Thank you! Definitely things to consider, I am 5 minutes from Welk Escondido, and 30-40 minutes from Carlsbad. Welk maintenance fees are high, making it not as worth while to commit to, but if the exchange is better than a week, it may be worth it. If the Grand Pacific Resorts are not able to be a part of HGVC I think those 2 options are out, leaving me Marbrisa as a choice, which is selling high IMO. We expect to get 20-30 years of use ourselves. I need to read up about disinheriting if they end up not wanting them, or our family is huge, there will likely be a niece/nephew who would use it.
Good to know, thank you!
Palm desert is something to consider, I don’t know that I would use it enough to be worth my while, unless the trade value or affiliated resorts is worth it.
Ever heard of Westgate? I think Hilton is way ahead of them.
I really liked my sis-in-laws experience, although she owns Grand Pacific Palisades, HGVC is included with her annual MF. She has all Grand Pacific Resorts & HGVC resorts that she can utilize at no extra cost. RCI & II are also included. She was able to easily book at Tahiti Village in Vegas, I think as an RCI exchange, she paid $139 exchange fee. It was all done through the HGVC phone number. And she isn't very savvy with using her timeshare, in just a little looking on her owner page, we would totally use the last call trips that are available.
From your description of expecting to get 20-30 years of use of a timeshare yourselves and then wondering what if your children didn't want to inherit it, I surmise that you are young with perhaps young children. My advice is don't even take inheriting into consideration. I doubt many people today would want to inherit a 20-30 year old timeshare right now and your own travel needs could very well change long before 20-30 years.
Thank you for the advice! I do think we should try to rent in the home unit we intend to buy from, so we know before we commit how it will be. I have rented and stayed in many timeshares, which is why I want to buy one, I am hooked on staying in 2 bedroom condo style with kitchen, we often vacation with family & friends. Renting does get pricey depending when and where you are trying to rent, I am a super planner so making the plans 12-15 months in advance, I could do. We could also make use of the last call trips. We are both over that hill, and looking forward to that downward slide, 10-14 years until, economy willing, we can retire. Daughters are 21 & 23, after reading up, I will not put their names on anything, so they can easily deny usage if we die before I plan on it And when we get older and less mobile, I can start reaching out to family members to transfer as a gift or give it away some other way. I can’t see myself going to the same resort every year, unless it were Vegas, but reading up, it seems there are so many available, finding a place in Vegas will never be hard. I like the idea of a home unit close to my house for the day use. I do think finding a program with multiple locations to choose from without RCI or II may be the best choice for us. We bought a sampler 15k for 2 years for $2500 from Diamond resorts, which we can use at Diamond resorts. (this is the point we were informed by friends of timeshare forums and buying resale) He said we could get 2-3 weeks with those points, but it looks like we are going to get 11 nights out of it, which we would have paid at least that much for a hotel anyway. Had I been a bit smarter about it, we may have been able to get more in other places. That is how I feel about the MF, if I would pay that much for a hotel, it is definitely of value.
I have changed my thought process after reading responses and other forums. Thank you!
Thank you! I was just trying to figure out the Marriott system. Are there 2 different programs? I saw club fees & MF that appeared different...
About 10 years ago Marriott switched from selling deeded weeks to selling points. Points are good if you want to stay somewhere for a few days rather than a full week. I own deeded weeks and just pay a maintenance fee plus property taxes. I pay my own membership in Interval Intl. If I bought Marriott points I would pay a MF on the points plus an annual club fee. But for the club fee, I get a membership in Interval, get free exchanges and no-charge re-booking or cancellations. If you bought a deeded platinum week resale you'd spend perhaps $500 to $3000 or so depending on the location. If you bought points from Marriott equivalent to that resale week you'd spend $10-14 a point times the number of points. Perhaps 2000 to 4000 (that is, it could be as high as 4000 x $14 = $56,000). So that could be really pricey. But you can buy points resale for a cost of under $5 a point currently ($1.50 to $2 to the reseller and $3 a point to Marriott to enroll them). But for me the biggest bang for the buck is deeded resale weeks.
Great info, thank you!
