Comments on: Help a reader: Marriott Vacation Club? Giant ripoff or okay deal?

By: Debbie

Debbie — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:31:04 +0000

In reply to Debbie.

here’s the site http://www.fidelityresales.com

By: Debbie

Debbie — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:30:37 +0000

Buy on the secondary market from a licensed real estate broker like Fidelity Resales.com
you can save thousands of dollars!!

By: BigHabitat

BigHabitat — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 23:12:37 +0000

I have 1 timeshare with Marriott and 1 with Sheraton in Orlando and Scottsdale. Very reasonable if you have families and want to go to those destinations. I echo the thoughts that you should never buy from the developer as the price drops about 50-90% should you ever resell. Instead of $66k upfront plus the annual maintenance fee you could probably rent the exact unit and week you wanted off redweek.com each year for 100 years. The reason is the nicer places have higher maintenance fees, so while mine are ~1000 per year for a 2 bedroom timeshare the same chain in Hawaii would be $2000-$3000 per year for the 2br. The “deals” are when you trade into the Hawaii timeshare with your Orlando timeshare which of course is not as easy as they make it sound in the timeshare presentation.

By: TravelBloggerBuzz

TravelBloggerBuzz — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 21:22:15 +0000

In reply to R. Siggy.

Thanks for posting here. My readers and this blog IS about getting the biggest bang for the buck out of travel through frequent flyer miles and points. It is the reason my blog exists actually!

I definitely empathize with you regarding the life planning aspects of this. And I definitely agree it is so worth it trying to accomplish the same things with a secondary market purchase!

Just booked another family trip, this time to Maui. All on miles/points. It’s an addictive hobby, that’s for sure.

Hope this was helpful. Any questions on this stuff let me know. It’s definitely a passion of mine and has been for many years!

By: R. Siggy

R. Siggy — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 20:50:14 +0000

In reply to Ramsey. Ramsey, interesting that you are the only one who was in favor of keeping this thing and focused on enjoyment in life, not the biggest bang for his buck. Appreciate your feedback and maybe we can accomplsh the same thing with a secondary market purchase. I would imagine there is a $10k commission connected with the $66k up front cost that could be avoided on a secondary sale.

By: HikerT

HikerT — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 06:52:10 +0000

In reply to Steve. If I were going to spend 66K a timeshare I would actually reach for those 3 cards first, in that order of priority, buying AMEX GC stock to pay. No, I won't be cancelling Arrival when the annual fee hits.

By: egwg

egwg — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 06:23:37 +0000

If you don’t mind, I’d be interested to know how this ends.

By: TWA44

TWA44 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 02:31:07 +0000

In reply to Ramsey.

We went to a timeshare presentation in Kau’ai to get free tickets to – hmm, maybe a helicopter ride?? – and the video they showed us focused totally on making family memories. It was aimed at workaholic dads. We didn’t mind the hour and a half as we got breakfast, helicopter tix, and after refusing their offers repeatedly finally bought a deal to get a week in a Kau’ai condo sometime in the next two years. The price was far cheaper than a hotel room and the condo slept about 10. We were delighted to return 18 months later and were able to host some cousins too. We could have put the money it cost us toward buying – you guessed it – a timeshare. I expect they figured a week there wold seal the deal. No way. But we did get more than our time/money’s worth. Of course this was before I discovered the worth of credit card sign-ups.

By: TravelBloggerBuzz

TravelBloggerBuzz — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 02:07:59 +0000

Wow, these are awesome. Thank you so much. If you have more please fire away.

I now need to catch up on the blogs and produce the next Buzz post. A day goes by and bang, the blogosphere exploded with the US/AA merger news…And I got a compliance seminar in Lansing tomorrow….oh boy.

Time to buckle down and get at it!

Thank you again!

By: Ramsey

Ramsey — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 02:02:04 +0000

We all know that timeshares stink on ice, but he is WEALTHY and TIGHT with his dough. For the families sake do it. If it forces him to take the family out every year on a great vacation, I say go for it Mr. Cheapskate.