Wife & I Work Remote, No Kids, Love To Travel Advice

[TheReleaseGr]

My wife and I work remote with good income, no 'home/rent' we live in a renovated van actually but don't mind flying around enjoying resorts etc. We have no kids, we are in our mid twenties. We love to travel... and have the ability to do 'last minute' things currently with our life situation.

This is an "If I Were You I Would" question.

Would timeshare points be beneficial for us? (we love Mexico in specific and do like the resorts more than hostile/random hotels approach)
What membership or company would you do if you were us?
Any great hacks out there?

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[ScoopKona]

From the sounds of it, you travel like my wife and I do.

Only very rarely (this year in fact), has my wife said, "I want to go to this location, for this time of year, because that's what I want for my first year of retirement."

But usually, we agree on a time to travel -- usually two or three weeks at such-and-such time of the year. And then I see what's available. "Do you want to go to Singapore, Malta or Rio?" (And probably many more places.)

If the answer is "yes, Singapore" I start the reservation process. I have enough time to hop on Kayak and check flights. If they're not ridiculous (in either time or cost), I book the week and the airfare all in one go. In this case, I would book one-way to Singapore and then a return flight from a different city. No way we're flying that far and only seeing one place.

Since timeshares absolutely will not cover 100% of travel needs, I then start padding the trip with other stuff -- in this case, train trips down into Malaysia. If I can find a week that works in Kuala Lumpur, I may very well grab that. Or AirBnB or hotels or whatever. Worst case scenario, my wife waits at the train station with the bags and I speed-walk around the city finding a hotel which works. This was SOP for us in the old days. And we still have to do this occasionally.

 

[travelhacker]

My wife and I work remote with good income, no 'home/rent' we live in a renovated van actually but don't mind flying around enjoying resorts etc. We have no kids, we are in our mid twenties. We love to travel... and have the ability to do 'last minute' things currently with our life situation.

This is an "If I Were You I Would" question.

Would timeshare points be beneficial for us? (we love Mexico in specific and do like the resorts more than hostile/random hotels approach)
What membership or company would you do if you were us?
Any great hacks out there?

Thanks so much in advance!

Where would you like to travel? I have a remote job and my wife is a stay at home mom since our youngest kids aren't quite in school yet.

Timeshares work out great for our family. They are very limited in terms of destinations (relative to hotels and Airbnb). However, if you can work within the limitations, you can do very well.

 

[geekette]

In Mexico, I like Pueblo Bonito. They are not a large chain.

Beware points, there can be a lot of extra fees associated with some points systems. I do own Bluegreen, but once I've paid maintenance, there aren't extra fees. Make a reservation, even same day, and go. No fee to make reservation for someone else, either (the ole Guest Certificate junk fee). No housekeeping fees, etc.

I made a lot of use of offseason cheap weeks and Hot Weeks in the past several months (Jan 1 to approx March 20, I was in timeshares, only January was planned in advance). I paid no extra $, just used my points.

Just be sure if you look into points that you drill down into the details as nickel and diming is quite popular, and it will vary by system. You might be ok with it, but you'd still want to know why those nickels and dimes get charged.

 

[dioxide45]

The main problem with timeshare and even point systems is that last minute travel is usually limited to certain regions where supply is high and demand is low. Think, Las Vegas, Palm Desert in the summer, Orlando much of the year except peak holiday weeks. An inherent problem with much of Mexico is that many properties are mandatory all inclusive. Meaning you have to buy the AI package which results in a very expensive trip. Since you live a somewhat nomadic life, your issue may be that you are in one location when you find something in another and it requires flights. Flights can make a trip much more expensive and a real PIA if you do it a lot.

You could try looking for an RCI points contract or even something that would give you access to II getaways. Then you can book last call and getaway weeks at more reasonable prices.

We are in a similar situation in that we have flexibility to travel when we want, no kids and work remote. We do have a condo but we spent over 30 weeks in timeshare in 2021. Traveling during low season and somewhat last minute makes it much more affordable.

 

[CPNY]

Buy a 2 bedroom Westin lagunamar week. You can turn that into two weeks. Then Get access to interval and use many getaways and or exchanges

 

[ScoopKona]

Make sure to shop around. I routinely turn my one week into three or four weeks. The maintenance fees don't sting nearly as much if you're wringing a solid month of vacation from a single week.

 

[MOXJO7282]

If you have true travel flexibility I say don't buy anything and hunt for last minute cancellations that are always there. This way you have no upfront costs and many of these deals will be less than maintenance fees, especially if you like Mexico resorts that are easy to pick up for pennies on the dollar.

 

[macmanrider]

My wife and I work remote with good income, no 'home/rent' we live in a renovated van actually but don't mind flying around enjoying resorts etc. We have no kids, we are in our mid twenties. We love to travel... and have the ability to do 'last minute' things currently with our life situation.

This is an "If I Were You I Would" question.

Would timeshare points be beneficial for us? (we love Mexico in specific and do like the resorts more than hostile/random hotels approach)
What membership or company would you do if you were us?
Any great hacks out there?

Thanks so much in advance!

The one good think about mexico is you can only own a deed for 30 yrs they you can buy into it again i don't think points is a deed. We own fixed weeks at costa sur in PV mexico. Or get a TS where you can use day use as you live in a van you can use the day use all year round so check that it has a gym showers pool and internet and what every else you need have fun enjoy plus you get 1 week a year or 1 week every 2 year keep reading TUG is the best

 

[Jan M.]

We own several of the highest point weeks at Grandview at Las Vegas which gives us an RCI points account. The highest point one bedroom week is 61k points with 2022 maintenance fees of $438.50 and the two bedroom is 122k points/$877. The two bedroom units at the Vacation Village properties are typically two bedroom lock off units which are 2 one bedroom units connected by a shared vestibule and doors to each unit that lock.

Grandview is part of the Vacation Village family of properties and owning at one of them gets us two Extra Weeks a year that require no points to book. The weeks are within 45 days of the check in date and you only pay about the exchange fee. The exchange fee just went up $10 to $269 today. That's also how Last Call weeks work too although they can cost more depending on the unit size. RCI sometimes runs promos for $50 off Last Call weeks. There's better inventory in the VV Extra Weeks than there is in Last Call weeks and those Extra Weeks cost a little less too.

Vacation Village periodically has special offers. Last year I took advantage of one to book the week of September 3-10 in a one bedroom at Grandview at Las Vegas for $199 and no points needed. If I hadn't waited until just before the special offer was ending I might have been able to get a two bedroom there. However I was happy to get the week of Labor Day weekend and that weekend was also DH's birthday. A double win.

We're retired now but before DH retired he was home based and set his own work schedule for his territory which was all of Florida from Sarasota across to Fort Pierce down to Key West. We are and were able to take advantage of the discounted point reservations I'd find in the last month before check in.

We have a lot of points to use up for this year so last night before the exchange fee went up I booked three weeks in a two bedroom unit in single reservation at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations property Holiday Hills in Branson for May 2023. There was another resort that I could have booked three weeks at but we looked at the amenities at this resort and and really liked them. That's something to consider when you have a longer stay. That used up 90k points and the exchange fee for the longer stay was $309. It went up to $319 today so I saved a whole $10, lol. The bigger deal is that I would have paid three exchange fees of $269 each if I'd booked those weeks separately. Not all resorts allow you to book longer than 7 night stays in one reservation to save on the exchange fee but you can often do that with the Vacation Village properties and some others. You just have to play around looking so see what's available.

Figuring that our 2022 maintenance fees on a 122k week are $877 and I used 90k points for that three week stay with a $309 change fee that comes out to $318,65 per week. I booked it yesterday and that gives until 11:59pm ET tonight to cancel that stay and get all our points and the exchange fee back. Here's what I need to think about. There's usually plenty of availability in Branson so I can reasonably expect to find discounted point weeks or use our VV Extra Weeks for approximately the same cost. The downside in doing that is there isn't a good chance that I'd find something that would keep us at the same resort in the same unit for three weeks. We did a 110 night trip this Spring; 14 resorts in 8 states and all timeshare stays. Moving once a week for our first 7 weeks of that trip got really old. Our next stay was 3 weeks at Worldmark Lake of The Ozarks and they kept us in the same unit. We had a beautiful view, a nice balcony we made good use of, a fireplace in our unit that we really enjoyed using in the evenings and a great fitness center and pool for DH to work out and swim. Btw we both recommend the tour at Ozark Distillery and Brewery. I could've and should've booked us two weeks in one resort earlier in our stay but wanted to experience all the resorts and areas we stayed at. Lesson learned.

For anyone wondering why we would want three weeks in Branson it's because on our stay in Branson this year we did several of those travel group and timeshare presentations for money and show tickets. Doing them is usually a hard no for us but I knew that Branson is the one place to do them if you have the time and and know to just say no at the presentations. We made out like bandits with cash and free show tickets. When we went back to collect our last payout from the ticket center we were offered a 24 ticket package for $143 that includes 2 tickets to a production at the Sight and Sound Theater. We have two years to use those 24 tickets however and whenever we want. That package wasn't what was originally offered but I've learned to ask what else do you have and what about ...?

Branson is the next stop after a two week stay in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We stayed at The Wharf in Hot Springs this year and really liked the resort and our unit so I booked two weeks for next year. If you purchase an annual membership at a participating garden or arboretum it gets you into 300 others. Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs is lovely and participates. We also have a senor lifetime National Park pass. So far we haven't made nearly as good of use of it as some timeshare owners have.

We pay to have the platinum benefits with RCI and for us it's worth it. I don't have to pay to set up ongoing searches. We've gotten some fantastic upgrades to larger units or different resorts too. You can create a list of 4 other resorts in addition to the one you've booked to request an upgrade within 14 days of the check in date. Another benefit is longer to use your points without having to pay to extend them.