- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
- Messages
- 14,501
- Reaction score
- 3,195
- Points
- 698
- Location
- Kansas
- Resorts Owned
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Marriott Grand Chateau
Marriott Shadow Ridge
Marriott Ocean Pointe
Marriott Destination Club Points
Hilton Grand Vacation Club Las Vegas Blvd
Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
In 1998 we bought our first timeshare. A fixed unit/fixed week 2 bedroom lock-off in Las Vegas. The next year we bought a second 2 bedroom week at the same resort. In the beginning, it was great. we'd lock off the units, use the one bedroom sections and deposit the studio sections. Then we'd online shop the studio units with Interval International until we found 1 bedroom (sometimes larger) units at places and times we wanted to travel and we'd make the exchange. Sometimes we'd also exchange the one bedroom sections for upwards of 4 exchanges/year. This worked out great for us and, I assume it was good business for I.I. as we were paying membership dues plus paying multiple exchange fee's.
Fast forward 20 years down the line. We no longer own those fixed unit/fixes weeks. Before we got rid of them, they had been converted to a points based reservations system and were never again deposited with I.I. directly. Instead, they had been used for internal system reservations. Eventually that management company raised the points based membership fee so high that it was no longer economically viable as a vacation option. They made themselves obsolete with what was pure management fee increases (originally the fee was $135 but had increased to $535 within 5 years).
As for the remainder of our "portfolio" of timeshare weeks, we own 2 floating week units that we use every year. They're never exchanged with I.I. or RCI and don't belong to any timeshare system. Both are with minor players in the timeshare management game. We have 3 weeks that are with major hotel branded timeshare management companies and both have internal reservations/exchange options with "reasonable" management fee's for those internal systems. Those weeks never see the light of day with either I.I. or RCI's general exchange population. Instead they are strictly kept with internal reservations within those systems.
So, within 20 years both RCI and I.I. have made themselves or become obsolete for our needs. 20 years ago we made exchanges through the exchange companies for the majority of our travel needs. Today, we have NO external exchanges planned for this year or next. We dropped our RCI membership long ago and, truthfully only ever made one exchange with them before realizing the value wasn't there for us. I.I., on the other hand, had been a valuable part of timesharing for us but, with all the added fee's and increases in exchange fee's coupled with what amounted to discounted options within the timeshare management companies, the priced themselves out of our vacation plans.
What will happen in the next 20 years? Who knows? I foresee a point where MF's alone make timeshare obsolete for us and, with the advent of options such as Airbnb, perhaps it's already obsolete for the generation coming up behind us.
I've seen buy in prices with developers for a single week go from high but manageable, to so expensive management companies had to go to points based sales so they could sell what amounts to partial weeks (selling enough points that you only get a few nights in high or prime seasons). Weeks we paid $18,900 for in 1998 (yes we bought direct from the developer, don't judge me) are now selling north of $70,000 in the same building if you bought enough points for an entire week. The difference is there's no longer any construction overhead for the management company, it's pure greed and pure profit minus the cost of the sales staff and office space. At any rate, much like how the exchange companies priced themselves out of our business, something will eventually have to give. It will either be new owners sucking up the ever increasing prices or management companies going the way of Sears/Kmart. At some point I predict we'll likely get out for more affordable options and what's been a fantastic way for us to travel will give way to the next great, more affordable option. I know many of our friends have already move on to Airbnb. Who knows, maybe we will too?
Fast forward 20 years down the line. We no longer own those fixed unit/fixes weeks. Before we got rid of them, they had been converted to a points based reservations system and were never again deposited with I.I. directly. Instead, they had been used for internal system reservations. Eventually that management company raised the points based membership fee so high that it was no longer economically viable as a vacation option. They made themselves obsolete with what was pure management fee increases (originally the fee was $135 but had increased to $535 within 5 years).
As for the remainder of our "portfolio" of timeshare weeks, we own 2 floating week units that we use every year. They're never exchanged with I.I. or RCI and don't belong to any timeshare system. Both are with minor players in the timeshare management game. We have 3 weeks that are with major hotel branded timeshare management companies and both have internal reservations/exchange options with "reasonable" management fee's for those internal systems. Those weeks never see the light of day with either I.I. or RCI's general exchange population. Instead they are strictly kept with internal reservations within those systems.
So, within 20 years both RCI and I.I. have made themselves or become obsolete for our needs. 20 years ago we made exchanges through the exchange companies for the majority of our travel needs. Today, we have NO external exchanges planned for this year or next. We dropped our RCI membership long ago and, truthfully only ever made one exchange with them before realizing the value wasn't there for us. I.I., on the other hand, had been a valuable part of timesharing for us but, with all the added fee's and increases in exchange fee's coupled with what amounted to discounted options within the timeshare management companies, the priced themselves out of our vacation plans.
What will happen in the next 20 years? Who knows? I foresee a point where MF's alone make timeshare obsolete for us and, with the advent of options such as Airbnb, perhaps it's already obsolete for the generation coming up behind us.
I've seen buy in prices with developers for a single week go from high but manageable, to so expensive management companies had to go to points based sales so they could sell what amounts to partial weeks (selling enough points that you only get a few nights in high or prime seasons). Weeks we paid $18,900 for in 1998 (yes we bought direct from the developer, don't judge me) are now selling north of $70,000 in the same building if you bought enough points for an entire week. The difference is there's no longer any construction overhead for the management company, it's pure greed and pure profit minus the cost of the sales staff and office space. At any rate, much like how the exchange companies priced themselves out of our business, something will eventually have to give. It will either be new owners sucking up the ever increasing prices or management companies going the way of Sears/Kmart. At some point I predict we'll likely get out for more affordable options and what's been a fantastic way for us to travel will give way to the next great, more affordable option. I know many of our friends have already move on to Airbnb. Who knows, maybe we will too?
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I'm getting two weeks in Marriotts on HHI over my daughter's spring break that, even with the II fees, will cost me all in what maybe one week of Marriott MF would be (without the II fees added in.) We got two weeks in Maui and the Big Island over Christmas/New Year's in two bedrooms for again what was probably less than one week of MF at either location.