Best Timeshare System for Multiple Week Stays

[Hobee]

Location of resorts not withstanding, which systems work best to timeshare extensively instead of purchasing or leasing a vacation home. I am interested in knowing what features and benefits would make one system better than another with cost effectiveness and availability of high importance. For sake of an example, assume we want to timeshare for 8 to 10 consecutive weeks without changing resorts or units more than 2 times. What systems would work best if this is our future vacation goal?

 

[bizaro86]

Location of resorts not withstanding, which systems work best to timeshare extensively instead of purchasing or leasing a vacation home. I am interested in knowing what features and benefits would make one system better than another with cost effectiveness and availability of high importance. For sake of an example, assume we want to timeshare for 8 to 10 consecutive weeks without changing resorts or units more than 2 times. What systems would work best if this is our future vacation goal?

The very best for that is probably fixed weeks, but that will be hard to string together unless you buy from the developer or buy from someone who has a bunch that they bought from the developer.

 

[ronparise]

wordmark. hands down

Worldmark allows long stay reservations and maintenance fees are reasonable

 

[HenryT]

Location of resorts not withstanding, which systems work best to timeshare extensively instead of purchasing or leasing a vacation home. I am interested in knowing what features and benefits would make one system better than another with cost effectiveness and availability of high importance. For sake of an example, assume we want to timeshare for 8 to 10 consecutive weeks without changing resorts or units more than 2 times. What systems would work best if this is our future vacation goal?

Location of resorts makes a big difference. If you want to vacation in Western states WorldMark is by far the best option. WorldMark doesn't have many resorts on the east coast though. Wyndham could work for the eastern part of the country but it could be difficult to get certain resorts in prime time if your points don't originate from those resorts. Also Wyndham is going to be a little more expensive than WorldMark. Some combination of WorldMark and Wyndham points could work for you though if you are interested in resort s throughout the US.

 

[Hobee]

wordmark. hands down

Worldmark allows long stay reservations and maintenance fees are reasonable

What is a long stay reservation with WorldMark?

 

[JohnPaul]

I think most point based systems will let you make a reservation as long as you want if you have the points and there is availability.

This would include Vacation Internationale, Worldmark, Shell Vacations Club and probably many others.

Like anything, book as early as possible.

 

[CO skier]

What is a long stay reservation with WorldMark?

Reservations for up to 30 days at a single resort may be booked online. Longer reservations at a single resort may be made by calling the Vacation Planning center.

The length of stay is limited, theoretically, only by the number of vacation credits owned.

There are rumors of some WorldMark owners making reservations, in one phone call, for 2-3 months at the Hawaiian resorts and Pacific coast resorts. 100,000 credits is enough for 10 weeks in a 1 bedroom WM Hawaiian resort; 80,000 credits for 10 weeks in a Pacific coast resort. Less cost for studios and off-season (the Hawaiian resorts are high season all 52 weeks). Resale acquisition cost would be about $30,000 (lower prices may be negotiable); yearly maintenance fee is $6167 at the current rate for a 100,000 credit ownership, or $616.70 per week for a 1 bedroom in Hawaii!

So, yeah, WorldMark would beat the pants off of any other system for affordability and length of stay convenience. If you want 4 or 5 star resorts for multiple weeks, then a different system would be what you are looking for. A number of these systems offers reservation priority for multi-week owners.

As with so much in life, you get what you pay for.

 

[sue1947]

I think most point based systems will let you make a reservation as long as you want if you have the points and there is availability.

This would include Vacation Internationale, Worldmark, Shell Vacations Club and probably many others.

Like anything, book as early as possible.

Agree.
Look at various point systems, not just Worldmark. You buy an account with x number of points and spend those points to pay for however many nights you can afford. That applies to any point based system like JohnPaul mentioned above. There are some who timeshare full time or do the snowbird thing via timeshares. Some use multiple week reservations to string together 6-7 weeks or more and some use point based systems. It really depends on where you want to stay. Most resorts would rather you stay in the same unit vs moving so you can frequently arrange to stay in the same unit even if it is a weeks system.

I think you are going about this backwards. Look at where first and determine who has resorts in that area that you like. Then look at those systems. Most systems can be made to work the way you want so it really boils down to location and quality. The latter is probably more important if you are going to stay for a month or two.

There are also places that sell multiple weeks and you can buy quarter shares or maybe a month at a time. They usually have the option to break off some of the weeks to trade.

In Worldmark, the only reason you can't book more than 30 days online is because of the taxes involved. Taxes on timeshare stays are transient occupancy taxes and transient ends at 30 days so stays longer than that don't owe the tax. You can call in to make those reservations. I assume the same applies to the other point based systems.

Sue

 

[bnoble]

For sake of an example, assume we want to timeshare for 8 to 10 consecutive weeks without changing resorts or units more than 2 times. What systems would work best if this is our future vacation goal?

If this were my goal, I would rent through Airbnb or VRBO, not buy a timeshare.

 

[bizaro86]

I agree with WorldMark, and also think a Marriott weeks ownership might be a fit. If you own more than 1 week, you can book them together starting at 13 months.

I suspect booking a string of 6-10 weeks would get almost any availability in the system.

 

[ronparise]

What is a long stay reservation with WorldMark?

How many credits do you have. That's the only limit For example at 10000 credits per week 520,000 credits could do a year

 

[ronparise]

If this were my goal, I would rent through Airbnb or VRBO, not buy a timeshare.

Of course there are other options

I assume he knows you could do a vacation rental through a real estate agent or one of those on line services. The point of this tread is, I think to ask if timeshares would work. I think it would, especially Worldmark

My research and my experience as a real estate agent in a vacation market, tells me that Worldmark would be cheaper too

 

[bnoble]

The point of this tread is, I think to ask if timeshares would work.

Sure. But coming to TUG asking how to do this via timeshare is sort of like going to a NASCAR fan forum and asking "Who thinks I should spend the weekend watching people drive fast and turn left."*

OP doesn't even know where they want to do this. It might be different if they really wanted to stay where WorldMark had strength, but they live in Ohio. Maybe they do, maybe they don't.

*: For the record, I watched the Pure Michigan 400 from a pit-side suite, so yes I do sometimes spend my weekends this way.

 

[tschwa2]

I think all timeshares and timeshare systems will try to keep owners (and exchangers) with multiple week reservations of the same type of unit in the same unit as much as possible. This isn't going to be possible staying in a timeshare that was originally sold as fixed unit/fixed weeks even if they are now selling points/credits. There also may be local ordinances that come in play as to not let a tenant stay in the same unit longer than x days so they can't try to establish residency. Without knowing at least a general idea of the location and resort requirements (level of amenities) it is impossible to recommend one system over another. Even RCI points lets you book up to 21 days based on availability. I would imagine if I booked 3 consecutive stays of 21 days, the resort would do its best to keep me from having to move too often.

 

[ronparise]

The criteria were availability, cost and no more than two moves in an 8-12 week stay, and specifically not location

Other features like amenities may be important but weren't mentioned in the post

 

[Hobee]

Thank you for the comments. I omitted details about location and amenities in my original question to keep responses as open ended as possible. Our preferred location is Hilton Head or at least the Carolina low country. We have started to build a MVC portfolio with enrolled and enrolled weeks but are open to other systems as well. We are about 5 years away from being able to do long time share stays.

 

[dominidude]

If this were my goal, I would rent through Airbnb or VRBO, not buy a timeshare.

Exactly.
Say you can get the cost to be around 600 per week, that's over 2400 per month.
In the peak season that's fair amount of money to pay for a full months rental, depending on location, but in the low season many units just sit empty and so that's an unreasonably high price to pay.
The other thing no one has mentioned is that if you purchase a world mark contract with that many points, you have to be prepared to use it for the long term, I'd say a minimum of 10 years, in order to recoup your initial investment.
If I were in your shoes, I'd hone in the location I wanted to vacation first. Many locations do not have timeshares, so you might be stuck with a timeshare you can't use if you don't plan carefully.

 

[dominidude]

Location of resorts not withstanding, which systems work best to timeshare extensively instead of purchasing or leasing a vacation home. I am interested in knowing what features and benefits would make one system better than another with cost effectiveness and availability of high importance. For sake of an example, assume we want to timeshare for 8 to 10 consecutive weeks without changing resorts or units more than 2 times. What systems would work best if this is our future vacation goal?

I'd consider travelling during the low season only, and using II or RCI getways to string together 10 consecutive weeks at the same resort. Once at the resort, it's easy to convince the resort to let you stay in the same unit for the number of weeks you have reserved.
The best part:
Each week could potentially be less than $300 and there's no long term commitment.

This is similar to renting through Airbnb or VRBO, but you'd be using II's or RCI's timeshare exchange platform to rent, which is cheaper in my opinion.

 

[tschwa2]

Thank you for the comments. I omitted details about location and amenities in my original question to keep responses as open ended as possible. Our preferred location is Hilton Head or at least the Carolina low country. We have started to build a MVC portfolio with enrolled and enrolled weeks but are open to other systems as well. We are about 5 years away from being able to do long time share stays.

I had a feeling you had some kind of preference in mind. Finding you a low cost system that gets you in the western half of the US isn't going to help you then nor would one that can get you multiple weeks in Orlando if that's not what you want.

Next question are you looking for something Marriott quality and 2 br size or could you go down in quality and/or size?

And finally are you looking for something that covers weeks in June -August, or more shoulder season or are you looking at something in winter (off season) that is warmer than the northern half but not somewhere with a swimable ocean. (Personally, I don't like HOT or COLD so for me Hilton Head in the winter would be ideal and Canada or Alaska in the summer and somewhere in between for spring and fall, Hawaii year round would probably work for me but it would be so far away from my East Coast family).