Does anyone own other vacation club/timeshare brands??

[MARCIAKAZ]

DVC members...do you own other timeshare properties/vacation club memberships? Which club or resort(s) would you recommend for the best value taking into account flexibility, quality and cost? Besides DVC, of course!

Thanks for your input!

 

[jazzmanmgt]

Hi, I do own another timeshare. I own Worldmark/Trendwest. A nice alternative to my DVC. Used it to go to Maui in mid June. They have about 50+ resorts mostly in the western US. Not too expensive if purchased from a broker and not directly from Trendwest. Solid trade value as well. Good Luck!
Mike

 

[Dean]

I own several though no other clubs at present. I do own a resort I can convert to Bluegreen points. No one size fits all so it depends on how flexible you are, where you live and where you'd like to visit. In general I'd say Bluegreen, Worldmark and RCI points are the best values currently but that assumes their system and locations work for you. The other option would be Marriott which is not as flexible but much nicer resorts overall.

 

[Man_Of_Leisure]

Hi,

I see you are from Texas. I live in Alabama and I am strongly considering Fairfield resort ownership to supplement my DVC ownership. They are not affiliated with the Fairfield hotels by Marriott.

I took a one year trial membership in 2000 and really liked it; however, I did not purchase at the time because I was saving for a new house and I was still looking at DVC. Now that I have both my new home and a DVC membership I am revisiting the idea of purchasing with Fairfield.

Fairfield has several resorts around the country which are within a days driving distance from my location. Because we like to travel to various venues (although WDW is #1), have plans in the future to visit Las Vegas, San Antonio, Washington DC, New Orleans, Arizona (Grand Canyon), Williamsburg, and the Smokey Mountains just to name a few, and enjoy the flexability that Fairfield offers (similiar to DVC) it just makes sense to consider ownership with them. You can go to the Fairfield website at fairfield.com or you can also join the fairfield users groups at yahoo.com to find much more information. You can also visit the timeshares user group at tug2.com (i think this is correct, you can always google it) to find more info.

No matter which company you select, I would recommend looking at a resale in order to save money.

Hope this helps.

Man Of Leisure

 

[OnMedic]

Hi there...

Here is my take on other resorts, as we own elsewhere and plan on DVC as our next purchase. I am here doing my homework and getting feedback! I know some will disagree with the below, but just my industry take... and all of these have an internal network of owned resorts.

Higher End Resorts (I strongly suggest):
DVC (Points)
Hilton Grand Vacation Club (Points)
Club IntraWest (Points)
Marriott (Weeks)

Upper Middle:
Shell Vacation Club
Sunterra
Fairfeild
BlueGreen
Worldmark
Westgate

If you want to know more on any of these, please feel free to drop me a PM and we can chat.

Thanks

Steven Bate

 

[spiceycat]

do not get Westgate. I own Westgate and it is horrible!!!!

I also own Bluegreen one - though I haven't joined their club. I think they trade through RCI. the resort I brought, Landmark, trades much better through II. I got a DVC this last may!!!!

My nephew is using it next year.

buy where you want to stay is always great advice.

Dean I though you loved your Marriott - what happened????

 

[JimC]

We own at Marriott for vacations away from Disney. It is a weeks program which is less fexible than our DVC. But the resort/service quality is very good. Lots of resorts in great locations.

Hilton is another top brand and is a points system. I don't know if its points system is similar to DVCs or not. We chose not to go with Hilton for several reasons -- fewer resorts in program, I stay almost exclusively at Marriott properties when I travel on business, bad experience with a tour at Hilton in Orlando.

 

[OnMedic]

HI again...

Our family owns at Westgate and we have stayed many time. The grounds and units are nice, but it is the sales staff and the volume of them hoovering around the resort that gives Westgate a bad name... Westgate if devinitely nicer the Orbit one, Celebrity and a few others... Thus upper middle rather then middle or the line or less.

We own HGVC as it was THE best bang for the buck on the resale market. The points program is similar to Disney. Marriott are very nice too, but lacks flexibility of a weeks program. Finally, Club Intrawest was at the top of our list with it's unique locations and themes to match, but at a much higher $$$ then HGVC. However, Club Intrawest now has a direct trade program with HGVC and DVC, which is a bonus for anyone looking at Club Intrawest!!! HGVC reciprocates the trade program to ONLY it's elite members.

I have developed a great little worksheet for anyone looking to buy to help realize some of the key factors in the purchasing decision, one of factoring in the % of time planned on staying at more frequented resort.

Happy to help if anyone wiches to PM me.

Cheers,

Steven Bate

 

[jbthi]

We own several TS besides DVC but no other points or clubs.

I do own one TS on Sanibel and two on Captiva that are HGVC affiliates but I do not belong to HGVC. These are my fav. TS (besides Disney) because they are very difficult to trade into, especially at the time you might want.

 

[Cherylzw]

Hi!

I own HGVC, as well as DVC. I like Hilton because of its flexibility as well as being able to rent for cash 30 days before arrival for a very low price, depending on availability.

Cheryl

 

[gamomof2]

We own points with Fairfield at two different locations. Majestic Sun in Destin and one in Pigeon Forge. The points are enough to provide 2-3 weeks of vacations a year and several short weekend trips. The DVC membership will be only for WDW and HH.

 

[Shelly]

anyone own RCI points that's what we are thinking of getting they have some very nice ortlando properties listed Vistana, HGVC. Would love opinions.

 

[RumpleMom]

Anyone have opinions about Hilton Head Island- Coral Resorts- Island Links Resort(in Port Royal Plantation) and their RCI points program?


They also own Coral Sands, Coral Reef and Port O Call.

 

[gjw007]

Other than DVC, I don't belong to any vacation club although I do have several timeshares. One of my timeshares is an RCI Points resort.

 

[MARCIAKAZ]

Wow...thank you all so much for your input! I think for me, flexibility is the most important feature--both in time of year and location options. What I'm contemplating is this (and please forgive my mathematical skills deficiencies ): If I want to do a Disney vacation at least every other year, with an extra one thrown in every so often; and want to do another vacation to various locations once every year, then would it be more cost effective to buy extra DVC points to trade out thru II, or to purchase points through Fairfield (or someone else, for that matter)?

To help me figure this out, can anyone tell me a bit more about Fairfield in particular? I've been to their website, but points charts are only accessible to members...also curious about cost, esp. to compare to DVC. For instance, 1 week in a 1 bedroom DVC costs about 210 points for the time of year I usually go (and I know what a 150 point trade gets me)...and I know how much those points cost me Thanks again for all your advice and info!

 

[WebmasterDoc]

In addition to our DVC, we own 9 weeks at 4 other timeshares. One is part of Amber Vacations- we own a floating week where we reserve and then convert to points. Our other weeks all trade with RCI and/or II.

Be sure to do your homework and find a resale wherever you purchase. We have paid as little as $500 for a couple of our weeks and have not paid more than $2500. We primarily use these in trade. We own 4 weeks at resorts on the DVC World Passport Collection. Check out www.tug2.net and www.tstoday.com for great information about timeshares in general. The best bargains we've found were available directly thru the Owner's Association at the resorts themselves - so don't hesitate to call the resort and ask if they have any resales available. These are usually reclaimed from defaults on annual fees, but some are resales done directly thru the resort now that the developer is gone and no longer trying to sell anything.

 

[Lisa P.]

A "1BR Deluxe" in the highest "prime" season at the great majority of Fairfield's 70+ resorts would be 105,000-140,000 points. Higher exceptions include: Mazatlan (154K); Orlando Bonnet Creek (166K); Wash.,D.C. (182K); Atlantic City (182K); St. Thomas (203K); Hawaii (203K). And many resorts offer a "1BR Suite" in prime season for only 77K. We're more likely to travel during "high" season than "prime" and we get 2BRs for little more than the points of a prime 1BR.

At 3¢ per point on resale, getting 154K (common contract amount) would cost about $5,000 resale including closing costs. Make sure the ownership is in UDI points or has already been converted from a fixed week into points in the FairShare Plus system. Look for a home resort with maint fees under $4/1K pts or under $600/yr on 154K including taxes and FSP fee. At 10 months out, all FSP points may be used to reserve at any and all Fairfield resorts, regardless of home resort. Good resale brokers can help.

Join the Yahoo Group for Fairfield_Timeshare and you'll learn a LOT more, if you are interested. It's free and there you'll find all of the points charts for all of their resorts. My in-laws have seen what a great time we've had with our FF => they're now buying some resale points too! If you like the resort locations, and if you can plan ahead (8-10 months), you'd probably like it.

 

[Dean]

Dean I though you loved your Marriott - what happened????

I do, but it did not seem to fit well into the OP planned usage. However a lockoff with Marriott might be a good choice.

Wow...thank you all so much for your input! I think for me, flexibility is the most important feature--both in time of year and location options. What I'm contemplating is this (and please forgive my mathematical skills deficiencies ): If I want to do a Disney vacation at least every other year, with an extra one thrown in every so often; and want to do another vacation to various locations once every year, then would it be more cost effective to buy extra DVC points to trade out thru II, or to purchase points through Fairfield (or someone else, for that matter)?

To help me figure this out, can anyone tell me a bit more about Fairfield in particular? I've been to their website, but points charts are only accessible to members...also curious about cost, esp. to compare to DVC. For instance, 1 week in a 1 bedroom DVC costs about 210 points for the time of year I usually go (and I know what a 150 point trade gets me)...and I know how much those points cost me Thanks again for all your advice and info!

Lisa P. knows Fairfield well and her post above should help you. DO NOT BUY DVC TO TRADE THAT FREQUENTLY.

As for what's best otherwise, it really depends on what you mean by flexible. If you can go for an entire week and truly travel throughout the year, can plan a full 1-2 years out and/or can travel on short notice (less than 45-60 days); buying a regular timeshare unit to trade might be your best bet by far. RCI points might be your best bet but consider Worldmark and Bluegreen. WHERE you want to go will also determine what might be best. IF there's one points system that really has where you want, that might be your best option. Certainly if you are looking to trade, deciding whether II or RCI is best for your desired destinations will help a lot. Bluegreen will likely give you many opportunities at a cheap price, likely about half that of FF and a third to fourth that of Worldmark.
Worldmark will trade with II and likely trade better than BG or FF or even RCI points, all of which trade with RCI. There are simply too many variables to be one single answer. You should spend 6 months getting educated and exploring options then decide.

 

[Cruelladeville]

I also own Marriott beside my DVC contracts. I bought it to trade, and it does trade well. If you plan to buy a timeshare, BUY RESALE! As others have mentioned, you can get them so much cheaper than if you buy directly from the developer. I paid under $6,000 for my Marriott, and I should have bought two weeks instead of one. While more structured and less flexible than DVC, Marriott and similar programs are good if you want a luxurious vacation in one general area. Marriotts are top of the line, at a budget price, and you can travel all over the world. Regardless of the timeshare you buy, be sure to research the company first, because every timeshare has its glitches that can be maddening. With Marriott, to use any Marriott besides your own in-season contract, you must go thru II, every trade is about $180, and changes cost money.

 

[ColoradoBelle1]

I have one other timeshare besides DVC..at Paradise Village in Puerto Vallarta. I love the location and PV is actually quicker for me to fly to than WDW! It is also on the points system and it might trade through II, but I bought it to use.

My question is for anyone who makes it a habit of using the less than 45 days option with RCI (I think) for 9000 points for the week. Can you often find nicer resorts as those last miniute getaways?I actually prefer last minute
vacas so if you have successfully used this option, please let me know!!!