How many of you have added timeshare weeks to use in retirement?

I'm a recent widow, a couple of years from retirement, and I just bought 4 timeshares to enjoy now and in retirement. If I like it, I am likely to add more.

My late husband and I traveled all over thanks to my FF miles and I'm still earning miles. But most of my travel from now will be alone. I figure if I have timeshares, it gives me the push to get traveling.

Rent_Share said:

Wyndham allows 1miilion+ Point owners to reserve at 50 % of the non "elite" rate. 60 days before check in, Only the first Million need to be developer points

Many tie up inventory with points they may have bought resale and cancel at 60 days and rebook immediately, cutting their MF cost in half over a non elite rate.

If they mark up their cost 50% they are renting to you at 25 % off a non elite's cost to pay maintenance fees

It refers to a class of owner affectionately referred to as a Mega Renter

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Wow, I had no idea, what a creative way to make a buck or million…LOL

thanks so much for the info, as a newbie I'm still trying to learn all I can

Southpaw said:

I'm a recent widow, a couple of years from retirement, and I just bought 4 timeshares to enjoy now and in retirement. If I like it, I am likely to add more.

My late husband and I traveled all over thanks to my FF miles and I'm still earning miles. But most of my travel from now will be alone. I figure if I have timeshares, it gives me the push to get traveling.

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I am single and like travelling to timeshares because there are always friendly and outgoing owners - floating in the pool, sharing beverages around the pool, etc. The computer rooms were great years ago - sort of miss them, as I learned where good local dining was. But I feel safer - it is less of turnover with most guests staying a week or longer. And the units & floors tend to be quieter than a hotel or a condo rental.

vacationhopeful said:

I am single and like travelling to timeshares because there are always friendly and outgoing owners - floating in the pool, sharing beverages around the pool, etc. The computer rooms were great years ago - sort of miss them, as I learned where good local dining was. But I feel safer - it is less of turnover with most guests staying a week or longer. And the units & floors tend to be quieter than a hotel or a condo rental.

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Linda - Thanks so much for your reply. It looks as if this may work out for me.

Sugarcubesea said:

You mention "Go with Wyndham Platinum VIP renters and you will beat about anything going." Does this statement mean look to rent Wyndham Platinum ?

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Yes!

I am a Silver Wyndham VIP and due to olde age want to get rid of all my ownership and ongoing MF. Then rent what I want, when I want and if I want. No more worrying about credit pool, RCI etc..

To cite an example, a 2 BR at BC in High season goes for 189K points. As VIP I get 25% discount or costs me 142K points. 2 BR will not be available at 30 days for free upgrade!

A Platinum VIP books a 1 BR for 126K points and gets 50% discount so 63K points and free upgrade to 2 BR.

Of course, how much of discount is passed on is subject to negotiation as rentor expects to make a fair profit!

Like any business, happy repeat clients are the best and once one establishes a a good relationship things should really fall into place!

I just started my retirement last year and took on a CMV UDI.
I gave away one fixed week and am giving away another this year.
With CMV you can pretty much ramp up or down as you need without committing to lots of high fees.
You do have to belong to the exchange companies and pay the exchange fees but that too can be ramped up or down.
Loving my CMV.

Bxian said:

We currently own 2 weeks at the same HGVC resort that trade through RCI. I have thought about buying another week or 2 (or Worldmark or Wyndham points), but have held off because we are still working. In addition to putting our timeshare weeks to very good use, we also make great use of hotel points and FF miles and enjoy the occasional cruise. Planning trips is my hobby, and when we retire, we would love to travel a lot. I don't think we will purchase a second home for vacation use. I know that some people try to get rid of timeshares as their kids leave the nest and they get closer to retirement. Have any of you increased the number of weeks/points owned in retirement? If so, how has it worked out?

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Hi
Check out our BLOG... Haha

Sold our house upon retirement , absolute full time timesharing for 6 years... Searching for the best place to retire... But we liked everywhere we went ... Still looking, still timesharing, at Wyndham Fairfield Bay right now for a week, then to Holiday Island (Eureka springs,AR) for 2 weeks, then to Telemark for a month

Retirement timeshare plans

We started buying timeshare for vacations in 1997 - all secondary market. We now own 12 weeks that can morph to more using points. I retired in May and my husband will retire in March and the following day we will spend a month at Lindo Mar in Puerto Vallarta. The 12th week we added was Worldmark points that my son's mother in law could not manage the fees on anymore and since we are in Seattle will get good use of it. Two of our weeks are Pueblo Bonito Mazatlan that will expire in 2017 and we will be down to a more manageable 10 weeks. I have been using 6 or 7 of the weeks while I was working, but we rented some of our weeks and we gave many away to family and friends who are now hooked on timeshare. We are looking forward to using ALL our weeks and more each year.

Many years ago we read a TUG article called Ray's Way and my husband wants to do what Ray did - timeshare around the country using getaway weeks along with our exchange vacations. It was more reasonable 10 years ago when getaways were $199 a week but we will look at doing that. Our current restriction are our aged cats. Poor dears don't like to be alone for weeks on end. We have sitters in twice a day but it is expensive. My caution is - if you have pets and are approaching retirement - don't get more. Leaving them will cramp your vacation dreams.

Trying to pick up more SVV

We retired last year, September. We are also Northeasters and want to get away for the winter. In 2013 we reserved a premium one bedroom at SVV from Dec. 29 until March 14.....it was great!
We have early Dec. - mid March this year, but need more StarOptions if we want to keep doing this.
We tried renting in Florida for Jan-Feb and the costs are about the same, but the resort living is better. If you don't like the room they give you, ask for another one! I know Orlando isn't everyone's idea of a great winter, but we really enjoyed it. We bought Disney annual passes and played golf for very little on Oak Trail. We went to the parks for 2 hours or so...we felt as though all of Disney World was our private resort. We also took some short trips, one to Alabama and one to the Villages to visit friends and family. We plan on picking up more StarOptions for as little as possible. We only need a one bedroom, so we don't need too many SOs. We own in Maui, so we figure when we get too old to travel we will sell the Maui timeshares and give away the ones that we picked up from Tug!
Haven't bought any more yet.
We owned Wyndham for 13 years, but to be honest we did not like the resorts, not sure why. We really like Starwood (also some of the Marriotts) and we like to check in and stay in one place...so our vote is: More timeshares in retirement, but they have to fit the bill.

We are about 70. We find we want several units at the same time for grandchildren and kids visiting, but they are not able to commit to dates. We want to take more non-timeshare type trips, like we just booked a Travelzoo trip to the Galapados. We want to do some Europe river cruises. Previously we did a Groupon trip to the Azores. So, no, we won't be adding to our 8 weeks that we already don't use up because we are trying out other travel mentioned above. We try to rent our red weeks out, but Florida sends us a tax form and commission is high, so we lose money. And rentals can cancel. Too much hassle. With all the good last minute deals in RCI or II or DAE, they will be our extra time away for retirement.

Hubby retired 2 years ago and we had 3 timeshares when he retired (all lockouts bought on resale--thanks to TUG advice). We always use one summer week on the Outer Banks, but trade the others with RCI. All our weeks are beach summer weeks, so good TPUs. Last winter we spent 4 weeks in FL to see if we liked it, and this year we are going there for 6 weeks.
We purchased another summer beach week in RCI points in the spring (again resale) to help with the trades. We love the beach and can always use the weeks if we decide not to winter in in FL. For now, this is working for us since we only need 1 bedroom places and use the last call or extra vacations for mountain or out of season beach getaways. We don't travel much in the summer.
We don't want to spend too much in maintenance costs, so 4 will do it for us now. We still want to go to Europe once a year while we are young and healthy enough to enjoy it.
Ava

Over the years we accumulated ten timeshares. Our kids were still living with us and we traveled a lot, searching for the sunshine since we were in the Seattle area.

When my husband retired seven years ago, we moved to Nevada where we have sunshine and lots of activities we enjoy doing right here. We also have tried other ways to travel including cruises and shorter stays in places we can easily drive to. We no longer need week-long stays in two bedroom units like we did with all the kids.

We're down to just one timeshare now and I'd be happy to part with that one, too. As others have pointed out, timeshare rentals are abundant, and we like the flexibility that affords. We won't be buying any more timeshares or committing ourselves to ever-increasing maintenance fees in retirement.

Years ago, i realized thet to get multiple units at the same place during Spring Break would require ownership. I bought 3 additional weeks at Perennial Vacation Club and we have used these weeks to take the whole family to Daytona Beach, Bandera, Lakeland, and Lake Tahoe for Spring Break. I retired 20 years ago, but my wife is still an active Real Estate Broker.

My wife and I have owned multiple timeshares since 1985, using most of the allotted time prior to retirement. Since retiring at age of 53, I have added to our timeshare ownership as we seem to run out weeks to use, even when taking advantage of being able to draw on our next year's allottment. Since we travel to far distant lands using frequent flyer miles, we plan our travels a year in advance allowing us to not only book mileage airline tickets but to confirm time at hard to get resorts through RCI or II. We will at some point reach a time in our lives when we will no longer be physically able to travel as we due today. When that happens, our children's families can use the time for their enjoyment.

Perennial Vacation Club

larfraz said:

Years ago, i realized thet to get multiple units at the same place during Spring Break would require ownership. I bought 3 additional weeks at Perennial Vacation Club and we have used these weeks to take the whole family to Daytona Beach, Bandera, Lakeland, and Lake Tahoe for Spring Break. I retired 20 years ago, but my wife is still an active Real Estate Broker.

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Glad to learn that Perennial Vacation Club is still alive and well. We had a PVC membership for some years and visited and enjoyed most of their facilities before selling off that PVC membership and focusing instead on owning mostly specific, consecutive, fixed Snowbird weeks in SW FL for retirement use.

I almost never see any mention of PVC on TUG or elsewhere, despite the fact that PVC is very distinctly different from most other "vacation clubs", in that PVC actually owns its' half-dozen or so facilities, instead of just acquiring limited access to occasional (usually off season) weeks at other places, like most so-called "vacation clubs".

Anyway, enjoy both PVC and your retirement.

I have cut back on my ownership since retiring. I can now travel last minute without worrying about specific vacation weeks from work.

I can now take advantage of DAE's Bonus Time and the last minute rentals offered here.

I have 2 Hiltons 6 Wyndhams, 1 Holiday Inn and 3 others for TPU, had most of them for many years, but recently adopted a Wyndham ophan giveaway.

I have Trade winds but they are a club and not timeshares. They will run out about the time that I likely can't get on and off the yachts anymore (due to bad knees).

I have had most of these for 10-15 years. I am at least 15 years from retirement.

So I rent out 75% of the usage in the meantime and I will re-adjust the portfolio, as required, as the years go by.

bobby said:

We are about 70. We find we want several units at the same time for grandchildren and kids visiting, but they are not able to commit to dates. We want to take more non-timeshare type trips, like we just booked a Travelzoo trip to the Galapados. We want to do some Europe river cruises. Previously we did a Groupon trip to the Azores. So, no, we won't be adding to our 8 weeks that we already don't use up because we are trying out other travel mentioned above. We try to rent our red weeks out, but Florida sends us a tax form and commission is high, so we lose money. And rentals can cancel. Too much hassle. With all the good last minute deals in RCI or II or DAE, they will be our extra time away for retirement.

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Our sentiments also. We are doing the Viking River cruise next year and then staying in Europe another month. We also want to do Galapagos soon and lots more on the bucket list. I love my resort vacations but there is also a ton to see that is not near a timeshare. We joined 2 hospitality clubs also, Evergreen and Affordable travel club. This fills in in Europe some and near attractions and on the road sometimes. Love my timeshare and when I get really old may want to winter in Florida and own more. Right now, we want to see the world's wonders.

Retirement

Remember that the maintenance fees and taxes would need to be paid even if your travel desire changes. Also remember that most could go up about 10% a year. That would translate into doubling in about seven years. Although that could happen, those that I own only doubled once in twenty years.
Mostly using RCI points, we will have traveled thirteen weeks this current year and not counting our owner cost, we paid RCI almost three thousand dollars. Although I appreciate the ease of using RCI points, the ever rising fee cost might soon be too much. Comparing our point "cost", several of our exchange fees this year were more than what we paid for our accommodations.
Reading the previous comments, I believe that you are getting very good answers to your inquiry.

Sandy VDH said:

I will re-adjust the portfolio, as required, as the years go by.

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IMO this is key. If you don't, you may find yourself paying MFs year after year that are providing no value to you.

George

I've added 2 this year so I have 3 Marriotts, 1 Hyatt and 2 Starwood in total. I'm retiring in 2 years and hope to use 1 or 2 a year and rent the others to cover maintenance fees and have enough $$ left over to do cruises, etc. I'm making my purchase choices based on properties that will yield the most rent over the cost of the maintenance.

We have added two more weeks, both at the same location (The Cliffs, Kauai) because we really enjoy the location. And, yes, the additional weeks were made as a result of my retirement!

luvkauai said:

We have added two more weeks, both at the same location (The Cliffs, Kauai) because we really enjoy the location. And, yes, the additional weeks were made as a result of my retirement!

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Congratulations!!! How wonderful. It's so great to own where you want to go... The ultimate of that 'vacation home' that we all talked about when we were younger, but with no maintenance for us to do physically ourselves. And if one year, we can't go, there are other easy alternatives.

A few years ago, I started picking up weeks at my favorite resort so I can
Stay for a few months when I retire. Right now I'm glad I did because the prices
On the weeks has started to rise over the last year. I use three weeks myself and
Rent out the rest and it covers all the fees so I go for free.

I'm looking at it as a second home and it will be great to spend two or three
Months oceanfront on Kauai every year. In the mean time two or three weeks
Will have to do. Sometimes we do a week somewhere else but always at least
Two weeks on Kauai.

Hi

saw this thread in the e-mail that Brian sends out ... skimmed ...

Question ... the thread is 'how many of you added timeshare weeks to use in retirement ... of course being a 'snowbird' myself ..I am assuming this is for the winter escape ... ok ...here's my question ...finally ... over the years I have gotten the impression that many time shares don't allow you to book the winter for consecutive weeks .. can someone clarify ...

I know we can at Aviara ..but that is not the normal ... i have some friends that could be interested ... what chains allow 6-10 weeks in same location and which don't ?

Thanks

Greg

ps - if you see this dog Jan thru March - say hi