Timeshare holiday - which company is the best?

Instead take advantage of other people who've been reamed by timeshare companies and who are trying to dump their weeks - you can get some great deals if you offer cash (there's always someone happy to take the loss just to get some cash).

Timeshare companies stitch you up with fees forever (after all, that's their business), a straight holiday is a straight price then is done.

Timeshare is not for everyone and I would not suggest it unless you are very flexible as to when and where you travel.
We have had one for 20 yrs or so and have had some wonderful exchanges all over the world, but you do need to be flexible and with children at school you can't be.
Look on Redweek and TUG sometimes you can just get weeks if yu find somewhere you want to go. The other thing is just to rent an apartment.

Roop wrote: »

Hi there

We are are new to the world of timeshare -a family of 4 with 2 young school going children which means we are restricted to holidaying only during peak times/ school holidays. We holiday for an average 3 to 5 weeks a year. Because of kids ages (6 year old twins) we have mostly been holidaying in Europe in past few years. Over next few years though we would go for long haul holidays to Florida, Mexico, Australia, North America etc.

We recently did a promotional week holiday with Club La costa CLC but didn't opt for buying their membership because of reviews on them here, like there is not much availability of holiday options in peak time where at their own 32 resorts or 100's of resorts from Interval Internationals!

Would someone suggest which timeshare membership is best in the market in terms of flexibility and still lower on initial and annual cost? Whether timeshare is best compared to standard holiday booking online where accommodation and flights can be booked together or separately?

- how Dimond, RCI, Marriot/ Interval and other timeshare memberships compare to CLC in terms of reliability, customer service, flexibility, price etc)

- where would you recommend to buy membership from?

- Is buying from a reseller better and cheaper option than buying as a new? Whether directly or via an agent?

- is point based or fractional ownership option better than buying weeks?

- I've read that most of RCI resorts in Mexico and Caribbean are on mandatory all-inclusive 'AI' basis and they charge very high fee of over £100/day per person? Is this correct and is it the same with Interval International?

- any general feedback on timeshare will be great?

Many thanks

If you really are interested in buying a Timeshare then buy at the cheapest possible price but be aware that annual maintenance fees can and do rise over the years, some sellers expect to recoup some of their initial outlay which could be thousands of pounds but in reality people are giving them away and all they want is to just get shot of them. Be aware that in the last couple of years there have been major Court cases in Spain and its Islands where developers have illegally sold Timeshare in perpetuity which means once you own they think that you will be responsible for the maintenance for ever. This is not the case but you must be prepared for all sorts of skullduggery from the developers who will tell lies and bully you if you ever want to exit your Timeshare.
I originally had 2 separate Timeshares in the Canary Islands, both bought on eBay years ago, 1was being constantly updated, the other one was very poorly run which resulted in me asking to hand back my weeks owned but they didn't want them back so I gave up paying maintenance 4 years ago and told them to whistle. They tried all sorts of threats but eventually gave up so please be aware of what can happen and take this into account before committing yourself. I still have the other Timeshare which I can use and enjoy if we want just a chill out now and then, I tend to bank my weeks internally so rather than have my fixed weeks can use them anytime subject to availability which normally is pretty good.

One of the best and cheapest exchange Companies are Dialanexchange who do not apply the rule of if you own a 1 bed apartment then you would get a 1 bed apartment in exchange, we had a 3 bed apartment in Kissimmee Florida a few years ago that slept 8 but I had only deposited a 1 bed apartment.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the good and bad of the Timeshare World, sometimes the annual maintenance fees are more than you would pay for renting in your own Timeshare so do a lot of research before you make your mind up.

blindman wrote: »

Am I being skeptical here but how would a newbie to Time share know to push this untruth?

I smell a rat

If you are genuine;) then follow the advice DO NOT DO THIS.

Blindman,

As far as I can see the OP seems to have been a Forum member for 9 years so not a newbie, however, it looks as though they have had a very hard sell on the points based Timeshare system which is not the best way to go if they are really are genuinely are thinking of Timeshare. Trouble is with all the crap they throw at you they make it sound like utopia but the reality is something different, yes Timeshare can work but buyer beware, do your research and buy cheaply and make sure that you can exit without high costs.