• A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!
  • The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 31 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 31st anniversary: Happy 31st Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!
  • The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!

The timeshare struggle, spoiled and having a hard time finding balance within budget

I have used the homeexchange website for many years with lots of success. But it does take a lot of effort to find a compatible host/exchange partner. More recently, I joined ThirdHome, which is basically a high end home exchange website. It includes some timeshare options as well.
I use homeexchange also, and I don't find it very difficult. I exchange our timeshare, which I can break down into 3 or 4 nights if needed. Homeexchange has worked well for us in areas where there are no timeshares, and we have met some wonderful people! It also is not limited to 1 week. We even stayed one place one night, on a road trip.I booked that 2 days ahead, which is not the norm, but it did work out for us that time!
 
@mdurette It sounds like we're in a similar boat (but I think my kids are younger) and I don't think I've been in the timeshare game as long as you. We haven't fallen into a rut yet, but we have gone to several places 10+ times in the last few years.

We have found the spots we love and are happy to go back to...Orlando, Gulf Coast of FL, Colorado Mountains (where we live). We have also intermixed that with new locations (well new to our kids -- Arizona, different Hawaiian Islands).

Here are my suggestions:
- Get into the credit card game. I had traditionally always been in the Chase ecosystem (which is fantastic), but I recently got a VentureX card and a platinum Amex. To make the annual fee worth it I need to book stuff through their travel portal, so it's kind of fun booking places I wouldn't normally stay. Also, the point bonuses account for potentially $1000's in travel.

If you have a spouse and each get cards separately (and refer each other), you can double up on things.

This only works well if you are disciplined about paying off cards in full.

- Hyatt Points tend to stretch pretty far. They are also a travel partner of Chase. Many Hyatt Places (almost always sleep 6) or Hyatt Houses (which often have kitchens too) go for 8000 points.

It's hard to do a full week in a hotel for us as well, but 2-4 nights is doable....so perhaps get out of the mindset of going somewhere for a week and go for a long weekend. Find some places that have good points values in places that your families have wanted to visit.

When we stay at Hyatt's that serve breakfast, we usually aren't hungry until 1 or 2PM and then we just get a late lunch and don't need to eat dinner.

- Try to find new timeshare locations. We are fortunate to live next to a lot of great timeshare resorts, but if we want to try something new it's either a flight or a long drive. We had a great time in Arizona and look forward to staying in different Phoenix area resorts.

- Others have suggested camping. Obviously the camping is great out west. I'm not sure what it's like in your neck of the woods, but I've found a few National Park Service cabins if you don't like the idea of staying in a tent. A lot of them don't have bedding, but if you use cots it can be pretty comfortable and it's nice to be out in nature for a couple of nights. The rates are around $50 a day.

- Travel in the off-season of popular tourist destinations...it's a different experience for certain, but it can be a lot of fun. Our family always looks forward to going up to the mountains of Colorado during mud season (part of the appeal is that it's ridiculously cheap via timeshares).

- Do activities you wouldn't normally do. We did this on our last visit to Orlando and had a blast. This is ridiculous, but our kids went to the world's largest McDonald's off I drive 3 different times on our last vacation (They have a good arcade with an unlimited card...they also liked trying the wood fired pizza and Waffles -- both quite good...considering it was McDonalds). We went to The Florida Aquarium, we did the Gatorland zip line and basically stuff that we wouldn't normally do.
 
Timeshare is a box. Some travel fits the box; other travel, not so much

Some of our travel fills a special niche: repeat, annual visits to special places for rest and relaxation. For this travel we find timeshare is ideal.

Other travel - especially travel to see new things or explore new areas - just doesn't fit with what timeshare has to offer. Sure, you can trade-out using and exchange company, if the exchange company has offerings where you'd like to go and availability when you'd like to travel. But, that often isn't the case. (Try traveling to a major European city.)

Even in system, when you look closely there may be many resorts, but they are concentrated in certain places or areas and are - quite often - not conveniently located for exploring or sight-seeing.

After you've amortized your initial investment timeshare can be a very efficient use of travel $$$ for certain kinds of travel. If, however, some or all of your travel interests or travel planning needs don't fit the timeshare profile then it is a very inefficient use of travel $$$s. In our case, post-retirement our travel interests have evolved and we are divesting of a good fraction of our timeshare points so that, with the saved maintenance, we can undertake other travel. Almost no regrets - except for the last points purchase our timeshare did for us exactly what we needed and wanted it to do - but our interests and wants have evolved and much of our timeshare only gives us access to things that are not of interest or value to us.
Agree completely. Our timeshare is for our R&R vacation, not for our sightseeing vacation. I've categorized our vacations into those two camps. We work so hard that we NEED a week or more off from the world each year. But I've never lost my wanderlust and hope I never will. Hopefully my Marriott Bonvoy & American Express and numerous frequent flier points will fill that need till I finally stop. Which hopefully will be when I enter the pearly gates. :)
 
Thanks all - keep the suggestions coming! I am so tired of Orlando - but it is the one location that keeps the entire family happy and you can't beat the price of an exchange or getaway there, so I keep on booking them. ARG!

@travelhacker, oh yes I play the credit card game fairly well which is one of the reasons why I'm frustrated. I'm sitting on roughly 600K UR points right now, with another 80K coming in from a SUB and I would love to use them for a hotel instead of picking away at them for airfare. I have used for Marriott Residence Inn stays, the most reent in Anaheim (4 nights + the 1 free) but as you know, not a great use of points. Hyatt is the go-to for this, but I find Hyatts system a bit frustrating to use, alot of trail and error if points will be accepted for a particular stay.

@tusconadventuer, you mentioned Hyatt has lots of condos now, could you give me some examples?

I'm late to the party, but trying to plan a Florida trip this coming March that doesn't include Orlando for a week. We have two weeks to travel due to school vacation, but we have a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral right in the middle of the two weeks. I don't mind exploring and staying in 1 location for a handful or days before and a handful of days after. But, finding it hard to find 2BR (will settle for 1BR) within the Hyatt brands. Thinking a few nights in Tampa (we have Seaworld Plat passes - so Bush Gardens is free), then Cocoa Beach for a couple - cruise and then a couple days in Orlando.
 
Thanks all - keep the suggestions coming! I am so tired of Orlando - but it is the one location that keeps the entire family happy and you can't beat the price of an exchange or getaway there, so I keep on booking them. ARG!

@travelhacker, oh yes I play the credit card game fairly well which is one of the reasons why I'm frustrated. I'm sitting on roughly 600K UR points right now, with another 80K coming in from a SUB and I would love to use them for a hotel instead of picking away at them for airfare. I have used for Marriott Residence Inn stays, the most reent in Anaheim (4 nights + the 1 free) but as you know, not a great use of points. Hyatt is the go-to for this, but I find Hyatts system a bit frustrating to use, alot of trail and error if points will be accepted for a particular stay.

@tusconadventuer, you mentioned Hyatt has lots of condos now, could you give me some examples?

I'm late to the party, but trying to plan a Florida trip this coming March that doesn't include Orlando for a week. We have two weeks to travel due to school vacation, but we have a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral right in the middle of the two weeks. I don't mind exploring and staying in 1 location for a handful or days before and a handful of days after. But, finding it hard to find 2BR (will settle for 1BR) within the Hyatt brands. Thinking a few nights in Tampa (we have Seaworld Plat passes - so Bush Gardens is free), then Cocoa Beach for a couple - cruise and then a couple days in Orlando.
You can do a SERIOUS amount of damage with that number of points. We have a bit more than 400K, and I still find that I am extremely frugal with them (apart from a couple of splurges we've done like the Alila Ventana in Big Sur).

Destination by Hyatt has some good properties that are mostly condos. A lot of them have an unpublished 4 night minimum. They have locations in the CO mountains as well as in Hawaii (Big Island and Maui).

I agree that searching can be a bit quirky -- once you get used to it, it is second nature.

I haven't stayed there, but the Hyatt Place in Titus (nearish Cocoa Beach) I believe is just 8000 points. Unfortunately, it's more of a studio. The double queen sleeps 6 (but really just 5 comfortably).

The Grand Hyatt in Tampa looks like it would be pretty good, but it only sleeps 4. I have had good luck requesting and receiving connecting rooms.

We are mostly comfortable for about 1-3 nights in a Hyatt place before we feel like we need to stretch out. However, we spend a lot of time outside our rooms when staying at "normal" hotels.
 
Thanks all - keep the suggestions coming! I am so tired of Orlando - but it is the one location that keeps the entire family happy and you can't beat the price of an exchange or getaway there, so I keep on booking them. ARG!

@travelhacker, oh yes I play the credit card game fairly well which is one of the reasons why I'm frustrated. I'm sitting on roughly 600K UR points right now, with another 80K coming in from a SUB and I would love to use them for a hotel instead of picking away at them for airfare. I have used for Marriott Residence Inn stays, the most reent in Anaheim (4 nights + the 1 free) but as you know, not a great use of points. Hyatt is the go-to for this, but I find Hyatts system a bit frustrating to use, alot of trail and error if points will be accepted for a particular stay.

@tusconadventuer, you mentioned Hyatt has lots of condos now, could you give me some examples?

I'm late to the party, but trying to plan a Florida trip this coming March that doesn't include Orlando for a week. We have two weeks to travel due to school vacation, but we have a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral right in the middle of the two weeks. I don't mind exploring and staying in 1 location for a handful or days before and a handful of days after. But, finding it hard to find 2BR (will settle for 1BR) within the Hyatt brands. Thinking a few nights in Tampa (we have Seaworld Plat passes - so Bush Gardens is free), then Cocoa Beach for a couple - cruise and then a couple days in Orlando.
probably a dumb question; what are UR points?
 
@mdurette Do you take the kids out of school quite a bit? Curious about that because I feel that I am not really a person who worries much about a small child missing school, but suddenly our son is very worried about our granddaughter missing kindergarten. I am surprised by that. He said he wouldn't ever get that way, when the kids are in elementary school, and suddenly he's changed his mind on that, so much so that I have a week in January that is a real gem but they won't use it now. I am so disappointed to go to Disney without kids and grandkids for two weeks. I cannot believe I was able to get a Disney's OKW 2 bedroom, yet they don't want to go.

You have 80K points coming from a SUB? What is that?

We have been spending our UR points for groceries and other purchases since Covid with that pay yourself back option. It has been good because I buy gift cards at our local grocery store, use the points for paying our grocery bill with those gift cards included, then I book travel and earn 3X points on travel when booked directly through the airlines with our Chase Sapphire Reserve card. It's a bit of a double-dip. Works great. I wonder if they have stopped the pay yourself back feature. I haven't checked for a few months. I better do that soon.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all - keep the suggestions coming! I am so tired of Orlando - but it is the one location that keeps the entire family happy and you can't beat the price of an exchange or getaway there, so I keep on booking them. ARG!

@travelhacker, oh yes I play the credit card game fairly well which is one of the reasons why I'm frustrated. I'm sitting on roughly 600K UR points right now, with another 80K coming in from a SUB and I would love to use them for a hotel instead of picking away at them for airfare. I have used for Marriott Residence Inn stays, the most reent in Anaheim (4 nights + the 1 free) but as you know, not a great use of points. Hyatt is the go-to for this, but I find Hyatts system a bit frustrating to use, alot of trail and error if points will be accepted for a particular stay.

@tusconadventuer, you mentioned Hyatt has lots of condos now, could you give me some examples?

I'm late to the party, but trying to plan a Florida trip this coming March that doesn't include Orlando for a week. We have two weeks to travel due to school vacation, but we have a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral right in the middle of the two weeks. I don't mind exploring and staying in 1 location for a handful or days before and a handful of days after. But, finding it hard to find 2BR (will settle for 1BR) within the Hyatt brands. Thinking a few nights in Tampa (we have Seaworld Plat passes - so Bush Gardens is free), then Cocoa Beach for a couple - cruise and then a couple days in Orlando.
With that many points and a two week timespan, I’d take the kids to Europe. Best use of the chase points is to transfer for miles to United for example. United saver awards can be 30,000 miles one way to Europe for a ticket that would cost about $1000. Then book apartments in Europe. Or start at least with a week at the Marriott outside of Paris to use a timeshare deposit.
 
We try and use our timeshare. But also have a lot of Holiday Inn (IGH) points so we use those as well. We have enough points that they put us in a suite everytime at no additional points. That gives a more room - usually a living room, kitchenette and separate bedroom.

I love to add a train to any trip. very relaxing way to start- especially if you can't get a timeshare.

I have been upset with the fact that so many places are now additional fees on top of my exhange fee. No one ever mentioned that when we bought 20 years ago!
 
I haven't seen massive price increases over the past several years -- because we vacation the same way we live.

1) The timeshare nets us at least three weeks for one maintenance fee. I've quit caring about price per night to stay where we want. If timeshares aren't extant, AirBnB has similar numbers per night.
2) We consider cooking a life skill, and not a chore to be avoided. In fact, cooking on vacation is one of the best things about vacation -- new raw materials which we can turn into new delights. Naturally, this takes putting the effort in at the front end (learning to cook well) to pay dividends on the back end.
3) Love public transportation. We don't want to drive in Europe, or San Francisco for that matter. Trains, metro and even buses. Rental cars aren't part of our equation.

People who eat nothing but restaurant food, rent a car just so it can sit idle most of the trip, and demand that they be treated like princesses will pay a premium for that. My wife and I figure we're getting six times the vacation time because of how we vacation.
 
Unlike many of you, we only own 1 week of timeshare and use it for our annual visit to the Caribbean. For other trips, we love exploring new places, especially in Europe or large US cities, and recognize that our travel preferences don't fit well with timeshares. We use VRBO or rental agencies in European cities or suite type hotels because it's too hard to return to regular hotel rooms after a roomy timeshare! We probably take fewer trips because they are more expensive, but we're seeing the places on our bucket list

Having owned as many as 8 weeks at a time, most for exchanging, we are now in your situation, owning to use. We have been down to just our July 4th week on the NC Outer Banks, but just had our offer accepted to buy a mid August Outer Banks week. That one also will be own-to-use. I used to love timeshare exchanging, but the exchange landscape has gone downhill so much from what it used to be. Timeshare is great for our regular beach weeks. The m/f is about one third of what those weeks go for on the rental market.
 
If you are looking for something “different” to do in Orlando, I HIGHLY recommend volunteering at Give Kids the World Village as a family. This is an amazing place that hosts families during their wish trips to central Florida.

Kids have to be 12 years old (unless you are an alumni family). We have been volunteering for 7 years and it is always a highlight of our Orlando vacations.
 
@rickandcindy23
Taking daughter from school: She has always been in a private school, so "rules" from the school where a bit more lienant than public. Up until 4th grade, I would take her out a few days here and there. Yhe first part of Thanksgiving week, add a day or two to a long weekend. From 5th-8th: It ended up only being 1/2 day here and there to accomidate flight schedules. Now that she is in high school, nope nothing. The decrease came in two parts: One was her missing a vital piece of education, one math class missed can set a kid way back! The other was the cost of her tuition once she hit 5th grade (think college cost) and my thought was I'm paying $XX a day for you to be there, I'm getting my money's worth!

The 80K SUB (sign up bonus) I couldn't resist. Chase new SUB for Reserve card was 80K (now 60K), so I downgraded the one I have held for years to a Freedom Flex and reapplied for the Reserve. You are eligable for Saphirre SUBs every 4 years, so I took advantage. PYB is still an option with Chase, I used it a couple months ago for a couple nights stay at Swan when we went to Epcots 40th. It ended up being the most cost effective way to do it and since I was still booking direct with Marriott I got my nights and status benefits! I too take advantage of the grocery store gift rack - right now using Chase Unlimited for 5x grocery for a year - flex also has 5x grocery for 1st quarter 2023. Earn 5x on the gift card purchases and then move the points over to reserve.

@melissy123: Europe is certainly on the kids "wish list" but not this year. I need to work around the cruise I stupidly put smack dab in the middle of her 2 week vacation.

@mentalbreak: Thanks for the suggestion, I came across this organization in October when they were hosting a fundraiser event at Epcot. It ended up getting cancelled due to hurricane, but I noticed they have a large Christmas light display (from WDW originally) and I was going to check it out. I will look into volunterring info!! We are going to head to Lakeland for a day trip, I hear the is a big Antique Mall that is interesting enought to wander through and I also came a across a place in that same town that offers a drive thru safari.

@travelhacker: A big thank you for the tip on Clearwater Hyatt - but I took a pass because it dawned on me that it is during the height of college spring break and not really looking for that scene. Still exploring different Hyatts in the area, but am getting the hang of their website now (but I still find it clunky and not as easy as Marriott to know if points rooms are available without actually moving my UR points over to Hyatt.
 
In addition to traditional timeshares, I have deposited my Four Seasons Aviara weeks for use in ThirdHome and Elite Aliance. I have gotten a few good exchanges that include homes, townhouses and condos. It takes some work to get exchanges with them and it is hard to match up dates with when I want to travel. My kids are in a private Catholic school and they are more lenient with missing school so when I get ski weeks, I take them out of school for a few days. When I do get an exchange, they have been good except for one.
 
The issue is that hotels, even very basic ones are charging between $120 and $250 per night in most areas, even more in certain downtown areas. You can often get a timeshare week via exchange for $300 or so even less if you own within the system. It is really hard to compare paying $300 for a week vs $1000 or more to stay in a hotel.
 
The issue is that hotels, even very basic ones are charging between $120 and $250 per night in most areas, even more in certain downtown areas. You can often get a timeshare week via exchange for $300 or so even less if you own within the system. It is really hard to compare paying $300 for a week vs $1000 or more to stay in a hotel.
^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^
i cant find anything in the under $200 night that I would be willing to stay in- and all the places would we hit for quick overnight trips are implementing mandatory 2-3 night mandatory reservations.

Priced out a quick hotel trip in October to go see Dollywood’s Halloween decorations - we are somewhat within driving distance. Normally we drive up play in the parks till closing - stay overnight- have breakfast next morning head home….This year our regular spot wanted $379 3 night minimum mid-week! Room was discounted bare bones minimum not even a microwave.

So this year plan is use either exchanges, last calls & or getaways -
 
Top