timeshare

[LivingAlmostLarge]

anyeone have one? What did you pay? why did you get it? How do you use it? Is it worth it? Where is it?

[disneysteve]

I don't have one. I know lots of people who do and I have personally looked into it a couple of times. No matter how you figure it, the numbers never make sense. The only possible exception is Disney Vacation Club. DVC ownership has actually appreciated in value over the years unlike every other timeshare which basically becomes worthless as soon as you sign on the dotted line.

Even if you buy on the secondary market and pay a fraction of the original cost, you are still left with the annual maintenance fee to pay each year. I can go online and rent a week at most timeshare resorts for the same or less than what the owners are paying annually (not counting what they paid to buy in originally) and I'm not locked in to a particular property or company that way.

There is a timeshare resort near Disney World that we have stayed in several times. The most I ever paid to stay there was $41/night. Why would I possibly spend thousands to buy a unit there and then pay an annual fee on top of that?

[kyoko]

We have gone through 3 timeshare presentations ( two in FL and one in Las Vegas). We actually signed the purchase contract the first presentation because it was so beautiful place and really got us in the dream world. But we pulled out the deal very next day after we became sober and realized it was not worth it. You pay a lot of money but use the timeshare facilities only once a year for a week or so. So you pay about $1300 or so to stay the facility. Not worth it to us. I'm glad we pulled out the deal.

We went to the other presentations just to get a good deal on the trips. They give you quite good deals on the trips to come to the presentation. We just kept saying "no" to sales people and enjoyed our vacation.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

How does DVC gain in value? I thought all time shares are bad? How does that one work and why is it the only one to gain in value?

[Like2Plan]

We own DVC.
DVC contracts are all fixed length, so they all end at a certain date (they are different dates depending on the resort). As such, the contracts are going to be worth $0 by the end of the contract. Best case scenario, I consider my points to be a depreciating asset. The point at which my points reach $0 may not be as linear as I once thought--the secondary resale market is pretty unpredictable.

DVC contracts have retained value over the years, but I think that is mostly because of Disney Right of First Refusal (ROFR) activity (if you sell your DVC contract to a second party, Disney has the opportunity to buy it first under the same terms. Disney will exercise this option if it is deemed too low of a price). I have no way of knowing how much Disney will continue to influence the secondary market with ROFR--especially if/when DVC is no longer in active sales. (Even so, right now there is a pretty big price difference between what you would pay purchasing directly from Disney than if you were to purchase a resale at the same resort.)

In addition to the initial buy in, there are yearly "dues" that go up every year. I will stipulate that DVC accommodations will cost more than staying offsite. Will you be able to find something less expensive? Absolutely. You would have to take a step back and ask yourself a more fundamental question--do you always want to stay onsite or offsite? If the answer is it doesn't matter one year to the next, then purchasing DVC would be a horribly expensive mistake, IMHO.

If you have decided that you always want to stay onsite, then you have to compare the cost of like type accommodations. If it doesn't matter if you stay in a value, moderate or deluxe, you might still be able to find less expensive onsite options. For example, a value might still price out for less (or a discount for a moderate or deluxe).

There are other options, too. You could rent DVC points from a DVC owner. It would cost a little bit more than owning the points, but you wouldn't have the long term commitment (and risk). (Although, there are risks with renting as you are renting directly from an individual).

[Like2Plan]

How does DVC gain in value? I thought all time shares are bad? How does that one work and why is it the only one to gain in value?

This does not happen with all contracts, but I can give you a couple of examples.
It results from DVC increasing the price of the points (and also Disney having control of the prices through ROFR activity). There are some market factors on the prices, too.

Villas at Grand Californian (VGC) was selling for as low as $88.00 per point when they first opened. It is a very small resort (I think there are only 48 DVC units) and it is sold out. If you want to buy this property through Disney, it is $165.00/point and you have to go on a waiting list (Disney has to exercise ROFR in order to get points to sell). I've seen prices as high as $135.00/point on the secondary market (if you can find a contract). One reason these points are in such high demand is because it's difficult to book a DVC reservation at VGC unless you own there. Also, it is the only DVC property at DL.

Another example, is Beach Club Villas. It opened at $75.00 per point (with incentives). The Disney direct price is currently $130.00. The secondary resale market is currently around $90-100 per point. This resort is one of the smaller resorts and it is also sometimes difficult to get reservations there unless you own points there.

Contrast that with Saratoga Springs (SSR). It opened at $79 (with incentives). Disney direct price is $130 per point. You could probably easily pick up a SSR contract for $65-75 per point (maybe less). Saratoga is one of the larger resorts. It is generally very easy to book a room at SSR using DVC points. (It is generally one of the last ones to fill up).


Right now, the secondary market is hot and I think we are still in a seller's market right now. (No telling how long it will last).

But, you will notice a couple of things. One is if you bought 10 years ago, you might not be losing much money. If you bought directly from Disney in the last year or two and you had to sell, you would be losing a lot of money (and that is not even considering the 10% commission you have to pay to sell the contract).

[bennkar]

There is a timeshare resort near Disney World that we have stayed in several times. The most I ever paid to stay there was $41/night. Why would I possibly spend thousands to buy a unit there and then pay an annual fee on top of that?

DisneySteve, if I can ask... what is this time share resort, and how are you getting these low rates ? Is it Orange Lake? I hope you don't mind the question - if you want, just a pointer to a site I can research this more would be great. Thanks.

[disneysteve]

DisneySteve, if I can ask... what is this time share resort, and how are you getting these low rates ? Is it Orange Lake? I hope you don't mind the question - if you want, just a pointer to a site I can research this more would be great. Thanks.

The resort I was referring to is Orbit One Vacation Villas. The site I use is Skyauction.com. Sign up for their email list and you will regularly get great offers. I haven't used them recently but I'm still on their mailing list and I know the deals are still out there.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

How do you get from timeshares units to Disney if it's not onsite? Taxi? Do you have to rent a car?

[disneysteve]

How do you get from timeshares units to Disney if it's not onsite? Taxi? Do you have to rent a car?

We drive to Florida so we always have our own car. On the few occasions when we've flown, we rented a car. I would never, ever, ever go to Disney World without a car no matter where I was staying.

[Like2Plan]

How do you get from timeshares units to Disney if it's not onsite? Taxi? Do you have to rent a car?

Also, some offsite resorts have shuttles that run from their resort to Disney World. There are a lot of variables--sometimes there is a cost for the shuttle.

For example, Bonnet Creek (a timeshare by Wyndham) which is right next to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort has a shuttle for a fee. I believe at one point they were charging $5.00 per person per round trip (I'm not sure what it is currently). But, when you add in the airport transfers and daily shuttle fees, a rental car might price out more competitively.

We drive to Florida so we always have our own car. On the few occasions when we've flown, we rented a car. I would never, ever, ever go to Disney World without a car no matter where I was staying.

My DH feels the same way. If he comes along on the trip, we always have a car.
If I travel ahead of him, I will take the Disney Magical Express bus just because it doesn't cost anything to get to our DVC (and I can't justify the cost of a rental car for just one person). But, I will admit that it can be a real pain not to have a car (especially for something simple like going to an offsite grocery store).

[niicole]

Timeshare

Thousands of International travelers, particularly from the US and Canada, have fallen victims of timeshare fraud while vacationing. Resort developers hire skilled salesmen to represent their timeshares as many different attractive packages, such as financial investments, deeded properties, or vacation clubs, just to increase their sales.