OT: Renting Time share points

[Marci]

Now that I've done this once (Bonnet Creek Wyndham) I'm interested in learning about what other great vacations are out there.
With a family of 5, it was sooooo nice to have a condo type room. I'm not sure I can go back to a standard hotel.

Can anyone give me a primer, or point me to a website where I can learn more? What chains have time share resorts (wyndham, hilton...) Should I start by searching the hotel websites, then where do I look to rent the points? How do I search ebay, what do I look for?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

 

[spiceycat]

you might not be able to use points - you need a reservation.

don't fall for RCI points (w/o a timeshares) they are hard to use and you can only go during off season.

 

[dioxide45]

I suggest checking out TUG at tug2.net. There are lots of options out there. Not all timeshares are point systems. All of the big hotel operators have timeshare systems (Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood/Sheraton).

 

[shalom]

I suggest checking out TUG at tug2.net.

Timeshare Forums is another option.

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/

Both TUG and TS4Ms have listings of rentals separate from the Forums. At TS4Ms you can also post to a particular Timeshare Chain board with a request (or put a general request in the subforum for the area you want - Florida, in this case). I would also either track down or start a thread on one of those boards asking for advice on how to avoid the pitfalls of being a renter. Most of the articles on TUG are tips for owners on how to rent, but I know I've run across cases at TS4Ms where people asked for tips on renting from someone else and got some good advice, and I assume the same thing happens at TUG.

Once you get the basics down - what the rental contract should cover and whatnot - you can do a search for the particular location, "Bonnet Creek Rentals", for example, and see what that brings up. There are a number of different rental sites people use. I have also seen people pop up on a points system yahoo groups board and the like, saying, "I'd like to vacation at resort x on date y; any one willing to rent to me?" I would guess that sometimes gets a pretty good price, because people with points due to expire would be willing to get what they can instead of charging you what it costs them, but I've never tried it so I don't know for sure. I know I've seen some happy customers who've done that, though.

Good luck!

 

[swilshire]

don't fall for RCI points (w/o a timeshares) they are hard to use and you can only go during off season.

Pat,

Do you own RCI Points? I've had very good luck with them. I'm headed to Nova Scotia in about a month.

Sheila

 

[Brian Noble]

There are three "big" timeshare systems: Wyndham, WorldMark, and Bluegreen. You can look at each system's resort portfolio here:

https://www.wyndhamvacationresorts.com/ffr/resort/search.do
https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts/
http://www.bluegreenonline.com/explore/home.aspx

You can rent Wyndham points from Ken, or find other owners at forums.atozed.com where there is a modest market for reservations.

There is a very active reservation rental market among WorldMark owners offered here: http://wmowners.com/

There's a fellow named Jim, a major Bluegreen owner, who rents his own points and manages points for others. His website is: http://www.timesharekahuna.com/ There is also a Yahoo group for Bluegreen owners that might be fruitful, but I don't have the link handy.

Marriott's resorts are not (yet) point-based, but you can often find owners of those resorts renting time at redweek.com---you can find pretty much any major resort for rent here. The Hilton system is a little narrow---it focuses on Florida, Hawaii, Vegas, and a little bit of New York and other locations---and redweek is probably as good a site as any.

This is a great time to be renting time from owners. Demand is down and supply is up, because a lot of people still aren't in a position to travel. It will really give you a sense for whether or not timeshare is for you.

 

[spiceycat]

Pat,

Do you own RCI Points? I've had very good luck with them. I'm headed to Nova Scotia in about a month.

Sheila

no a friend at work did - they brought like 150,000 points from rci and have not been able to use any of them.

to say the least she is very bitter.

 

[swilshire]

no a friend at work did - they brought like 150,000 points from rci and have not been able to use any of them.

to say the least she is very bitter.

I can't imagine. They must be looking late and for very high demand weeks.

I haven't had a lot of luck with weekend trips, but just booked one I'd been hoping for in November. Did take me a couple of years to get only a weekend at this particular resort.

I am not available to take last minute trips, but I look and drool over some of the availability.

Hope your friends learn the system and learn to love it. Sometimes I do better in Weeks, but Points are good for the really hard to get stuff.

Sheila