Would you take this free TS?

[rsnash]

I got a PM from another TUGGER earlier this week offering me her CCP week. To do my due diligence, I want some experienced TUGGER advice. This post is a little long, so thank you in advance for hearing me out.

I recently returned from CCP and wrote a nice trip report which you can read by clicking the link, if you'd like, but that's not the point of this thread. Anyway, the week she is offering me (for free) is a "fixed week, Deeded 2 bedroom poolside, week 49" (around the second week of December every year). She further explained:

"My family and I have enjoyed many trips to Club Cala, but now my children are grown and married and I find myself with too many timeshares [her TUG profile lists 7 TS + RCI points]. I would be willing to give it to you if you feel your family could get enjoyment out of it for the next several years."​

I replyed, basically saying "wow, how generous, why? costs?" Here is her reply:

"I'm just repaying another TUGGER thru you, as he gave me a MMC silver week that his family had outgrown. [Paying it forward, remember that movie?] My vacation plans are set for 2009 and 2010 and it would be a squeeze to try and fit in Club Cala as well, so it's better that someone who enjoys the location will benefit from it. In addition, some very good friends have recently purchased a home in PR and we would most likely stay with them when my husband and I visit the island.

"Week 49 is usually the first or second week in December. When my children where in school, I would trade for Thanksgiving week or another week for spring break. We always had great weather.

"The maintenance fees are $984. I will call to find out what the closing fees are. We purchased resale in 2000 and my closing file doesn't indicate any closing costs, but the resort is now managed by Royal Holiday Club (they've done all the renovations), so they may now charge a fee."
​

I don't think we'd be going to PR every year, maybe every 2-3 years, but we currently only own one TS (bought direct through Marriott 8 years ago, wish I had known about TUG then!). My dh gets 3 weeks of vacation each year. We usually use 1 week of TS as an exchange, do another as an II Getaway (usually for less than $500), and the other vacation days get spent at home as various days throughout the year, although now that I'm planning in advance, I hope to have 3 real vacations per year. I have noticed that a lot of the places I want to go are not available as Getaways, only as exchanges, or are more than I want to spend on a Getaway (also just discovered DAE bonus weeks, which are even cheaper, if more limited in destinations). So, it would be helpful to have a second trader unit.

I couldn't find any current or past eBay sales, here's CCP's page on Redweek. I didn't do a full presentation while there, but I think they are trying to sell retail for around $10K for the points worth a week. I showed the salesman current pricing on eBay for similar points and he was shocked.

Now that I have learned so much more from TUG, and my DH has a good steady gig (in the past he was an independent consultant) with regular vacation time, I'm able to do more planning in advance. So, I suppose I will make good use of this unit for trades. My only real concern is $. If the maintenance fees were $860 last year (I called the resort, she is fully paid up through 2008, they didn't know what 2009 will be, but as you can see from her reply, she's gotten her bill for $984) it seems a big jump. On the other hand, it was recently taken over by Royal Holidays and they've been doing some major renovations to the resort. This is also more MF$ than my Marriott 2 BR. Is that typical for Caribbean TS?

Even so, I am leaning towards doing it. So, what other questions should I ask her? As I mentioned, my only other purchase was direct through Marriott, so I don't know from closing companies, although it sounds to be a friendly transfer. Do I need to do a title search/insurance?

Please, any other advice for me or questions I should pose, I'd be very grateful.

 

[Laurie]

Rachel,

I don't know anything about this resort, but I would never ever accept any timeshare for week 49 anywhere (especially somewhere I had to fly to use) with such a high maintenance fee. That's one of the lowest-trade-power weeks on the calendar.

If you want to go there every 2-3 years, you can probably pick up bonus week at less than half the cost of that maintenance fee.

If you want a free week, you can get lots of free weeks for much less $ per year - and many with free closing costs.

That week probably has almost no resale value, and if you change your mind about the ownership, you'd probably have a hard time finding someone else to take it off your hands, even for free.

The only exception to the above advice would be if you were absolutely positive that you want to go only to that resort, every year, during that exact week - nothing else would make you happy - and that circumstances weren't likely to change for you, no matter how much airfare goes up, etc. Otherwise, no!

Hope that helps,

Laurie

 

[dfjkl]

Being new to this myself and not having purchased anything yet...can you explain to me why that week has such a poor trade value? The Carribbean in Dec. seems like it would be a good thing. Is there some chart somewhere describing what are "good weeks" and "bad weeks?"

 

[sernow]

Do you need a 2 bedroom unit? I see a 11/09 getaway for CCP listed for about $500, but it's a 1 bedroom.

 

[sernow]

Being new to this myself and not having purchased anything yet...can you explain to me why that week has such a poor trade value? The Carribbean in Dec. seems like it would be a good thing. Is there some chart somewhere describing what are "good weeks" and "bad weeks?"

Go to Interval International and on CCP's page there is a link called Travel Demand Index, where you will find that week 49 is rated market average.

 

[dfjkl]

Go to Interval International and on CCP's page there is a link called Travel Demand Index, where you will find that week 49 is rated market average.

Thank you!!

 

[NTHC]

Due to the nature of my business, we get offers for free timeshares all the time. I would not consider a week 49 in the caribbean with a maintenance fee of $1000 unless I planned to use it 99% of the time and felt there were no other options available. There are extra holidays and rentals available during that timeframe that are far less than that amount and once it is banked you have a week, that with an exchange fee and II membership fees has a cost over $1200 per year.

That being said, I do not know how the week trades and I think it is very gracious of a tugger to make an offer like that.

I would just not be comfortable with that high of a maintenance fee.

JMHO,
Cindy

 

[ilene13]

where and what is CCP?

 

[funtime]

This is probably the first of many such offers

I like "shoulder season" weeks but a week 49 slips over to low, low season. If you go on ebay you will see that most deep low season (and some shoulder season weeks) at second and third tier resorts are being offered with "free closing" or "reduced closing." Since the weeks end up going for anywhere from 1.00 to 99.00 these are in essence free weeks as well.

The good news is to treat some of these shoulder week as personal getaways rather than as the big yearly family vacation. In other words, places that you can go to four four days or take a little work or go with friends instead of family. That works as long as the maintenance fees are low. In other words, look at them differently than the summer vacation timeshare.

 

[Vacation Dude]

$1,000 annual dues for a place in Puerto Rico in mid-December is definately NOT free and I would pass.

 

[AwayWeGo]

The El Freebo Timeshares Keep On A-Coming.

Click here for another free timeshare story.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[caribbean]

If you think this is a place that you would like to visit frequently, you would probably be better off purchasing a resale Royal Holiday Club. It takes 28500 points to reserve a 2BR for all but holiday weeks. So if you pick up a real cheap 30,000 pts package or a Presidential unit in the old weeks RHC system, you can just book in there on any available week for a lot lower MF. Or if you don't need a 2BR, it would be even less. And if you don't want to go every year, just book elsewhere in the RHC system without having to pay RCI or II for a trade. I am sure the MF would be a lot less than $1000. JMHO. Good luck.

 

[rsnash]

I agree that I think I should pass on this offer. The trip we took there in October was an II Getaway for $400. It really doesn't make sense to own and pay more MF than it would take to rent. The only time it is frustrating to only own 1 2BR TS is when the only thing available where you want is a studio and only as an exchange. That's what I'm looking at right now for a last minute decision to go away during Christmas week this year. There are a couple of places available where we are interested, but only studios and not as Getaways but Exchanges. I just can't bring myself to trade a 2BR Marriott for a no name studio, just because it is in the Caribbean. But if I had half a lock off to trade, I would do it.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Hi, Rachel, I received your P.M.'s and don't really have any specific advice for you on this particular week. I do have my own criteria for any timeshare that I am going to use for exchange purposes, and because that is what I do with most of my weeks, I try to pay MF's of around $600 or so at the most for a good trader.

My best traders with RCI have maintenance fees that are less, and my best traders with II have gone from $440 in 2006 to $615 for 2009. I am not shocked at the increases, because I know the resort needed some major work on the exterior, including the re-builidng of retaining walls that were deteriorating. I just pray it doesn't go much higher.

I guess my advice is not to buy, especially if this resort is an easy trade. If it isn't an easy trade, and you want to go there often, then you should buy it, but I wouldn't use it for trading because it is much too expensive to use it that way.

Good luck with your decision. This decision is going to ultimately be yours alone. With no purchase price, it becomes much more attractive.

 

[pammex]

You certainly have a lot to ponder....no one ever offered me a free timeshare, so I can't say what I would think, but if you would go there all the time, then hey...it is just the MF and depending on closing costs might be worth pursueing.

I have one in Ixtapa Mexico that is a penthouse with 900 plus MF, but I would not give it away...I love it...

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Laurie]

Being new to this myself and not having purchased anything yet...can you explain to me why that week has such a poor trade value? The Carribbean in Dec. seems like it would be a good thing. Is there some chart somewhere describing what are "good weeks" and "bad weeks?"

I don't know that resort and I'm not a member of II, but have found that in RCI, weeks 49 and 50 between Thanksgiving and Christmas, even in some nice warm places, would be among the lowest trade-power weeks. Most folks are at home, preparing for the winter holiday. High season in the Caribbean starts in January, or maybe Christmas week.