ARDA blog says that 83% of owners are satisfied with their timeshares.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I guess I'm one of those 83%


http://www.arda.org/arda/news-inform...36&blogid=2354

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I take any survey done for ARDA on timeshare owners with a grain of salt.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

I guess I'm one of those 83%


http://www.arda.org/arda/news-inform...36&blogid=2354

Do you know that ARDA is in bed with the developers? ARDA is the American Resort Development Association. Of course they are going to push timeshares, as they have a vested interest. It is like realtors that always say it is a good time to buy regardless.

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

I'm really happy with mine, too. It's like having a vacation home without all the hard work to keep it up.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Well at least they didn't try to say 99%.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Do you know that ARDA are in bed with the developers? ARDA is the American Resort Development Association. Of course they are going to push timeshares, as they have a vested interest. It is like realtors that always say it is a good time to buy regardless.

Well it is always a good time to buy.
Disclosure, I'm a realtor.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I'm really happy with mine, too. It's like having a vacation home without all the hard work to keep it up.

Me too.
I'm heading to the beach for 5 weeks.
When I'm done with my summer I don't have to worry about anything til next year.
Well hopefully I don't have to worry about any hurricanes interrupting my plans. Fingers crossed.

And the average cost of my weeks is only around $400-$450 for 2 bedrooms all with ocean views.
One is my owned week and the rest are exchanges and RCI rentals.
I even have 3 units for the same week so everyone is out of my hair.

I even have a Marriott week thrown in the mix there in Palm beach.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

Well it is always a good time to buy.
Disclosure, I'm a realtor.

That explains a lot.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

So here's another interesting site.
Maybe ARDA used this one:


http://www.bomus.org/

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

I would guess that most owners at any one time are okay with their ownership (ARDA's counting all the people except those who voted "fair" or "poor", so anyone who ticked the top three of five choices would count). The people I've known who were unhappy either found out about the cost of resales (when they paid full price), or want out and discover it ain't so easy/they won't get any money back. And they were all happy for years before they were unhappy. Plus some of the ones who find out about resales are unhappy for a few months, then work it through and are happy again (and go on to buy resale...).

I dunno if 83% are satisfied, but going on the owners I've known IRL, I wouldn't be surprised if that were true. But counting friends is about as unscientific a method as ARDAs probably was. OTOH, I thought Dave Ramsey's 98% dissatisfaction rate ridiculously skewed. Among people who're financially struggling and drowning in debt, maybe, but not when it comes to owners as a whole.

[gandalf252002 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gandalf252002]

I am happy with mine, but how was the survey taken? Did they go to resorts and ask the people that were actually using theirs? Or did they send out a survey to people who's records they show haven't used theirs in 5 years? Everything is relative.

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

B***s**t.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

I believe they are quoting the Raggatz survey, although they are a bit vague on that. Raggatz is owned by RCI. Any questions?

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

I think it was one of those where they send the survey to 1000 or so "representative" owners. How they picked said owners, I dunno, but obviously if they picked people who were actively using their ownership they'd get better results than if they surveyed people who were members through an ownership they wanted to get rid of. I'd also like to know what kind of response rate there was. People who're unhappy and angry are more likely to respond to that sort of thing than people who're more "whatever," even though the whatever people are often not really satisfied and might be a majority.

I can't remember the numbers, but Bluegreen owners get an RCI membership along with their points, and only a small minority ever make use of it (only 8% in a year I know, and I think I remember only 20% ever). So if the original survey was done by RCI, I wonder how they counted those kinds of owners -- people who belong but didn't specifically join, that is.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

I was never unhappy with my timeshares, just unhappy with the fact that when I didn't want to go, I still had to pay a lot of fees; when i wanted to go I had to pay RCI so much, and when I was ready to stop going, it was going to be really hard to get rid of them.