BoBird1314
TUG Member
Timeshares can make sense if you buy and use smart. Whether maintenance fees are "outrageous" can depend upon location (near ocean locations have higher costs) and amenities. Maintenance fees can also depend upon whether who controls the homeowners' association. For example, I own two weeks each year at Maui Banyan Vacation Club (Soliel Management) in Kihei, Maui. I purchased my weeks on the resale market for what I felt were reasonable amounts. There are 18 Maui Banyan Vacation Club timeshare units in the 176-unit Maui Banyan development in South Kihei. The timeshare units are all two bedroom, two bathroom units (one bedroom, with living room, kitchen, large lanai, washer/dryer and adjoining lockout studio). The resort has two pools, BBQs, tennis court, covered parking, etc. The resort is across the street from an excellent beach and within walking distance of approximately 20 restaurants (although our favorite oceanfront restaurant closed during the pandemic). The maintenance fees are cheaper than average for Maui, perhaps because the homeowners' association is controlled by the 150+ private condo owners that have an interest in having the maintenance fees being high enough to keep the resort common facilities maintained in decent shape, but within reason. Based upon my research, I know of no Gold Crown level resort in Hawaii that has maintenance fees under $1,000/week. The maintenance fees (with separately billed taxes) for Maui Banyan Vacation Club are under $1,400 per use week. The "special" bargain rental fees available for Maui Banyan through Interval International during high season range from $3,600 to $4,600 per week and those are for the Aston-managed, privately-owned units that vary in quality (a few are nicer than the Soliel Management timeshare units, but most are not as nice). Would it make sense to own if your intent was to trade for resort usage elsewhere? Probably not. You generally don't get equal value for Hawaii trades. Would it make sense to own if you live on the east coast and have to fly 3,000 more miles to go to Hawaii? Maybe not. But I don't trade and I live in a west coast-ish city with two separate airlines with direct 5-hour flights to Maui (Sacramento) and I have always had no issue reserving usage during high season since I have owned. Perhaps things can change in the future, but to date, I have no regrets.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,