Basic help needed to help understand my options

[Chilaquil37]

Hello,
I’d appreciate your help to know what options I have to make better use of our timeshare. My situation is I now find myself needing to manage this timeshare after my Father’s passing. The timeshare is a 2 bedroom in Vistana Spa Villas, Orlando for early August, it is not on points, so its the traditional fix week.

Problem is I now live in the UK and using it is a bit more complicated to use. Communicating with Vistana is also a bit of an issue because of time difference and think also because of they way they operate. At the moment I'd be happy if I recover the maintenance fees somehow as we can use it whenever logistics align. In addition, I had a call with someone explaining me about Bonvoy/Abound points and the offer of paying some good money and financing it so we can have access to a big network of resorts/hotels.

So some very basic questions:
1 Is there a way to ‘rent’ my current timeshare and recuperate the maintenance fee? I think in this very site I can do that? Other than my trying to find a friend and asking him to contribute to the maintenance fees
2 I’ve considered selling it, but is it a hard thing to do?
3 I’ve considered ‘cancelling it’, or ‘giving it back’ but not sure if this is something I’ll later regret as my kid is now 8 and I guess eventually we might use it more.
4 Aside from Bonvoy and Abound, is there a more cost effective network to join? I think Vistana has their own network but very limited.

Any input would be appreciated

 

[jp10558]

So if it's a fixed week, you can just use it if you can.

Then you can try and rent it for close to MFs on TUG marketplace - it costs $15 a year to be able to list there. https://tug2.com/home is the site.
The other rental place that tends to work well is Redweek.com, that has various fees - I'm not exactly sure what they are though.
Some people try and rent on ebay, AirBnB (this is tricky though), GoKoala and other places.

I don't know how easy Vistana is to sell, I'd go to their sub forum and ask / look at that, and at ebay completed sales etc.

In terms of networks, I think Vistana does II - so exchanging is certainly a possibility. Check the fees Vistana has worked out, but I think it generically is $240 an exchange plus resort fees depending on resort you exchange into? This actually is still potentially a deal, and I would definitely also consider keeping your TS even if you can't use it just for access to getaways in II. At least in the US these can be a good deal.

If you mean selling and going for a different timeshare network and timeshare location entirely, you may want to look into HGVC for the Scotland properties and RCI for places like Wychnor Park Country Club in the UK (I wouldn't get HVC / former Diamond just for that), or perhaps look into Hapimag which is European focused. Might be easier to use unless you plan to come to the states all the time. The other upshot of HGVC / Scotland though is they have quite a presence in Orlando and RCI which also has more Orlando than one would need. And you can buy the Scotland property right from them in the UK with UK closing costs etc. But this is a sell Vistana and Buy something else, so you'll likely spend noticeable money to do this.

It's not entirely clear to me you want to use a timeshare with the annual fee and the planning needed to book. Orlando is always going to be easy to rent also because its so overbuilt. So you need to consider what are your MFs now, and what is it including? I personally think timeshares make a lot of sense if you meet the following criteria (and the further you go from them, the less sense it'll make)

1. You want / need a kitchen, either to save money or to help with dietary restrictions
2. You want / need 2 bedrooms or more
3. You can plan ahead 9 or more months OR you can pick up and go (to a random available location) with a weeks notice
4. You want to travel 2 weeks or more a year
Major plus but not required
5. You can use timeshare availability to dictate *where* and *when* you go to some extent. I.e. if you want to go to somewhere in Florida next week, you can likely make that work whereas if you want to go to Marbrisa, CA in May that probably won't unless you can book it 9 months earlier. EDIT: To clarify - if you search a larger region, the more likely *somewhere* will have availability, with more 9+ months out OR what RCI calls "Last Call" at less than 45 days out. And I should clarify - the sort of pick it up and go are going to be in the exchange company way more than within say HGVC or Abound - those are the plan months out IME. Which does mean exchange fees or straight cash buys that are over and above the MFs, but usually still really worth it in many cases. I can't believe the number of sub $600 weeks with 2BR I've pulled out of RCI in the last year, though often in shoulder season or low season. Even "full price" at $1,000 to $2,000 is often a deal vs 2 hotel rooms for the same time.

 

[Venter]

How long has your dad owned the week?
Did he buy it from the developer or resale?