What timeshare would be best?

[JustinM]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Park City in late March or early April and Disney World.

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? Trade half the time

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Park city, Disney, Tahoe, Whistler BC, New England

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? 4: 2 adults and two kids 13. & 8. 2 bedroom at least.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Yes but take the kids out of school at least 1 week a year for a ski vacation

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 but also like last minute long weekend getaways.

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 3 and up

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? 15000

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? 5000

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes

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

My idea is to be able to do park city EOY and go to a different ski resort on the off year, weather that’s Colorado, BC or New England, or Lake Tahoe or Europe ski areas . And a trip to Disney most years. Along with a third and maybe fourth different destiantion but just for a long weekend. So I guess I am looking for ski resort oriented timeshare to start with; but how hard are they to book during the mentioned time frame if you don’t have specific weeks?
Thanks!

 

[vacationtime1]

Keep it simple. You should probably buy an EOY Marriott in Park City. I assume the platinum season coincides with when the ski area is open, but you should verify.

I have no experience as to whether your spring break weeks would be easy to reserve; you need to tie down that detail before committing yourself.

Wait on anything else until you learn whether you like timesharing. These things are much easier to buy than they are to sell.

 

[alexinorlando]

I would actually recommend Wyndham Points. At least 300,000 points per year or higher. Maybe as much as 500,000. They have a great resort in Park City on the canyons side (basically ski in and Gondola out) lots of availability for those dates at the 10 months mark. Along with having other resorts in other ski areas which are pretty reasonable to book at 10 months out like Steamboat Springs for example. The resorts are very nice and well kept. Maintenance fees are in line with most other major timeshare brands (slightly lower then Marriott). They also have one of the best resorts in Orlando called Bonnet Creek Resort which is basically on site in Disney. That resort is also readily available to book. The great thing about Wyndhams points program is that it’s easy to use and book other locations with lots of availability. They also have many resorts in other locations to use and you don’t have to pay any exchange fees to use your point’s within the Wyndham timeshare resorts.

 

[jp10558]

I'm going to say Wyndham if you want a low purchase price and OK MFs and are OK with 3Star. They'll hit your locations and more. HGVC if you want 4 star and are OK figuring out trading in RCI for New England (though I'd say RCI Extra Vacations and last calls make at least some options IMHO obvious to pay cash for like Smugglers Notch and Berkshires for instance).

But Wyndham has your basic locations, plus a lot more in the east of the country, and no fees inside the system, and also gets you RCI and a much lower buy in. And you can easily get ~400,000 pts for 2,900 MF a year, and probably less if you hunt, though then the buy in is higher. Oh, and Wyndham has easier availability than HGVC at the 10 month.

I personally don't really like the idea of EOY just because it adds complexity to the planning - of course if you're not SURE you can go every year (or multiple times a year), then you want to consider the maximum banking time and methods of the system(which is complex and not something I'd recommend buying in to try and do).

 

[e.bram]

Oceanfront summer unit fixed week.(Unit should have an ocean view)(maybe Cape Cod)

 

[Ski-Dad]

Skiing appears to be your thing. Get a low maintenance fee 2 bedroom lock-off Marriott (eg. Grande Vista or Grand Chateau) or a Vistana such Sheraton Desert Oasis.

Lock off your unit and deposit in Interval and trade for what you need.

Peak season ski-weeks are normally hard to land trading, but you have expressly referenced late March and early April. These are easy trades with advance planning. You should be able to land a quality two bedroom unit with 1/2 your lock-off. You will have better luck in the Western US than New England.

The Marriott Grande Vista would also give you Orlando when you want Disney area; HOWEVER, if you are looking to land Disney itself, do not buy Grande Vista. I do not fully understand Disney restrictions, but owing in Orlando is an issue. I have never read those threads intensely as Disney has zero interest in my house.

 

[jp10558]

Skiing appears to be your thing.

Lock off your unit and deposit in Interval and trade for what you need.

Peak season ski-weeks are normally hard to land trading, but you have expressly referenced late March and early April. These are easy trades with advance planning. You should be able to land a quality two bedroom unit with 1/2 your lock-off. You will have better luck in the Western US than New England.

I will admit, I don't do lock offs so cannot comment, but I will say you can get cash extra vacations 2BR starting March 22nd for 739.99 right now in RCI at Smugglers Notch. Club Wyndham Bently Brook I 2 BR starting March 7th for $659.99. So IDK about II, but if you do Wyndham or HGVC or any RCI, New England will be pretty easy later March IMHO. Though IDK if the skiing is fancy enough or directly on site for either, but they claim skiing. And when I went to Smugglers Notch (in Sept though) there was an associated skiing area pretty close to it.

The Marriott Grande Vista would also give you Orlando when you want Disney area; HOWEVER, if you are looking to land Disney itself, do not buy Grande Vista. I do not fully understand Disney restrictions, but owing in Orlando is an issue. I have never read those threads intensely as Disney has zero interest in my house.

Yea, I wouldn't really try and do Disney owned locations unless that is your main focus, in which case it's a different situation. But everyone has stuff in Orlando and nearby areas. Orlando should be the easiest trade or probably better yet cash Extra Vacation / Last Call / Getaway...

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I would suggest renting from TUG or Redweek owners to start. Get to know each system: Marriott, HGVC, Vistana and Wyndham system. Once you get to know the properties and the system quality (they all differ and the locations differ) you will be in a better position to know exactly what you want.

 

[Ski-Dad]

I will admit, I don't do lock offs so cannot comment, but I will say you can get cash extra vacations 2BR starting March 22nd for 739.99 right now in RCI at Smugglers Notch. Club Wyndham Bently Brook I 2 BR starting March 7th for $659.99. So IDK about II, but if you do Wyndham or HGVC or any RCI, New England will be pretty easy later March IMHO. Though IDK if the skiing is fancy enough or directly on site for either, but they claim skiing. And when I went to Smugglers Notch (in Sept though) there was an associated skiing area pretty close to it.

Yea, I wouldn't really try and do Disney owned locations unless that is your main focus, in which case it's a different situation. But everyone has stuff in Orlando and nearby areas. Orlando should be the easiest trade or probably better yet cash Extra Vacation / Last Call / Getaway...

Week 12 skiing at Smuggs would be iffy. Week 10 at Jiminy Peak is a good score, but the OP has referenced Tahoe, Whistler, Park City and New England. Jiminy Peak may be in New England, but it doesn't seem to fit the OPs list.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I would not buy Wyndham. 1) you can only exchange through RCI, which is a big red flag for me. $300 exchange fees and all of the fees; 2) Wyndham doesn't offer the quality or the areas you indicated you wanted. Covers some, but not all; 3) No ski resorts in Park City. Seriously, this is not a good plan for you.

Hilton is a possible option. Hilton has almost everything you want, including a beautiful resort in Park City. The quality is consistent, and there are resorts in Orlando for Disney.

In your shoes, I would buy the ski location you want, Park City, probably a Marriott. Someone else already said it, but I agree with it. Ski is tough to get via exchange, especially Park City. Not as bad for CO skiing because there are more resorts in CO that are good exchanges. I would buy that one to use and also buy a second platinum lockoff unit to trade. Only Marriott. Marriott is top for trading. You can get the actual Disney resorts during most school breaks to enjoy with the kids. Exchange into a Disney resort and enjoy. The lack of inventory on the East Coast north of Virginia is very limited.

Bonnet Creek is not "in Disney," but it's nice, it's just not Disney, doesn't give the perks like bus transportation, extra-magic hours, and free parking when you drive into the parks yourself.

 

[alexinorlando]

I would not buy Wyndham. 1) you can only exchange through RCI, which is a big red flag for me. $300 exchange fees and all of the fees; 2) Wyndham doesn't offer the quality or the areas you indicated you wanted. Covers some, but not all; 3) No ski resorts in Park City. Seriously, this is not a good plan for you.

Hilton is a possible option. Hilton has almost everything you want, including a beautiful resort in Park City. The quality is consistent, and there are resorts in Orlando for Disney.

In your shoes, I would buy the ski location you want, Park City, probably a Marriott. Someone else already said it, but I agree with it. Ski is tough to get via exchange, especially Park City. Not as bad for CO skiing because there are more resorts in CO that are good exchanges. I would buy that one to use and also buy a second platinum lockoff unit to trade. Only Marriott. Marriott is top for trading. You can get the actual Disney resorts during most school breaks to enjoy with the kids. Exchange into a Disney resort and enjoy. The lack of inventory on the East Coast north of Virginia is very limited.

Bonnet Creek is not "in Disney," but it's nice, it's just not Disney, doesn't give the perks like bus transportation, extra-magic hours, and free parking when you drive into the parks yourself.

No resort in Park City?

Park City, UT Resorts: Club Wyndham Park City

Book your stay at Club Wyndham Park City in Park City, UT. Get away to the mountains for an epic ski vacation with legendary slopes and bustling main street nightlife.

clubwyndham.wyndhamdestinations.com

 

[alexinorlando]

It’s on the canyons side of Park City. Which my family and I prefer better (less crowded) to the original park city side. Same as the Hilton timeshare property.

 

[rickandcindy23]

No resort in Park City?

Park City, UT Resorts: Club Wyndham Park City

Book your stay at Club Wyndham Park City in Park City, UT. Get away to the mountains for an epic ski vacation with legendary slopes and bustling main street nightlife.

clubwyndham.wyndhamdestinations.com

Well, I am mistaken. Maybe Wyndham should make the MAP work again, so I can see what resorts are in the West. I am tired of the constant changes to the website that make everything so ridiculously hard to figure out.

Never have stayed at the Wyndham, never even knew there was a Wyndham in Park City, but I have stayed at the Hilton. Dollars to donuts the Hilton surpasses the Wyndham. And the Marriott resorts are far and above better than Wyndham.

My daughter-in-law used to love Wyndham Steamboat Springs, but then she stayed one week at the Sheraton Steamboat Springs. Her tune changed. So much nicer and close to the mountain/ skiing.

 

[Ski-Dad]

I would not buy Wyndham. 1) you can only exchange through RCI, which is a big red flag for me. $300 exchange fees and all of the fees; 2) Wyndham doesn't offer the quality or the areas you indicated you wanted. Covers some, but not all; 3) No ski resorts in Park City. Seriously, this is not a good plan for you.

Hilton is a possible option. Hilton has almost everything you want, including a beautiful resort in Park City. The quality is consistent, and there are resorts in Orlando for Disney.

In your shoes, I would buy the ski location you want, Park City, probably a Marriott. Someone else already said it, but I agree with it. Ski is tough to get via exchange, especially Park City. Not as bad for CO skiing because there are more resorts in CO that are good exchanges. I would buy that one to use and also buy a second platinum lockoff unit to trade. Only Marriott. Marriott is top for trading. You can get the actual Disney resorts during most school breaks to enjoy with the kids. Exchange into a Disney resort and enjoy. The lack of inventory on the East Coast north of Virginia is very limited.

Bonnet Creek is not "in Disney," but it's nice, it's just not Disney, doesn't give the perks like bus transportation, extra-magic hours, and free parking when you drive into the parks yourself.

Skiing weeks from mid January to mid March take advance planning, but are very doable. I manage to secure two to three weeks every year at prime locations (Vail, Beaver Creek, Steamboat, Whistler). Outside of that mid Jan to mid March is not difficult at all. The OP has specifically referenced late March to early April.

 

[jp10558]

I would not buy Wyndham. 1) you can only exchange through RCI, which is a big red flag for me. $300 exchange fees and all of the fees; 2) Wyndham doesn't offer the quality or the areas you indicated you wanted. Covers some, but not all; 3) No ski resorts in Park City. Seriously, this is not a good plan for you.

Hilton is a possible option. Hilton has almost everything you want, including a beautiful resort in Park City. The quality is consistent, and there are resorts in Orlando for Disney.

In your shoes, I would buy the ski location you want, Park City, probably a Marriott. Someone else already said it, but I agree with it. Ski is tough to get via exchange, especially Park City. Not as bad for CO skiing because there are more resorts in CO that are good exchanges. I would buy that one to use and also buy a second platinum lockoff unit to trade. Only Marriott. Marriott is top for trading. You can get the actual Disney resorts during most school breaks to enjoy with the kids. Exchange into a Disney resort and enjoy. The lack of inventory on the East Coast north of Virginia is very limited.

Bonnet Creek is not "in Disney," but it's nice, it's just not Disney, doesn't give the perks like bus transportation, extra-magic hours, and free parking when you drive into the parks yourself.

I know you hate Wyndham because you're in a battle with them over renting or now other issues, but 1) HGVC is also RCI only(mostly, except a couple affiliates), so this should not be a "red flag" for Wyndham and not HGVC.

I know you think that RCI is crap, but I certainly find a lot of value in adding on the cash weeks and find the searching and ability to find and book those much easier than II, while also often being cheaper or having more availability.

Wyndham is also the only one I'm aware of with stuff in New England, and RCI has a lot of inventory there at the dates the OP listed, as I showed.

Now, only the OP can determine how much they want and want to pay for 4* accommodations rather than 3*, but for getting "long weekends" he's going to need points, and Abound makes MVC even more expensive. HGVC and Wyndham you get "for free" on resale in most situations, and again Wyndham has more availability at least IME than HGVC if you miss the "right at 276 days" window. Then again, if you have 5k a year for MFs then you can go pretty expensive, I just prefer to add more weeks than get fancier accommodations.

OP for any of these you should probably buy in the Ski place you really really want to go to *if* that time is peak ski season.

EDIT: And TBH I think the OP is saying they want to go to Disney, not pay the premium to stay in a Disney Resort. Everyone and their brother has decent to great Orlando and surrounding areas locations - yes, more than one! Unless the OP comes back and says "I want to stay on a Disney resort" then II trades just for that are IMHO irrelevant.

 

[JustinM]

So I have been looking into both Wyndham and Marriot. Wyndham seems a bit more strait forward in its use and to purchase resale. With Marriot I don’t fully understand what lock out means and the listings seem to me to be more confusing. So having the listing price at (just an example) 10,000 for a 2br for a week plus 3000 points but then the descriptions say there will be an additional fee of $3/point. I am confused by that.

I don’t need fancy resorts with kids. And the shoulder season for skiing and other travels is our preferred time to travel. I don’t want to be based out of Disney but the ability to get close and use public transportation would be convenient.

I will look into Hilton this weekend!

Thank you all for your advice so far!

 

[jp10558]

So I have been looking into both Wyndham and Marriot. Wyndham seems a bit more strait forward in its use and to purchase resale. With Marriot I don’t fully understand what lock out means and the listings seem to me to be more confusing. So having the listing price at (just an example) 10,000 for a 2br for a week plus 3000 points but then the descriptions say there will be an additional fee of $3/point. I am confused by that.

I don’t need fancy resorts with kids. And the shoulder season for skiing and other travels is our preferred time to travel. I don’t want to be based out of Disney but the ability to get close and use public transportation would be convenient.

I will look into Hilton this weekend!

Thank you all for your advice so far!

Yea, Marriott has junk fees on resale so can double the purchase price to get their Abound / points product that would let you book less than a week. Wyndham doesn't do that, nor does HGVC. Wyndham also doesn't have the booking fee HGVC has ($69 right now, but has gone up each year). If you look around for good MFs on Wyndham select you can get deals, but even CWA (which is a trust across all the resorts, gets you earlier booking in a bunch of them (which isn't really needed IMO)) at a bit higher MF/pt isn't horrible, and is readily available for just closing costs and taking over the maintenance fees.

The only "big" downside to Wyndham IMO is - you can't really rent it out to others, and you can only "give trips" to others that aren't listed as owners on the account a limited amount, or you can get in trouble. Assuming you're buying to use, and you'll be there 90% of the time or more checking in (or whoever's listed as an owner and will pay the MFs if you pass), I think Wyndham has been a great program. I kind of want more points, I just don't want to commit to the MFs on them.

EDIT: Sorry, one thing to keep in mind is that most timeshare stuff is still based on weeks, so while points can let you book 3 nights say inside the system, any of the hacks we talk about in exchanging or cash deals tend to either be for full weeks, OR are a bad deal where you can pay $379 last minute for a 3 night block, but same for a whole week on RCI. I guess $379 for 2BR for 3 days is still not bad AT ALL compared to hotels, but it feels like a ripoff when right next to it is a week for that

 

[dazzlingheart]

I thought you might be interested in reading this on Park City... https://www.hiltongrandvacations.com/en/resorts-and-destinations/utah

 

[rickandcindy23]

Skiing weeks from mid January to mid March take advance planning, but are very doable. I manage to secure two to three weeks every year at prime locations (Vail, Beaver Creek, Steamboat, Whistler). Outside of that mid Jan to mid March is not difficult at all. The OP has specifically referenced late March to early April.

You own Wyndham? Are you saying Sheraton trades into those resort areas? I think Sheraton-Sheraton trades are pretty great myself.

Wyndham at 8 months is not usually tough to get much of anything, but I never check anything other than Wyndham Steamboat and Wyndham Avon for the kids. The parking fee at Avon is a pet peeve of our daughter-in-law. Her family owns Marriott and are Marriott-exclusive.

 

[rickandcindy23]

@jp10558 I am not in a battle with Wyndham. I lost the battle. It's over and done and I lost over two years ago now, and I have every reason to be upset, when our kids' names have been taken off of our Wyndham accounts with no answer as to why. I am not going to talk up a product that has punished our family for renting, which was allowed in the past. Big company vs. little guy. Who wins? Not us.

I just don't think most of the Wyndham resorts are the quality of Hilton and the Marriott brands (including Hyatt/Sheraton/ Westin).

 

[jp10558]

@jp10558 I am not in a battle with Wyndham. I lost the battle. It's over and done and I lost over two years ago now, and I have every reason to be upset, when our kids' names have been taken off of our Wyndham accounts with no answer as to why. I am not going to talk up a product that has punished our family for renting, which was allowed in the past. Big company vs. little guy. Who wins? Not us.

Sure, and I don't think taking peoples names off the accounts when they're names are on the deeds makes any sense to me, nor can I see how it's legal, but I get you can't really fight it. And I'll be the first person to point to your experience and posts about owning a lot of Wyndham (or any, or any timeshare) specifically to rent. But that's not the question here, and if you're not renting, then there seems to be little issues with Wyndham (at least compared to other timeshare systems).

I just don't think most of the Wyndham resorts are the quality of Hilton and the Marriott brands (including Hyatt/Sheraton/ Westin).

This is true, and why I always ask people how much they prefer fancy resorts compared decent resorts for less money in more places.

 

[VacationForever]

I wouldn't want to buy a timeshare that is affiliated with RCI, especially a Wyndham. II exchanges are cheaper and offer much higher quality resorts. Westin, Sheraton, Marriott, Hyatt and Four Seasons are all in II. Buy a Marriott resale week for exchanges.

Hilton resorts are great, the only downside is that it only trades in RCI. But Hilton has its own internal booking system and it is a huge plus.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Hilton now has it's own exchange system similar to II and RCI called DEX from the Diamond acquisition. It contains former DRI, Embarc and will soon have some HGVC affiliates and likely have Bluegreen and HGVC in the future as the merger is complete. It also feeds inventory from RCI. DEX has lower exchange fees for HGVC and HVC/DRI members and no resort fees for Hilton properties.

Over time expect less HGVC/HVC and Embarc in RCI and II as HGVC will want to keep those exchange fees and tier upgrades. We just gained access to DEX and have made some fantastic trades that would not have been possible in RCI. Unlike RCI where you have ongoing searches it lists all the inventory available and exact room types/views which is substantially better than we've seen in RCI. The resort fees and exchange fees in RCI are killing RCI. We paid close to $500 in resort fees for a resort in Mexico.

 

[Ski-Dad]

You own Wyndham? Are you saying Sheraton trades into those resort areas? I think Sheraton-Sheraton trades are pretty great myself.

Wyndham at 8 months is not usually tough to get much of anything, but I never check anything other than Wyndham Steamboat and Wyndham Avon for the kids. The parking fee at Avon is a pet peeve of our daughter-in-law. Her family owns Marriott and are Marriott-exclusive.

Negative on owning Wydham.

I have three SDO small 1 bedrooms and 49K RCI annual points; and a Marriott Grande Vista 2 bedroom platinum Florida club under contract. I always get the ski weeks I want, but I am flexible on which week.

I was skiing an Ikon pass last season. Epic pass this year so 2 weeks in Beaver Creek and 1 week at Whistler. Looking at Breck or Vail for an early December trip.

 

[claraj]

Looking at Breck or Vail for an early December trip.

If you are looking for first week of December, there are good Getaways for Dec 1 check-in.