Original Message:
ask-redweek-timeshare-exit-holiday-inn-settlement (by Anthony B.):
re: patrickv2, I would say you are the rare (if legitimate) person who truly feels they've gotten a good deal from their timeshare. We have owned for 20 years and are planning to sell back/give back. I've kept pretty good records and it took ~15 years to "break even," which is just not a good deal (and I had to be generous sometimes with the price I assumed we would pay if we weren't owners, given some of the prices I observed units advertised at for non-owners.)
The resorts, service, and amenities are wildly inconsistent - even between RCI Gold Crown resorts. (I'll admit, I've heard the Interval exchange network is better. No proof, but have heard that.) Nonetheless, many people wouldn't want to go to the same place every year for vacation, so memberships in exchanges are generally a necessity, and have their own membership fees and escalating costs for an exchange. Most of all, as noted above, when I see units for sale in other publications for much less than the sales people "estimate" during the sales process, it becomes clearer that the value of these units was never really there. This is an industry run amok and I don't think the people who are trying to get out are "whining". Also, the vice most developers apply when one expresses a desire to get out, plus the fact that you have a "deed" makes it appear that the industry considers the investment "property".
Not trying to pick a fight, just offering what I think is a less judgmental perspective on timeshare owners.