What should I buy? My survey

[NiKan]

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

Annually in New Orleans, Anna Maria Island (Bradenton Beach/Holmes Beach), Boston/Salem, and Portland (Maine). Every other year in places like Savannah, Charleston, Williamsburg, Nashville, Kauai, Maui. Overall we usually spend about 5-6 weeks on vacation.

My wife and I are big into history, great food, and white sand beaches and are always looking for new places to visit where we can enjoy heritage and cuisine.

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?

Definitely trade. We wouldn’t mind having one timeshare unit for RCI and another for II. Like most traders, we’re looking for the highest trading power for the lowest maintenance fee available.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

New Orleans, Anna Maria Island, Boston, Portland (Maine), Savannah

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

Just my wife and I for the most part but every once in awhile we invite 1 or 2 friends and family.

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?

3-4 star but we’re flexible for either less or more depending on the location.

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

$5-7k

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?

Under $3k is preferable but open to more for the right units

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?

Yes very much so

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

 

[jp10558]

I think in your case, given the locations (nothing has all of them I don't think) you might look at Wyndham. They have New Orleans, they have Williamsburg, They have Hawaii (though IDK about the specific island, I'd take a look). They have RCI which you'd have to try and trade for other locations.

The other option is like you said, buying a couple independent timeshares for RCI and II. One issue is I think maybe half of your locations don't really have a bunch of timeshares. Charleston has 1 I know of, a By Hilton Club HGVC location. I guess it may show up in RCI, but it might be a have to own specifically there to regularly get in. Savannah seems to have a Marriott or a Bluegreen location. No idea about how possible it'd be to rent or exchange for those, but Marriott is II. Cities are more often going to be hotels than timeshares.

The more I look at the locations though, I think you'd either be buying some of the limited options that are in different systems for each location, or you'd get a timeshare with the understanding you'd maybe only use it or trade it for 1/2 of your locations.

 

[ScoopKona]

1) Annually in New Orleans, Anna Maria Island, Boston/Salem, and Portland (Maine). Every other year in either Savannah, Charleston, Williamsburg, Nashville, Kauai, Maui. My wife and I are big into history, great food, and white sand beaches and are always looking for new places to visit where we can enjoy heritage and cuisine.

2) Definitely trade. We wouldn’t mind having one timeshare unit for RCI and another for II. Like most traders, we’re looking for the highest trading power for the lowest maintenance fee available.

First of all, you have realistic financial expectations. That's a refreshing change.

I only have experience with II -- but I have a LOT of experience with II. The Big Easy is a hard trade to get. There's nothing I know of on Anna Maria Island (but if you don't mind going to the Keys instead, there's plenty.) Boston is nigh-on-impossible -- buy the single Marriott there if Boston is a must. And Portland only has one Interval resort and good luck getting it except in the dead of winter.

Williamsburg is fairly easy to get. Hawaii isn't hard. And the rest of your southern cities don't have Interval resorts.

So I'd suggest if you're going to buy anything in Interval, at all, you go with the Marriott in Boston. Or a Marriott that will trade easily into Boston. You'd have to ask over at the Marriott forum, because I'm not a Marriott owner.

Basically, II is probably not your best bet. And RCI people are upset about increased exchange fees. To the point that perhaps timeshares aren't for you.

 

[Passepartout]

@NKana with your desire to travel around and combined with a 'schedule' for this, I think perhaps VRBO and/or AirBnB might be your better choices than TS.

 

[NiKan]

@jp10558 @ScoopKona @Passepartout

Thank you for the replies and different perspectives! It definitely gave me some things to think about.

I’m leaning towards an every other year 2br/2ba lockout at Grandview in Vegas bc it would give me 122k RCI points for under $500 in annual maintenance fees.

I’m not opposed to RCI membership/exchange fees as a week would still be much cheaper per vacation than I would pay with hotels/airbnbs.

RCI has more of the locations we usually visit so I think we’d be able to use all the points over 2 years and dip our toes in the timeshare water, giving us time figure out if we need other ones in the future.

If we do pick up an Interval trader, I’m thinking an every other year 2br/2ba lockout at Marriott Grand Chateau for about $750 in annual maintenance fees. This should give me one week a year in Hawaii, Boston, Portland, or another higher end resort.

Also the flexibility of my work schedule allows me to take advantage of last minute getaways for a week or longer if available so I think I’d get good use out of this membership.

Is this plan overly optimistic and naive or realistic and doable?

 

[ScoopKona]

If we do pick up an Interval trader, I’m thinking an every other year 2br/2ba lockout at Marriott Grand Chateau for about $750 in annual maintenance fees. This should give me one week a year in Hawaii, Boston, Portland, or another higher end resort.

Hawaii? Yes.
Boston? Maybe. Ask the Marriott people in the Marriott forum.
Portland? Probably not. Hard trade to get. Pretty much have to own there. I can't pull it with my Hyatt.

I stand by my original advice -- rent some timeshares for a few years. Then decide. There is no downside to taking it slow. You're not on the hook as an owner. And you can mix-and-match until you find a system which seems to be the secret sauce you're looking for.

 

[NiKan]

@ScoopKona

Thank you for the solid advice. I should have mentioned I’ve been renting for a couple years now and that’s why I’m interested in buying.

I’m actually sitting in a Redweek rental in Longboat Key, FL as I’m trying to figure this out. I have a Charleston rental later this summer and New Orleans rental in October.

I feel like I’m paying a good amount more than maintenance and exchange/membership fees for these so I’m looking to own instead to bring down costs.

I’ve done a few presentations with Wyndham and Bluegreen and I don’t want to tie myself to either of those systems. I’m due for a Hilton and Marriott presentation soon.

I’m in no rush at all but I would like to create a plan that makes sense for if and/or when.

How do you like the Hyatt system? Do you find it easy to get what you want with it? Also, what are the maintenance fees like?

 

[rickandcindy23]

@ScoopKona

Thank you for the solid advice. I should have mentioned I’ve been renting for a couple years now and that’s why I’m interested in buying.

I’m actually sitting in a Redweek rental in Longboat Key, FL as I’m trying to figure this out. I have a Charleston rental later this summer and New Orleans rental in October.

I feel like I’m paying a good amount more than maintenance and exchange/membership fees for these so I’m looking to own instead to bring down costs.

I’ve done a few presentations with Wyndham and Bluegreen and I don’t want to tie myself to either of those systems. I’m due for a Hilton and Marriott presentation soon.

I’m in no rush at all but I would like to create a plan that makes sense for if and/or when.

How do you like the Hyatt system? Do you find it easy to get what you want with it? Also, what are the maintenance fees like?

Hyatt is limited, but as they have absorbed Welk, there are more options. I wouldn't want to buy at this time.

We love Marriott quality, and Marriott is expanding into cities. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Marriott (Pulse used to be what they called the city locations) in New Orleans soon. The resort in Williamsburg is my absolute favorite in Williamsburg, and there are lots of choices.

We love history as well. We spend hours reading before we go to a historical location.

For beaches, Marriott has it all. Buy a trader in Palm Desert or Grand Chateau and lockoff for two deposits. Buy only platinum season and reserve holiday weeks.

I used to love RCI, but $299 exchange fees (Marriott-Marriott fees in II are $164), and the fees Hilton/ Diamond charge per night are making it tough to use RCI. $25 per day for what? Parking fee? Concierge fee? Call it what you want, but it's a ripoff. So trading power + $299 exchange fee + $175 for ripoff fees for a week? I won't do it, unless I use trade power of 10 or less to get that exchange. But Big Island, I will pay the stupid fee and do pay it EOY.

Six weeks of vacation requires more MF's than what you want to pay. Initially, I would try Marriott and decide later on what to buy next.

 

[Quiet Pine]

I've owned an EOY 2BR lockout at Sheraton Desert Oasis (SDO) for 13 years, and I've never stayed there. Since I bought it, health issues (COPD, no high altitude) have caused me to move and now I live only 8 miles away. I've gone up a few times with Day Passes, but always trade through II. Great trades--Cartagena, Madeira, Hawaii and more. Recently it's been annual weeks in Palm Springs for New Year's Eve with friends of 40 years. Now that DH and I are in our 80s, travel has shrunk We do have a week at Newport Coast Villas (NCV) next month.

I've traded exclusively through II, and I'm very happy with them. I've talked to my kids about taking over the timeshare, but they're used to making hotel reservations and the advance planning of a timeshare is annoying. My son wanted Park City, Utah, in February. Not possible.

The annual costs aren't prohibitive, so I'll keep the timeshare for a while, then sell for $1 or give it away on TUG. I bought resale for $300. It has been a wonderful experience!

 

[rickandcindy23]

SDO is an excellent trader.

 

[CaliSunshine]

OP it seems like you know what you're doing. For the Grandview I've seen a number of 61K 1 bedrooms sell for around a thousand dollars on eBay. I bid on one of them myself actually.

Grand Chateau is a good choice for Interval also.

It's a bit of a toss up between MGC and SDO depending on whether Marriott or Vistana preference is more important to you. Colonies at Williamsburg is also good if you're not interested in preference at all.

 

[NiKan]

@rickandcindy23

I was considering SDO as it seems to have a similar trading power to maintenance fee ratio, but I think I might prefer Marriott locations bc the Pulse locations and additions sound right up my alley.

I still might pick SDO over MGC but I admittedly haven’t done much research on Sheraton properties so I have some more work to do.

Is it true that SDO locks off as 2 separate 1br units and MGC locks off as a 1br and a studio? Also how are your annual maintenance fee increases at SDO?

@CaliSunshine

I was definitely considering The Colonies but for some reason I didn’t think it would get good trades for Marriott (and I guess now that I’m looking at it, Sheraton).

Do you have any experience with trading Colonies?

 

[ScoopKona]

How do you like the Hyatt system? Do you find it easy to get what you want with it? Also, what are the maintenance fees like?

I like it considerably less than I did six months ago when they changed it.

The good: Trades like a monster. I don't get "what I want when I want it" but almost every year, I get "something I like when I want it most of the time." And often I actually get what I want when I want. (The last three years -- three resorts, only resort in town, three consecutive weeks, and one of those weeks was Christmas. Not bad.
If you buy a high point package (Diamond or Platinum) you can still exchange for multiple weeks on one maintenance fee on Interval; and anywhere from one to dozens (mud season in Colorado) with the internal Hyatt exchange system. Before the Great Kneecapping, I routinely got three to five weeks on an exchange fee. Now I get two to four. Hyatt internal exchanges are either amazing (if you like the locations) or nothing special (if you don't.)

The bad: High maintenance fees. Interval exchange program was devalued this year and it's a bad deal for owners. The program is inflexible -- procrastinators and those who change their minds are not happy owners.

 

[NiKan]

@ScoopKona

Oof I’m sorry for your loss after the change. Sounds like it was a great run with it for awhile.

High maintenance fees and recent devals sound like a deal breaker to me for a new pick up. Do you have any plans to get rid of yours and pick up something different?

 

[ScoopKona]

@ScoopKona

Oof I’m sorry for your loss after the change. Sounds like it was a great run with it for awhile.

High maintenance fees and recent devals sound like a deal breaker to me for a new pick up. Do you have any plans to get rid of yours and pick up something different?

My price per night is still anywhere between $90 and $170. I'm not concerned. The people with lower point totals have been squeezed out of much of what was once possible with interval. They're the ones who will likely jettison the system.

EDIT -- This allows Marriott to get oodles more points to sell for the "Portfolio Program," which is almost certainly why they did it. Make owners buy more to do the same thing they could last year. Owners who don't buy more, quit. That's a win-win for Marriott, who clearly doesn't care about owner satisfaction. Sadly, the Hyatt program has been all downhill since Marriott took over.

 

[CaliSunshine]

@rickandcindy23

I was considering SDO as it seems to have a similar trading power to maintenance fee ratio, but I think I might prefer Marriott locations bc the Pulse locations and additions sound right up my alley.

I still might pick SDO over MGC but I admittedly haven’t done much research on Sheraton properties so I have some more work to do.

Is it true that SDO locks off as 2 separate 1br units and MGC locks off as a 1br and a studio? Also how are your annual maintenance fee increases at SDO?

@CaliSunshine

I was definitely considering The Colonies but for some reason I didn’t think it would get good trades for Marriott (and I guess now that I’m looking at it, Sheraton).

Do you have any experience with trading Colonies?

Not an owner there but I think we have several people on the forum who are.

 

[rickandcindy23]

@rickandcindy23

I was considering SDO as it seems to have a similar trading power to maintenance fee ratio, but I think I might prefer Marriott locations bc the Pulse locations and additions sound right up my alley.

I still might pick SDO over MGC but I admittedly haven’t done much research on Sheraton properties so I have some more work to do.

Is it true that SDO locks off as 2 separate 1br units and MGC locks off as a 1br and a studio? Also how are your annual maintenance fee increases at SDO?

@CaliSunshine

I was definitely considering The Colonies but for some reason I didn’t think it would get good trades for Marriott (and I guess now that I’m looking at it, Sheraton).

Do you have any experience with trading Colonies?

Maintenance fees are pretty stable at SDO. Fees do increase, but never really big increases. After Covid, all timeshares had bigger increases. Housekeeping staff needed wage increases to stay on the job. Sheraton and Westin are now managed by Marriott. Fee increases happen.

The best traders really are Marriott, especially over the last two months. Sometimes trading power adjusts, which happened to Sheratons, and what was a great trader suddenly became mediocre, and the only timeshare we own that trade impeccably is Marriott.

I am hoping trading power adjusts back to favor Sheratons again at Westin properties, but the way Sheraton deposits into II as a generic deposit, it's not likely.

 

[marmite]

I own an SDO Gold Plus lock-off and Grand Chateau lock-off and always trade them.

My SDO 1BR B side (smaller) is trading the same for me as the Grand Chateau studio. The SDO A side does marginally better than my MGC studio, by a hair. If you're trading in Interval Marriott gets a much longer preference period than Vistana. You have a much better shot at picking up some Vistana weeks owning a Marriott than vice versa.

I am not particularly happy with the trade-power changes and can see that my Grand Chateau does not pull what it used to. The 1BR Grand Chateau is my most valuable trader at the moment, so your plan for the EOY contract sounds like a good one to me. The studio side will likely pull Boston for you if you happen to catch a deposit.