you'd be luck to get a cheap week when you need it. We own week 24 & 25 (beachfront) it St Maarten, and we've needed to find a second unit the same week when we travel with a group, and it's always been more expensive to rent, and those units were not beachfront. If you don't need week 24, you'd probably find one for 75% of maintenance fees, but if you need a specific week, it's never cheap.

We also own week 51 in St Maarten, and ski weeks in Colorado, but those always rent for ~2x as much as maintenance fees. (When we don't use them.)

Knowing in advance when we're traveling, saves us much more on flights than the difference in rental vs maintenance costs. Having an advanced reservation also allows you the chance to use miles for flights.

 

[csalter2]

Buying is better over the long haul

It really does depend on how you can use your timeshare programs. I believe over time you can actually come out ahead with owning over time, but it depends on how well you know how to use your system and if you use your timeshare a great deal. I own with DRI and Marriott. With DRI's points, I can come out ahead of a renter. For example, I have 30000 points. I can use points for the most expensive timeshares in their system for a 1 bdrm and would be 7500 points. This is the equivalent of $780. I looked at redweek a few minutes ago to compare those cheaper rates and I saw studios at $695 on Honolulu. There were a couple in excess of $1400 there. I did notice that prices really dropped when there was less than a month or so left to rent the villas. However, as mentioned before, your airfare could be very expensive. Right at this very minute there is a one bedroom at DRI Kanapaali Beach Club in Maui for 5750 points which is under $600 with an ocean view. That compares with the last minute deals people can get renting and it's actually better.

My maintenance fees are almost 3300 with Club fees. At peak season, I could stay 4 weeks. When I retire I don't plan to be in Hawaii during peak season and I can be there for nearly 8 weeks. In fact, if I waited for 60 days for flex, I could be there for nearly four months. That would be a really good deal. Traveling to Europe is same except that if one is using their points in places like England you come out even better as you are now using those points against the British pound and in France against the euro. In these cases timeshares come out ahead when you know that the dollar is weaker against those two currencies.

Marriott doesn't offer the same flexibility, but if I offer Ko Olina during the busiest time of summer, I can get more than maitenance fees for my 2 bdrm. I pay $1500 and can easily get even in this economy. However, I do like staying there myself so I don't give it up.

The problem I notice with many people with timeshares is that they do not use them or they don't know how to maximize the benefits they have with them. They really can be a better buy. My wife has a friend visiting California for the first time. She is traveling with her son and his friend. The boys are 13 and 14 years old. They are staying at a nice Sheraton in Universal City. However, they are in one room with two twin beds and a rollaway paying a great rate of over $200 a night. There is no kitchen, no separate bedroom and no washer and dryer. We live in southern California where there are many properties throughout. Thus, I can do several flex change reservations and come out way ahead of the renters. Palm Springs, San Luis Obispo and the Bay area are all within a 6 hours of my house. I come out ahead.

 

[Phill12]

It also seems that II doing much more rentals than ever before (at the disadvantage of trading owners) and of course we have no control over what they do.

Denverbob I have been with II for few years and have no idea what your talking about with rentals!

Are you talking about rentals or the Getaway plan that members can take advantage of to rent what I always thought was just over supply?

PHIL

 

[denverbob]

Denverbob I have been with II for few years and have no idea what your talking about with rentals!

Are you talking about rentals or the Getaway plan that members can take advantage of to rent what I always thought was just over supply?

PHIL

Yes, I'm talking about the 'extra weeks' that are offered to members. There has been some discussion on TUG that some of these rentals may actually come from 'tradable' units, but are instead 'sold' to generate more income to II or RCI. I personallly have seen units available on Getaways (~$399) that I could not get on a banked trade with my Vistana week.

 

[denverbob]

I have to disagree with Bill about Hawaii. Renting (especially about a month out) is far cheaper than the maintenance fees. It's not uncommon to be able to pick up a 2BR Ko Olina for $1200 a month out.

The difficulty is that airfare a month out will be sky high. One plan is to lock in your airfare way in advance, arriving on a Fri and returning home on a Sun. That leaves you options for arrival days for last minute rentals. Of course, you'll need to pay for a couple of nights a a hotel.

One big positive about rentals is that you never have to pay a Special Assessment.

The big downside will be in the event that you are ripped off by a dishonest renter, which is always a nagging possiblity in the back of your mind.

We stayed in a rental in Kona about 4 years ago in August, and paid $890 for a 2bd/2ba from a private owner just across the street from a small beach. It was not a resort, but had a small pool and was nice (probably 2-1/2 to 3*). It wasn't my first choice, but no trades ever came through with II or RCI. One interesting point is that this was a Tuesday-Tuesday rental and the flights were about $100 cheaper flying midweek. Your idea of setting the airfare a couple days before/after any possible units might be a great idea.