What should I buy - Canadian Male

[godslayer]

Short story short, I am rescinding my HGVC club package tomorrow and swapping to resale. I am a Canadian in my early 30's. I am looking for a points based system or something with flexibility. I am extremly blessed and travel several times a year, this year I was lucky to take 7 trips, mainly US, but one trip to nova scotia and I am going to malaysia and singapore in october. I commonly work from resorts I find "cheap"

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

I go to Cape Breton Nova Scotia and Texas yearly, I live in alberta.

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?

I want a points based resort with flexibility.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

Texas(Houston or Austin), japan, hawaii, I'd like to go to nunavut(this won't be a time share I don't think), the southern states are nice, I also want to go to eastern Europe and spain

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

Normally 2, up to 8(once a year)

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?

I can, I normally don't unless it's overseas

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

I can

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

3+ I normally aim for an inexpensive 4

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

20k usd, would prefer to be lower 8-12k

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?

around 300-350 usd a month. I spend about 7-10 k on hotels now and split costs

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?

I do tend to use excel for trips to plan things out a bit.

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, that's why i'm rescinding the Hilton and looking at resale, where the lose of sale would be lower.

Thank you,

Evan

 

[jp10558]

Mmmm. As far as I know, I've seen RCI and Wyndham in Texas, so I probably would start there. But RCI/Wyndham are 3-3.5* and very rarely 4* so... What you want doesn't exactly exist - don't worry - it never does lol. So, Wyndham has southern states, it has Texas, it has Hawaii. RCI has beach stuff in Spain and ski resorts or beaches in some parts of Eastern Europe. Wyndham does get you free access to RCI.

However, with all of these, me putting you in a TS in a country or state isn't really at all specific to a location, so unless you literally just want to be "somewhere in Spain" you should really check the online directories before buying.

Also, you're looking at a 3BR in most systems to get 8 people - some will fit that in a 2BR but you can't count on it. And 3BR are like 15% of the TS units compared to 2BR being 60%, so often the option is actually booking 2 units for more points.

 

[godslayer]

I normally book a 1 person with a sleeper or a 2 bedroom. 3 or 4 star is fine. If i'm booking a hotel I normally book that. Whydham and Hilton were/are my current top 2. I really like the wyndham in austin, even the studio is really nice. I've booked it twice now.

 

[silentg]

I normally book a 1 person with a sleeper or a 2 bedroom. 3 or 4 star is fine. If i'm booking a hotel I normally book that. Whydham and Hilton were/are my current top 2. I really like the wyndham in austin, even the studio is really nice. I've booked it twice now.

If you like that Wyndham in Austin buy a resale points based there. At least you know that place.

 

[easyrider]

I normally book a 1 person with a sleeper or a 2 bedroom. 3 or 4 star is fine. If i'm booking a hotel I normally book that. Whydham and Hilton were/are my current top 2. I really like the wyndham in austin, even the studio is really nice. I've booked it twice now.

Maybe a Worldmark because you live in Alberta. There are Worldmarks in Canmore, Whistler, Vancouver, Victoria and all over the Pacific North West. My last two memberships were free. Worldmark also trades well in RCI, II and SFX. Worldmark also has an Austin, San Antonio and at least three other resorts in Texas. There is also cash rental opportunities in the Worldmark system.

Bill

 

[jp10558]

Maybe a Worldmark because you live in Alberta. There are Worldmarks in Canmore, Whistler, Vancouver, Victoria and all over the Pacific North West. My last two memberships were free. Worldmark also trades well in RCI, II and SFX. Worldmark also has an Austin, San Antonio and at least three other resorts in Texas. There is also cash rental opportunities in the Worldmark system.

Bill

Except most of those weren't places the OP said he wanted to go. For locations closer to where the OP lives, Worldmark is a good choice, but for "southern states" (which is open to interpretation but "usually" refer more to the south east of the US), Texas and Europe I think Wyndham edges out Worldmark as more of those are available without having to dip into RCI from what I know. IDK if Nova Scotia has a TS, but if it does I'm pretty certain it's going to be an independent. So TBH, maybe check there and see what exchange company it's in, and buy there cause it's not going to be a location with lots of availability?

@godslayer my suggestion is buy where you must to get the time and location and unit size you need. Which is probably Nova Scotia. If it has TS at all, I've never seen one come up for exchange. If TS can't work for Nova Scotia then do you have any date requirements for Texas? If not, I do see several come up in Wyndham or RCI exchange each year at varying times, so you can just watch and grab when it comes up.

If you're instead looking to just get a points generator, then I'd either look for cheap MF/pt Wyndham points on TUG or e-bay, or a cheap MF/pt RCI points membership. RCI Points just because it does get you more booking options in length of stay than a Weeks which is as you might guess a week long. The downside with RCI Points is the exchange fee for each booking, but if you look for deals with a good MF rate you can still get MF+Exchange for many at less than $750, including average potential resort fees you're at $850 total. For 7 nights in a 2BR or larger. Mix in the sales under 10k they have plus last calls and you can have a pretty low average if you are doing weeks. It's harder to make it make sense for say 2-3 day bookings though because you get extra fees from the resorts for cleaning on less than 7 day stays, the exchange fee is a much much large part of the cost etc. But points can still be useful I think for occasional shorter stays.

Anyway, If you buy a system because you like that system, then you're driving the dates and locations from that. OTOH, if you have locations and dates you want to go, you should at least check what systems have TS in that location, and then ask on TUG what the availability is like at those locations.

I actually think we should update the TS Buying questionnaire to have something early that asks:

Are you willing to go to a somewhat "random" vacation destination because there's availability or a very good price? Do you like to hunt for and snap up deals? Or do you require to pick location and dates first and then look for lodging?


Because often I can't tell from the questions when answered like the OPs if they're kinda implying they have specific locations because the questions lead them that way. And I find that it's not horrible going somewhere because the deal shows up - in fact I often have a lot of fun seeing new places I wouldn't otherwise ever go. If I've had a dud over the last 2.5 years and numerous stays it's been Villa Roma. I wouldn't go back to every location, but outside of Villa Roma (and non-local people for Branson) I would still suggest there's value at all the other ones I've been to. But it's not how many travel, that's for sure.

 

[easyrider]

Except most of those weren't places the OP said he wanted to go.

Worldmark does check many of the location boxes, imo. It is one of the most flexible, cost effective and largest points systems available that trades well into almost every exchange system.

Bill

 

[rickandcindy23]

You can get Wyndham free or nearly free. WorldMark is almost free. Fees are lower the more you own.

 

[bizaro86]

I'm in Alberta as well, and think a Worldmark is probably your best bet. It has the Austin resort as well, and plenty of inexpensive options in the places that have easy flights from Alberta (Texas, Florida, Arizona, CA, Hawaii). For Hawaii using Worldmark to make RCI trades into HGVC resorts will almost certainly be way cheaper than buying HGVC itself, and the HGVC resorts are nicer than the WM ones. Timeshares are generally less awesome for overseas travel - Spain, Japan, and Eastern Europe are all a big "maybe". There are a few coastal options in Spain from Marriott, but in Japan the TS are mostly not where you probably want to go.

Cape Breton is going to be a very tough trade, there are only 2 TS resorts there (Ingonish by the Sea, Kildare Landing). If you want a TS for there I'd look into buying one of those specifically and planning to use it every year.

 

[Patri]

I’m trying to figure out if people’s answers would be different if the OP was a female.

 

[easyrider]

I’m trying to figure out if people’s answers would be different if the OP was a female.

Mine wouldn't. I probably would tell my 30 year old family members of both genders to buy a house, car and comfortable bed before buying a timeshare. BUT, if they were insisting on buying a timeshare I would suggest Worldmark. We bought our first Worldmark in our mid-30's.

Bill