Resort Fees on II exchange? What next?

[heathpack]

@MICROZE, I agree it’s a little different math for everyone. I have three II accounts. One is my corporate Hyatt account, which is bundled with our MF. One is my DC Marriott account, which I can’t see ever using as I’d just use the DC points in the Marriott system. I also don’t pay anything extra for that II account. My Barony and SBP weeks are in my personal II account which I pay out of pocket for.

Upgrading three II accounts to Platinum is a no-go from a $ perspective. Plus I always trade the SBP but never the Barony week (I use it or rent it at a small profit), and the SBP is a 1BR so I’m only making 1 trade per year. The only account that makes any sense to consider Plat for is the Hyatt corporate account, but with the only possibility (I believe) to upgrade in unit size is to spend more Hyatt points. So Plat would only really make sense to get free GCs. In short, it doesn’t really make sense.

However none of this specifically matters because each of us needs to look at it for our own specific ownership paradigm. But... the question I’ve been conteplating of late is: how far do I go with this TS thing, when it has some huge limitation- inflexible cancellation, no pets, limited locales, inflexible check in dates, inflexible number of days per stay, etc? Sure I get around some of this with DC and HRC and DVC stays. But I don’t think for us personally it makes sense for example to chase VSN membership over AirBnB. We have “enough” TS already (even after we offload some) and can take our chances with the exchanges we can get with those, and rent a house or condo otherwise.

 

[rickandcindy23]

@MICROZE, I agree it’s a little different math for everyone. I have three II accounts. One is my corporate Hyatt account, which is bundled with our MF. One is my DC Marriott account, which I can’t see ever using as I’d just use the DC points in the Marriott system. I also don’t pay anything extra for that II account. My Barony and SBP weeks are in my personal II account which I pay out of pocket for.

Upgrading three II accounts to Platinum is a no-go from a $ perspective. Plus I always trade the SBP but never the Barony week (I use it or rent it at a small profit), and the SBP is a 1BR so I’m only making 1 trade per year. The only account that makes any sense to consider Plat for is the Hyatt corporate account, but with the only possibility (I believe) to upgrade in unit size is to spend more Hyatt points. So Plat would only really make sense to get free GCs. In short, it doesn’t really make sense.

However none of this specifically matters because each of us needs to look at it for our own specific ownership paradigm. But... the question I’ve been conteplating of late is: how far do I go with this TS thing, when it has some huge limitation- inflexible cancellation, no pets, limited locales, inflexible check in dates, inflexible number of days per stay, etc? Sure I get around some of this with DC and HRC and DVC stays. But I don’t think for us personally it makes sense for example to chase VSN membership over AirBnB. We have “enough” TS already (even after we offload some) and can take our chances with the exchanges we can get with those, and rent a house or condo otherwise.

Yes, I get the no pets thing for you, especially, and that is really the only reason why we haven't gotten a dog. I love dogs, and it's something I miss so much. We even chose not to replace our cats because I was too worried about leaving them, when we go for six weeks to Europe or Hawaii.

I couldn't be away from our dog for even a week without missing her greatly, so we couldn't do any long trips that we do now without taking the dog. I guess we will have to wait until we are done traveling.

 

[heathpack]

Yes, I get the no pets thing for you, especially, and that is really the only reason why we haven't gotten a dog. I love dogs, and it's something I miss so much. We even chose not to replace our cats because I was too worried about leaving them, when we go for six weeks to Europe or Hawaii.

I couldn't be away from our dog for even a week without missing her greatly, so we couldn't do any long trips that we do now without taking the dog. I guess we will have to wait until we are done traveling.

Our dogs’ breeder will watch them for free, obviously subject to availability. But she’s 2.5 to 3 hrs away from us, so it can make some of our long road trips way longer. We miss them but at least when they’re left at the dachshund ranch, we know they are in very good hands at the place they were both born and they get to reconnect with dogs they know- their littermates, papa and one dogs mama. So it’s ok.

But. We like them. We‘d prefer to travel with them. Our style of travel is very dog compatible- we hang out at the condo a lot, cook in, do outdoor stuff they can join in on. The lack of pet friendliness is the biggest drawback to TS right now for us.

We get it that not everyone wants to be around dogs on their vacation, so I don’t begrudge timeshares for not being dog friendly. And stand alone houses are more relaxing for us too, when the dogs are around. They want to bark at every strange noise or person, so in a hotel or condo, we are constantly on them to keep them politely quiet. And they’re cute, everyone wants to pet them. But they’re not wild about strangers petting them. We make them accept it a little, because that’s part of life. Constant unwanted attention is a bit much for them though. So a TS stay with our dogs would be manageable but not as relaxing for everyone as a house rental is.

Lots of factors come into play with travel decisions...

 

[BJRSanDiego]

At my Marriott timeshares when someone exchanges in from a non-Marriott timeshare I don't think that they pay for parking, energy, resort amenities, resort fees, etc. If a Diamond TS owner exchanges into a Marriott they don't pay those fees and specifically don't pay a resort fee.

So, there is a lack of reciprocity between Marriott and Diamond. One thing that could be done by Marriott is to charge the Diamond owners fees equal to what Diamond is collecting. (That would indirectly help lower the maintenance fees a little). Plus apply this to other resorts that employ fees on Marriott owners. But this whole thing is like putting a tariff on other countries' imported products...it easily gets out of hand like it has between China and the US.

A lot of people pay $ to ARDA either directly or indirectly. I wonder if ARDA has any position on the non-reciprocal charging of fees? Also, if ARDA is supposedly representing the timeshare industry. They tout that "When an issue arises that affects the industry, ARDA is there." Yeah, sure....