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

Hi everyone. I am new here.We just returned from Hawaii and are thinking of buying a timeshare. I am sure the questions I have, have been asked before but I appriciate your help. My husband would like to buy a Marriott ( probibly at the Ko'Olina in Oahu, we love it there) We knew better than to buy from the developer and are now trying to gather as much info as possible about buying on the secondary market. Hope you all can help. As I said my husband would like to buy from Marriott that way you know what you are getting. A woman I work with owns a WorldMark timeshare and says that is the way to go. My understanding is WorldMark is a point system. Which do you think is bette? Is it hard to go where you want using points? We were also told that Hawaii is in high demand so that 1 week timeshare could be traded for 2 weeks elsewhere. Is that true if the property is bought on the secndary marke? Thanks again.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Welcome.

If you know where, and when you want to go, then you probably need to buy from developer especially if it is Marriott and if it is just developing, if you know the week is very populate one and rental is always get take the min it put on the ad, and the unit has a spectular view, and the view will not change.

That said, most of the time, people just think they will go there most of the time, turn out that is not the case. And most of the time, the week they can afford or willing to afford does not worth that. Or they did not know how to evaluate the worth of the week. Then buying from developer will not make it right

If you buy HI, and deposit, a few exchange companies does give you extra week, no matter if it is resell or developer purchase, and that will not changed until HI become really overbuild (IMHO, they are already overbuild).

Point and week just different product. If you just want visit some places where you have to take 8+ hr fly, it probably means you will want to stay there for at least 7 days, thus it makes no difference or very little difference. On the other hand, if you probably visit these kind of places only few times during your life time, and want to go places where you can get pick up a few cloth, drive there, check in, take a week-end, a point is superior than week system.

Figure out what kind of travel patten you have, if you like move from one place to another and get tired after visit the same places twice or three times, you will need to buy something for exchange.

Once you figure that out, it will be easier to answer if WM is good for you or not.

Jya-Ning

[aliikai2 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close aliikai2]

Worldmark and Marriott aren't the same quality

They also use to different systems. Marr is a weeks ownership during a season, Plat, Utra-plat, etc. They are one of the nicer resorts, great trade power, higher cost and higher annual fees. But if you can afford the best( or close to it) a good choice.

WM has 40+ resorts, mostly on the west coast, and a few in Hawaii.
Much less expensive, trades just as well, annual fees are 40% less than the Marr Ko'Olina for the same size unit.
You can use any of their resorts simply by making reservations, where for the Marr, you will need to deposit it with II and hope for a trade( also adds annual II fee and trade fees to the cost)

I would suggest you spend a few weeks to several months looking over all the pros and cons of both groups, here and on Timeshare Users Group - Timeshare Owners Helping Each other, Unbiased Timeshare Information for All Owners, Buy Sell Rent Timeshare.

fwiw, Greg

Hi everyone. I am new here.We just returned from Hawaii and are thinking of buying a timeshare. I am sure the questions I have, have been asked before but I appriciate your help. My husband would like to buy a Marriott ( probibly at the Ko'Olina in Oahu, we love it there) We knew better than to buy from the developer and are now trying to gather as much info as possible about buying on the secondary market. Hope you all can help. As I said my husband would like to buy from Marriott that way you know what you are getting. A woman I work with owns a WorldMark timeshare and says that is the way to go. My understanding is WorldMark is a point system. Which do you think is bette? Is it hard to go where you want using points? We were also told that Hawaii is in high demand so that 1 week timeshare could be traded for 2 weeks elsewhere. Is that true if the property is bought on the secndary marke? Thanks again.

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

Which do you think is better?

Apples and Oranges

Is it hard to go where you want using points?

NO

We were also told that Hawaii is in high demand

So, every salesman say their place is high demand

so that 1 week timeshare could be traded for 2 weeks elsewhere.

Most any good demand timeshare can be traded in some system 2 for 1

Is that true if the property is bought on the secndary marke? Thanks again.

Sure

I would suggest you spend a few weeks to several months

6 months or more as your questions are not that easily answered.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

They also use to different systems. Marr is a weeks ownership during a season, Plat, Utra-plat, etc. They are one of the nicer resorts, great trade power, higher cost and higher annual fees. But if you can afford the best( or close to it) a good choice.

WM has 40+ resorts, mostly on the west coast, and a few in Hawaii.
Much less expensive, trades just as well, annual fees are 40% less than the Marr Ko'Olina for the same size unit.
You can use any of their resorts simply by making reservations, where for the Marr, you will need to deposit it with II and hope for a trade( also adds annual II fee and trade fees to the cost)

I would suggest you spend a few weeks to several months looking over all the pros and cons of both groups, here and on TUG- Timeshare Users Group

fwiw, Greg

Greg gave you great advice.

Marriott TS are some of the nicest and also the most expensive. But there is no reason to pay $15K - $25K more by buying from the developer. You can get the same great Marriott TS by buying from a current owner who want to sell.

Worldmark -(WM) resorts are not as nice as the marriotts but most people find them perfectly fine. Resales are the only way to go with WM and can be bought for about $5,000 for a 7000 point membership. ( if you need more points, you can rent them from other owners for less than the MFs so buy only 7000 pts to start.)

Since most all both TS companies ( Marriott & WM) have floating weeks, if you want a high demand week (like middle of the summer) you do need to make your reservations at exactly 12 months ahead of time. If you can travel outside of school holidays, you'll find making reservations much easier.

Spend some time researching your purchase. It is very easy to buy a TS and much more difficult to sell one.

Good luck

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

Some resort groups, such as Marriott, sell for a premium beyond their actual value even in the resale market. While Marriotts are nice, there are others out their in the same quality range that do not sell at a premium and charge lower fees. If you should decide you have to have Marriott after some research, contact me and I'll give you a contact that may be able to help you find the Marriott of your current dreams.

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

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. I will do more research and I will hang around here too. I think I will get , better more informed advice here.