Want to buy a timeshare? The licensed real estate professionals at Advantage Vacation have been in the timeshare resale business for over 20 years and have over 35 years of experience and expert knowledge of resort, hotel, vacation clubs and points-based timeshare resales.
What are the advantages of purchasing a timeshare resale versus buying direct from the developer? The single biggest advantage to buying a timeshare resale is the price. You can literally save thousands of dollars purchasing a timeshare resale versus purchasing direct from the developer. In some instances not all benefits transfer on a resale. However, the dollar savings is significant when purchasing a timeshare resale.
We are leaders in the secondary market of timeshare resales and are Accredited Members of the BBB with an A+ Rating.
Advantage Vacation works with a network of over 70 brokers nationwide and has an excellent web presence. We regularly publish newsletters to keep our family of timeshare owners up to date on what’s going on in the timeshare resale industry.
Our business has been built on relationships and we are proud that referrals have contributed to our ongoing success.
Timeshare resales offer a great value in today’s vacation ownership market and Advantage Vacation can save you literally thousands of dollars when you buy a timeshare resale versus purchasing direct from the developer. Our timeshare resale inventory includes name brand timeshares and smaller, non-name brand timeshare resorts.
When you decide to buy a timeshare resale, you will want to check out the following list of the major, name brand timeshare companies of Disney, Four Seasons, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Westin/Starwood and Wyndham.
Disney Vacation Club is based on a Vacation Points System and is affiliated with RCI. Members receive an annual allotment of Vacation Points based on the size of their real estate interest to use toward their vacations at Disney Vacation Club Resorts. The Vacation Points can be used at any of the more than 500 Member Getaways destinations worldwide, when purchased directly from Disney.
Four Seasons Residence Club offers vacation ownership at the Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara in Carlsbad, California and Four Seasons Residence Club Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona. Additionally, Four Seasons offers fractional ownership at Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Mexico. In addition to internal exchanges within the Four Seasons Resort network, owners have additional exchange opportunities thru Interval International.
Hilton has a point based timeshare ownership you may want to consider when you want to buy a timeshare, where you own at a specific resort. It gives you the ability to vacation at the resort, in the season you own in, up to twelve months in advance. You can trade it internally using the point valuation to vacation at any other Hilton Grand Vacation Club or you can convert it into HiltonHonors and stay at Hilton Hotel worldwide, use them for car rental or airline tickets, etc. Hilton is a point based timeshare that gives you the ability to vacation at their selection of resorts, exchange thru RCI or convert into hotel points. Hilton also offers Open Season reservations which enables owners to make nightly reservations up to 29 days in advance at a discounted rate and not have to use your time.
Hyatt has a selection of resorts in their network where you own at that resort, you own a specific week (sort of like a fixed week) which gives you the right to stay at that resort during that week. It has a point valuation associated with it according to the unit size and week number that you bought whether it’s Diamond, Platinum, Gold or Silver, etc. Using those points it allows you to “float” within that resort or you can trade within, internally, to other Hyatt resorts. If you want to vacation outside the Hyatt system of resorts then you can go through Interval International to make your exchanges. When you buy a timeshare on the resale market you do not get any rights to convert into Hyatt or Gold Passport points.
Marriott has two types of programs to consider when you decide to buy a timeshare. One is the Legacy Timeshare Owner and the other is the Destination Club.
When you purchase a Legacy week, you buy at a particular resort and buy either a fixed week or floating week in the season you want. This gives you the ability to book at your resort for the time period you bought. If you want to exchange, you go through Interval International to trade into other Marriott Vacation Club resorts, you would get internal exchange priorities and of course, you can vacation at other Interval International affiliated resorts. A Legacy week is seven days and seven nights when you are using it.
The Destination Club points program is where you have a beneficial interest in a land trust which consists of some inventory that is compiled to form the Club from all the various locations that Marriott Vacation Club has. You have an interest, you own so many points, you’re allotted so many points that give you the right to travel internally, within your own resort for a few days at a time and in a particular location, you can vary in the size of the unit, view category, season, etc. depending on the number of points you have. You can also utilize those points to vacation thru Interval International or convert them into Award Points and use it for hotels, partial stays, etc. Points through Award Point benefits are not transferable to a resale buyer.
The Westin/Starwood timeshare program has two types of resorts in their system – Mandatory and Voluntary. Mandatory consists of 6 resorts and when you buy a timeshare resale in any of those locations you are entitled to StarOption benefits. You can either book at your home resort where you have priority 8 – 12 months in advance for the time period you own or you can trade internally 8 months or less in advance at any other Starwood vacation ownership property using your StarOptions. You also have Interval International.
When you buy a timeshare in a Voluntary resort you do not get StarOption benefits, therefore you can only vacation at your resort or you can enroll in Interval International in order to exchange to other resorts. You don’t have the right to convert into StarPoints when you buy a timeshare resale unless you go back to the developer and purchase a unit directly from the developer – then they will “retro” your transaction which will give you StarOption benefits and allow you to convert to StarPoints, just as if you had purchased directly from the developer.
Wyndham Vacation Ownership also offers a points based system through Club Wyndham and is affiliated with RCI for additional exchange opportunities. You own a timeshare at a specific resort, with a point value assigned to it. As the owner of Wyndham Points you can reserve units at your home resort 13 months in advance and reserve units at any other Wyndham resort 10 months in advance. The only difference when you purchase Wyndham points on the resale market versus purchasing retail from the developer is the VIP benefits. VIP benefits are given to owners who own 400,000 or more points. This is the only benefit that is not transferable, unless it is sold to an immediate family member.
So how do you choose which company you want to own in when you decide to buy a timeshare? Start by looking at the group or collection of resorts that each timeshare company has in their network or system. See if the locations appeal to you because obviously you get some internal exchange priorities by owning in that timeshare company.
What if none of these locations or resorts have the group of resorts that you want to vacation in or buy a timeshare? If you are a traveler who likes to visit lots of different places outside of what these seven name brand companies have to offer, you need to look into RCI or Interval International and see what they have to offer in terms of locations and see if that fits your vacationing lifestyle.
If you like a particular location and you like going to that resort most of the time (and particularly if you are a peak season traveler) then you should own there – whether it is a name brand or non-name brand timeshare. The important thing to keep in mind is to buy for “use” first and “exchange” second.
If you like traveling to a certain location, for example, Hawaii and you like coming to Hawaii in the winter months, then you should look at considering a purchase of a timeshare in Hawaii at the type of resort you like. You might consider a name brand like Marriott or Westin or perhaps a non-name brand company and purchase there and look at exchanges as your second reason to purchase a timeshare.
Following you will find a list of smaller, non-name brand timeshare companies:
- The Berkley Group
- Bluegreen Resorts
- Consolidated Resorts
- Defender Resorts
- Diamond Resorts International®
- Divi Resorts
- Embassy Vacation Resorts
- Escapes!
- Fairfield Resorts (now owned by Wyndham)
- Festiva Resorts
- Grand Pacific Resorts
- Holiday Concepts Group
- InnSeason Resorts
- Island One Resorts
- Macdonald Resorts
- Mayan Resorts
- Monarch Grand Vacations
- MROP – ORE
- PAHIO
- Palace Resorts
- Pueblo Bonito Resorts
- Royal Holiday
- Royal Resorts
- Seasons Holidays
- Shawnee Resorts
- Silverleaf Resorts
- Spinnaker Resorts
- SPM Resorts
- Summer Bay Resorts
- Sunterra Resorts (now owned by Diamond Resorts)
- Vacation Village Resorts
- The Villa Group
- Vacation Internationale
- Welk Resort Group
- Westgate Resorts
Vacation clubs offer the added benefit of points which enable you to trade your annual allotment for accommodations at a variety of in-network resorts and weeks. For owners who want even more flexibility than standard timeshare exchange companies can provide, a timeshare vacation club is the best option. Following you will find a list of non-name brand vacation clubs:
- Atlas, The Vacation Owners Club
- Avalon Vacation Club
- Aviawest Resort Club
- Club Absolute
- Club Casa Dorada
- Club Intrawest
- Club Navigo
- Club Regina
- El Cid Vacations Club
- GeoHoliday Vacation Club
- Global Exchange Vacation Club
- Holiday Inn Club Vacations
- ILX Premiere Vacation Club
- Legacy Vacation Club (formerly Celebrity Resorts)
- Perennial Vacation Club
- Raintree Vacation Club
- Ritz-Carlton Club
- Royal Aloha Vacation Club
- Shell Vacations Club
- Universal Vacation Club
- World International Vacation Club
- WorldMark, The Club
Another option you might want to consider is the RCI Points Program which may give you the right to use your point’s currency to travel into other RCI points based resorts.
Interval International has a Gold and Platinum membership which gives the subscriber the ability to trade resort weeks or points for multiple vacations of one to six nights each.