Joining a timeshare is like joining a gym...if only makes sense if you use it as much as possible.
And most people don't.

They make ZERO sense. I don't understand why people fall for this and don't just rent an apartment, house, or book a hotel for 2 weeks a year. So stupid.

I know some financially smart people that have bought the Marriott timeshares. They've changed the program over the last couple years so that it's easy to use your points at any Marriot property, but you have a special priority where you own. I've stayed at a couple of them and they are very nice resorts. We paid about 2K to rent a week at one this year from a time share owner.

I wouldn't buy a timeshare unless you are getting additional benefits such as year-round access to property amenities such as a pool (if you are close enough and can make use of amenities).

I rent from timeshare owners when I want to. I don't see the need to actually be a timeshare owner and be stuck with that.

if you are determined to buy a timeshare, buy it on the re-sale market and NOT from the developer (is Marriott)

See redfin.com for re-sales.

But true fully, just don't buy one.

My parents owned a timeshare with Bluegreen. They sold it when we grew up and no longer needed an annual vacation in a townhouse on the lake. I ended up working for Bluegreen in grad school and can confirm it is a ripoff and a huge headache.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We inherited 2 timeshares from IL's and are stuck paying maintenance fees that are up to $2000 a year even if we don't use them. They're in a location we aren't interested in at this time. So we pay MORE for an exchange company, RCI We can use the points to stay somewhere else if we can find it available. It all costs more than just booking what we want. Maintenance fees go up regularly and it's out of our control. Some timeshares have a set number of years, but ours are considered deeds and they stay in our family forever. I think we can try to transfer them to someone else if anyone wants to take on the fees. We might try that eventually. Right now our RCI points are expiring because there aren't any exchanges where we're travelling.

If you want to buy a timeshare, don't buy it from the salespeople at the resorts. You can find them online from owners like us, sometimes free. You pay a small transer fee, do the paperwork and take over the maintenance fees.

Yup, I posted earlier that it cost us $5000 to turn the inherited timeshare back in.

pp here. Did you pay the resort $5000 to turn the timeshare back to them? We started looking into it, but were told by timeshare staff that because ours are deeds we can't. We couldn't even find the contracts that inlaws signed so we don't know what our rights are to dump these.

I don't understand what you mean when you say, you were forced to takeover the deed through an inheritance. I can't think of any state that would enforce someone to accept a piece of property through an inheritance. You can decline an inheritance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We inherited 2 timeshares from IL's and are stuck paying maintenance fees that are up to $2000 a year even if we don't use them. They're in a location we aren't interested in at this time. So we pay MORE for an exchange company, RCI We can use the points to stay somewhere else if we can find it available. It all costs more than just booking what we want. Maintenance fees go up regularly and it's out of our control. Some timeshares have a set number of years, but ours are considered deeds and they stay in our family forever. I think we can try to transfer them to someone else if anyone wants to take on the fees. We might try that eventually. Right now our RCI points are expiring because there aren't any exchanges where we're travelling.

If you want to buy a timeshare, don't buy it from the salespeople at the resorts. You can find them online from owners like us, sometimes free. You pay a small transer fee, do the paperwork and take over the maintenance fees.

Yup, I posted earlier that it cost us $5000 to turn the inherited timeshare back in.

pp here. Did you pay the resort $5000 to turn the timeshare back to them? We started looking into it, but were told by timeshare staff that because ours are deeds we can't. We couldn't even find the contracts that inlaws signed so we don't know what our rights are to dump these.

Anonymous wrote:We inherited 2 timeshares from IL's and are stuck paying maintenance fees that are up to $2000 a year even if we don't use them. They're in a location we aren't interested in at this time. So we pay MORE for an exchange company, RCI We can use the points to stay somewhere else if we can find it available. It all costs more than just booking what we want. Maintenance fees go up regularly and it's out of our control. Some timeshares have a set number of years, but ours are considered deeds and they stay in our family forever. I think we can try to transfer them to someone else if anyone wants to take on the fees. We might try that eventually. Right now our RCI points are expiring because there aren't any exchanges where we're travelling.

If you want to buy a timeshare, don't buy it from the salespeople at the resorts. You can find them online from owners like us, sometimes free. You pay a small transer fee, do the paperwork and take over the maintenance fees.

Yup, I posted earlier that it cost us $5000 to turn the inherited timeshare back in.

Go to Ripoffreport.com and type in some of the names of time share companies, you would be surprised what they are really like.

You could try something more high end like Exclusive Resorts, where you aren't linked to a brand property. It is a bit more like a vacation concierge service with access to amazing places.

We inherited 2 timeshares from IL's and are stuck paying maintenance fees that are up to $2000 a year even if we don't use them. They're in a location we aren't interested in at this time. So we pay MORE for an exchange company, RCI We can use the points to stay somewhere else if we can find it available. It all costs more than just booking what we want. Maintenance fees go up regularly and it's out of our control. Some timeshares have a set number of years, but ours are considered deeds and they stay in our family forever. I think we can try to transfer them to someone else if anyone wants to take on the fees. We might try that eventually. Right now our RCI points are expiring because there aren't any exchanges where we're travelling.

If you want to buy a timeshare, don't buy it from the salespeople at the resorts. You can find them online from owners like us, sometimes free. You pay a small transer fee, do the paperwork and take over the maintenance fees.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've owned in Hilton Grand Vacation Club for 10+ years. My husband owned before we met, so he's the one who knows the ins and outs of ownership, but I can comment on the properties.

Some can be worn down and others sort of corporate conference in feel, but I have no real complaints. It's much like renting a house or condo in that we always have a suite with kitchen and balcony wherever we stay. Also daily housekeeping. I think the best is that the location always beats what we could get with resort booking. For example, our "home" property is in Miami, right in South Beach in a lovely Art Deco hotel (not run down at all). that's at the quiet end of the strip. In Breckenridge (or maybe it was Vail - I can't remember) we had a ski-out room next to slopes. The property in Puerto Vallarta needed updates, but it was set into the side of a mountain overlooking the water and my favorite memory is sitting in the hot tub on the huge balcony and watching Pelicans fly by so closely you could look them in the eye.

You can also use points with other timeshare operators, though I can't remember what they are at the moment.

Sucker. Timeshares are worthless. You can rent out a fabulous home and give away the keys at any of these locations for less money. Plus you pay taxes and maintenance cost.

We have less time/opportunity to take advantage of it now that we're parents, but when we were childless we were using it 3-4 times/year and it definitely seemed worth it. So easy to book a suite for a quick getaway to Miami or a ski trip out west. We were always paying hotel room rates for what was essentially a fully furnished bungalow or condo in a premium location. We went to St. Marten often enough for staff to recognize us and felt like we got the family-style hospitality.

I agree it's not for people who want high-end luxury, nor those who need to plan and save a year out from their one big annual vacation. But for us, it's meant destinations we wouldn't have known about/considered otherwise (like Breckenridge and St. Martin) and having a great, easy going experience that would have cost us 3x what we actually spent.

I'm not trying to sell anyone on the idea, just sharing that it's been pretty good for us. We haven't used it in the years since we became parents except to transfer points to the Hilton Honors system to stay at various properties. I think the annual fee is something around $1000, which is not a big deal for us but may be for other people. In the meantime, we look forward to their catalog every year and thinking about places we want to go. We've been working on our resolve to forego spring break vacation and do one big trip to Fiji - the Hilton property there looks amazing.

Timeshare and fractional ownership are obsolete now with AirBnB and others in place.