Quote:
Originally Posted by hotwired
Hi Maryh -- no we haven't done much in the way of reasearch buecause I just started researching monday. Before monday, I knew literally nothing, other than the basics. This is why I'm asking as many questions as possible to expose the "holes" in my understanding so you wonderful folks will help me fill them. Here's where my opinions are forming though, and please bump me left or right if I'm off base.
1. First, we would probably NEVER go ANYWHERE specific even 50% of the time. I cannot imagine in a million years picking the same place, even 2 out of 5 years, although we DO want to "finish off" Orlando, we will maybe go there 2 out of the next 5 years, but then that's it. Once 7 year old daughter is out of nest, wife and I would possibly hit Key West a few times, but even then that's not definite as we have a list of global goals, so to speak. We want to do a couple of train vacations too (Machu Pichu, Canadian Rockys, California coast) - so we also have some travel planned that we might not be able to use our points / weeks for.
2. Because of #1, there really is no TS location that would be perfect, because there is no geographic location that would be perfect.
3. Because of #1 and #2, my thought is to get either points or weeks attached to coastal, summer Maine -- weeks 25-35 would be ideal - mid June through end of august, though up to week 39 would be nice too. BEFORE I thought of this, I'd found hundreds of decent Florida weeks for 0-$3,000 - coastal, summer Maine (Ogunquit / Wells) are mostly 5-7K, but good MF ($300-$400). This way, if we take a vacation and don't use our points for it, we then have a quick summer getaway that requires only gasoline and food. And if we did not use it, it would be quite easy to rent to friends or people locally.
4. Now my BIGGEST confusion is between points and weeks. I understand the basics, but it just occured to me ... aren't points points?? In other words, if I decide to go with points based TS, does it even matter where I buy?? In other words, can't I just buy 100k points which will get me 100k points worht of TS anywhere ? Or does location STILL come into play with points?
Thanks again -- I hope I'm not wearing you all out!!
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I would recommend a points system with lots of resorts you would like to stay that is also an effective exchanger.
To pick a point system, you need to first decide the quality class you care about. If you are a high end person, then look into HGVC, Starwood, Hyatt, even Marriott if you travel a week at a time since it isn't points yet.
If you don't need the higher end resorts with the much higher maintenance fees, then look at the mid tier resort groups like Bluegreen, WorldMark, Wyndham, VI, Shell, Diamond, RCI Points, etc.
Find resorts you like first, then evaluate the maintenance fees and total cost of ownership and total cost of exchanging. What will happen is a picture will form in your mind's eye and one or more of the above will stand out. That is the one you should drill down on.
Once you've got a resort group, you can ask us questions about the best way to buy such a timeshare and how to use it most effectively.
