Why own lots of timeshares?

[GManFL]

At my high point I owned 26 weeks. I rented quite a few and supplemented my income. I am now down to 3 and will probably let one more go. As kids grew and started their own families we didn't need as many and they weren't interested if they had to pay maintenance and deal with exchanges.

Thanks...How do you rent your unit? Are there sites for this purpose or do you have to use the TS company to do so?

 

[chellej]

Tug Marketplace, and redweek

 

[Sandy VDH]

So many of us on this site are diehard, knowledgable timeshare owners/users, but for the vast majority of people (90%+), timeshares are a big waste of time and money. We on this site have made timeshares a hobby/passion, and have devoted numerous hours to learning how to extract all the value out of our timeshares. We use them all, never let a week go to waste, exchange them through systems for even more usage, or rent them. It's a labor of love, but not a simple one.

Some of us are diehards. I have been here since 1997. This is the 3rd version of the BB I believe.

Clearly most of us hope we have learned a lot, at least for me in those intervening 25 years. Hasn't lowered my ownership any, as a matter of fact I got another one last year. LOL

At least my TW ownership is dwindling. I have some friends who want me to use up there points first, but because of how their system works now I am just going to wait until I need more points after my current points are up next year, and my friends points are done in 2027. I haven't yet decided if I got the RCI route with them or just buy more points, or buy someones existing membership. Given the transfer charges it all depends on how many points are left, and IF I plan on more Late Breaks which is the primary reason for owning directly (Late Breaks are bonus time for members.)

 

[billymach4]

You can at times catch the TS Virus. This causes an extreme fever. One of the best way to cure this fever is to look for a few weeks of smoking deals.

 

[The Colorado Kid]

You can at times catch the TS Virus. This causes an extreme fever. One of the best way to cure this fever is to look for a few weeks of smoking deals.

@billymach4 Also the cure....MORE COWBELL!!!!!

 

[aandmrun]

I think that once you start timesharing, you realize that it is the only way to vacation comfortably. It's like having a vacation condo all over the world! That's when you realize that you want to vacation more than one week a year. That's how we ended up with four at four different locations. We bought our last two for less than a dollar through Ebay. Who doesn't like to have their own kitchen and balcony every time they travel? It works for us.

 

[The Colorado Kid]

I think that once you start timesharing, you realize that it is the only way to vacation comfortably. It's like having a vacation condo all over the world! That's when you realize that you want to vacation more than one week a year. That's how we ended up with four at four different locations. We bought our last two for less than a dollar through Ebay. Who doesn't like to have their own kitchen and balcony every time they travel? It works for us.

@aandmrun EXACTAMUNDO!

 

[Sandy VDH]

I think that once you start timesharing, you realize that it is the only way to vacation comfortably. It's like having a vacation condo all over the world! That's when you realize that you want to vacation more than one week a year. That's how we ended up with four at four different locations. We bought our last two for less than a dollar through Ebay. Who doesn't like to have their own kitchen and balcony every time they travel? It works for us.

There are many I know with a cottage or vacation home. Hassle to deal with repairs and maintenence (on two homes), and then a management company to rent when your not there, if you go that route. Then renters LOL. I spend less annually, use it just as much, and its has the ability to be in different places. BINGO !!

Works better for my way of thinking.

 

[jp10558]

So I just got into timeshares after probably a decade of thinking about it. And for me it is kind of a cumulation of having more money and working with deals / systems to do things I'd never do for cash rates. I actually started with getting into the Hilton Honors program via the Citi cards (now AmEx) where people were like - $95 annual fee (back in 2009 or so), and I was like, sure, but I get a weekend night at a Hilton pretty much anywhere for that. This got me started "forcing myself to travel".

And most of the same things were [blah blah blah] cheaper if you get a Motel 6. How many Hiltons at Expedia could you get a night for $95? And that's been fixed for 15 years now - that weekend night is still $10k in spend the year and $95. But it's gotten better in that now I think it's any night. Guess how much the retail prices are up? And the points build up. I've had people comment - wow, "you stay in nice hotels". I'm like - sure, but why do you stay in crap ones? I've had people question why I stay in X Hilton, but I'm like, it's actually free for me from card points. And you often get the lowest rates direct from Hilton because you're a gold or higher member. The memories of the great provided breakfasts with family (oh yea, you often get a free breakfast, so count that cost appropriately), the places we've stayed, etc etc.

And a lot of that sort of thing directly is analogous to Timeshares. But they're another step up. You put more in up front, but you get 2 bedroom condos for it. I just did my first stay at a Vacation Village I exchanged into, and for about $1600 in MF and exchange fees and resort fee, I got a full week in Williamsburg, with a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms a living room, a nice resort to walk around, hot tub and pool and game room. The last time I just went to a third party hotel in a tourist area (this was Acadia, so IDK about comparable) but it cost me $1,600 for 3 nights and a one bedroom hotel room. It got to where hotel rooms aren't big enough really to be comfortable. Sure, you can get 2 hotel rooms, but now your cost is way more in a lot of cases. And you can't do any cooking yourself in most of them. So many people discount the actual value on vacation of the included breakfasts or being able to cook yourself, or do laundry etc. If you get one free breakfast that is at least $10 per person at McDonalds now adays. And really, who actually wants to do that? You want to go to a local place (even if fast food) and so that's more expensive. You just take home leftovers from one mean and actually get to eat them the next day and you've halved a meal cost, that again, is often $40 a person or more at a vacation restaurant. You cook one or two meals and the price goes down further.

Ok, so now you know why someone like me might have one Timeshare. Now we ask, why more than one? Well, basically it's to travel more. Often times retail the biggest part of the cost wasn't getting somewhere, but it was where to stay. I realized I'd go to family who put me up WAY more often than if I had to get a hotel. But of course those locations are limited, it's imposing on family which can be a thing, and you're usually only able to come with one or two people - most people don't have a spare house for 5 or more visitors. Multiple timeshares expand where you can travel, what exchanges might be available, and often target different pricepoints too, even in the retail market. Of course, I - being new - am all points, so the amount of weeks owned is a little vague.

Oh, and the other thing, my sister and I like to travel together, and our jobs now let us work from where ever we have internet, so working in the day and doing fun stuff at night or on the weekend in different locations, or maximizing the use of vacation days is part of my plan. My mom is also recently retired, so I'm trying to get her to do some travel that she never felt she could do while she worked.

 

[Bailey#1]

We own 5 consecutive winter weeks in Fort Lauderdale.
We are retired and use our weeks every year, and our kids come down for a week or 2.
Started with one week and slowly increased to 5 weeks.

We did the same thing 8 weeks away from Vermont winters. 5 weeks consecutively in Nov/Dec, 3 weeks consecutively in Mar/Apr. We are retired.

 

[lkc1234]

Excuse my ignorance...I am new to this timeshare world. I see people posting about being owners of 20+ timeshares and see also that most profiles people owns 5-6 timeshares. Is this for business purposes? Unless you are a wealthy retiree who can afford paying maintenance fees, taxes etc for a large amount of timeshares? Can someone please provide some commentary about the reasoning/business for owning more than 2 timeshares?

We own several timeshares. We own Wyndham points and we are gold VIP owners in the Wyndham system. We also own Westgate,Sheraton, Marriott, Spinnaker (two three bedroom units at Bluewater in Hilton Head) and also RCI points. We are retired and travel several weeks each year. In the summer we take our grandkids to Hilton Head for two to three weeks. We just returned from a week with the kids and grandkids at Westgate Smokey Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg. We own a 4 Bedroom unit there. The maintenance fees are high when you own several timeshares but the enjoyment taking vacations with family far outweighs the cost. You cannot compare staying in a motel room in Gatlinburg to staying in a 4 bedroom lockoff 3000 sq ft condo on top of a mountain with unbelievable views and with all the amenities provided. We have not rented any of our units yet but may try renting a few as we get older.

 

[Carolinian]

We are now down to two, both on the NC Outer Banks, and both that we use ourselves. For a while it was just one, but we recently bought a second.

Back when we were in the exchange game, before RCI Points and points lite changed that for the worse and we got out, we typically owned 6 or 7 timeshares at a time, primarly for exchange. That spread out the RCI membership fees. We liked to travel, and working for myself then, I could schedule the time to do so. Then when I went to work full time in Europe, I still had generous vacation, and usually more comp time than I could even use, but also needed to take some of that time back home in the states, so we cut back to 4 timeshares. With the negative changes at RCI, we used the independent exchange companies for trading, until my wife took a new job that made planning more difficult and then cut down to just one July beach timeshare we used ourselves. We have now added an early August timeshare we will be using ourselves.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I admit to owning a few more than I need. I am selling some RCI traders in favor of II traders. I bought the II traders before I sold the RCI traders. Shame on me, but I am renting the RCI traders for a bit of $$ over MF's. My goal is to get the RCI Points down to nearly zero. Right now we get about 300,000 a year.

I was able to get some Marriott traders for a good price, but I did buy too many of the Palm Desert ones because the fees went up this year to a level that doesn't make exchanges very affordable. I love my Marriott's Willow Ridge weeks.

We travel 22 weeks a year, retired 8 years ago this month, and we rent out our DVC and WorldMark points to help pay for our own travel. We also rent our studio at Westin Ka'anapali to pay for the MF's of the 2 bedroom lockoff. It's working (so far), but it's a gamble each year. We also have 3 kids that travel some. Not a lot, but some.

We stay in only five of our owned weeks every year, those are the Maui weeks.

We rent out our Colorado ski weeks. The kids don't ski because of school schedules. Those I just rent for MF's. I see the kids getting back to slopes again at some point. All of our three kids are in their 40's with our 7 grandkids ranging in age from 17 months to 16 years old.

We trade into Disney resorts. It worked well with RCI and works well with II. We love driving vacations, and staying in some timeshares along the way (Wyndham points work great for that) has been a wonderful experience over hotel stays.

I just wish we didn't have a huge yard to worry about while we are gone. The yard work gets behind on us.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

We own 5 consecutive winter weeks in Fort Lauderdale.
We are retired and use our weeks every year, and our kids come down for a week or 2.
Started with one week and slowly increased to 5 weeks.

That is what I have been doing, adding consecutive weeks to my TS in Florida

 

[billymach4]

Psychologically there is also the known fact that once we learn how to stick it back to the sales force that is built on a house of cards.... You can essentially buy a resale timeshare for a microfraction or a fraction of the full list price. There is an adrenaline boost knowing that you saved thousands of Dollars. As you have seen here there is an ongoing legacy cost of the annual fees.

The various management systems such as Marriott, Wyndham, etc have made it somewhat challenging to coexist in the current marketplace. However with patience and the collective experience of this TUG community we manage to get some great
Vacations.

In my simple mind and opinion I conclude that the Timeshare development and marketplace has matured. Gone are the days of easy leverage for trading. Marriott, DVC and others have created artificial monetary currency in the form of points. This permits those systems to manipulate and game their own profits to self serve their bottom line. I have said this before and I will say it again.... Timeshare systems should be highly regulated akin to the financial markets. However we all know that will never happen in our lifetimes.

 

[DeniseM]

Currently, we own 11 timeshares, and except for one developer purchase, I acquired all of the rest for cheap or free on the resale market - mostly from the TUG Bargain Deals Forum, eBay, and personal contacts. At this point, if I acquire a new timeshare, I try to give one away. Most of our timeshares were acquired for our own use, and some of them can be rented for a profit. We acquired two SDO weeks, because they are strong II traders for Westin Resorts:
4 Westin/Sheraton
5 Wyndham (weeks not points)
1 Hyatt
1 Independent

We are self-employed and work from home, so we can work on vacation from anywhere with decent internet. We didn't travel in 2020, 2021, or for most of 2022, so I have a lot of exchange company deposits to use up. Right now I have about 10 exchanges lined up for the next 2 years, and we used 3 exchanges recently.

Owning a lot of timeshares successfully boils down to 3 things:
1) You must have some discretionary income, because maintenance fees will go up, and things can go wrong sometimes. (I own 4 OF weeks at a resort that's going belly up: Wyndham Kauai Beach Villas.)
2) You must be an advance planner - 12 mos. or more out.
3) You must be willing to learn the ever changing detailed rules of ownership, and apply them consistently. I know intelligent, professional people who procrastinate about paying thier maintenance fees on time, and making their reservations on time, and miss important deadlines.

 

[easyrider]

There are many I know with a cottage or vacation home. Hassle to deal with repairs and maintenence

You are right about the repair hassle. It seems like things break on a holiday. This last Memorial Day we had to replace 10 ft of sewer pipe because the neighbors contractor that was working on their sewer pipes used duct tape to reconnect ours. It took us about an hour because we had parts in the shed from other repairs. Even so, it was a crappy job, lol.

Bill

 

[billymach4]

You are right about the repair hassle. It seems like things break on a holiday. This last Memorial Day we had to replace 10 ft of sewer pipe because the neighbors contractor that was working on their sewer pipes used duct tape to reconnect ours. It took us about an hour because we had parts in the shed from other repairs. Even so, it was a crappy job, lol.

Bill

Nice fix on the sewer! HA HA! Crappy Job!

 

[1Melanie]

Over the years we have bought developer and resale. Traded up both to get more points and more perks. At one time it was easy to do. Can’t upgrade with resale anymore and the MFs were unsettling. Made a final trade up and quit claimed several resales to simplify life and reduce MFs. We are down to 3 contracts which are enough to have us at Founders/PR. As retirees, we are able to book within the 60 day windows. With the discounts we are able to stretch our points out quite a ways without having to pay the MFs that go with the extra usage. We rarely have any left over at the end of the year and have borrowed from the following years a few times. We recently converted points to Rewards points in case we need hotel rooms and still had enough to take a couple weeks vacations. We enjoy taking family with us when we go. Occasionally, we have had to actually plan out and pay full price for things like Mardi Gras or The Daytona 500 especially if we take someone with us. Playing with the system to get the best usage is almost like a game. Some people play video games, some of us play with timeshare. Family member we have taken with us think fondly of those vacations. They are often topics of conversation when a get together occurs. We contemplated buying a condo to Winter in but don’t have to anymore. We book a resort and get to stay somewhere different every time instead. Once you stay at a timeshare you’ll never want to go back to hotels again.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We own 5.5 weeks of TS deeds and a vacation home. We use all of our TS weeks because we have flexible jobs and can work from anywhere. (I am currently writing this from a TS in Hawaii.)

Vacation home was used extensively when our kids were young. Now as young adults, they would rather go elsewhere. I also would rather go elsewhere. We now rent it out as a short-term vacation rental and we visit during ski season when it is not rented so we can ski in am and work in afternoon/evening. Vacation homes are a PITA. It is not relaxing to go there and work on maintenance. All I see are more projects to do. I would rather travel elsewhere. However it pays for itself (profitable rentals), we now pay a handyman for most repairs, and value has doubled so no incentive to sell yet. May eventually 1031 exchange it into a rental or duplex closer to home.

This year we traveled to Cabo, Steamboat (ski), NYC (2x) ,3 weeks in Hawaii, and later this summer in Europe for a cruise. My spouse is combining a work trip to NYC and Europe so part of his travel is paid for by his company.

We are in our early 60s - not getting any younger, Covid put us behind, and we want to travel while we can. Will likely sell one week of our TS so we can cruise more.

 

[e.bram]

Over the years I have collected fixed oceanfront units. It is the only way I can afford to own and stay at an OCEAN FRONT apartment. To buy an OCEANFRONT house or condo is way out of my affordability!

 

[1Melanie]

We own 5.5 weeks of TS deeds and a vacation home. We use all of our TS weeks because we have flexible jobs and can work from anywhere. (I am currently writing this from a TS in Hawaii.)

Vacation home was used extensively when our kids were young. Now as young adults, they would rather go elsewhere. I also would rather go elsewhere. We now rent it out as a short-term vacation rental and we visit during ski season when it is not rented so we can ski in am and work in afternoon/evening. Vacation homes are a PITA. It is not relaxing to go there and work on maintenance. All I see are more projects to do. I would rather travel elsewhere. However it pays for itself (profitable rentals), we now pay a handyman for most repairs, and value has doubled so no incentive to sell yet. May eventually 1031 exchange it into a rental or duplex closer to home.

This year we traveled to Cabo, Steamboat (ski), NYC (2x) ,3 weeks in Hawaii, and later this summer in Europe for a cruise. My spouse is combining a work trip to NYC and Europe so part of his travel is paid for by his company.

We are in our early 60s - not getting any younger, Covid put us behind, and we want to travel while we can. Will likely sell one week of our TS so we can cruise more.

Try a deferred sales trust vs 1031 exchange.

 

[The Colorado Kid]

Over the years I have collected fixed oceanfront units. It is the only way I can afford to own and stay at an OCEAN FRONT apartment. To buy an OCEANFRONT house or condo is way out of my affordability!

@e.bram EXACTAMUNDO!

 

[1Melanie]

Currently, we own 11 timeshares, and except for one developer purchase, I acquired all of the rest for cheap or free on the resale market - mostly from the TUG Bargain Deals Forum, eBay, and personal contacts. At this point, if I acquire a new timeshare, I try to give one away. Most of our timeshares were acquired for our own use, and some of them can be rented for a profit. We acquired two SDO weeks, because they are strong II traders for Westin Resorts:
4 Westin/Sheraton
5 Wyndham (weeks not points)
1 Hyatt
1 Independent

We are self-employed and work from home, so we can work on vacation from anywhere with decent internet. We didn't travel in 2020, 2021, or for most of 2022, so I have a lot of exchange company deposits to use up. Right now I have about 10 exchanges lined up for the next 2 years, and we used 3 exchanges recently.

Owning a lot of timeshares successfully boils down to 3 things:
1) You must have some discretionary income, because maintenance fees will go up, and things can go wrong sometimes. (I own 4 OF weeks at a resort that's going belly up: Wyndham Kauai Beach Villas.)
2) You must be an advance planner - 12 mos. or more out.
3) You must be willing to learn the ever changing detailed rules of ownership, and apply them consistently. I know intelligent, professional people who procrastinate about paying thier maintenance fees on time, and making their reservations on time, and miss important deadlines.

I read somewhere that Kauai Beach resort was having problems with erosion and Wyndham did not want to have to fight the Pacific Ocean. That’s a problem throughout Hawaii especially when big, wealthy developers or owners manage to circumvent the codes so they can have their beachfront properties with large retaining walls that cause a shift in the currents that erode beachfront a few miles down the road. Hopefully Wyndham will still honor your points. Abandoning the building and foregoing contributing to the already disastrous erosion is a responsible thing to do.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I read somewhere that Kauai Beach resort was having problems with erosion and Wyndham did not want to have to fight the Pacific Ocean. That’s a problem throughout Hawaii especially when big, wealthy developers or owners manage to circumvent the codes so they can have their beachfront properties with large retaining walls that cause a shift in the currents that erode beachfront a few miles down the road. Hopefully Wyndham will still honor your points. Abandoning the building and foregoing contributing to the already disastrous erosion is a responsible thing to do.

As Denise said, she owns weeks, not points.