General Timeshare questions, and pleading for advice...

[flechette]

I made the mistake of mentioning DVC to my family.

My sister has a timeshare in Shawnee PA - 2 weeks - don't know which weeks or what size. She says the timeshare company is Interval International. I said that II is an exchange company but doesn't own any timeshares. She says i'm confused ( well that part is right )

She has offered to transfer me 1 of the weeks.

Um wow - wasn't expecting this at all. Don't know that I really want it cause well - I want DVC but a free week Timeshare is incredibly generous. And maybe we could do both - She was saying we could use this week to trade into DVC but I rather think our preferred vacation times would make that unlikely ... (Dec for WDW May/June for HH)

I've heard about the problems many have had with II and trading out DVC - does that stand for all timeshares?

Maintenance fees would be under $400 a year right now, so that part is affordable. Any suggestions for websites or boards to go read up on this? I have no idea how tradeout work with other timeshares .

Any suggestions on how to evaluate this offer? This seems to be in or near the Poconos.

How do exchanges work thru II - you deposit your week and hope what you want becomes available?

Any advise and/or direction would be really great! Thank you all!

 

[tamu91]

Check this site out http://www.tug2.net/. You can get very educated about timeshares at TUG.
From what I've read over the years, it's not impossible to trade into DVC if you're flexible with your dates and size unit required.

 

[Dean]

That's a tall education order. I agree with TUG. As for the value of the PA week, it depends. Many timeshares and weeks are not worth the yearly fees. While your sister's offer may indeed be a genuine one, I also wonder if she's not using it and sees this as a way to get out from under it. Just be careful before you say yes. As for trading in, it depends. If you could, just realize you'd have yearly II fees, an exchange fee currently $135 and an additional fee of $95. So currently if you exchanged into DVC, you'd have a cost around $700 per exchange (maint fee, II fee, exchange fee & resort services fee). Not a great price for a studio given the limitations involved, but a good price for a 1 BR. You could very possibly get a 1 BR in Jan, May, Sept and the like. But the chances for Summer, Xmas, & Easter are much less or, in some cases, almost zero. You need to be able to plan well ahead.

You might ask your sister to give you access to her II account and just pay the fees on the weeks you end up using, rather than taking ownership. You might have to get a guest certificate if you don't change the II account to include yourself, but it is likely a better approach for the time beeing.

How do exchanges work thru II - you deposit your week and hope what you want becomes available?

That is exatlly right, and at least a year in advance for both deposit and search.

 

[flechette]

Thanks for the link! I did say advice or direction I'm hitting their message boards asap.

My sister never uses her timeshare - ever. It was bought 20? years ago for a tax writeoff or something since she and her husband and nothing to deduct on taxes. (garbled explanation at best) They are considering selling it or rather the husband wants to sell, my sister wants to start using it. Giving me one week halves the maintence fees but leaves them with options.

I guarantee my sister has no idea if her week is desirable or not - I'm not being used because she's tired of dealing with it or anything like that - except maybe being used to promoting domestic tranquility.

Now where does the $135 II membership fee come into play? DVC has just a onetime fee right? My sister said there was a $65 fee to trade out w/ II which I thought was like the DVC one - so you have to be an II member inorder to tradeout? no matter where you own?

Our original DVC plans/hopes where for 100-120 OKW pts and 50-60 HH points. We were thinking if we take on their week we'd skip the HH points since we don't really care where we stay on HH. But we'd lose the flexibilty of changing unit sizes - I think. I'm firm on the DVC for WDW, we'll be there every other year and we like deluxe resorts- I am not taking chances with that vacation

Okay- off to read! Please post any other thoughts and advice that you may have

 

[Cruelladeville]

You could probably trade into HH in May if you deposited your week a year ahead of time, and MAYBE DVC, depending upon the time of year. My sister has tried to trade in for 4 years, and hasn't gotten in yet, but she needed a two bedroom. She was trying to trade Marriott Easter week! Now she just reserves Easter week, and sells it, and pays cash for DVC.

 

[flechette]

Well from a bit of feedback from the TUG board - it doesn't sound like Shawnee is a very strong trade option. I figure with DVC I should almost always be able to transfer/rent points and use the cash to travel .

It seems like DVC points are more flexible on this than the standard timeshare since after the 7 month mark - a point is a point is a point. Heck some people say after a tranfer the points are all the same but there are 2 camps on that opinion I guess I could try and make a reservation with Shawnee and rent that - but I don't think I want to keep up with that and DVC.

Thanks again for recommending TUG - they're just as nice and informative as this board - and if I'm not mistaken I've already seen a few board member from here - over there


I'll take my time with this- it is a very generous offer, I'm just not sure it's right for us

 

[Caskbill]

Just to clarify the fees:

1. Your resort will have annual maintenance fees.
2. Your resort will also have annual taxes, which might be part of the maintenance fees you pay, or might be billed separately. Your sister can let you know about that.
3. If you want to trade the resort, you must become an II member. There is an annual fee to belong to II. If you pay for multiple years at once, it's a little cheaper. Figure around $80/year
4. When you trade the resort, there is a fee paid to II for the trade. I forget the rates, but domestic trades are around $79 and international is around $129.
5. If you trade into DVC, there is a fee from DVC of $95 to trade in.

Some other plusses: As a member of II, you can take advantage of what they call get-a-ways. These are various timeshares that others have traded out of and no-one is trading in, so you can get them for just the cost of the maintenance fees, or less. It's not uncommon to find things like a 2-B/R in Orlando for $700 for the week. Keep in mind you have to be a little flexible to take advantage of some of those.

Minuses: Absolutely do not count on being able to go to DVC whenever you want. I've heard that the requests outnumber the available DVC units by as much as 10 to 1. And when you trade, a unit with more trading power will get first pickings. (Someone trading their Hawaii week will get first choice over someone trading some out of the way resort)

Personal Opinion: Owning DVC is not that cheap either, but if you want to stay at WDW, that's probably a much better option than going through the hassle of trying to trade, and paying all the fees.

 

[Dean]

Current regular II exchange fees right now are (I believe) $135 & $149 domestic and international. DVC is $75 to trade out but there are other negatives to exchanging DVC.

 

[laceemouse]

Could you use your sis's week and get a condo in ORLANDO for a week?....definitelyYES! There are tons of them in Orlando!!! Could you use it to stay at DVC, on WDW property...probably NOT!!! We own DVC plus another t/s in Williamsburg which we trade through RCI. We could trade into Orlando with our other unit any day of the week, there are so many t/ss in Orlando. BUT, we wanted to stay on Disney property when we go to WDW!