Who Buys Timeshares Anymore?

I never got them either. And for people who do have them, they all bitch about the blackout dates and it just seems like a hassle.

Lower middle class and unsophisticated people.

It always seems like it's the people who shouldn't be speanding money to go anyplace, are the people who have these things.

I have yet to meet a single person happy with buying a time share. They will suck the money right out of you.

I went to few sale pitches in my time. The whole point system seemed so complicated that I knew I would hate it if I bought one. Things are made overly complicated specifically to make it hard.

It’s so they can “brag” to their friends and family that they “have a place in” whatever location it’s in. I’ve been to a few resorts in Mexico where they give you the hard sell to buy into it and I’ve never fallen for it, although I see plenty of others who do. Old people especially, since they want something they can leave to their family. Yes, they can be deeded like property.

It's a way to measure dumbass-ness. If someone says we have a time share or they say I voted for Trump - now you know what you are dealing with. A valid like the plague.

There are actually a bunch of businesses to get people OUT of their timeshares. It’s a growth industry!

My parents have friends who bought a time share via the Marriott. They can go to any Marriott place via the time share - yet they only ever went to Orlando. They loved it. They loved Orlando. I never got the appeal. They owned the timeshare for 25 years. They could only go for couple weeks out of the year as per their timeshare rules. My mother actually went to stay at their timeshare in the fall and while it was nice, it was also expensive for them to go. Both are now deceased and their son just inherited the timeshare a couple months ago. I'm sure he will unload the place. It just seems like a waste of money. They still had to pay monthly for it, "maintenance fees" plus they had to pay when they wanted to use it. So what's the point of the initial investment?

Exactly r8 - just pay for a hotel!

But, but, but you know where your safe place will be during your allotted 2.73 week window. It's not like hotels where they might give you a bad room with butt sweat on the comforter and herpes on the toilet seat.

I really don't even remotely like the idea. I'd sooner go in on a small condo with friends a la Grace and Frankie.

Was recently in Puerto Vallarta and they have people there who prey on tourists, trying to get you to stop and talk to them about time shares. I was warned so I avoided it, but you literally have to not acknowledge them in any way, shape or form, no matter what they say.

(If I had a nickel for every asshole at the airport who tried to stop us to talk about timeshares, as well as every asshole who asked us if we needed a taxi, the trip would have paid for itself.)

My neighbours in their mid 60s bought a timeshare in St. Martin (or St, Maarten ir whatever) - they were on a Queen Mary cruisee for 2 weejs and somehow got suckered into this glamourous con and bought a timeshare, They could only go every 2 years. They bought 2 condo apartments side by side.

They are not wealthy. But no debts, Anyway, he plunk down $56,000 for these 2 condos. They boasted about for years to anyone who would listen. But soon, they started getting demands for highly questionable "upgrades". In the 2 years leading up to the major hurricane of Sept 2017, he refused to pay for these outrageous maintenance fees. So they stopped using the timeshare or were likely barred from using it until they paid up.

Anyway, in the aftermath of the Sept 2017 hurricane, the resort timeshare was decimated. Things escalated with my neighbour unable to get a straight answer from the company about the condition of the condos. I think he knew that to hire a lawyer and fight would cost him more than the timeshare investment.

Long story short, my neighbours are out of pocket $56,000. They are quiet about it now. The wife is pissed off about the financial loss but the husband keeps telling her to forget it. They just bought a cottage 3 years ago off the coast in Canada - and it's a rundown little shack. Since the purchase, he's been gradually losing mobility in his legs and can't even walk a block now. And the cotage is all stairs.

I can see another loss coming up on the horizon.

I can’t imagine being so stupid

Too many people buy homes, second homes and things that they cannot afford.

Most people cannot truly afford a boat, for example - they may be able to swing the initial payment, but the upkeep is beyond them, and it's a huge investment for something that many people only use a handful of times a year.

Timeshares were designed, I think, to prey on that need to show off......the kind of bad decision making that is so endemic in our culture.

You rarely see wealthy people buying timeshares.

My folks bought a timeshare about a million years ago, $5000. I'm sure there were probably some annual fees or something. They used it for 20 years, 2 weeks in Palm Springs and 2 weeks in Las Vegas every year like clock work. They liked it.

But it is a scam, no doubt.

The timeshare trolls at Puerto Vallarta Airport AKA the shark tank are famous. Fun Fact, the timeshare company practically paid for the construction of the airport in order to get that prime real estate. They recently paid for the airport upgrade as well.

I used to love goIng to PV, but haven’t been in years. But I did learn, from the locals, is whenever you’re approached by the timeshare sharks to tell them “yo vivo acqui”. (I live here). Works like a charm.

[quote] You rarely see wealthy people buying timeshares.

Yeah, it's surprising to see that people like Elon Musk don't send their assistants to buy them a place that will be shared with Herb and Judy Deplorable from Bumfucke, IA.

[quote] Fun Fact, the timeshare company practically paid for the construction of the airport in order to get that prime real estate. They recently paid for the airport upgrade as well.

That totally makes sense. PV is not especially rich so it would make sense that there would be other sources of investment.

I considered it briefly at one time, until I realized that the annual maintenance fees were probably more than I'd spend on a hotel for a week. I guess it might make sense if you had a large family and needed a two-bedroom unit with a kitchen, but not for me. What I do now (I'm retired) is rent a place on VRBO for a month every summer -- and I have a LOT more options to choose from in terms of location and type of accommodation.

See the documentary Queen of Versailles about the deplorable businessman David Siegel, who runs a timeshare company in Vegas. You'll get a good idea of the kind of unsophisticated, lower middle class people these companies prey upon, and the type of person who does that for profit.

I agree they are mostly a bad investment, but I don't agree that the people who buy them are looking to show off. I think they just like the idea of being able to go to all these different places on vacation, of course not realizing at the time that it isn't as easy to go where you want when you want.

Rule of thumb: if something is really a good value it sells itself. You don't need high pressure sales people and confusing gimmicks.

R21, that’s one of my favorite documentaries. So many layers. I could discuss it for hours.

And to your point, yes.

If you buy a timeshare, you can get like free tickets to a show or something.

[quote]See the documentary Queen of Versailles about the deplorable businessman David Siegel, who runs a timeshare company in Vegas. You'll get a good idea of the kind of unsophisticated, lower middle class people these companies prey upon, and the type of person who does that for profit.

He owns (or owned) the Westgate hotel in Las Vegas, which seems to be one giant timeshare pitch with hotel rooms on top of it. Plenty of reviews from people who say you can't approach or get off an elevator without a timeshare vulture swooping in.

[quote]If you buy a timeshare, you can get like free tickets to a show or something.

You know you don't actually have to BUY the timeshare to get tickets, right?

my mom, a total waste of money

[quote]You know you don't actually have to BUY the timeshare to get tickets, right?

Now you tell me.

if you live on the east coast and want to spend a limited amount of time on a beach area like Provincetown or lewes, DE you might consider a time-share.

Does anyone know how the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) works? I understand it to be some kind of a time share as well. I know someone who got involved in it, at the beginning all she did was talk about how great it is, now nothing. But I see how the DVC sticker is a staple on all the frau's minivans.

Who wants to go in with me on a Rentboy timeshare?

Sorry if that gets too deep or too philosophical, but are people still willing to share anything with others? I mean in this cultural climate people use any excuse to hate, or at least resent, other people. Timeshare would imply that people are ok with other people "owning" and using the same space as you.

^ I guess the whole "share economy" is slipping past your radar. Are you one of those people who thinks everything is "getting worse today than when I was a kid" even when many things have actually improved?

The success of AirBnB shows that people are perfectly fine with sharing space.

Timeshares are a straight con.

It harks back to the days before plane travel and car travel.

People would spend their whole lives going to the same vacation destination at the same time, because jobs were not flexible, and you had a limited time.

I recall watching Steptoe and Son and the son wants to go all over Europe but old man Steptoe wants to go to the rooming house by the beach he's been going to, every single year, since he was a kid.

OP, did you be any chance start this thread while watching Rachel Maddow the other night? I saw you posted this shortly I saw the ad for that time share rescue company during her show. That ad infuriates me. "We didn't have time any more to visit our timeshare any time we want now that we have a BABEEE wahwahwah." You Since when can you visit your timeshare any time you want? You can only use it during the time period (week, usually) you "own."

R9 Those businesses are scams, too.

My mother's late husband stuck her with a couplle and she couldn't figure out how to unload them. She lost money to a business that was supposed to sell them but didn't.

She finally just quit paying annual fees on one of them. The other one she still has because it's fairly easy to change destinations.

It seems universally agreed that they are scams and/or waste of money; so we do they still exist?

R38 because dumb people or alcoholics or whatever r38.

The lottery is also a scam. Yet dumb people fund it.

In the case of my neighbours - Dumb, uneducated, alcoholic and drugs, r38. Plus major marital issues. She wants his money and her freedom (eventally).

r38 Timeshares, along with MLM schemes (Amway, etc.) do well among less well-educated people, as well as very religious folks -- the theory being if they'll buy what religion is selling, they're gonna believe pretty much anything.

[quote]because dumb people or alcoholics or whatever

So funny because my mother's dead husband was an alcoholic. She tells people he died of early-onset Alzheimer's but I think it was plain old alcohol dementia.

For two years after his death she found odd things he had bought. Some gold coins, for example, that she sold for $11,000 but we both suspect he paid far more. Drunks are a scammers delight.

We own one in Orlando that we bought from a relative in order to bail her out of a financial jam. We've had it now for over 20 years. I would say that overall it isn't worth it but we have used it to go to some good trips. Anyway I could write a book about it, but in case any of you out there are considering one, here are two things I doubt they tell you up front when you sign on: 1) if the resort decides to upgrade or remodel the unit, you can get hit with an assessment to pay for your share of it; 2) they may unilaterally change the procedures/rules for trading off for another resort; when we first bought ours they had what's called a "week system" and later switched to an incomprehensible "point system".

The disney vacation club works on a point system. You buy into a resort (limited choices, at any given time it's a handful of various Disney resorts). You buy "points". A week at a resort costs a certain amount of points. You can save up your points to stay at the Polynesian. You can sell your points. You can use the points for the disney cruise and I think the Aulani resort in Hawaii. You can also use the points at random hotels all over the country that are not disney. How it was explained to me is, the people bought their points "once", at the beginning, and the points renew every year. You can "borrow" points from a future year. So basically these ppl think their hotel is "free" bc it was paid for a long time ago. It's never interested me enough to go for it. Also, we "own" a site at beach resort close to home. It's kind of the same concept: we own the home outright, but we pay an annual fee. The difference: It's OURS, we can go whenever we want, every wknd, weeks at a time, whatever. Can't do that w a timeshare.

Oh, dear. I think r30 bought a time share. I wonder if the share economy (as r34 points out) will eventually decimate the whole concept of a timeshare. Personally I do not like either option but clearly AirBnB is a better one.

I just got home from a Wyndham timeshare meeting and my God do they turn on the pressure. I was only supposed to be there for 2 hours and ended up staying over 4. All I wanted to do was get the fuck out of there. I admit there are certain features about it that are very appealing (being able to stay in any of their many resorts around the world) but I ultimately told them it was not for me. I just don't want the extra debt. Of course, the more you tell them that, the more they come back with "But it'll pay for itself!" I don't give a fuck if it will "pay for itself" or not, I don't want another $300 bill to pay each month. And maybe it would inspire you to travel more (the other point they kept harping on), which would be nice, but what if I get sick or lose my job? You mean in addition to my rent and utilities and food, I'd now have to worry about paying the bill on some fucking timeshare that I'd probably end up using once a year? I don't think so.

R46, we had a similar experience with Hilton's (HGV) timeshares. Actually, I've sat through the presentations twice. First time was quick as they let us go when it was evident that we were not interested. It went so well that we decided to do it again when they called a few years later. This time, though, the salesman (nice guy) was very persistent and began to get pushy. It was about 4-5 hours before we were cleared to leave. Still, for the cheap room rate that we got for that stay, sitting through the presentation was worth it.

Timeshares are not buying/sharing the same place anymore. Instead of buying a place, you're reserving a stay at their resorts and hotels around the world. As stated, it's all through points. Sure it probably would pay for itself if used enough. But, as we pointed out to the salesman, I live in the midwest and none of their locations are within a decent drive. So, plane tickets, car rental, etc would have to be added to my expense. (Yes, they offer deals for that.)

If you have time and money to travel a lot, it could be worth it. Friends of mine just got back from Italy where they stayed with his sister's family at a HGV resort with their timeshare points. Last year, they all went to Hawaii.

My sister and her friend both have timeshares. They plan at least 18 months in advance to reserve their timeshare. They are able to trade their timeshare through RCI for another location. This works if you can make plans way in advance or if you're retired and not working. It's not convenient for most working people because most of the time, the timeshares are already reserved especially in the summer or holidays.

Sharing your timeshare with hundreds of thousands of other people is not exactly "owning" anything. However, my sister is able to use hers and get her money's worth because it takes planning. My brother bought a timeshare and he never used it.

Cant you achieve the same basic thing by simply putting what youd pay for the timeshare and the monthly assessment into an online bank account, call that your “point system” and go to whatever hotel you want when you want?

My ex-husband Stanley is the only person I know who owns a timeshare dog.