Poll: Timeshares

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[Deleted]

What's the difference between "I don't own one and never will" and "I vacation but choose my own hotels"?

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Dec 9, 2012 14:54:46 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

What's the difference between "I don't own one and never will" and "I vacation but choose my own hotels"?

oops, that is essentially the same thing...

I don't think I can modify the poll though!

[w2w]

I would love to do Exclusive Resorts one day. Kind of a timeshare concept.

[Poeticxpassion]

My grandma owns one, and I'm currently trying to sell it. She has had it for years and made payments but has never used it!

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Dec 9, 2012 15:09:33 GMT -5 Poeticxpassion said:

My grandma owns one, and I'm currently trying to sell it. She has had it for years and made payments but has never used it!

That sucks.

My parents bought one but they actually use it. It's inside Disney World (not a Disney timeshare though) and it's nice. It'll be good when there are grandkids to take to Disney!

[anna7602]

Dec 9, 2012 14:55:19 GMT -5 smiley said:

Dec 9, 2012 14:54:46 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

What's the difference between "I don't own one and never will" and "I vacation but choose my own hotels"?

oops, that is essentially the same thing...

I don't think I can modify the poll though!

Ah. I thought it was making a distinction between people who stay in hotels and people who own a vacation home that is not a timeshare or who stay in a family-owned vacation home or some other non-hotel arrangement on vacation.

[chessie]

I know people that have them and never use it. We have looked into them, but some years I am not able to get the time off, so obviously that be wasting the money. I still feel you can get better deals off the travel sites and just renting a condo somewhere.

[Deleted]

I vacation, but there are many, many reasons why I would never think about a timeshare. Not sure what the right answer for that is?

I don't think I'd want a vacation home, period, because I wouldn't want to go to the same place again and again.

[rubytue]

I love the concept,* but don't own one. Can't say I never will though b/c I stand to inherit 2 weeks at some point. For the time being, I stay at rented timeshares for about $350/week.

* clarification: concept = having a condo with a kitchen rather than ust a hotel room. Not concept of owning a week.

[Deleted]

H's grandma has a bunch and gave us two of her weeks. Luckily it is a very tradeable location/week. We've used it twice and plan on going back next December with Gizmo. We have two weeks banked that we aren't using this December that we plan to use someplace cool next summer. Maintenance is only $400 each year per week and we don't have to pay it the years we don't go. If I could have any time share in the world I would much prefer the Disney Vacation Club but this is way cheaper for us. We take a lot of vacations - aim for two international trips a year so I like the model.

[BaliHai]

We don't own one, but my parents do through Wyndham, and we used it for our honeymoon. If they ever asked us if we'd be interested in taking it over one day, we would most likely say yes. There are so many Wyndhams in so many places; I think it's nice to not really have to worry about accommodations when planning a trip.

[Deleted]

Dec 9, 2012 16:18:30 GMT -5 BaliHai said:

We don't own one, but my parents do through Wyndham, and we used it for our honeymoon. If they ever asked us if we'd be interested in taking it over one day, we would most likely say yes. There are so many Wyndhams in so many places; I think it's nice to not really have to worry about accommodations when planning a trip.

Picking nice accommodations is one of my favorite parts of planning a trip

[BaliHai]

Dec 9, 2012 16:26:31 GMT -5 v said:

Dec 9, 2012 16:18:30 GMT -5 BaliHai said:

We don't own one, but my parents do through Wyndham, and we used it for our honeymoon. If they ever asked us if we'd be interested in taking it over one day, we would most likely say yes. There are so many Wyndhams in so many places; I think it's nice to not really have to worry about accommodations when planning a trip.

Picking nice accommodations is one of my favorite parts of planning a trip

I think it's a lot of people's favorite part! I just find it really stressful.

[fortmyersbride]

We own one and have no regrets. Our property is Atlantis in the Bahamas, but we can trade it within the Starwood and interval international systems. But with young kids Atlantis is such a fun yearly vacation that we likely won't trade in the points for a long time. Our unit has two bedrooms, two baths, and two pull outs so it's perfect for vacationing with another family. Plus we bought the time share outright so we're just paying maintenance fees at this point. We also received 250,000 Starwood points when we bought it, so we haven't paid to spend the night in a hotel for a long time.

I should add that this isn't our only vacation per year though. If we only had the time or money to do one trip per year, I would be much less inclined to keep coming back to the same place.

[Deleted]

Just want to chime in that the first time share my parents ever bought over 30 years ago they paid full price - like 20k but now they are smarter. My dad bought one off ebay a few years ago for $14.99! No joke and has purchased subsequent deeded time shares for under $100. There are so many people off loading them and just want them gone that there are good deals out there and then my parents exchange them for weeks at other time share locations around the world.

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Dec 9, 2012 17:06:24 GMT -5 @switzerland said:

Just want to chime in that the first time share my parents ever bought over 30 years ago they paid full price - like 20k but now they are smarter. My dad bought one off ebay a few years ago for $14.99! No joke and has purchased subsequent deeded time shares for under $100. There are so many people off loading them and just want them gone that there are good deals out there and then my parents exchange them for weeks at other time share locations around the world.

There are always timeshares for sale! It's nice when you can exchange the points with a company like RCI (I think) and stay at almost any timeshare around the world.

[Redpoppy]

My FIL has a few time shares that he does not use. He offers them to us and we usually take a week a year. It is nice as two of them are drivable and make for a nice getaway. We will probably stick to using the Cape Cod one. It's nice as it is the week before summer "starts" there so we can catch the start of Cape Cod summer baseball league and the beaches are free to park at during the week. Now that we've gone a few times, we are starting to enjoy having familiar vacation activities. The one in NH DH went to as a kid, and not much changed since then, lol. It is nice for a long weekend, but not a week.