Timeshares & Vacation Clubs - Are you a Member

[AlphaVictor]

Thought it better to do this via a poll.

Am looking at the vacation club options, Trendwest, Accor VC, Hilton, Marriott etc and wanted to see what the popularity is here on the board. Feel free to add your comments. The only thing I know for sure is that I will be buying resale not from the actual club. (I cant believe the price differences!)

Which timeshare or vacation ownership program or club are you a member of?

 

[drron]

I bought into the original hilton Club in NYC.3 months ago i could have sold on the resale market for more than i paid though probably is heading south now.Because of this if I dont sell I have hhonors gold for another 22 years.
I bought as my son was moving to NYC.We can also swap to HGVC points or RCI points so still can get benefit even if not going to NYC.The points setup is better IMHO as you are not tied to regular weeks.Certainly make sure of all the costs involved-management fees,point swap fees etc as they add up.
I guess in the next 12 months there will be some distressed sellers on the market so waiting may be an option.

 

[NM]

The only thing I know for sure is that I will be buying resale not from the actual club. (I cant believe the price differences!)

Perhaps that fact in itself indicates the value that some current members believe their investment currently represents

 

[straitman]

The only thing I know for sure is that I will be buying resale not from the actual club. (I cant believe the price differences!)

AlphaVictor,

We have used timeshare through RCI for many years and have had some great vacations. Things went through a down period about 10 years ago but have improved again in recent years.

We have never used our home resort (Lakes Entrance) which we bought quite cheaply from friends who were defaulting on their maintenance. We have exchanged throughout Oz, NZ and around the world.

Like you I would never buy from the resort direct.

Availability can be compared to FF usage in principle though there is much better availability. ie plan ahead and you will almost always get exactly what you want. Having a little flexibility and you never have an issue.

 

[JohnK]

I don't mind going along to dinners and presentations, if I have the time, and receiving free gifts but timeshare has never appealed to me.

In my opinion timeshare companies are dodgy and as someone else mentioned buying on the open market reflects the true value of the timeshare. Also if I invested the amount I would spend upfront on the timeshare and taking into consideration yearly maintenance fees I would definitely have a better holiday each year at my leisure and not be restricted by timeshare availability.

 

[jgm]

Have had timeshare for over 18 years now. A few weeks back, we sold our 3 weeks to a group not on your list "Interchange Vacation Club" for points. The majority of our exchanges have been international - mainly skiing, and have saved us $thousands. As an example, we have had apartments at Whistler (2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen sleeping 6) in peak season for well under $1k/week when you take membership, exchange fees and maintenance into account. The going rate for a 3 star unit with similar specs is up to CA$1000/NIGHT in peak periods, & most of our exchanges have been into far higher class units than that.

IMHO, points are the way to go, as the timeshare club owns the time & you don't have to rely on someone to deposit their time before there is availability. It also takes away the "like for like" issues, so you can access any location at any time as long as you have sufficient points.

We have also kept up our RCI membership which has come in handy with bonus weeks.

If you can work far enough ahead, you can usually what you are looking for, or at least get fairly close.