In 1984, Marriott became the first hospitality company to enter the timeshare industry. Since then, Marriott Vacation Club has redefined the timeshare ownership experience. Timeshare owners enjoy the assurance of a program from a recognized leader in the timeshare industry.
Marriott Vacation Club just launched the points-based Marriott Vacation Club Destinations program in North America and the Caribbean. The program offers more flexibility and a more personalized experience.
This new program will allow timeshare owners to redeem points to travel within any of four Vacation Collections.
Marriott Vacation Club Collection: Access to more than 50 luxurious resorts and including added benefits such as: any day check-in, varied lengths of stay, variety of accommodation sizes, and more choice of travel season at resorts in North America and the Caribbean.
Marriott Collection: Choose from more than 3,000 hotels.
Explorer Collection: Travel to new places or take a cruise with exchange for travel packages.
World Traveler Collection: Access to over 2,500 resorts in more than 75 countries through Interval International.
Timeshare owners will receive their points annually to redeem for their customized vacation. They will also be able to save, borrow or buy additional points. This new program also provides timeshare owners with a personal Vacation Ownership Advisor that will help with travel arrangements in the four Collections.
Keep coming back to this blog to learn about how this change will affect timeshare owners. In short, Marriott grants flexibility to its timeshare owners, but at the same time creates a marketplace for the points and opens their timeshare units to be sold more than 50 weeks per year.
When timeshare owners purchase their timeshares, they have to develop a thought process to help them rationalize why they bought it in the first place. One reason is that the timeshare will “force” them to take a vacation every year. The annual maintenance fee will be a reminder that they need to schedule and go on vacation.
Their reasoning is that since they’ve already paid for it, they should use it every year. However, this is faulty logic. Here are a few little things in life that get in the way of this thinking:
First, your timeshare unit may not be available the week you want it. It depends on scheduling. There are rules to scheduling even with fixed-week timeshares. If you do not schedule in time, the resort can deny your request to go to “your” timeshare. If you’re forced into a vacation, you have to make sure you can schedule it first.
Next, why do you even want the hassle of a forced vacation? Life is full enough with work, family, faith, and continued good health. Wouldn’t a reminder on an electronic calendar or on your iPhone be enough to remind yourself to take a vacation? Why prepaid all your vacations just to be reminded to go on holiday? You don’t need to financial stress.
Finally, remember that New Year’s resolution you made to lose weight? Well, ownership of a timeshare is a lot like that. In other words, we want a good result, but it’s rare that many of us follow through to get it. So, your intentions of going to the timeshare every year are good, but be honest, will you follow through?
If you’re the type that does follow through on what you aim to do, then by all means, take that vacation every year. However, there are other options than buying a timeshare. You could join a vacation club or rent a timeshare – options that do NOT force you into a long-term contract that truly “forces” you to pay increasing maintenance fees and special assessment costs. Reduce your stress, don’t buy a timeshare.
When you buy a timeshare, one of the sales pitches timeshare salespeople make to entice you is that timeshares can be willed to you children as an inheritance.
After all, they explain, once your children inherit your timeshare they can keep using it to make their own cherished memories during their family vacation trips. What a great gift to provide the timeshare to the next generation in your will. Your children will treasure it as a keepsake and talk about it being in the family for ages. Salespeople, especially timeshare salespeople, make it sound as if it is one of grandmother’s heirloom broaches or an adored family dog.
They “forget” to mention this part…
The maintenance and special assessment costs on your timeshare will increase. Your children will be stuck paying these rates at a much higher rate than you did.
Many timeshare resorts do not have a good reputation for maintaining the upkeep on the timeshares. Your kids will see a significant decline in quality. What was once a nice resort for you during its prime will be deteriorating once it is passed on to your children.
You are actually creating a financial burden for your children when they inherit a timeshare. They are going to be stuck paying perpetual fees whether they want the timeshare or not.
A better parting present for your children would be to get rid of the timeshare. Your children are grown and can make their own decision regarding their finances and vacation trips.
ABC’s Nightline news program produced this video about timeshares and the financial dangers that timeshare owners face especially years after they buy their timeshares. Although it’s nothing terribly new to Timeshare Relief clients or to owners who have tried to get rid of their timeshares, the video may surprise many.
There are simply too many stories that are similar in the timeshare resales market and very few buyers. With escalating maintenance fees, potential for high special assessment fees and lifetime contracts, timeshares continue to prove to be a heavy burden on their owners.
If you are one of those who are seeking relief from your timeshare, contact Timeshare Relief now at 1-866-797-0535 and speak with one of our friendly, expert timeshare owner advocates. If the phone lines are busy, please keep trying. Stop wasting money on timeshare bills that keep going up.
There are timeshare owners that meet with Timeshare Relief consultants every year that don’t want their timeshares, and then there are those who didn’t want to be the owners of a timeshare from the beginning. These owners often share their stories about inheriting their timeshares from their parents.
Most of the time the parents that bought the timeshares really enjoyed the timeshare, and sometimes the children had fond memories of vacations there too when they were younger. Now grown with children of their own, they find they just don’t get the same gratification out of the timeshare that their parents did. The real obligation of timeshare ownership isn’t fully recognized until they receive the first annual maintenance fee bill. They don’t realize until much later that the timeshare they originally thought was an asset is actually a liability.
The timeshare the children inherit is not the same timeshare their parents had. These timeshares are typically not modernized and upkeep may be lacking. Someone in the next generation just wouldn’t want to stay there; they’re just too outdated. Unfortunately, these children inherited the maintenance and fees associated with the timeshare so they are obligated to pay. They do not get the full enjoyment out of the timeshare that their parents did, so they wind up paying a lot for a little.
One individual who had enough of the situation was Janice Borst-Smith. She inherited a timeshare from her parents and realized that she didn’t want those high maintenance fees and aggravation resulting from the ownership. After facing the difficulty of getting rid of her timeshares, she came to Timeshare Relief to get help. After working with their representatives to find a solution, she was able to get rid of her timeshare. Janice now works for Timeshare Relief to help others who find themselves in similar situations that she was in.
In 1984, Marriott became the first hospitality company to enter the timeshare industry. Since then, Marriott Vacation Club has redefined the timeshare ownership experience. Timeshare owners enjoy the assurance of a program from a recognized leader in the timeshare industry.
