Westin Vistana told me 8 to 0 months soon it will be open to all Marriott 500K owners + 250K vistana + 250K of another group

[Tucsonadventurer]

Oh yes, let me drop $30,000 just in case the program changes in 6 months....who would go for that?!

That was the sum of it. Plus they said why did you come and waste your time if you weren't going to buy.

 

[vistana101]

I'm torn on that question - we tend to use our timeshare decently well by using Marriott points for luxury hotels, taking advantage of owner discounts, and through some really great exchanges (ex: 2 weeks in Orlando that had MF of ~$2,300 for a week in an oceanview 2 bedroom villa in St. John several years ago). But, we bought our first unit back in 2001 when the price (purchase and MF) was much lower and the benefits (particularly on the hotel side) were much more valuable, and we purchased our second unit with a nice discount as we requalified a resale purchase. The two weeks have given us some nice benefits and flexibility and provided us with some wonderful vacations that I'm not sure we would have taken otherwise. That said, our travel patterns have changed since we first bought, and we now do more shorter/weekend trips, more luxury hotel stays, etc., and a lack of exchanges to higher-cost resorts means we're not getting quite as much value out of it. When you look at just the MF costs, we do okay, but when you incorporate the initial purchase costs, ehhh.

I recently did some (rough) math to see if it would be worth buying something from the Marriott side, and for our purposes, it doesn't seem like it. Take this example:

Marriott OceanWatch Myrtle Beach Cost Comparison Example:
-can rent a July 4th week oceanfront unit (6 months out - lots of availability) on RedWeek for ~$3,300 (some for even less!)
-from MVC, a July 4th week would cost 5,400 DC Points = 22 BI (yes, there would be 100 extra points)
-22 BI = $3,572 MF alone (152.58 per BI + $215 fees)
-Est. cost of initial purchase: (calculated using special discount of $10.30 per point) = $55,620 (without taxes, fees, and interest)

So, comparatively:
-Buying a unit from Marriott: MF over 30 years: $107,160 + initial purchase price (without fees/interest) = $162,780
-Renting: OF rental at $3,300 for 30 years = $99,000

With that example, and assuming the primary use would be a week in Myrtle Beach every year, the math is just not there to buy a unit from the developer. Even the MF alone are more than what I can find on the rental market (same goes for non-July 4th weeks).

And as people who love to go to Orlando, there are so many deals to be had from Interval, that we could easily get a 2-bedroom villa at our home resort (Vistana Villages) for about half of our MF for one week. :/

 

[dioxide45]

That was the sum of it. Plus they said why did you come and waste your time if you weren't going to buy.

Yes, we get that one every so often. We came because YOUR people invited us. And for the free gift. Look, I know not everyone buys, they know not everyone buys. Marketing and sales know that they need X number of tours through the floor to get 1 sale. If that number is 7, I just consider us to be one of the 6. Far more people tour and don't buy than those that tour and do. That question from them is just a way to make themselves feel better that they didn't gain a sale.

 

[Henry M.]

My timeshares are all in Hawaii and one in St. John. I am happy with them. Those are the places I go to. I can see the wisdom of buying elsewhere and exchanging, but I would rather own where I really want to go rather than count on exchange systems getting me there. You never know what the future holds for those systems. Generally, they get devalued.

I may have been able to find a cheaper way to get the vacations I've had, but the way I've done it has worked for me. I don't regret my ownership.

 

[CPNY]

does buying a time share make financial sense? Is it a good use of one’s time when planning vacations given the exhaustive amount of time that it takes when one’s time equals money? How much time do you use to find a vacation trade when not just returning to use your purchased time share? Is it frustrating for owners to see time share companies like Vistana change the rules for who can make a reservation and when the reservations can be made, ie watering down the value of the owners’ original TS purchase when it suits the company’s financial whims without consideration to the owners? Do you wish you’d never bought a TS? Trying to decide if it makes sense to buy a TS.

Financial sense? If you buy resale and the “right” ownership I’d say yes. I can’t tell you how many trips I’ve been on and saved around 60-70% off retail each time.