Rookie Questions....Any feedback would be appreciative...Potential First Time Buyers

[Hnupe3]

Myself and my wife are seriously looking into buying our first timeshare, as you can imagine we have gotten various feedback both good and bad. To be frank we are only looking to travel to Las Vegas(Grand Chateau) and look to travel 3 to 4 times a year with each trip being a Thursday - Sunday. In various communications with MVC we have been offered a "week" which "elects" for 2,175 points? Can someone explain what "elects" mean? Also, what other options should we consider if we are looking primarily at Vegas and not doing a whole week? Before We spend a significant amount of money for a "bundle" I want to make sure I am looking at this from all angles. Thanks for any feedback

 

[pinetree1]

If your primary goal is to Vegas, you should also consider Hilton Grand Vacations. It has 5 resorts along the strip. Elera is just across street from Grand Chateau. You can use HGV points to book its other resorts in Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, Park City as well as Big Island, Oahu & Maui of Hawaii.

The annual maintenance fees for Vegas resorts are lowest in HGV system.

 

[SML123]

Myself and my wife are seriously looking into buying our first timeshare, as you can imagine we have gotten various feedback both good and bad. To be frank we are only looking to travel to Las Vegas(Grand Chateau) and look to travel 3 to 4 times a year with each trip being a Thursday - Sunday. In various communications with MVC we have been offered a "week" which "elects" for 2,175 points? Can someone explain what "elects" mean? Also, what other options should we consider if we are looking primarily at Vegas and not doing a whole week? Before We spend a significant amount of money for a "bundle" I want to make sure I am looking at this from all angles. Thanks for any feedback

Dont buy from a developer. There is a guy in another thread right now who just wants someone to take over his Marriott ownership because he is older now, doesnt use it and doesnt want to pay maint fees any more.

Its common to see people who just want to give away their membership. MUCH better than buying where you happen to be sitting in a presentation right now, right? Im pretty sure in the TUG Marketplace there are Vegas memberships for next to nothing.

Vacation Club

I recently received several calls from Vacation Club (Tennessee) offering to buy my timeshare and paying all legal and title fees. All this after watching a 10 minute video about what it entails and gets you completely out of timeshare. The cost is about $15K to join their club WITHOUT yearly...

tugbbs.com

 

[jwalk03]

Myself and my wife are seriously looking into buying our first timeshare, as you can imagine we have gotten various feedback both good and bad. To be frank we are only looking to travel to Las Vegas(Grand Chateau) and look to travel 3 to 4 times a year with each trip being a Thursday - Sunday. In various communications with MVC we have been offered a "week" which "elects" for 2,175 points? Can someone explain what "elects" mean? Also, what other options should we consider if we are looking primarily at Vegas and not doing a whole week? Before We spend a significant amount of money for a "bundle" I want to make sure I am looking at this from all angles. Thanks for any feedback

If you buy a resale Marriott week it will no long be considered an enrolled week and you will be unable to elect it for points. Your only options would be to use the week to stay at your home resort or trade the week through Interval. If you bought a 2BR Grand Chateau week you can lock-off each side of the 2BR and make 2 separate deposits into Interval- which would allow you to trade for two full weeks in Vegas or anywhere else that Interval has resorts and there is availability. The problem with this is you don't seem to want to stay full weeks only 3 nights and with a week stay you can only check-in on FRI, SAT, or SUN. No Thursday check-ins are offered at Grand Chateau.

To stay 3 nights with Marriott you would be looking at buying into their points system- which is a larger upfront cost than buying a week, even on the resale market. Resale points will cost you around $7/pt all-in. ($4/pt to the seller in order to pass ROFR & $3/pt in fees to Marriott.) You would need to review the points chart to determine the number of points you would need for your desired stays based on the unit size you want and the dates you plan to go. The weekend nights cost the most points.

Abound 2024 Points Charts

I noticed that they released the individual points charts for the resorts, so I put it all in a booklet for everyone's convenience. All copyrights belong to Marriott Vacation Club. (@StevenTing - Please upload to vacationpointexchange as well when you get a chance) I had to compress the file...

tugbbs.com

 

[jabberwocky]

If your primary goal is to Vegas, you should also consider Hilton Grand Vacations. It has 5 resorts along the strip. Elera is just across street from Grand Chateau. You can use HGV points to book its other resorts in Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, Park City as well as Big Island, Oahu & Maui of Hawaii.

The annual maintenance fees for Vegas resorts are lowest in HGV system.

I would second this. HGVC is a much better option for partial week stays in Vegas. The resorts are great - I love Elara.

Resale deeds in HGVC are relatively affordable and you get full use of the points system as a resale owner - something that doesn’t happen with Marriott.

 

[Dean]

Myself and my wife are seriously looking into buying our first timeshare, as you can imagine we have gotten various feedback both good and bad. To be frank we are only looking to travel to Las Vegas(Grand Chateau) and look to travel 3 to 4 times a year with each trip being a Thursday - Sunday. In various communications with MVC we have been offered a "week" which "elects" for 2,175 points? Can someone explain what "elects" mean? Also, what other options should we consider if we are looking primarily at Vegas and not doing a whole week? Before We spend a significant amount of money for a "bundle" I want to make sure I am looking at this from all angles. Thanks for any feedback

I cannot imagine a scenario where it's reasonable to pay significant sums of money to use points mainly for LV through MVC and likely not with any system. Remember points tend to be higher on weekends so you'd also be spending on the higher cost days and missing the lower cost days. This will apply to any points system for most situations for the same reason you're looking at just weekends.

When I am addressing the question of whether to buy a timeshare there are several stages IMO. First is can one afford it, to me that's pay cash and consider the yearly fees and honestly, not having any consumer debt as well. After that it's where do I want to go, what unit size do I need, how will I use it and how well can I plan ahead. Then it's looking at what systems match those goals.

It may be that timeshares will work if you're OK wasting the days and getting a full week but it will require some evaluation to see. You may also want to look at Wyndham and Bluegreen as well since they are much cheaper to get into though the principals of higher weekends and lower weekdays will be somewhat present.

For just Vegas weekends and no other considerations I'd think just renting directly or maybe buying resale and exchanging wasting some days would be the best.