Why would anyone buy?

[TolmiePeak]

TS owners with access to II can rent a week (7 nights) at at a Sheraton or Marriott resort for as little as $450 (for a studio.) I'm not sure about December but I was able to for October and May.

I like the 2 bedrooms. How much are those?

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I like the 2 bedrooms. How much are those?

Pretty cheap. Low season 2 bedrooms at Sheraton Vistana via II Getaways can be gotten for as low as like $550. I'm not sure what early december goes for, there aren't any available right now as we are still pretty far out.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I like the 2 bedrooms. How much are those?

Here's Sheraton Vistana via II Getaways for the month of April. (6/6/2 and 6/8/2 are the 2 bedroom units):

 

[claraj]

I like the 2 bedrooms. How much are those?

I've picked up 2BR weeks at Grande Vista for around $650 for the week (Platinum price), less if you catch them during a sale.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I prefer Marriott or Vistana Villages in Orlando via II, and we also like Disney, of course. We exchange into the Orlando area, some are cheap, some not so cheap, but I guarantee that no matter when we go, our costs + exchange fee never goes over $1,400 for a week at the nicest Orlando Marriott resorts. The upgrade fees are annoying, so I try to avoid those by booking within 60 days during off-season, which is really the only time I want to be in Orlando.

Exchanging has been a fun game for me. With fees going up drastically on our Shadow Ridge weeks, I see a future without them. They trade no better than Marriott's Willow Ridge. All fees are going up, however.

I grab Disney whenever possible, and Marriott sees Disney. The value of those exchanges cannot even be measured, unless you take $16 X Disney point amount X MF's of Disney points. That is too much math. My DVC points are close to $10 per point. Even figuring a two bedroom at 200 points is $2,000 in fees, and I pay much less via exchange, so I rent our owned DVC points for more like $20 per point and exchange into DVC.

The exchanges for rent on RW make me crazy. If my studios have to compete with DVC exchanges for December, I am going to have a fit with II. My little plan won't work, if people rent OKW exchanges in 1 and 2 bedrooms for December.

 

[dioxide45]

I like the 2 bedrooms. How much are those?

I can see Cypress Harbour weeks out through September right now for less than $700 as a regular iI member.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

30 posts and w/o even looking, I will bet suzy never showed up again

 

[e.bram]

Try to get an Oceanfront unit in Orlando. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Try to get an Oceanfront unit in Orlando. GOOD LUCK!!!

Give it another 20 years or so…

 

[letsgobobby]

Looking at timeshares available - why would anyone buy a timeshare with annual fees over $1000?
The cost of most fees are higher than actually renting a location. Sure you get a set schedule, but the annual costs are outrageous for the most part.

There are many timeshare facilities with reasonable annual fees - which make them cost effective to own, deposit, and have an annual vacation - less than what most timeshare annual fees cost.

Can anyone explain the reasoning for high annual fees?
Cheers,

higher quality hotel branded resorts like HGVC, Marriott, Disney, you get what you pay for. Higher quality, better maintenance, more luxurious.

Points best used for high demand weeks.

I have a reservation in Vegas during a high demand week using $1200 worth of points, the cost to get a slightly lower quality room at Hilton dot com for the same dates is $10,500.

We have a reservation in Hawaii during Thanksgiving, using $2200 in points for a room not available at Hilton but a smaller less desirable room is $6000.

YMMV. We love our ownership.

 

[jabberwocky]

With apologies to the OP - this question seems as useless as asking similar questions like:

Why buy a $60,000 vehicle when I can take public transit or uber?

Why buy a $30,000 watch when a $20 Casio will tell me time just as well?

Why buy steak when hamburgers are so much cheaper?

The answer is simple: because I find value in those things.

 

[rickandcindy23]

With apologies to the OP - this question seems as useless as asking similar questions like:

Why buy a $60,000 vehicle when I can take public transit or uber?

Why buy a $30,000 watch when a $20 Casio will tell me time just as well?

Why buy steak when hamburgers are so much cheaper?

The answer is simple: because I find value in those things.

Such good examples! I love this.

 

[davidvel]

With apologies to the OP - this question seems as useless as asking similar questions like:

Why buy a $60,000 vehicle when I can take public transit or uber?

Why buy a $30,000 watch when a $20 Casio will tell me time just as well?

Why buy steak when hamburgers are so much cheaper?

The answer is simple: because I find value in those things.

With the vague question this is legit. But also, I think OP was trying to compare equivalencies, whether they properly did so or not.

So a bit more like this:
Why buy a $60,000 vehicle new, when I can buy the exact same car a year old for $40,000?

Why buy a $30,000 diamond ring from a regular retailer, when I can buy the same like kind, quality and equal Cut, Color, Clarity, & Carats for $15,000 from Costco?

Why buy choice filet mignon at the grocery store for $35, when the local butcher sells prime for $30?

The answer is simple: because it better to find better value for the same things.

 

[bnoble]

FWIW, OP hasn't been back since their drive-by posting.

 

[cohenru]

This is an excellent question, We bought our first timeshare in the late 90s. We were a family of 5, hotels were too expensive as was eating out 2-3 meals per day
Today, we have Google to search for places, there are VRBO and Airbnb. Why not simply rent through Airbnb? or stay at a hotel?
Consider
Hotels are getting more and more expensive. Hotel rooms that used to cost $150 per night, now cost $200/night. Moreover, when you consider taxes, the $200/night is $250/night. Then there is food. Airbnb stays have gone up as well. In fact, in many cases, hotels are cheaper than Airbnb.
I love the places where I have my timeshares and I enjoy going back every year. If I cannot go, I can trade, give the week to a family member, or rent it.
Having timeshare weeks makes it easy to get the family for a vacation. The kids are grown up with their own families and work schedules. But I own a 2 or even 3-bedroom place. All 3 of my kids may not be able to come, but if one of them comes with their family, it is worth it.
We have a kitchen, and I control what I cook and what I eat. I may not cook every meal, but it is nice to have a kitchen and a fridge to keep leftovers from a restaurant meal.
Finally, having the timeshare makes me travel. It is much easier to stay home, but I have the weeks and I go, and we have fun.

 

[The Colorado Kid]

@cohenru 1000% !
I love the places where I have my timeshares and I enjoy going back every year. If I cannot go, I can trade, give the week to a family member, or rent it.
Having timeshare weeks makes it easy to get the family for a vacation. The kids are grown up with their own families and work schedules. But I own a 2 or even 3-bedroom place. All 3 of my kids may not be able to come, but if one of them comes with their family, it is worth it

 

[TimeTravelerfromMN]

I have attended many events on getting rid of your timeshare and the biggest haters are people who do not vacation, or vacation at cheap hotels. Resorts have little noise. A stay where you can cook or eat out; do your laundry; go for a walk and not worry about muggings; private parking; one place to book your whole vacation; and often deals that are great. Do not buy for top price. We bought a turn in cheap. Do not list with those onlline post your ad sites for thousands. One place I found that operates like a resort is Timesharesbyowner. I do not do business or work with them. But I studied what they do, because is it uniquely like resorts. Check them out if you are looking. Some sites have ads that have been out there for years. Tells you a lot. Bought high and nobody is interested. It is not a financial investment; it is and investment in your tranquility.

 

[jmendels]

Exactly. I'm new to this and watching your and Cliff's videos are very helpful. Thanks for the excellent resource.

Interested to know: what are these videos?
Thanks!

 

[Janann]

Interested to know: what are these videos?
Thanks!

Here's a link to one of Cliff's videos: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/why-i-like-hgvmax-timeshare-traveler-episode-184.361108/

 

[LannyPC]

I have attended many events on getting rid of your timeshare and the biggest haters are people who do not vacation, or vacation at cheap hotels.

I'm certainly not disputing that. I notice that a lot of newbies who come on here asking how to get rid of their TS, their biggest complaint is not so much that they can't afford the MFs, but rather that they can't travel (peripheral travelling expenses, health and age situation, job responsibilities, etc.). Hence, they are paying MFs on something that they can't realistically or feasibly use.

 

[TolmiePeak]

I have attended many events on getting rid of your timeshare and the biggest haters are people who do not vacation, or vacation at cheap hotels.

Wouldn't the biggest haters be the people who bought direct from the developer and did zero research? They have no clue that the maintenance will go up, you need to plan months ahead and call immediately when high demand weeks open for reservations, and who don't end up using their weeks?

 

[TolmiePeak]

Why buy a $30,000 diamond ring from a regular retailer, when I can buy the same like kind, quality and equal Cut, Color, Clarity, & Carats for $15,000 from Costco?

Why would anyone buy from a regular retailer in that situation?

 

[Lsfinn]

As others have said, it’s important to compare apples to apples: i.e., don’t compare a hotel room to a one or two bedroom condo with fully equipped kitchen.

It’s also important to distinguish locations: i.e., I don’t travel “to Hawaii”, I travel to a specific island and a specific location on that island, because that’s the island, and the town on the island, that I enjoy. [Conversely, I don’t have much use for, or place much value on the ability to travel to, many of the locations where I could use my TS points, or make RCI exchanges to, because I’ve no interest in traveling to these places.

As for value: I recently looked into whether I should divest of my TS and its maintenance fees in favor of other booking possibilities (for example, VRBO or airbnb, or Vacasa, or ExtraHolidays). I found my MF provided a significantly better value than any of these alternatives.

My wife and I have had our TS for 25 years now. We purchased it when we were both (over)working. One conscious reasons for going the TS route was “paying in advance”: we are both the kind of people who, having paid for something, are damn-well going to use it. This personal predilection gave us the ability to stand-up to our department heads (we were both employed as university professors) and tell them no, we were not going to be available to work over winter break (when we are not paid) because they wanted to delay committee meetings or request some other nonsense that, but for their own procrastination, could have been finished during the term (or, as was often the case, they wanted done early so that they could take some travel of their own during the following term: two weeks in Rome in January for a Department Head retreat is an important responsibility of their job, which their faculty need to support, you know).

Bottom line: for the kind of travel we enjoy, TS with its MF is more than cost-effective. And, for the kind of personalities we are - readily encouraged to compromise our own time for a sob-story - TS with its ”paid in advance” vacation made it possible to insist that our time was, in fact, our own and that our supervisors failure to plan was not our responsibility to fix.

 

[ScoopKona]

Why would anyone buy from a regular retailer in that situation?

When there's nothing else available.

When Sunset Harbor opened in Key West, people lined up to pay developer prices. Why? They were paying more for hotel rooms. It was a good deal then. And it's STILL a good deal -- when comparing total cost of ownership to total cost of renting. (And that's not even like-for-like. The Hyatt hotel in Key West is nowhere near as good as the Hyatt timeshare. Just considerably more expensive by the week. Especially if that week is Fantasy Fest.)

That's why.

 

[TolmiePeak]

When there's nothing else available.

I wasn't specifically referring to timeshares just David's example if two equivalent diamond rings were available in a traditional jewelry store for $30k and at Costco for $15k. The Costco purchase would be a no brainer in that situation. Obviously you would get better/more personal service at a jewelry store but that isn't worth $15k.