Time-Shares; Are they a rip-off?
When
I first moved to Florida in 1978, I was newly married, dirt-poor, and our rent
was $155 per month at an apartment complex in
Largo called "Haystack". It was a
pretty good deal, but we had something hanging over our heads at that time that
struck fear into the hearts of apartment dwellers all over Florida. Apartments
were "going condo", and tenants were being told to either buy their apartments
or move out. We were never given that ultimatum, but it was rumored at Haystack
that it could happen.
Before we even got our own house we were introduced to another phenomenon:
hotels that were "going time-share". I believe we went along to a presentation
with my in-laws to see a new vacation plan being offered though a local hotel
that would sell you a piece of their property to use every year for a week. It
sounded nuts to me, and I was not at all impressed with the property. "Who would
want to stay here every year?"
We
were told about the network of time-share owners who swap places every year,
thus being able to vacation somewhere different every year, but the whole thing
seemed like a real bother, and an expensive bother at that.
We had remained dirt-poor for several years, so vacations were kind of a moot
point anyway. I could not afford to take off the time from work, and we still
didn't have any money during the first few years of being in the window cleaning
business. Still, we were enticed to take a few "free" trips to stay at some nice
hotel for a weekend in return for hearing their time-share sales presentation.
It was a snap. We were too poor to buy the product, so it was not much of a
temptation.
The sales presentations were very high-pressure events. After all, they paid
for your stay and offered other inducements to hear them out. Sometimes you got
cash, sometimes "dining certificates" for $50 at certain nice restaurants.
Sometimes you were awarded an undisclosed prize that would only be revealed at
the presentation. The undisclosed prize could be a car, a television, a
household appliance, or some piece of jewelry. The jewelry was usually some
laughably cheap thing, but some of the big prizes were awarded. We had a friend
named Jack Boyette who went to every presentation his old jalopy could drive to.
He got quite a few free gifts that were worth the trip. But our skin was not
quite as thick as Jack's, so we didn't make these trips often.
Then it happened. We went to a presentation by
Hilton Grand
Vacations Club. It was at a new
property across the street from Sea World in Orlando. The units were nicer than
anything we had ever lived in, let alone vacationed in. When we were in front of
the salesman, we actually could afford to do it. Still, I had always served as
the "deal-killer" when my wife was tempted beyond her ability to resist a sale.
But this presentation hit us at a time when we were just able to start taking
vacations, and they had successfully made the case with us that good ones were
worth planning and paying for. As I teetered on the edge, they threw in a
cruise to Cozumél and then they had their way with me.
The first couple of years we alternated swapping for another location and
using the beautiful Hilton property at Sea World. It was a two bedroom lock-out.
That means one half had a bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining room and a
full bath. The other half had a separate entrance, had a bed, TV, kitchenette
and full bath. The two halves were adjoining, like some hotel rooms are, and
best of all you could use each half on separate weeks! That meant we could trade
one unit for a week at another property and save the other unit to use at
another time. For all practical purposes, we had gotten 2 weeks out of our one
purchase.
Our timeshare purchase has worked for us. I know of some horror stories,
personally, in which people bought a week in November in Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina. It was a difficult week to trade. Then Hurricane Hugo came and damaged
their property and it was out of commission for awhile. It hurts like anything
to have a monthly payment and annual maintenance fees going out, and then not to
be able to go on vacation. Our purchase has worked because we bought from a
reputable company like Hilton, which builds really great resorts in desirable
locations. We also bought in
Orlando, one of the
biggest vacation destinations in the world, so there is no such thing as a "bad"
week. And the fact that we could squeeze two weeks out of the one we bought is a
plus.
All the units we have stayed in have been beautifully furnished and the
resort property has been spacious and relaxing, with pools, hot tubs, game
rooms, and other amenities. The non-Hilton resorts we have traded for on the
RCI network have also
been beautiful and have all the same amenities.
If we had it to do over again, we would still buy Hilton, but we probably
would go to the
resale market, where you can always find a distressed owner unloading his
timeshare for a big discount. It's funny, but sometimes when we vacation we find
a flyer from such an owner on our windshield, attempting to sell his points to
us. Hilton sells its timeshares on a point system. We originally bought 3500
points, which is the equivalent of a week in each half of the two bedroom
lock-out unit. You can actually save up points by using only part of your unit,
and spend them some other time to either extend the next year's vacation, or you
can even convert your points to use on car rentals or air travel.
At any rate, we have taken some nice vacations in some beautiful places, and
we haven't stayed in a cheap motel in years. The last time we did it was in
Tampa and the desk clerk got shot one night and another guest got burglarized on
another. We've never had this happen at a Hilton. :)
Perhaps your usual vacation is spent at a Holiday Inn, where your hotel is
just a place to sleep after a hard day of visiting theme parks and outlet malls.
If that is the case, a time share is a gaudy expense, and you may run from the
sales presentation in terror. However, after staying at one of these places, you
may have a hard time renting a room at the Motel 6 ever again. Yes, it's WAY
more expensive, but it's also a WAY better vacation experience. Nowadays, we not
only stay at a beautiful resort in a roomy suite (2BR, 2BA, Kitchen and
kitchenette, living room, dining room, 3 televisions and stereo and laundry
room), but when we vacation near my relatives, we can invite them over to use
the pool and have them for dinner at our place. The kids can scatter while we
relax with the adults. It is a totally different way to live.
Summary:
- Visit high class resorts like Hilton or Fairfield to see how nice it can
be.
- Avoid local hotels that have simply "gone time-share".
- Plan your own financing. The interest rates at the timeshare company are
staggering.
- Check out the
resale of units in the resort you want to buy at.
- Buy as close to home as you can. You can usually use the pool year round
as an owner.
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