Topic Wiki
Topic Wiki
What is a Timeshare?
How much does the cheapest basic retail option cost, what does it include, and how are the payments made?
This is DDF. Is there a “hack” to get it for cheaper than retail, preferably with extra perks?
Is this the laziest wiki ever created?
Nope. This is.
A "Timeshare" is basically where you buy a property (usually vacation) but only for a certain amount of time per year. For example- you can buy a timeshare in an orlando resort for a 2 bedroom villa for 2 weeks per year. You pay for the actual sale plus a management fee per year. This gives you the right to use this property usually for any 2 weeks during the year as long as it is available and you are considered an "owner". It is made for people who vacation alot in certain areas and enjoy certain properties. Some companies have a few different properties in different vacation spot and "owners can choose to use their timeshare in whichever one they want this gives them flexibility to vacation in different spots every year.
What you are probably hearing about is not what I just explained i.e. actually buying a timeshare, just a timeshare promotion. What it is basically is that properties are always trying to get people to buy timeshares and in order to do so they offer amazing deals to come spend time at their properties (alot of properties are also Hotels and resorts that sell parts off as timeshares) in exchange for a 90 minute sales seminar or a tour of the property which tend to be very aggressive and persuasive.
They may offer a deal to come for a few nights all inclusive for $99 in a hotel that would usually be a few hundred a night or other great deals to entice you to come check them out. Their seminars/sales pitches can actually be very convincing and almost make sense for an uninformed consumer. The key is the fine print where all the management fees come in etc...
What Dan is probably referring to above is to find out how much the timeshares are selling in the secondary market (there is a big market for this as people eventually realize they cant afford it or no longer want to use it etc... and they try to flip their timeshares) that way when they try their salespitch you would have an easy out by telling them how much you can buy one for less than they are asking and you wont need to sit through any further harassment.
I have spoken to people who have had great experiences doing these promotions and had a great vacation for very cheap. The main thing was to get the seminar out of the way and know how to deal with the selling tactics. Others have said it might not have been worth it.
try doing a google search for timeshare promotions or something like that. here is one site i just pulled up;
http://www.vacationtimesharerentals.com/timeshare-promotions-city.asp
You might have to sort through actual timeshare sale promotions and vacation deals to find what you want.
Make sure to read the requirements to qualify. I have heard of situations where people signed up and when it came to the seminar and it was realized that they didnt qualify they were told they would need to pay full price. I dont remember if they were successful in fighting it or not....
How much does the cheapest basic retail option cost, what does it include, and how are the payments made?
This is the basic gist of it: The lowest option is paying about 8k for 50 years. You have to put down 10% deposit and the rest you can pay up over 7 years about. Besides, each year there's a maintenance fee of $800. You receive about 40k points a year for this which you can use for vacation stays all over the world. For the cheapest option it's worth about 3-4 weeks free hotel stay. You can also use this towards air fare, car rental etc.... If you don't use all your points one year you can carry it over for the next year...
This is DDF. Is there a “hack” to get it for cheaper than retail, preferably with extra perks?
If you pay retail they are not worth it at all but you can literally get some for almost free on the secondary market. You can check out places at www.redweek.com. I would never have bought one but my mom got one that I have taken over from her (ie. we pay the annual dues of about $700) and it has been the best investment ever for us because it enables me to buy "getaway" weeks which are excess weeks at ridiculously low prices. Because my kids day school has "off" vacation times I'm not fighting for peak times. I just spent last week in Orlando at a gorgeous Marriott resort in a huge 2Br unit with a laundry and full kitchen for $550 for the whole WEEK! I have booked a week in Vail for next summer for $250 for the whole week and then I used my points to get a week in Breckenridge over July 4th. I've been to Ft. Lauderdale, S. California (Newport Beach and near San Diego), Phoenix and a bunch of other places in nice resorts like Marriotts and Westins and have definitely gotten great use out of ours. IF you buy on the secondary market, don't want to travel in peak times AND you are willing to plan far ahead they can be amazing deals (especially since I really prefer to have full kitchens and hate staying in hotel rooms with my kids unless there is great kosher food availability near by).
While they do have the all the Hilton timeshare properties in their network, I think that the programs that are part of Interval International are in general far superior and also Interval just has much better search tools and other things I like. I have used RCI once to trade my dad's timeshare and I have access to their website to get extra weeks but I always end up going back to use the II options because I think they are so much better. If you want to get one, I'd buy one on the secondary market that gets you access to II.
It's called Festiva it's kind of irrelevant as I've never once stayed within their system. The most important thing is that whatever you buy gives you good access and trading power with Interval International, so buy something in the secondary market on the beach, in The Rockies or the winter in AZ. Do NOT ever buy one in Vegas or Orlando as there is a huge glut there and they won't trade well (you can always buy a getaway week of you wanna go there).
Is this the laziest wiki ever created?
Nope. This is.
« Last edited by S209 on February 08, 2021, 11:22:24 PM »
