Report Abuse

Points systems do have some potential disadvantages. If you wish to reserve a high demand period ( e.g. Christmas, President's week), you need to call on the earliest possible date. With Fairfield, you can confirm at the resort from which you own points 13 months in advance. All others must wait until the 10 month opening reservation date, and by then the week you want may be unavailable. (This is the basis of a class action lawsuit now pending against Cendant and Fairfield). The points must be paid for and used in the year received, or otherwise deposited with one of the exchange companies, thus incurring additional fees and rules governing usage. There are many Points-based systems including Marriott, Starwood,RCI, Hilton, Disney, Equivest, Sunterra, Worldmark, Royal Holiday Club, etc... Each has their own distinct rules, fees, options, etc...The learning curve can be steep! Sometimes the Customer Service representatives of the program don't even know the rules, and can give you contradictory or misleading or just plain false information. And if/when you finally learn, some companies can and do change the rules. If your vacation planning allows for a good deal of flexibility, and if you are willing and able to devote enough time to learning the complexities of a program that has multiple properties you would like to visit, then owning points can be a good deal. There is a great deal of information about this on the Points Discussion bulletin board at the Timeshare Users Group web site:http://www.tug2.net . There are also Yahoo Groups dedicated to the various programs. The Fairfield Yahoo Group is particularly active and informative. But if you would like to be assured of the same week at a particular resort, especially in a high demand period, it is better to own a fixed week. If you wish to go somewhere else in a particular year, you have the right to rent your week for a good price. You can use the money to rent exactly what you want from another fixed or floating week owner through Redweek ads Points based systems do not allow you to rent out the weeks or nights you have reserved. You may obtain "guest certificates" (usually for a fee of $49. to $59.) but their rules forbid you to do so for profit. People who have posted rental ads on web sites have been "caught" and have had the week cancelled. This can result in a lawsuit from the renter who does not get to use the week agreed upon. With a fixed week, you can space-bank it with RCI or II or one of the smaller exchange companies up to 2 years in advance of the check-in date. Some resorts even allow you to do so without paying the maintenance fees until they are actually due a year or two later. If you enter an on-going search for a particular area or resort and season, you will have a greater chance of obtaining it, as your search will be "sitting there" longer and may catch other fixed week deposits coming in over a year in advance. Most points owners cannot, or do not, deposit and request weeks that far in advance so you have less "competition." If, after doing extensive research, you decide that one of the Points programs best meets your vacation needs, consider purchasing on the resale market, which includes owners who may post ads on Redweek, Ebay, etc...You will save huge bucks compared to the price you will pay buying directly from the developer.