Anyone got/had a timeshare?

Tracyk_2 · 20 September 2007 at 6:06PM

We've just bought a silver week in a Marriott timeshare in South of Spain.

Any tips/swaps etc out there? from a newbe!

steve821 · 20 September 2007 at 6:23PM

We have had timeshare for about 15years now.
Did loads of research before we initially bought and felt secure.
Having now owned, sold, owned and swapped all over the world we could not be happier.
Probably one of the best things we did
TIP : Ensure you join a good exchange group like RCI.
This silver, gold, red thing means very little.
Weeks v points, your choice which is best.
Use the internet for exchange if you can, USA (Florida and Las Vegas) resorts are fabulous. We exchange a studio apt in Tenerife for a 2/3 bed in the above and all for the exchange fee + maintenence.
Feel free to pm me in fact RCI called me tonight with a gift for being a long term member etc.
Steve

Tracyk_2 · 20 September 2007 at 7:29PM

Thanks Steve. Marriott are not part of RCI anymore - its Interval International they use now.
We had recently been talking of trying to find a property in South of Spain to use a couple of times a year - but it was too ££££! We went to view the Mariott apartments in Marbella just a guide for quality and price - but ended up buying the cheapest banding for the smallest apartment. Hoping it will be easy to upgrade to a bigger apartment in a warmer banding for the admin fee only. Though not sure if it will be as easy as she made out!
We're really only interested in Europe - I'm a scaredy cat flyer and can only handle a 3 hour flight!

tsnoitall · 20 September 2007 at 7:56PM

Tracyk wrote: »

We've just bought a silver week in a Marriott timeshare in South of Spain.

Any tips/swaps etc out there? from a newbe!

Marriott is a great chain and have a great network of properties. If you're purchasing a silver week make sure you are fully aware of the available weeks in that season. Here is a link to the resorts page on Marriott's site so you can compare. Remember the higher season you buy the better your trades will be! Now if you like saving money and you are not planning on exchanging much then you should look into buying resale. You will not be able to utilize the Marriott point system buying resale but you can still use I.I and save yourself at least 25% of retail prices!

.:Gene:.

scottishlizzie · 11 October 2007 at 10:54PM

We have the opportunity to buy a 2 bed 2 bath sleeps six timeshare in a RCI Gold Crown Resort in Spain from friends of ours. They have had it for 15+ years but now that their kids are grown up they are doing different kinds of holidays so they no longer need it. It is during the Scottish school holidays and we live in England so we would not be able to use our actual week but we wondered if it is still worth buying anyway (they are selling at a very low price) and use it to swap for another week. We would probably like to use it to swap for a week in the UK - preferably the Lake District - but have heard that Spanish timeshare has a very low trading value compared to other coutries, especially the UK. Although the price is low there would be no point in us buying it if we cannot use the actual week and we cannot swap for a week in the UK.

Any advice about trading power, RCI points (how it works etc), general advice as to whether it is worth it would be most welcome.

Thanks.

Liz

ManAtHome · 11 October 2007 at 11:45PM

Don't have one any more, but they are probably worth it if you need to go during school holidays, and RCI were certainly one of "the good guys" 10 years ago. Wouldn't go for it now as I can holiday pretty much when I like.

scottishlizzie · 12 October 2007 at 8:24PM

Thanks for that info. I'm still keen to hear from others who might know how easy/difficult it would be to swap a Spanish week for a week in the UK. Common sense tells me it might be hard because the UK weeks are so much more expensive to buy. Help!

Savvy_sewing · 12 October 2007 at 8:51PM

With RCI for 20 years. Problem with swapping is Availability. You need to put your place in for an exchange quite early. Your maintenance has to be paid to your resort before you can put things into the system. Even if it is next years that your "banking". Value of property never been the issue, its the size of property. i.e. T1 or T2 or Studio. You swap like for like that way. Only know about RCI dont know about other exchange systems though.

scottishlizzie · 12 October 2007 at 9:10PM

Thanks MooLoo.

So how does the banking system work then? If we bank our week do we have to wait until someone else requests it before we can chose a week somewhere else?

Is there any way of finding out from RCI how tradable a week is before we buy it? Also, how much are the RCI membership and exchange fees per year?

Liz

squoog · 12 October 2007 at 9:41PM

Hi we have a week(Oct half term) in a 2 bed in Spain between Malaga and Marbella. We have exchanged for a week in England although it was in February. We always do late exchanges and that has meant we can never exchange in Britain in High season, but if you swapped for a same size or smaller unit well ahead there can be availability.
We are now looking to sell ours as with the addition of twins our family is now 6 and it is harder to find exchanges that are suitable.
Once you have deposited your week you are then free to exchange anywhere and for upto 2 years after your banked week dates.
The maintenance fees in some resorts do increase quite often (ours is £390 I think), so worth checking how it has been over the past few years. In addition to that RCI membership is approx £60pa but they do offers if you buy a few years at a time. The exchange fee is £159 pw and your can book extra weeks for £150+. So your 1 weeks accom will cost you around £600. I think this is expensive for europe but have exchanged for some fantastic 5* places in USA and scandinavia. However beware they are not all up to scratch and we did ask to be moved from 1 in Florida that was poky, dirty and more like a concrete high rise than a holiday resort! Try to choose well.
Personally if I was buying now, I would buy somewhere that you would like to holiday more than once and a date that you can use and then you are not tied to RCI. In that way timeshare can be a much more sensible option and it is lovely to know before you get there what you are getting in terms of quality etc.
I will also add that if you look on ebay you will often see timeshares for sale. Spain is hard to sell as there is an abundance, there are other resorts that would be easier to resell. If you want to holiday in britain you may be better looking for a resale in a resort here.
Last thought, can you visit the resort before you buy to see if you like it.
Good Luck!

adonis · 12 October 2007 at 9:56PM

My wifes mum & dad had a timeshare in teneriffe with rci (now sunterra) for a number of years, used to save up the points and go to florida every few years.
The problems we found was going for two weeks we would be moved to a different complex for the second week usually not as nice as the first one,
it was very difficult to get booked up in the uk and the annual maintenance fee got expensive.
When they wanted to sell it back to the company they was told it wasn't worth anything so ended up giving it back for nothing just to cut their losses.

Anyone got/had a timeshare?

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