Timeshare the good vs. the bad

Anyone here purchase a time share and regret they did? Or was a smart decision? Let's here your thought.
This week while in Waikiki I went to the hilton hawaillian village timeshare presentation and somehow walk out a hilton timeshare owner, I was not planning to buy but ended up purchase a 1 bedroom ocean view at the Hilton hawaillian, not sure if I made a wise decision. Let's here your thought

So what did they give you to attend the presentation? Just curious.

Time shares aren't bad if you use it. Most of the time, you use it a lot in the first few years but as time goes on, life catches up and you aren't so fresh with the area anymore so you stop going. Once that happens, the timeshare may be difficult to unload when the time comes.

I'll second the above. I have a timeshare at Snowbird for skiing and snowboarding. You are much better off if you buy one used, the resale on most is awful and you can find one a lot of times for 1/2 price or less. In the long run it would have been a lot more flexible for similar cost to just rent them when you wanted to go.

On the plus side, since we had it I was still able to go every year, even once my family decided they didn't want to go anymore. Let's just say my friends and coworkers love that I bought it.

I hope you got a really good deal. I'm actually curious to sit in one of those presentations to see why people end up signing up for them.

Anyway, my parents own a Timeshare and I honestly can't think of one good reason why they have it or why I would ever want to own one.

They paid all this money for a place that you can use 1 week a year. That's great if you absolutely love the place, but then you have to pay yearly maintenance fees and usually have to pay a fee if you want to trade it with another.

Here's a much better option, just book any hotel you want, anytime, and anywhere in the world. You won't pay any fees and you won't have to put up thousands of dollars up front. Even better, just use AirBnB instead.

My experience is mainly from my parents, since I don't own one. They almost never ever use it, so they end up getting "points" to use to book anywhere using the RCI network. They give the points to me and while the RCI network is extensive, many of the properties are just average or below. Also there are tons of restrictions like they have to be booked 7 day periods from Saturday to Saturday. The booking and research website is also HORRIBLE. It is nearly impossible to use.

If you do side by side comparison with a given property (take Hilton for example) you can almost always book it cheaper and easier directly on Hilton.com (once you do the math).
http://www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com/?WT.srch=1
I book Marriott timeshare units all the time for $99 a night in Palm Springs. There's no additional fees and I can book whenever I want to go.

I agree with Happa. My sister in law scouts out time share sites where owners sell their weeks. I got a week at the 4 seasons Aviara for like $1200 a few years ago, and we regularly get beach side at a Wyndham for just over $100 per night.
We don't have a guaranteed spot, but with no money down and no commitment, get most of the benefits.

All great points, the Hilton gave me a 6 nite stay with a sunset dinner cruise, a 10k hilton honors points and a $200 credit to stay at any hilton in return I seat through the 90 min presentation. Before seating in I told myself I'm not buying anything , but at the end the bonus points to use was so awesome. I usually takes 6-8 wks vac with my families so being able to use Hilton time share plus all the rci was awesome. I got the last of the 1 bedroom ocean view with 3 weeks of stay bonus for their promotion. Then every year you get a week stay. The only downside is maintenance fee $1200 year. I figure it will pay for itself in about 6 year and I can choose to sale it if I like being in Hawaii it's very desirable
of course you got to cough up the money upfront but you are owner of Hilton timeshare to use anywhere in the world

I have a two unit timeshare in Maui through Starwood hotels. The timeshare is at the west in resort. I rarely go. However, I can cash in my timeshare weeks into Starwood hotel or resort points. So basically anywhere I choose to stay when I vacation I basically stay free by using my converted points at the W hotel or a Westin resort. Or Sheratin if I wanna go budget. If you choose to own a timeshare, use a large corporate conglomerate company....

I bought one in Maui about ten years ago after getting sucked into a tour.. At the time it was $18,500 for a one week a year ocean view for the one bedroom condo.. Yearly maintenance fees were like $690 a year... It was owned by Suntera and it was run by embassy suites at the time so they had a great thing with free cocktail party from 4-6pm for owners..sold!!! :tongue:A few years later it was bought out by diamond resorts and they started updating all the rooms and what not.. ....and killed off the free cocktail party for owners...Then the fees started going up and up and up... Every frickin year!!! Now it is like $1600 per year (which is still pretty cheap for a resort in kaanapali) but it makes me sick !! I feel like a fish in a barrel :frown:.. Today the same deal is like $38000 for the one bedroom ocean view I don't know how they keep selling them??!!!

The good things about it is it makes you go on vacation and I can trade it for pretty much anywhere in the world, although, I pretty much just stick with Hawaii , so we've been to all the islands( Maui is my fav) and have so many great memories with the family in the paradise that is islands of Hawaii ..also , you can work the point system and get two weeks a year if you can book within 59 days or less...so we usually do two weeks a year... Also as an owner you don't have to pay the stupid "resort fee" $30 per day and the ridiculous parking fee $20 per day that regular guest have to pay....But if I could sell it for half of what I paid I prolly would. Just so sick of the ever increasing fees. It still is a lot cheaper the booking thru Expedia and paying the $300-$450 a night rate (depending on time of year ) that it goes for ...but still feel taken advantage of every time I pay the yearly dues.
Also, since it has a kitchen and BBQ's you can hit up the Costco and save a ton of money by not eating out every night.
I've pretty much become an expert on saving on trips to Hawaii . I usually book the rental car through Costco and figured out how to get fullsize cars for like $15 a day, also the wife and I both have the Alaska airline credit card and get a $99 companion fare every year, so we both take one kid each for $99 round trip:smile:


I plan on using some of my points on a resort in Palm Springs for nsxpo and still going to Maui in November ...

It has its pluses and minuses for sure....but I don't recommend buying one.
And beware of the ones on eBay that are pennies on the dollar, I've heard horror stories about those ones....

I bit the hook about 15 years ago. I have been disappointed the last ten years.
I have a beautiful 1500 sq ft location in Cabo - paid 15K for a 30 year deal - annual maintenance is just less than 1K.
All in all it would be an OK deal - ~ 1500 for a week per year. The deal is that between my wife and I we just don't commit
to going every year - then we "bank" the week and it ends up expiring. I confess we don't manage this very well.
Worst financial deal I have ever made.
...
I have a cousin though - she bought a place for next to nothing to get into a timeshare network.
I don't think she ever stayed there.
She is always looking for places to trade in for or get weeks for fire sale prices.
She has made out good.
...
Moral to the story is if you get into some place make sure you want to visit there,
or be on top of the game and reserve the hot weeks to visit the location and bank the week for
other optimum locations.

Albert86 said:

Moral to the story is if you get into some place make sure you want to visit there,
or be on top of the game and reserve the hot weeks to visit the location and bank the week for
other optimum locations.

Click to expand...

This exactly, it only works if you really like the place and use it every year. I paid 8k 25 years ago for a unit at Snowbird that sleeps 4. It was for 50 years but 5 years later the owners voted to buy the land so that cost me another $500 but now we own it forever. It started out with an annual fee just over $100, 25 years later it's up to $650/yr. I've used it every year except one when I was hurt. That year a friend paid the fee and used it. It's worked out great for me, even after the family stopped going I still get to go every year. Money wise it's probably break even I would guess, but if I didn't have it I'm sure there are years I would not have been able to talk the wife into letting me go anyway.

My wife and her ex husband had bought one at Tahiti Village in Vegas (well her husband paid for it). When they got divorced, he didnt want anything to do with it, so he signed it over to her. So our only expense is the maint fee every year which is around $550. We love going to Vegas, so it works out well for us. However trying to exchange the week to go somewhere is useless.

91 X said:

I bought one in Maui about ten years ago after getting sucked into a tour.. At the time it was $18,500 for a one week a year ocean view for the one bedroom condo.. Yearly maintenance fees were like $690 a year... It was owned by Suntera and it was run by embassy suites at the time so they had a great thing with free cocktail party from 4-6pm for owners..sold!!! :tongue:A few years later it was bought out by diamond resorts and they started updating all the rooms and what not.. ....and killed off the free cocktail party for owners...Then the fees started going up and up and up... Every frickin year!!! Now it is like $1600 per year (which is still pretty cheap for a resort in kaanapali) but it makes me sick !! I feel like a fish in a barrel :frown:.. Today the same deal is like $38000 for the one bedroom ocean view I don't know how they keep selling them??!!!

Click to expand...

This is ridiculous! $38k!?!? I don't understand how they can sell those. What do you actually own?
I looked up the Diamond Resorts Timeshare in Ka'anapali but I guess you can't rent there unless you're an owner. You can, however, rent from the Aston Mahana at Ka'anapali which is right next door. Rates there for a 1 bed/2 bath "Premium Oceanfront" condo seem to be going for $325 a night, so for 7 nights thats $2275 plus taxes (or $2700 total, including $18/day resort fee).
http://royalhawaii.com/orsystem/user/property.asp?pc=12&ec=6&minstay=

If that's the case and you pay $1600 a year maintenance (which keeps increasing!!), then you have a positive credit of ~$1100/year. So at the original $18500, that'll take 16 years to break even (assuming you're not paying off a loan with interest). For the current rate of $38k, it'll take you 35 years to break even!!! Say at the end, you sell it for half.. then it still takes 17 years to break even!!!

What am I missing???

Yeah, I don't know how but they do...kaanapali is a very pricey area, there is a newer Weston resort next door that makes our resort look like a steal..The thing is that they are good for life and you can will them to your kids... The pitch is that you can have vacations for life at today's prices... But like I said, I just hate the never ending fee increases... Luckily or us we paid for it with a HELOC on a home we sold a few years later for a huge profit so the initial cost has long been paid off...