Whether you are planning on exchanging your timeshare week or renting out your week, it is very important to select a very high demand week from your resort. This goes well beyond selecting any “Red” week from your home resort. Some weeks in the Red season are more”Red” than others!
For example, February and March weeks, Christmas and New Years weeks have a greater demand in winter ski resort areas like Vermont and Colorado than other weeks that may be coded as “Red” by the resort or the exchange company. Summer weeks in beach resort locations of Florida, Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico would have good exchange and rental value.
In short think about the time of year and season of the resort that you are buying your timeshare resale week from – is it that areas peak travel to time or close to it?
Just like in real estate you want to buy a timeshare resale at the lowest price in a high demand resort or location area (keep in mind the season too even if the resort is located in a year round area). Also buying into a point based timeshare system through major resorts or part of a large exchange management system is good.
While you might look at things such as how many stars or if it is a Gold Crown rating – this is not the only criteria to look at as there are some terrific resorts in high demand areas that are flying low below the radar – so make sure that you check these out too when you are wanting to buy a timeshare resale.
Following are some considerations to ask yourself when considering the purchase of a timeshare resale:
- Is there a year round demand in this area?
- Attractions and activities: Are there major attractions or popular activities near by? Example Las Vegas, Disney World, popular golf resorts, entertainment such as Branson or beautiful beaches or is it centered around top ski resorts that also provide summer season activities as well. (golf and ski).
- If buying into a point based system or vacation club, how big is their network? Do they have resorts and affiliations to the above mentioned types of resorts? Do they have a good reputation? Do current members find it easy to get the weeks or resorts they want when they want to?
By focusing on high demand timeshares and areas, you will be able to zero in on choosing the right timeshares resale to buy that will help you in not only exchanging but help you to maintain more of your investment. Note: Remember when you buy from the timeshare resale marketplace you save money and get the most for your dollars!
Quality is a subjective thing because some might judge on room appointments and others on the experience factors such as close by activities. To begin assessing quality you can get an idea by the star or designations associated with the resorts through the exchange companies as well as looking at the resort yourself either online or in person.
Following is a list of items to consider when checking out specific timeshare resale resorts:
- View the room/ accommodations – do they meet your needs, if exchanging in network look at rooms in some of your other areas of interest, do you like these?
- Activities and resort amenities -what are the amenities, things to do on the resort property, i.e., a pool, game room, spa concierge, activity desk.
- Stuff to see, are there things close by to do? Both paid and free attractions?
- Shopping close by including grocery if you are wanting a timeshare with a kitchen for a self catering holiday.
Points and Vacation Clubs
- Look at the network of resorts and locations
- Like above review the resort accommodation descriptions, pictures and your area’s of interest.
- Read the fine print, how easy is it to exchange or trade in prime areas.
- Do they offer bonuses or access to resorts at lower cost for those weekend getaways that you don’t want to use your points or time for?
We recommend that you also visit some of the popular timeshare forums and do a search on the resort in question as you will most likely find reviews by actual owners or visitors to that resort. When assessing quality also do your due diligence and check out the resorts & clubs through the BBB and consumer review type publications such as consumer reports.
Major brands such as Vistana, Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt or vacation clubs such as Disney and others take pride in their services, amenities and consistency in network wide quality. Note some of the smaller resorts might not be part of the clubs or resorts direct but do have affiliations with top management, networks and exchanges – these are worth while to check out as well.
Many timeshare owners love the ability to do, see and experience the world as well as be able to choose when they vacation.
Flexibility in when and where is another consideration you should keep in mind when buying a timeshare resale. Because life is fluid and as such, what might be a good time to travel for you this year might change next year. So being able to choose and adapt to what fits for you and your family is a good thing!
Flexibility Indicators
- Is the timeshare resort part of a larger chain or club and do they allow you to bank or exchange your weeks easily within their system, and best yet do they give you preference because you are part of the network?
- Can you break up your weeks (if you bought a week based timeshare) for example 3 day trip to Las Vegas and 4 days skiing at a mountain resort in Colorado?
- Are you only allowed to exchange week for week example: second week in March for second week in March?
- Can you bank and build up your weeks to take a longer vacation in the future? For example, can you bank this years time to next year to trade for a two week vacation?
- Is the timeshare resort part of a larger exchange network? For example, are they part of Interval, RCI or other exchange network of resorts. And if so, is the exchange network easy to trade and exchange your time or points to take the holiday that you want to in the place you want to.
Just like in life the more flexible you are and your ability to go with the flow of life the happier timeshare resale owner you will be.
Syed Sarmad, Principal Broker for Advantage Vacation
