Timeshares?

[hammer]

We bought a Walt Disney World timeshare a number of years back...got it on the resale market at a good price. I'm fine with Disney World but not an enthusiast...my wife, however, would be happy going there every year if we could. We bought into the Old Key West resort, which is the oldest timeshare but IMO is the nicest, especially since the 1 BR units are much larger than any of the other properties.

Overall I'm glad we made the purchase, but that's because we're Disney World regulars. I would have never bought one if we needed to use it for exchanges on a regular basis...we've done a few exchanges, but it's not an easy process, even with having a "desirable" property to offer.

As others have said, in order for a timeshare to work, you have to want to go to your property on a regular basis. Also, if you wanted a place to go to for more than a week, it can get more expensive, and at that point purchasing a condo may be a better way to go.

 

[drjeff]

My wife bought Sheraton Vistana 10 years ago with her parents. That's where we're staying now. Because her parents names are on the deed 1st, they get all the benefits and crap. The whole points thing confuses me.

Used to be a real simple sytem to understand. The good thing atleast with Sheraton Vistana in orlando is that all 52 weeks are prime/gold/whatever the "best" weeks are so that means that you can trade with any available resort any week of the year. Now there's just a Sheraton/Starwood "internal" network to trade through or you can pay the extra $90 or so and trade through the larger RCI network if you choose. Plus, every other year, if you choose, instead of staying in your time share for the alotted time, you can choose to take the point value of your property in Starwood points which you can then use at any of Starwood's non time share properties.

WOW, great post. I need to re-read this when I'm not in a post-hangover state:blink:

Try reading it in the buzzed state for even better results! :beer: :lol:

Thanks. Mrs Root really wants to upgrade her TS here and have the ability to trade points to stay at other locations for ski trips. I think it would be better just to book trips over the internet, or maybe get a 2nd TS at a ski destination like DocJeff has.

Root, if you haven't made the trek to the otherside of Sea World/I Drive to check out Vistana Villages, do so! They put us up there last October since the Cascades part of Vistana where were deeded to was under rennovation and Vistana Villages was a bit nicer than the "regular" Vistana IMHO! Enjoy the sun!

 

[RootDKJ]

Used to be a real simple sytem to understand. The good thing atleast with Sheraton Vistana in orlando is that all 52 weeks are prime/gold/whatever the "best" weeks are so that means that you can trade with any available resort any week of the year. Now there's just a Sheraton/Starwood "internal" network to trade through or you can pay the extra $90 or so and trade through the larger RCI network if you choose. Plus, every other year, if you choose, instead of staying in your time share for the alotted time, you can choose to take the point value of your property in Starwood points which you can then use at any of Starwood's non time share properties.

Yeah, I feel somehow we're getting screwed on this...

Try reading it in the buzzed state for even better results! :beer: :lol:

Not gonna drink today...at least until 3pm. :lol:

Root, if you haven't made the trek to the otherside of Sea World/I Drive to check out Vistana Villages, do so! They put us up there last October since the Cascades part of Vistana where were deeded to was under rennovation and Vistana Villages was a bit nicer than the "regular" Vistana IMHO! Enjoy the sun!

We're in the Cascades now. We were told that renovations here won't start until next March, and will take a year to complete. They have a demo unit set up and I got some pics of the interior. I'll post em up later. It does look pretty nice.

Service here has kinda taken a turn for the worse. The bar at the Cascades pool (the one with the big waterfall) is now closing before 8pm (even on Fri/Sat nights), so if you want to go to the bar, you have to head over to the Superpool and drink at Zimmie's. The bartender there told me this is the slowest summer he's seen in the 4 years he's been working here. They do have a pretty decent Belgian White on tap, very similar in flavor to Long Trail's

We have had numerous other issues with the service. The refrigerator wasn't working upon our arrival. Ice maker was broken also It took three phone calls to get that going. Hot tub at the Cascades pool isn't working and the one at the Superpool is missing about 6 inches of water:blink:. My step-mother wanted an extra blanket, so I called housekeeping...who delivered it two days later (after she left).:roll:

We've filed an incident report...whatever good that will do.

Father in-law was taken back into the hospital for kidney stones again last night, so Mrs Root is kinda freaking out about that and has been on the phone all morning. We're off to the Fountains pool now to (try) to relax, but she's talking about trying to catch an early flight home.:???:

 

[Vince]

Trading for western ski timeshares on RCI takes a bit of planning. There is a lot of availability in the fringe season Dec and April. But the meat of the ski season is limited. You have to plan ahead and check the listings often for when something pops up and act quick. If your not inclined to do this the trading aspect will not be of much value to you. In general there is also a bigger supply for trade at the overbuilt places like front range Colorado than the middle of nowhere places like Sun Valley and Telluride.

A lot of the "Time Share For Sale" websites offer weekly rentals that seem to be less than the going rate. I have seen rentals for different Hyatt's and Marriott's on there.