What I've Learned about Timeshares: Part 1

I don't doubt that some of the things I know about timeshares are wrong. I believe learning is an ongoing process and I look forward to correcting any of my errors. I'm grateful that you'll indulge me and read through this. These are just the ramblings of what I've read and what I've experienced. I learned a lot from reading the forums at http://www.tug2.net.


I do not believe everyone should own a timeshare. A certain amount of discipline and tenacity is needed, along with the ability to plan ahead, for it to make sense. Do not ever think of a timeshare purchase as an investment, instead it is a luxury item. In these tough economic times, it is very apparent that people spent far more than they can really afford. Like any business, timeshare developers spend inordinate sums of money to entice Joe Public to buy their product. If you’ve ever walk through a heavily touristed area, you’ve probably seen their minions trying to entice you take a tour. They’ll even give you free tickets to the show tonight.

Most people’s impressions of timeshares stem from several decades of the pressure cooker style of selling where the sales team sits you in a room and basically hold you hostage until you crack under the pressure and buy a unit just to escape. I’ve been to more than a few of those, mostly in the Las Vegas area, so I know first hand that those still exist. My secret for escape is to not engage them. After sitting through the video, I can usually say in all honesty, “I’m not going to buy anything today. I haven’t seen anything that adds value to my vacationing experience.” It has a tendency to skip over the low level salesman and move me to the manager fairly quickly. I try to be polite about it, of course. No need to piss them off, they still hold those free tickets. If you ever find yourself in one of these presentations, take a moment to look around and count out how many of the people sitting around you have cracked and are actually signing the paperwork and getting that 15% financing to buy. It surprises me every time. These sales people are NOT hurting if you turn them down. Fact is they’d probably be very grateful if you didn’t lead them on, because as soon as they can get rid of you, they can move on to the next bus load of tourists.

There are a few companies out there where the timeshare experience is quite the opposite. I happen to own at two of them. Disney’s Vacation Club, is probably the epitome of the soft sell approach. After I sat through their presentation video, the sales rep came into the room, told our group thank you and said “You can pick up your gifts at the front desk. If you’re interested in seeing a sample villa, I’ll be waiting for you outside those doors.” Now we went into that presentation with the sole intention of buying. Never were we asked if we wanted to purchase.

We also own with the Marriott Vacation Club. They’re more of a traditional timeshare company, selling weeks at a time at their resorts. Although, they float their weeks into seasons, so you don’t have to go on vacation at the exact same week every single year. While they were not as hands off as Disney’s approach, the sales rep we had was very upfront from the beginning. He basically told us to “Watch the presentation, it usually sells itself. If you want to buy we’ll go through the rest of the tour, if not, we’ll part ways, no hard feelings.” We didn’t quite have to chase him down to buy this one, but there was definitely none of the pressure in the sales room.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that we had the money to afford these purchases. These are a luxury item in the most real sense. Each of the times that we actually purchased a timeshare, we walked into the presentation with the intention to buy (after thorough research on its value). All the other presentations were for entertainment purposes only.

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