all about the kids.
We were a family of four staying at the Westin Hotel in Hilton Head in 1998, and the cost for one single room was $2,500 for the week. I'll never forget it. And it was the third consecutive year we did this.
I was very frustrated. Upon checking out and leaving on that Sunday in June of '98, we decided to drive around and look at other options. We drove by a place, it looked really nice, so we got out. Had no idea what it was, but we began walking.........someone at the pool said, "No, you have to own here".
"Own here"? What did that mean?
So we knocked on a door, a nice guy opened it, we took a "tour", albeit a quick one, we sat at a table with a bunch of people standing around, and purchased 3 weeks at Grande Ocean....a Gold and 2 Platinum. The sales guy, now a best friend (and sales manager at MOW), almost fell backwards out of his chair---quite literally---- when I said, "OK, we'll take THREE weeks...." Wow.....he still loves to tell that story back to us. So the rest is history.
And now, we pay that annual MF of just over $1000 per week and feel very fortunate. We love our weeks, and because of the whole deal we've traveled the USA and the world.
T/s is not an investment, for sure, but it was a hedge against future vacation costs of the type we had, and it worked for us. (Later that year I discovered TUG.) We would have continued to pay more and more to rent rooms somewhere, but thank goodness we refused. I would have done better to buy resale, but who knew? But no regrets.
Our kids thank us every month of our lives now for the great years we've spent at HH and elsewhere, and we continue to enjoy great trips all the time, above and beyond our original T/S weeks...we've bought more, and we get creative in adding additional trips too. My son in law school just returned TODAY from a 5-night vacation at Hilton Head with fellow classmates, and they had a blast....so busy they couldn't stay a whole week, but they loved it anyway, and needed it.
They also went to Grande Vista for spring break, and had a blast at WDW, etc.....and the trips we give to our two grad-school kids are just golden, and they truly appreciate it. My daughter did the same for Spring Break with her friends. So, the kids enjoy it when they're young, and it only gets better with age. And yes, they're asking questions about the future.......