Comments

ask-redweek-timeshare-exit-holiday-inn-settlement

Feb 11, 2020

Hopefully this will shine more light on the timeshare industry and persuade more companies to buy back or at least let owners surrender their units when they no longer want or can use them. I stayed at one of the resorts listed in the top 25 in RedWeek this past weekend and wanted to tell everyone I saw on tours to please check RedWeek or Ebay or any other place listing timeshares for sale to get an idea of the fair market value before buying at a greatly inflated price from the developer. If these units are worth anywhere near what the developer is selling at you would think they would be very eager to take your place off your hands and resell it again.


Marvin B.
Feb 14, 2020

Having read the article on time share sales I contacted Marriott about a possible sale of some of my time shares in Orlando and Aruba. The report about Marriott is illusionary at best. They are operating it as a real estate operation asking a 50% commission for Orlando. Is that outrageous or not? Typical of the current Marriott organization- doing everything it can to undermine legacy or deed owners by excluding them from new benefits unless they purchase points. Ken b


Ken B.
May 13, 2020

The problem even in the good old days of deeded weeks/units is that people thought they were actually buying property. They weren't. They were prepaying vacations and agreeing to pay annual dues for upkeep. There is no free lunch folks. And even if you bought a home on the water and paid likely MILLIONS you may lose money as markets fall or with upkeep, taxes, utilities, repairs, furnishings, and the dreaded hurricane insurance and flood expense and hazard insurance for fires. We bought with a respected legacy developer in Hilton Head and have deeded fixed week and fixed units, but the flexibility of Interval exchanges or Interval Getaways, or even Developer Bonus Weeks, and free internal exchanges with other developer properties and if necessary we can call reservations and move our fixed week for one season no cost. Best of all worlds. What is it worth? I dont know. But its gorgeous. The view is incredible and the resort is awesome. And we drive there and no airline tickets are necessary. So we are good. Did the developer get a BUNCH OF MY MONEY? YEP. DID I PAY IT WILLINGLY? YEP. We even transferred from an older property and got every dime we put into it then, and just upgraded. Treated FAIRLY. My kids LOVE IT and they are now grown and married and will use it with grandkids as they come along (one due now!) . Everyone thinks they got scammed into buying. I know of few if anyone who got scammed. Some were a bit high pressure. Sure. But in every case you got what you contracted and paid for. If you bought a resale on TUG or REDWEEK you did VERY WELL. CONGRATS! I bought mine from the developer because HE DELIVERED PRECISELY WHAT I WANTED: BUILDING, UNIT, WEEKS, FIXED. ANNUAL. BIG THREE BEDROOM UNIT. We've exchanged to Europe twice btw. Awesome vacations there. (Malaga and Paris/Normandy).

We bought deeded unit and deeded weeks. Not floaters. Not points. WE STILL HAVE THE SAME FLEXIBILITY. IF I WANT TO SELL ONE OF MY WEEKS, I WILL POST HERE. OR MAYBE THE DEVELOPER WILL BUY IT BACK SOMEDAY because its an awesome unit and he needs inventory to sell. Meanwhile people pay 10,000 a week or MORE to rent part of a house on ocean side or inland waterway side of Hilton Head. Its crazy. I love some Marriott properties and Hilton properties but we own with a legendary legacy developer and are very happy. (You are welcome Mr. T! ; - ) Some whining people. 90% of people dont know how to use and leverage their timeshares. Even fixed week people. Its sad.


Patrick V.
Jun 29, 2020

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.


Anthony B.
Sep 27, 2021

My Husband and I own a timeshare at Orange Lake. We went over to the Space Coast. We were put up for a weekend and listened to the sales pitch. We decided to decline. We did have pressure put on us. The price kept coming down and we just wanted to get out of there. We finally agreed under pressure to purchase the time share for $5,000. They are taking $141.00 a month out of our checking account. I have talked to the Company several times asking for help to get out of the timeshare. I explain that my Husband is not at all well, having had a stroke and cancer twice. He will be 82 in November and cannot travel. Orange Lake is a three and a half hour drive from where we live and he cannot even make that trip. The Company offered no suggestions or help. It should be illegal to keep people legally bound to a timeshare if they can't deal with it physically and financially.


Marsha L.
Nov 23, 2022

Silverleaf / Horizons Exit Program made an offer to exit but subsequently changed the offer by quadruping the exit fee and extension of paid up fees such that I could not exit and stuck in their mire of their perpetual drain. Exit offers must be honored and changes must be with notice so the offeree can act.


Pl M.
Dec 21, 2022

The Horizons program is another timeshare exit trap that has no transparency whatsoever, even when you qualify. They want $$$ (up to $2709 up front, the $1200 "flat fee" subject to change at any time, and the rest of the years maintenance costs, whether you used your timeshare or not. So I'm hiring my own attorney to deal with them because at least what I do pay for to exit the contract is transparent, rather than the customer service agent on the phone who has no conditions being signed or agreed to---kind of what the timeshare exit scam companies were doing to begin with!


Rosemary

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