Advice: Hotel Brand Timeshares Worth It?

I'm sitting at a Starbucks at Lahaina waiting for the shuttle - apologies for brevity and misspellings.

Just arrived yesterday evening and learned we would have to attend a 90 minute presentation on their timeshares. I've gone through something similar with another company nearly 10 years ago so I have a vague idea of what to expect sales wise. But aside from that, I don't know a thing about timeshares, especially how this program works and how its better or worse than others.

We honestly don't see ourselves coming back to Maui/Hawaii, at least not before we check off some other places on our travel list. Knowing that, is it worth 'investing' (if one can even call it that) in a 1 or 2 BR unit? (No kids yet, expecting our first in August; this is the Babymoon.)

Our 'personal concierge' made a quip about being able to get "tons of Starpoints" in exchange for not using the unit, if we choose to do so. Now in my mind, this has the potential to be lucrative because we travel often. But of course, in my mind, I'm expecting something like 30k-40k points per night of compensation. (Whatever the going rate may be for that period of time) So assuming we got a 7 night 'package' in like July, I'm expecting at least 210k Starwood Points that can be redeemed elsewhere. Am I going about this all wrong? Will they nerf the value of the unit?

Help! Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I know nothing about the Starpoint system, but If you are forced to attend a timeshare presentation = if it was part of your deal for vacationing there, then merely listen to the spiel and say 'no thank you' when the time comes. It's never to the benefit of a timeshare buyer to buy from a developer when you can get the same product for pennies on the dollar via timeshare resale sites such as Ebay .... when buying from a developer then you are paying their huge overhead = marketing, presentations, free meals, tours, salespeople, closers, discount or free entertainment tickets etc.

I have to agree with you based on what I've seen on other forums and other sites. The presentation is in a few days so I'll see what they have to say then.

I have no idea what they charge but I imagine picking one up from here or ebay would be way cheaper. My only concern then would be flexibility to use elsewhere or convert to starpoints.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

If they start to pressure you after your 90 minutes are up just mention to them that you read about timeshares on Redweek forums and that you want to take the contract with you so you can read it thoroughly. Explain to them that you are making a lifetime commitment and you want to be sure. Don't back down when they bring the big guns in. If you speak loud enough so other attendies can hear you they will get you out of there as quick as they can. Good luck and make sure you eat plenty of their food since they are taking away so much of your vacation time.