Now that we've rescinded the timeshare that we bought directly from the developer, we're looking here at gaining information and possibly purchasing on the resale market.
Would you mind sharing your opinions on why you bought the program that you have and whether you find it worth it (versus just vacationing and getting hotel rooms wherever)? What do you find to be the benefits of owning interest in a timeshare? What are the benefits to the particular program in which you have your timeshare?
Thanks in advance for your opinions!
From our earliest days as a family---a toddler with our second on the way---we've vacationed in either homestyle suite places (e.g. Residence Inn) or renting private homes at the beach. I never understood why parents of young children got single hotel rooms and pretended to be asleep at 8:00 at night while the kids were nodding off. Darn it, it's my vacation too!
Now, we define "roughing it" as having to share a washer and dryer with other units rather than having one to ourselves. During our vacations now, there will be some point at which we are hanging out in the condo, and just enjoying ourselves, and my wife and I will look at each other and say: "Hotel rooms. How do people do it?"
Now, you don't have to own to vacation this way affordably. If you can visit places during off- or shoulder season, you can often rent for not much more than---or even less than---the maintenance fees required to own the same time. Renting can also be advantageous if you don't imagine taking a "timeshare" vacation very frequently, as owning works best if you plan to average at least one timeshare stay every year or at most two. But, if you want to travel during peak-demand times, and you imagine doing a timeshare vacation every year, owning can make sense.
I own three weeks. My first week was in a points-based mini-system, and I recommend this model for first-time buyers. I happened to choose Wyndham, but any of them could work; choose based on the set of destinations they offer and see what matches your needs best. One piece of advice you often hear is "buy where you want to stay." The advantage of a mini-system is that to a first order approximation you get to "own" at many different resorts at the same time. Of course, it's often a little more complicated than that, and in some systems/with some products it does matter which resort in the system you own. But, in my case, I can book just about any resort at just about any time of year as long as I do as as soon as the booking window opens. There are a few things that are hard to get this way, but not many, and I haven't run into one yet.
Wyndham has a great set of resorts, they are located in places I want to visit, and we've found that they hit a good balance between luxury and affordability. They aren't the most posh units you'll find---the Marriotts and Hiltons of the world tend to be nicer---but Wyndham's fees are a bit more affordable than some of those name-brand places. This is just a matter of preference. You might be willing to pay for nicer units, or you might want a system that's even more affordable.
My other ownerships are at fixed-week/fixed-unit resorts. I bought these primarily for trading, though I would also happily stay at them if that's what worked in a given year. When I bought them, the trading landscape was quite a bit different. I still get good use out of them---we are spending two weeks in Hawaii this summer and my exchange costs for both weeks are less than the fees to own there. But, that's becoming increasingly hard to do, and I definitely would not recommend it for a first-time purchaser. Exchanging well is really more of a hobby than "just owning a timeshare," and it is not for everyone.
I've gotten great enjoyment out of my timeshare ownerships. We've taken many more vacations than we would have otherwise, at some fantastic locations. My oldest is getting ready to go off to college next fall, and the memories we've made together have been priceless. In two more years, the second one will be gone and we'll be empty nesting. Some folks talk about selling at that point, but I don't plan to. Instead, I'm going to use our timeshare time to "date" my wife again---we've spent so much energy chasing after/raising the kids that we need to have some time to reconnect. Then, down the road, I imagine we will invite them to spend some time with us as they have new families of their own.