New here, have lots of questions about timeshares....

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

Hi guys and gals,

My wife and I were given a week at the Mayan Palace in Riveria Maya for our honeymoon in October. While we were there we got the whole sales pitch and we ended up buying 2 weeks at the Sea Garden.

We were told by the person who sold us the shares that if we chose not to use them during the year, we could call this guy "Brian Jackson" at resortrentalsintl.com and he would give us 700 bucks per week.

Anyway, I call the guy today to sell our weeks (we're buying a house this year and won't be vacationing) and I learned that they don't just cut us a check, we first have to pay 249 bucks which pays for 3 years of rental listing with them, and then once the weeks are rented, then they send us the checks for 1095 and we have to pay the 395 maintainence fee.

As you can probably tell from this post, we clearly had no idea what we were getting into when we bought our weeks and we're just sort of lost trying to figure out the best way to make it work for us.

My question is whether you guys think that putting our shares up with this guy is a good idea or not, and how you guys make your timeshares work for you.

Thanks

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

It's a big con or lie common to many Mexican resort sales. They just want another upfront fee and it is highly unlikely that anything will be rented. If it was that easy to rent- they wouldn't need to sell them.

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

It's a big con or lie common to many Mexican resort sales. They just want another upfront fee and it is highly unlikely that anything will be rented. If it was that easy to rent- they wouldn't need to sell them.

So you're saying that this guy that they set me up with is essentially just trying to scam me out of 249 bucks and the shares will probably never be rented? That's completely awful to hear.

That was essentially their big sell. They said, "Sure, these weeks will cost you $x, but in so many years it'll pay for itself even if you don't ever use it cause you can just give up your weeks to this guy and they'll get swiped up."

But if that's BS, then we were really deceived.

What do you think I should do now? What would be the best way to try and get money for these weeks we own but can't use?

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

1st never ever pay someone upfront to either sell or rent

with the exception of listing fees in the $10-25 range like reweeks, myresortnetworks, etc

In 2009 you don't have to pay any annual fees, so I wouldn't worry about trying to rent them this year.

I am guessing you bought 1 registered week, and it has a Vacation fair week with it. Based upon your $385 in annual fees, it could be a 1 bedroom, or a studio. You can reserve a week in Mazatlan ( a 2 bedroom) using either of these as they only have the larger units at that resort.

Renting a Sea Garden is fairly hard, the MP and GM weeks are much more in demand and can be rented for a small profit.

Your best bet may be to deposit them with RCI, that way you can have up to 2 additional years to use them( not this years, but future years as this year you don't need to pay the annual fees)



Fwiw,

Greg

Hi guys and gals,

My wife and I were given a week at the Mayan Palace in Riveria Maya for our honeymoon in October. While we were there we got the whole sales pitch and we ended up buying 2 weeks at the Sea Garden.

We were told by the person who sold us the shares that if we chose not to use them during the year, we could call this guy "Brian Jackson" at resortrentalsintl.com and he would give us 700 bucks per week.

Anyway, I call the guy today to sell our weeks (we're buying a house this year and won't be vacationing) and I learned that they don't just cut us a check, we first have to pay 249 bucks which pays for 3 years of rental listing with them, and then once the weeks are rented, then they send us the checks for 1095 and we have to pay the 395 maintainence fee.

As you can probably tell from this post, we clearly had no idea what we were getting into when we bought our weeks and we're just sort of lost trying to figure out the best way to make it work for us.

My question is whether you guys think that putting our shares up with this guy is a good idea or not, and how you guys make your timeshares work for you.

Thanks

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

with the exception of listing fees in the $10-25 range like reweeks, myresortnetworks, etc

I'm sorry, I'm really unfamiliar with the jargon that goes along with this stuff. Are those sites similar to the one I listed above?

In 2009 you don't have to pay any annual fees, so I wouldn't worry about trying to rent them this year.

Well, we're buying a house and we were hoping to get some extra income coming in. The lady who sold us the weeks told us in no uncertain terms that we could just take these weeks that we have, call that guy up, and he'd send us a check for 700 bucks per week. An easy 1400 bucks a year.

I even questioned her repeatedly about it and she stated it was that easy. I'm hearing here that's not the case.

I know it's my fault for believing those liars. I'm just trying to make this work the way I thought it would.

I am guessing you bought 1 registered week, and it has a Vacation fair week with it. Based upon your $385 in annual fees, it could be a 1 bedroom, or a studio. You can reserve a week in Mazatlan ( a 2 bedroom) using either of these as they only have the larger units at that resort.

Renting a Sea Garden is fairly hard, the MP and GM weeks are much more in demand and can be rented for a small profit.

You got it. It's a studio and we've got 1 week and 1 VF week. It's been so long since I looked at the paperwork I couldn't even begin to figure out what the difference is between the two. What are MP and GM weeks?

Your best bet may be to deposit them with RCI, that way you can have up to 2 additional years to use them( not this years, but future years as this year you don't need to pay the annual fees)

Fwiw,

Greg

So basically we should just get this idea that we can get an easy 1400 a year from these weeks.

When you say we should deposit them with RCI, let me see if I understand what that means. When we do that, we're basically putting them on hold for ourselves and rolling them over? So that next year we'll have 4 weeks to use?

Thanks so much for the help. I'll probably be posting like crazy because I need to understand this stuff. The timeshares are paid for, so we just want to make them start working for us.

PS. Ever use "Burn weeks"? We also got a bunch of those and were thinking they'd be fun for last minute quick vacations.

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

I'm sorry, I'm really unfamiliar with the jargon that goes along with this stuff. Are those sites similar to the one I listed above?

These are sites where you can advertise a rental, Timeshare Rentals, Timeshare Resales, Timeshare Ratings, and Timeshare Reviews and Time Share, Timeshares, Timeshare Resales & Rentals, Buy A Timeshare

Well, we're buying a house and we were hoping to get some extra income coming in. The lady who sold us the weeks told us in no uncertain terms that we could just take these weeks that we have, call that guy up, and he'd send us a check for 700 bucks per week. An easy 1400 bucks a year.

Do you know how to tell if a timeshare salesperson is lying? Their lips are moving. In a good economy you might get $400 for a Sea Garden Studio, renting it at all right now would be shear luck.

I even questioned her repeatedly about it and she stated it was that easy. I'm hearing here that's not the case.

I know it's my fault for believing those liars. I'm just trying to make this work the way I thought it would.



You got it. It's a studio and we've got 1 week and 1 VF week. It's been so long since I looked at the paperwork I couldn't even begin to figure out what the difference is between the two. What are MP and GM weeks?

The Mayan Palace and the Grand Mayan are the better units, probably where you stayed when you went in October.

So basically we should just get this idea that we can get an easy 1400 a year from these weeks.

Yes, you should forget this, as it isn't ever going to happen.

When you say we should deposit them with RCI, let me see if I understand what that means. When we do that, we're basically putting them on hold for ourselves and rolling them over? So that next year we'll have 4 weeks to use?

Almost, what I said was that since you don't need to pay for 2009, in the future if you aren't going to use your week, you can deposit it with RCI for Future use back to the Sea Garden or as a trader to another nice resort in another area.

Thanks so much for the help. I'll probably be posting like crazy because I need to understand this stuff. The timeshares are paid for, so we just want to make them start working for us.

Well, OK,
but making a timeshare work for you is getting decent trades, or how your group ( Grupo Mayan) works, not making a profit from a rental.
Owning one or 2 weeks isn't going to make you any money, just plan on enjoying
your purchase and learning how best to do that.

PS. Ever use "Burn weeks"? We also got a bunch of those and were thinking they'd be fun for last minute quick vacations.

No, we have so many units that we use, we have never bought a burn week or an extra vacation, or even used a bonus week.

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

You can deposit your weeks in RCI, which is an exchange company. That way they won't go to waste. You do have to join RCI, which costs about $90 a year or something like $270 for five years.

After you've deposited your weeks, you can search through RCI's inventory to find a vacation you want and can use. You have two years to use your exchange. This is kind of fun--it's like shopping for a vacation online! Most of us really enjoy this part, and after you have 30 posts here, you can see the Exchange Opportunities forum, where dedicated Timeshare Forums members work their little fingers to the bone, posting the best exchanges they find.

RCI charges an exchange fee, $164 per exchange.

Using RCI or another exchange company, you can go to some nice places, or you can go back to your home resort at a time that is convenient for you.

[bezerk Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close bezerk]

Run from the rental guy....

Now if they deposit in RCI they have to pay the MF first correct?

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

Run from the rental guy....

Now if they deposit in RCI they have to pay the MF first correct?

Yes, usually. Some resorts will let you deposit two years out, before the maintenance fee is due.

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

Some systems, like Starwood, who do bulk banking just have you pay MF when they are invoiced to everyone else.

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

You are not the first and will not be the last timeshare owner who has been sucker-punched by timeshare salesmen. The Grupo Mayan folks can really push that rental thing. When my husband was going to try his hand at selling there, so we did try one of the companies to see if it worked. It did not. He only sold one unit because he could not lie to people - he knew about the rental situation. His career as a MP salesman was only 8 weeks long. We refer to it as his "excellent adventure" after retirement in search of himself.

With a Studio with 1 Registry week and 1 VF week, you can only deposit the Registry week with an exchange company. You have to own 2 or more weeks to deposit the VF week.

As for HSI - forget it. The Burn weeks are not $100. Besides, if you find a good deal, then you have to spend extra for short notice airfare. I have been given HSI on 2 occasions and have not found much use for it. I recently transfered my HSI membership to a friend who wanted to have the opportunity to go to timeshare resorts for the price of the Breakaway week fees rather than pay upfront and then pay maintenance fees. Not a bad idea if you only own 1 or no timeshares - no money up front!

Greg (aliikai2) is the expert on rentals as he has been doing it for a while. Follow his advice. The only rental that I have ever done was to friends. You might try that just so you get your maintenance fees covered. Surely you know someone who would give you $400 to go to Mexico. The Sea Garden in Nuevo is the nicest. But, as Greg said you do not have to pay this year unless you actually use the unit.

Keep reading the various bulletin boards about Sea Gardens, Mayan Palaces, and Grand Mayans.

[bezerk Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close bezerk]

I have not had any success with HSI either, pittle.

I also have not rented any of my timeshare units out except to friends or as gifts or such, would like to learn and succeed at renting but seems never have time to really learn to do it and am a bit leary of the whole concept LOL.