Lowest maintenance= Best value

Lazarescu: Merely quoting the previous posts of others (which already have actual responses) is neither useful nor in any way informative. Do you actually have anything to add or contibute beyond merely quoting verbatim previous posts, including your own???

I was asked if the specific Gold Crown resort I own in South Africa can negatively affect the credit rating of any U.S. owner in case of non-payment of the annual maintenance. The answer is no. They do not report it to any U.S. agency, although I don't know anyone who would'nt gladly pay $350 every year to trade and get 7 nights at the Hilton in Hawaii or the Sheraton in Orlando for example. Paying $515 ( $350 + $165 exchange fee) and getting 7 nights for 6 people in 5 star resorts is the best value I've seen. If anyone else know of a better way to get better value, please share with us.

My response remains exactly the same as previously stated; stories from yesterday's paper represent yesterdays' news and are obsolete and irrelevant today.

Let us know in a few months how you make out TODAY in comparison to your previous alleged "exchange" successes with a South African timeshare; it's a radically changed exchange world now. Results from today and tomorrow will be far more representative, accurate and relevant than reports of "how it used to be" in the now departed exchange world of YESTERYEAR...

You state that because of economic dowturn that rental incomes on TUG are way down. This as you state will limit many people's travel presently and into the forseeable future. All this may be true, but for those who still are in a position to vacation, and/or trade, they are now in favourable position. You seem to have this doomsday approach that trading will somehow not exist in the near future. Where RCI seems to be shifting focus, I don't see trading disappearing altogether. When do you think people have the best opportunity have the best to trade? When the economy is good and people are flocking to places, or when there is a slowdown in travel and people are banking their weeks because the airfare to Fl. Ca. or whereever is just too much this year for the family budget. When gas prices were sky high, this opened up markets like Hawaii that were hard to secure in the past. No doubt the present economy will hit many hard, but for many it will present opportunities.

Although past performance is no guarantee of future returns, I rather pay $350 than $800 -$2000 maintenance to get the SAME vacations.

In the past 4 months alone the South African resort has traded to a 2 bedroom luxury villa at the Gold Crown Pahio at Bali Hai Villa in Kaui, Hawaii, a 2 bedroom suite at the Gold Crown resort Lawrence Welk Resort Villa in California and a 2 bedroom suite at the Wyndham Grand Desert in Las Vegas. Still skeptic? email me at RamiLaza@DSLextreme.com and I'll email the exchange confirmations.

Irrespective of whatever the future will bring, there are two undisputable facts.

1. There will still be a global vacation pool made of about 6 million people who owns timeshares, the majority of which do not want to vacation every year and for the rest of their lives in the same place.

2. Maintenance fees will still be paid to the resorts.

Owning a timeshare with a great trading power with the lowest maintenance fee will ensure you get the best value in the future as well.

You could not be more wrong. IF you owned the unit, maintenance fees would be say, $1,000/month. As a timeshare, the fees are $1,000/week!!!

Are you selling or just getting rid of them

The annual fees are less than the cost of one night in a luxury resort, so you get 7 nights for price of one every year. No one will "get read of" such value.

Hi Rami! Which resort do you own? Im considering jumping into timeshare ownership and looking to get the best bang for my buck. Has this continued to work out well?