Why I love owning a timeshare.

I have a number of relatives coming to the Us from Ireland this summer, and several had asked if I could get them rooms at a discount if they went to Vegas. Yesterday, they gave me dates and said they were hoping to spend no more than $60 a night per room , needed three rooms for five or six nights.
I went online to RCI- a time share exchange group and found exactly what I wanted- A two bedroom suite at the Granview for seven nights. Price to the public- Price to the general public- around $1200. RCI price- $210 for the week. The Grandview is the complex next to South Point. These were Bonus Weeks so just being a member got these deals. Didn't have to use any of my yearly points.
Instead of three simple hotel rooms, they get a two bedroonm suite, with two living rooms( both with pullout kingsize beds, two jaquzzi's, two kitchens and a washer and dryer. Throw in the South Point and Silverton coupon books and they are set. They are farmers so it gave them a big thrill to be staying next to the "Cowboy Casino", as they referred to it.

I loved being able to use M's parents Interval timeshares, it was great and saved us so much money through the years. When they first bought them nobody ever used them so the banked weeks piled up. We started using many weeks and went to several different places, always trying pick a city we've never been to. The nicest place we ever got in Vegas was a one bedroom in the PH towers. It was phenomenal here's a video of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nAtdgtwkcY

Unfortunately they sold all of them off, they're retired and maintenance fees were getting too much. I offered to take one over but they wanted done with them, they have a thing about us paying for anything.

We had a pretty amazing place in New Orleans one year as well. It seemed we always lucked into the coolest rooms and they always ended up with crap rooms, not sure why.

These time share stories must be the exceptions to the rule because I normally hear horror stories about time shares (except Disney's time shares which are supposed to be the exceptions as well).

I work for RCI. A nice perk is being able to get free stays at the properties in our network. I've really become spoiled by them. I don't like staying in regular hotels anymore...I want the full kitchen/living room/washer-dryer/big bathroom that you get in a condo unit. Vegas has plenty of inventory so its easy to score a unit. My favorites are the Hilton Grand Vacation properties. But the Wyndham Grand Desert and Holiday Inn Vacation Club are fantastic too.

If you haven't tried the Grandview, I highly recommend it. I greatly prefer it to the Grand Desert.

I bought my timeshares off ebay. I have about 200,000 points which if used properly gets me three weeks a year at a cost of about $100 a month.
Here is the kicker- 200,000 points bought from Wyndham would run you about $30,000. On eBay those exact same points would cost about $1000. In addition to my three weeks, I can buy Bonus Weeks through RCI for $210-$300 at a resort and from DAE for as low as $99 for a week in a motel.
So for people like me, it's a great deal. For the person who paid twenty or thirty times that for essentially the same thing, it's a bad deal. Especially bad if you finance it through them.

Good topic. Love to hear more. My husband just retired from being a road warrior, so have never paid for and thought I would never pay for a hotel again. We still have a small stash, but I spent a lot right before he was downsized. That being said...I would love to hear pros and cons both buying out right then and now, as well as any secondary purchase buy outs. I always had a negative valuation (I didn't pay anyway) and heard about high cleaning fees therefore extra costs vs just paying for moderate hotel out of pocket. My uncle supposedly loves his and an older couple has one they never use, so I still hear mixed reviews. Any names of current good programs or good secondary markets.


Off topic does anyone recommend cheap, but politically safe countries to go to for a month or two.

I have a friend that owns a timshare.
He has stayed at the same place for the same week for years,
and every year for that week he has seen the same family with their loud, obnoxious kids at the pool.
Years later, and he now sees the same family, and the same loud, obnoxious kids,
....... who now have loud, obnoxious kids of their own.

Rick

Your friends timeshare is the old way they did it. todays timeshares give you X amount of points a year that you can use almost anywhere ,and anytime.
Wyndham, for example, has three different places in Vegas- The Grand Desert, the new one behind the Rio, and a VIP on Vegas Blvd close to he south Point.
you buy a contract for however many points- lets say 135,000. When you want to go, you look at the website, see where you want to go and how many points it takes and you book it. Might be Vegas one year, Orlando the next. Colorado the next. Need extra points- buy them or borrow them from next year. Not going to vacation this year- bank your points for future use.
I've never been charged an extra cleaning fee- Wyndham gives one per week . They can nickle and dime you on somethings, but nothing like todays resort fees.
That a very simplified version of how it works. There is a great owner operated website called TUG - Timeshares Users Group- run by people who love the timeshare lifestyle. Trust me- once you vacation in a timeshare, a hotel room simply doesn't cut it. google them. Great site , run by people who will be brutally onest about the pros and cons.
Just dont buy from the sales people. Buy on the secondary market. You'll stay in the same rooms at a tenth of the cost.

Here is a typical resale. /bought from Wyndham on a timeshare presentation, you are looking at $ 15,000 or more depending on your negotiation skills.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154-000-WYNDHAM-POINTS-GRAND-DESERT-RESORT-TIMESHARE-FOR-SALE-/152011123168?hash=item236491a9e0:g:tgkAAOSwAYtWQm7d

My husband owns a tomeshare based in Orlando. We have stayed there many times, exchanging our week due to school schedules. We no longer have to worry about that.

In Vegas, we have stayed at the timeshare behind the Flamingo, which was awesome! Even their convenience store had reasonable prices. Plus, the Stage Door was an easy walk for supplies.

We have also stayed at the Holiday Inn timeshre (formerly Summer Bay) on Koval Lane behind Harrah's. They offer a free shuttle to various paces along the strip sowndown, etc. Very nice place.

Carriaage House was another stop. Nice as well, but a few blocks off the strip off Harmon. When we stayed there, the PH Westgate was under construction.

There have been only a few "deluxe" timeshare properties we visited that were anything but deluxe, lol.

All in all, unless you have a flexible schedule, I wouldn't recommend buying one. Maintenance fees go up every year, as are now at the point where we could rent a unit for the same price.

Joy