But none of us would have any way of knowing that other than maybe the moderators if they specifically looked. There are several members of this board that ended up buying into other timeshares based on initial discussions here on DIS. In every case I'm aware of, they did proper investigation up front. I am not aware of a single one that is sorry they went that route of buying non DVC timeshares to supplement their DVC options. And while I'm sure many will disagree with me, my view is it's not possible to truly know and understand DVC without having at least a working knowledge of other timeshares. It's like going to buy a car you like but you haven't looked at the other cars in the same class. I feel just as strongly that the wrong type of info and experience is just as bad, if not worse. I think many have the experience, or know someone who did, of bad timeshare tours and buying timeshares at retail rates they didn't need, didn't understand, and didn't use appropriately to get value from.
We're all in that boat, that's what makes sites such as DIS so valuable, we can pool our resources and usually get better and quicker info than any other route. I've seen it many times where someone attends a timeshare tour and is convinced to buy, reads through the glossy materials, has a couple of conversations with a company and all of a sudden they know the system inside and out. I've seen it with DVC and with other timeshares but it seems to be more common with DVC. I can think of a couple of specific good examples on this board related to none DVC timeshares as well and I suspect we've all been there for one issue or another over our lifetime. I've also learned the most when I said or posted something based on what I though was true that ended up not being correct.
To me this comes down to micro managing vs macro managing and where the proper balance lies for a given family. To me, as long as you know what you're giving up and understand the implications, it's a personal choice. Just like I have an exchange into DVC coming up but we'll only use 3 days of it, something I could never justify on points directly.
See, here is the thing we never say about renters, Would they ever, EVER, rent a 1br suite in a villa for rack rate? I think renters enhance their accomadations but would strongely, respectively, disagree that anyone who rents truly saves 50%
traceyg said:
I'm not sure about her fees but I have a 1 BR RCI points resort yearly that costs me just over $325 a year plus the RCI points membership dues which also give you access to much of the RCI week inventory. There are many examples of cheap up front and cheap yearly fees but many of them don't offer much trading power. For RCI weeks you can check out the TPU and for RCI points, the number of points a given option gives you. That's why one has to spend time evaluating the options.
I want to thank you Dis Board vets for taking the time to write out some of the most exceptional and patient replies on this thread. More then one person reads them, and its been an education for me. Thank you so much!
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