WestGate hated here?

[fatlard]

Sat through a WestGate Mrytle Beach presentation the other day. It was a hard sell, starting at 150K down to buy a week at $1,000 before we said "no mas"

The condo look fantastic which lead me to here to check out the resale market...

Looks like that does not exist for WestGate or they make it so retail buyers cannot offload it since resale value is completely cratered by WestGate.

Should I look a Wyndham? I like how the maintenance fees for a 2 br is $1028 but I think others might be much higher.

Thoughts?

SURVEY questions


1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

Some where in the southeast and gulf coast.

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?

Sure that is fine.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Some where in the southeast and gulf coast.

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

5

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

school schedule

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?

4-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?

Perfer resale market. $0-2500

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?

$1000

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?

At times

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

 

[bbodb1]

Give this thread a look:

"What to Buy" Questions for New Timeshare Owners

Here are some questions you can answer to focus your timeshare wants/needs. Suggestion - copy the questions below, and start a new thread entitled "My Survey" or "What should I buy?," or something similar, and answer the questions in a NEW thread. 1) Is there a vacation destination you wish...

tugbbs.com

...as some more info from you might help produce better advice.

 

[DRIless]

Worstgate

Doesn't mean the resorts aren't nice. You've endured what is the worst about Westgate.

 

[Passepartout]

The difficult answer to the questionnaire is that $1000 annual nut. With 5 people, it would appear you'd need 2BR units and you say you want 4-5 star digs. I suspect these need some adjustment. I consider Wyndham to be 3-4 star quality, and you'll need lots of points to score 2 BR units during school holidays.

I know TUGgers have scored these, but it's not likely to be a quick and easy catch.

Good Luck!

Jim

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

The problem with Westgate is that they impose significant restrictions and extra fees / charges on resale owners.

I have read most of the Westgate TUG threads.
Here is my opinion - a fixed week that you will use every year could make sense for a specific resale buyer.
That buyer should know a lot about timeshare ownership and usage and have a specific reason to explore this system.

Week 51 or 52 Westgate’s in one of their Orlando properties can be found on ebay for $1 . (Sometimes they go for more but sometimes not)

if you are a skier & are looking to buy resale in Park City Utah - review the TUG thread about Westgate Park City.

The Las Vegas Elara ownerships sold when Westgate owned that resort
( resort is now managed by HGVC)
*********
Knowledgeable TUG members with multiple ownerships generally prefer resale ownerships that have more flexibility.

 

[vacationtime1]

Kudos to OP for resisting the Wastegate sales pitch.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Our original TUG timeshare guru timeos2 (may he rest in peace) built a dislike for WestGate through his perspective as a former WestGate owner -- i.e., he learned the hard way.

He consistently referred to WestGate as Wastegate.

He laid out lots of his & other people's many unsatisfactory experiences with WestGate right here in the pages of TUG-BBS. (No doubt you can find'm using the handy search feature.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[presley]

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?

4-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?

Perfer resale market. $0-2500

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?

$1000

If you really want a timeshare, you'll have to give up at least one of those. The price range puts you around a 3 star resort/system. You can probably get a points contract with the low buy in and MFs that you want to pay that has a few 4-5 star resorts or rooms. Just keep in mind that everyone wants to book those same rooms and you have to plan to book as soon as the booking window open. I'm thinking specifically about Worldmark and Wyndham, but you need to look at all their locations and room types before buying.

As to your question of is Westgate hated here. Based on what I've read over the years, people who buy Westgate and use their timeshares absolutely love Westgate. They rarely post about it because their threads get full of hate posts and spin off topic quickly. So, if you were to buy a Westgate timeshare from the developer and use it exactly as it's meant to be used and never sell it or transfer it, if you love the resort, you'll be a happy camper. It's extremely rare that anyone keeps their timeshare forever and as soon as you put yours on the resale market, it becomes difficult to impossible for anyone to see any benefit to owning a resale because they make it so hard to book and use. In addition to that, Westgate was hiding the information needed to cancel a sale when people were buying from the developer. It was hidden in a secret pocket and someone had to make a video about how to find it to help people find it.

 

[fatlard]

I am staying at Wyndham Seawatch Plantation Villas right now and I am happy to with it's accommodations. .. i think that is a 3-5 star one.

I guess $1000 is not realistic. Should I be aiming higher here?

As for Westgate, a week lock off in the summer would be nice but I imagine it would be mad hectic during a red week.

 

[RX8]

I've never stayed at Westgate but have read enough of the stories to know that they have nice resorts and a predatory sales force that will lie and deceive to make a sale. Nothing is beneath them to ensure that they make a sale. Just as bad as that is the fact that the devalue the product on the resale market for the sole purpose of trying to protect their retail sales. What could be worth maybe $1,000 now has a negative worth and almost impossible just to give away. Using Westgate's model, it will be like paying $80,000 for a brand new Tesla with a 280 mile range. It is enjoyed immensely but when you need to sell it Tesla will reduce it's range to a maximum of 10 miles making a used Tesla close to worthless.

 

[vacationtime1]

OP may wish to consider Sheraton Flex (resale). It can be had for free or close to free, has good quality resorts, and permits 12 month reservations at several southeast and FL timeshares. Personally, I think it is a lousy product -- it is leftovers, re-acquisitions repackaged, and has poor economics (if bought retail) -- but it meets OP's parameters, although the MF's are more than OP would like to spend.

 

[HDiaz1]

Wyndham or Hilton would be great options for Myrtle beach if that’s your main interest.
upfront cost will be lower for Wyndham but I do recommend you do your research as the maintenance fees will vary greatly. You will probably want to buy Ocean boulevard tower 3 or Towers on the Grove for Myrtle beach ARP.
You will need at least 200-225K points to book a full week in a 2 bedroom in the summer and your cost should be around $1180 to $1325 (based on OB Tower 3 MF)
Hilton has great resorts in Myrtle beach too so I recommend you do some research on them too.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Our original TUG timeshare guru timeos2 (may he rest in peace) built a dislike for WestGate through his perspective as a former WestGate owner -- i.e., he learned the hard way.

He consistently referred to WestGate as Wastegate.

He laid out lots of his & other people's many unsatisfactory experiences with WestGate right here in the pages of TUG-BBS. (No doubt you can find'm using the handy search feature.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Thanks Alan,
I was unaware of this story & it fills in a gap in my TUG knowledge.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Westgate is very hostile to owners and doesn't keep their resorts updated. There are some very old resorts that need major updates. Nothing happening on those.

You will never find a 4-5 Star resort for those MF's. Purchase price will be higher for anything 4-5 Star. $1,000 doesn't buy much these days in MF's. I have a few that are around that for a 2 bed, 2 bath, but they aren't in the area you are talking about.

 

[AwayWeGo]

I was unaware of this story & it fills in a gap in my TUG knowledge.

The timeshare wisdom provided by timeos2 conditioned my thinking about timeshares in general & WestGate in particular, to the degree that I got a funny feeling the one -- 1 -- time I checked in at a WestGate 2BR timeshare unit in Kissimmee FL that I reserved via RCI Points.

The opening of my TUG Timeshare Review on the subject begins . . .

After years of exposure to TUG-BBS horror stories about WestGate, plus reading any number of cautionary tales about WestGate from respected TUG personalities who know a thing or 2 about timeshares, we were expecting an iffy experience upon checking in for a week & prepared ourselves to ignore the negatives & just enjoy the 2BR WestGate Vacation Villas unit that we got on RCI exchange for 26,500 points + exchange fee.

When we got to the resort, we did not have to wait long before standing in front of a courteous & efficient check-in clerk. After getting 3 key cards & a resort diagram, we were shown to someone at another part of the front desk who invited us to sign up for a WestGate presentation. We begged off by saying that we had just gone through something similar the previous week at another timeshare & were not yet ready for another go-round at WestGate. To our surprise, they took no for an answer. (Ditto when we got 1 follow-up invitation by telephone the next day, the only other time they offered.)

The rest of that review from January 2019 can be found in the TUG Timeshare Reviews section.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[CalGalTraveler]

IMHO...Westgate $150k (!) to buy. No viable resale/exit option. Bad reviews of presentations. That's enough for for me to run the opposite way.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

As to your question of is Westgate hated here. Based on what I've read over the years, people who buy Westgate and use their timeshares absolutely love Westgate. They rarely post about it because their threads get full of hate posts and spin off topic quickly. So, if you were to buy a Westgate timeshare from the developer and use it exactly as it's meant to be used and never sell it or transfer it, if you love the resort, you'll be a happy camper.

It's extremely rare that anyone keeps their timeshare forever and as soon as you put yours on the resale market, it becomes difficult to impossible for anyone to see any benefit to owning a resale because they make it so hard to book and use.

As a 1 bedroom Mayan Palace / Vidanta owner - developer purchased for $16 K in 2006 , I sure can understand everything you said about Westgate.
Vidanta is pretty good at limiting resale too.That is part of the reason I started reading TUG Westgate threads.
***********
IMO - a teacher with 3+ children school age - would be a candidate for a resale fixed 51 / 52 - 3 or 4 Bedroom in Orlando resale Westgate on ebay for $1 . Use it for 10-20 years & either sell it for $1 or give it back to the developer for a fee (probably about 1 MF).

1) - fixed week / fixed unit.

2) - Hard to find 3+ bedrooms (via exchange).

3 ) - Orlando may be overbuilt with TS - but Christmas & New Years are never
easy to to get ; & fits a teacher’s vacation schedule.

4)- low $1 resale buy in makes sense - if you understand that what you bought is what you get. (ie)-[fixed week / fixed unit - extra $$$ fee to deposit into an exchange company , etc etc.]
*********
[I don’t fit the above qualifications / if I did I might consider looking for one]

 

[dayooper]

Wyndham or Hilton would be great options for Myrtle beach if that’s your main interest.
upfront cost will be lower for Wyndham but I do recommend you do your research as the maintenance fees will vary greatly. You will probably want to buy Ocean boulevard tower 3 or Towers on the Grove for Myrtle beach ARP.
You will need at least 200-225K points to book a full week in a 2 bedroom in the summer and your cost should be around $1180 to $1325 (based on OB Tower 3 MF)
Hilton has great resorts in Myrtle beach too so I recommend you do some research on them too.

The nice thing about HGVC is you can purchase a lower MF deed and still reserve Myrtle Beach. Ocean 22 can be booked regularly at 9 months.

 

[AndySamuels]

Locking yourself into perpetual MFs + potential assessments + possible membership fees is not a great idea IMO.

Renting is probably a better idea. Just my perspective.

Having to scramble / remember to reserve a long time in advance is another downside IMO.

For $1K maybe you can find an independent (2 to 3 star) 2BR TS in SC or FL panhandle. I believe those are not uncommon.