We Weren't Going to Buy a Timeshare Anyway. Not New, Anyway.
I have a slightly dirty little secret. We planned our trip to Hawaii a month ago around a timeshare presentation. The pitch to go out there for the presentation came when we were planning, and re-planning, and re-re-planning our December Hawaii trip. One of the timeshare locations was on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the dry side, a destination we knew we wanted to visit. The deal was 5 nights in a small condo at a reduced rate, in exchange for spending 2 hours of our time sitting through a sales pitch. We then bolstered the trip with an additional 4 nights in Honolulu, bought plane tickets, and planned a week off from work.
The timeshare company failed to put a good foot forward when we arrived in Hawaii. The resort was comfortable but felt like it might as well be a golf resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, rather than a beach resort in Hawaii. I felt bait-and-switched. And when I visited the resort I expected to be accommodated at, that difference was so shocking that I was incensed. Any shot the company had at selling me a timeshare burned to ashes right then, right there. And that's where the real dirty little secret comes in: I wasn't going to buy, anyway.
Well, I wasn't going to buy new, at least. New timeshares are sold at significant markup. The same properties can be bought a year or two later on the resale market for generally no more than half their original price. Buyers who shop carefully, particularly in times of economic downturn, can pick up a timeshare from distressed sellers for as little as 5-10% of the original price. I've read accounts of people even buying a timeshare "for free", paying only for the annual maintenance and fees.
So, yeah, no way was I going to pay 2x or more the prevailing market price for a timeshare. Especially one effectively half an hour from the beach and lacking many services one expects in a resort.
The timeshare company failed to put a good foot forward when we arrived in Hawaii. The resort was comfortable but felt like it might as well be a golf resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, rather than a beach resort in Hawaii. I felt bait-and-switched. And when I visited the resort I expected to be accommodated at, that difference was so shocking that I was incensed. Any shot the company had at selling me a timeshare burned to ashes right then, right there. And that's where the real dirty little secret comes in: I wasn't going to buy, anyway.
Well, I wasn't going to buy new, at least. New timeshares are sold at significant markup. The same properties can be bought a year or two later on the resale market for generally no more than half their original price. Buyers who shop carefully, particularly in times of economic downturn, can pick up a timeshare from distressed sellers for as little as 5-10% of the original price. I've read accounts of people even buying a timeshare "for free", paying only for the annual maintenance and fees.
So, yeah, no way was I going to pay 2x or more the prevailing market price for a timeshare. Especially one effectively half an hour from the beach and lacking many services one expects in a resort.