• 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 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th 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 $21,000,000 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 $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ 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!

What should I buy? - International travel

Joined
May 29, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
11
1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
We tend to visit Colorado often. My wife is from Denver/Boulder, so we fly out there often to see family/friends. However, she's always wanted a mountain home (e.g. Breckenridge, Vail, Aspen and etc), even though we don't ski. Besides Colorado, we also visit major cities for leisure (NYC, LA, Miami and etc). If possible, would really like something where we can do international travel. However, with the Coronavirus, we have not traveled anywhere, though, since we're both working from home, we'd love to live/work somewhere remote for a little bit of time.

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?
We would probably visit Colorado the most (e.g. seeing family, weddings and etc), but with the higher (assuming) maintenance fees, we might have a cheaper home resort outside of Colorado. Not sure if that's the best way to approach it.

My biggest concern is the booking system. It sounds like we have to phone around until we can find someone to exchange our timeshare? Seems pretty antiquated. I wish we were allocated X points every year, and we could go on some portal and book stays based on those points.

Our primary goal is to have something nicer than a typical hotel, while paying the same or less in maintenance fees than hotel fees.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
-Colorado (Denver/Boulder/Aspen/Vail)
-New York City
-Los Angeles
-Europe (London/France/Greece)
-Latin/South America (Buenos Aires, Mexico, Carribeans)

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself?
Myself and my wife = 2. No children (yet).

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

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
Yes. However, the driver for most of our international trips are when we find cheap flights. These deals are usually 4-6 months before departure.

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
We would like to do one full week per year at most. Many of our trips are weekend trips (Friday to Tuesday).

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

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
It really depends. I understand a lot of people give these away. If I would have to pay more than $2k, it seems like just getting hotels would be the best bet.

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?
Would like to spend no more than $3K/year in maintenance fees, preferably under $2K. That's essentially what we pay for 10-15 days of hotel stays.

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
I'd say so. All trips are done on a spreadsheet. Flights, hotels, activities and etc.

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. Understood.
 

Karen G

Moderator
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
9,470
Reaction score
1,984
Points
749
Location
Henderson, NV
Resorts Owned
Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
My biggest concern is the booking system. It sounds like we have to phone around until we can find someone to exchange our timeshare? Seems pretty antiquated. I wish we were allocated X points every year, and we could go on some portal and book stays based on those points.
Exchange companies like RCI and II don't work like that. You pay an annual fee to become a member and then you can deposit your timeshare week with them if you want to exchange it for something else. Through their system they find members to exchange with you--you aren't involved in that process. However, exchange fees are significant--almost $300 now for a week exchange plus your annual fee to be a member plus whever you paid for your annual maintenance fee.

Their are points based systems that operate like you describe. I'm sure others will chime in with more advice.
 

easyrider

TUG Review Crew: Elite
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
15,226
Reaction score
8,114
Points
948
Location
Palm Springs of Washinton
Resorts Owned
Worldmark * * Villa Del Palmar UVCI * * Vacation Internationale*
Unless you really know what you want it might be better to rent until you do. Regarding International travel, there should be many covid 19 deals all over the place for the few years it takes to travel to rebound, imo.

I look for multiple destinations when I buy timeshares. Our Worldmark is our better multi-destination memberships. I would not ever buy a deeded one destination timeshare ever again. Even to trade.

Bill
 
Joined
May 29, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
11
Exchange companies like RCI and II don't work like that. You pay an annual fee to become a member and then you can deposit your timeshare week with them if you want to exchange it for something else. Through their system they find members to exchange with you--you aren't involved in that process. However, exchange fees are significant--almost $300 now for a week exchange plus your annual fee to be a member plus whever you paid for your annual maintenance fee.

Their are points based systems that operate like you describe. I'm sure others will chime in with more advice.
Hi Karen,

Thank you so much for your insight! For me, $300 seems pretty steep, on top of annual maintenance fees. We would consider timeshares to save money versus hotels, but based on your statement, it seems like we might be further ahead if we simply rented/booked a hotel.
 
Joined
May 29, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
11
Unless you really know what you want it might be better to rent until you do. Regarding International travel, there should be many covid 19 deals all over the place for the few years it takes to travel to rebound, imo.

I look for multiple destinations when I buy timeshares. Our Worldmark is our better multi-destination memberships. I would not ever buy a deeded one destination timeshare ever again. Even to trade.

Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the response! Is there a way to see how many points a stay at WorldMark would incur? Some of the listings I see indicate RCI as the trading company. Is there no way to book on our own with points at Worldmark?

Thanks!
 

easyrider

TUG Review Crew: Elite
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
15,226
Reaction score
8,114
Points
948
Location
Palm Springs of Washinton
Resorts Owned
Worldmark * * Villa Del Palmar UVCI * * Vacation Internationale*
WM trades well in RCI and uses a portal on the WM site to go to the RCI site. WM also trades well into II and SFX. You can go to the WM website and look around. Look at the gallery of resorts and the point value is shown.

Bill

 
Top