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Timeshare Questions

Crazych66

newbie
Joined
Jun 7, 2021
Messages
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Points
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Location
Virginia
1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

We don’t have one. We like to travel to different warm weather destinations.

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time? Trade more.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Europe, Australia

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? Two

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Anytime

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? Closer to 5. We like luxury

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $5-$10K

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? $1K.

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes.

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do? Yes

Thank you!
 

arcsinx

TUG Member
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Jun 30, 2020
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Resorts Owned
Tree Tops Resort Gatlinburg, TN
Vacation Villages at Parkway Kissimmee, FL
In my view, a budget of $1k for MF will make it tight, but maybe doable. If you're serious about getting the vacation game cooking, I'd recommend an RCI Weeks (or Points) membership with a 2+ bedroom lockout timeshare. For a single MF, this will give you much more bang for your buck, since you can deposit each part of the lockout as two rooms. I'd also recommend membership here at the TUG site (separate from joining the forums), which is $15 a year and gives you access to cheap/free timeshare resales in the Marketplace. In addition, the private forum for members-only frequently has huge deals that can stretch your money further. If you are willing to put the time and planning into it, you can stretch Timeshares much further than traditional vacations. For instance, my 2 bedroom Lockout in Vacation Villages at Parkway will net me a total of FOUR vacations this year (with points to spare!), all for 1 MF of a little over $1000.
 

Crazych66

newbie
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Jun 7, 2021
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Virginia
Thank you! I’m not sure what “lockout” means but that is something we’ll have to look into. When we received the HGV marketing pitch one of the things we thought about was just going straight to RCI because that seemed more in line to what we needed.
 

Fried_shrimp

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Thank you! I’m not sure what “lockout” means but that is something we’ll have to look into. When we received the HGV marketing pitch one of the things we thought about was just going straight to RCI because that seemed more in line to what we needed.

A lock out is a split unit. So a 2 bdrm L/O could be a 1 bdrm and a Studio or a 1 bdrm and 1 bdrm with a connecting door in between. You can either split that week into two weeks (1 bdrm for a week and a Studio for another week) or you could use it as a 2 bdrm for 1 week.
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
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Lockout means a studio & a 1BR (or 2- 1 BRs) units can be connected to make a 2BR unit or each smaller unit can be reserved separately for a longer stay.
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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Looks like you would like the flexibility of a point system. That said, the 'luxury' TSs are generally the hotel branded (Hilton, Marriott) ones and the annual fees might be a bit above your budget. 'Near luxury' like Wyndham, Vistana, Worldmark, might give what you want at lower cost.
 

Crazych66

newbie
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Jun 7, 2021
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Location
Virginia
Looks like you would like the flexibility of a point system. That said, the 'luxury' TSs are generally the hotel branded (Hilton, Marriott) ones and the annual fees might be a bit above your budget. 'Near luxury' like Wyndham, Vistana, Worldmark, might give what you want at lower cost.

Thanks. I think our MF budget can be higher if we can get a good resale. What is a good annual MF to get into a luxury timeshare?
 

KProuty

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2005
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273
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Location
Massachusetts
My Marriott is around $1500. It is a lockout. I pay to split the unit and trade each side, so each week of vacation in a great 2 bedroom costs about a thousand a week. I pay to split, trade a lower bedroom unit to a 2 bedroom unit, etc. I don't have points like some other folks, but I stay in really nice places. I'm fine with staying a week at a time.
 
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