Are you happy with your TimeShare?

[Soarin Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Soarin]

How do you feel about your timeshare exchanges? did you ever liked your timeshare?

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

I love timeshare!

Yep, happy with all 17 of them. Yes, I recommend timeshare to everyone, but almost no one pays any attention because timeshare has a bad reputation. I wonder why? Could it be the way they sell it initially, by enticing possible buyers with valuable gifts? Perhaps it is the pushy salespeople that almost do not take no for an answer. We all know that anything worth buying pretty much sells itself, but timeshare is shoved down your throat by salesmen and con artists. Many people make it out of their first presentation with a bad impression of timeshare for that reason alone.

Maybe it is the broken promises of exchanges and incredible trade power. Every resort is in the "most popular destination," no matter which timeshare guy you listen to. All weeks are red, is another lie they tell, but when you go to exchange, you find out your week might as well be blue, it trades so poorly. Then you become disenchanted with the purchase, but the maintenance fees go up all the time, so now you find you don't use the week and are paying anyway, because you don't want it to ruin your credit. Then you get a postcard in the mail from a company that tells you they will make an offer for your week. The company has a seminar, outlining everything you already know and believe about your timeshare, so you gladly pay them $3,495 to take the timeshare off of your hands. Timeshare is full of scummy people.

That is why timeshare is not a popular option with many!

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Cindi you got me beat by 3.

Yep I love them but I am starting to get burned out. My family is giving me hell knowing I keep planing trips. I have to many weeks and I think it is time to start thinking about letting some go. As it is now , I gift 2 a year to a cousin of mine. Lucky for me she has the same last name as me so I don't have any problems with having to buy a GC.

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

Yes!

I got into in by "accident" by bidding on a timeshare on eBay. I won, much to my surprise. Luckily I found these forums early on and learned how to use it to my advantage. I've never been to the TS that I own, but I've been very, very happy with the exchanges and bonus weeks I've gotten through SFX. I lucked into getting a resort that has a very high demand time and it's a gold crown. If I'd bought a dog I don't think I'd be quite so happy.

Sue

[JudyS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JudyS]

I love my timeshares. I bought my first timeshare three years ago. Now, I'm up to 8. I can't vacation that many weeks a year, but I rent some out.

[bevvy5 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close bevvy5]

Absolutely love them. I only use one that I own, and exchange the rest. It actually takes a lot of work and patience to get the good exchanges, etc., but it's a bit of a hobby that I very much enjoy. And we stay in very roomy accomodations for about $50 a night, taking into consideration we usually travel with another couple and split the cost.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

I'm really happy with ours--in fact we just bought another, our second, which will be it for us. For years we resisted buying one, because they seemed so scam-y. But now we're loving the whole thing.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I am a pauper by most of the "hard-core" ownerships. We only own three weeks at three different resorts and have been timeshare exchanging for about 10 years. We have only stayed at our first resort once and I like it there. Not a Marriott or other fancy place but comfortable and well located.

I plan on staying at our third purchase in the next year or three. The second we will probably never see.

There are just so many places to go... We have really enjoyed all our exchanges <except one but the destination was not high on my list and the unit was ill-represented on the resort's website> that is surely because of recommendations made by BBS groups, such as this and research.

We have gone places that we would never have gone because of exchange opportunities posted as well and those "unexpected" destinations have been our very best vacations.

Timeshare in it's traditional weeks format, which is what we own, is certainly not for everyone but I have managed to make it work very well for us in the past. The trick is to keep it working for us going forward.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I'm really happy with ours--in fact we just bought another, our second, which will be it for us. For years we resisted buying one, because they seemed so scam-y. But now we're loving the whole thing.

Only 2???
That is a lot of self control .

I enjoy buying and selling and visiting and exchanging.
I have not visited all my TSs yet but I wouldn't mind going to any of them.
I use them or friends and family use them and I rent some, too!

I have visited places I never would have gone and never could have afforded to go thanks to TS.
I 'converted' my sister and my parents to TSing - my sister and her husband own 2 weeks and my parents enjoy traveling using my bonus weeks and also accompanying my sister and myself.

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

I enjoy buying and selling and visiting and exchanging.

Somehow, I haven't made it to the selling part. I keep meaning too but I don't quite get there I got the buying part down pat though!

We love ours!

[bsheets326 Member Find all posts View Profile Close bsheets326]

Somehow I keep accumulating more weeks and points. I give several weeks away each year as gifts, and I encourage friends and family members to buy a timeshare after doing their due diligence.

[DebbieM Member Find all posts View Profile Close DebbieM]

The trades are far better than I ever dreamed. But, like Cindy said, others seem to never see beyond the word TIMESHARE.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

We really enjoy our timeshares we own. The ones we were not completely happy about, we sold or traded in. I doubt if we will buy more but you never know.

We just got back from Maui where we bought our very first timeshare in 1983! We still love to go back year after year. I only wished we didn't have to fly to our destination. Buy where you can drive to so you are not dependent on airline fares because they change constantly! JMHO.

Our favorite timeshare is only 25 minutes away from home. I hope it stays that way but I am not so sure as it is harder to reserve what we want there lately.

[Sue S Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sue S]

Yes, overall I'm happy with our timeshares but they're becoming less of a bargain as the maintenance fees go up. I don't think I would recommend people to buy because it's getting so cheap to rent.

The big plus of owning timeshare is that it forces you to take holidays - and we've had some great ones!

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

I'm glad we bought, even tho the first purchase was from the developer.

Owning Bluegreen, it's like we have 40 home resorts, so I don't have to use an exchange company if I don't want to. We have, tho, lots of exchanges, mainly to get into dog-friendly places. In a couple weeks we're going to the Berkshires. Not a place we would have normally listed on our 'must see before we die' list, but, dog-friendly, mountains, big road trip, what's not to like?

Like others have said, we've gone places we would not have otherwise. And have actually taken VACATIONS which is quite different than just taking time off from work. We would likely not have done that if we didn't own.

My family has also now experienced timesharing and likes it well enuf when I give them weeks, but maybe won't ever buy in. Partially because of the left over stigma from the 70s, but also with the current sleaze factor. OK by me, so long as they keep helping me meet my annual fees!

I agree that renting is currently way more economical and I don't know how long the cheap rentals will last. If you don't already own, try renting for a year or two.

I don't expect to ever sell (and will instead keep adding to our Bluegreen stake), but instead have in our wills that my stepdaughter inherits so that she can take her husband and children all over the world, too.