question about buying a resale timeshare

I just purchased and then cancelled the purchase of 100,000 points from Holiday Inn Resorts. I cancelled when I saw on Redweek that I could buy a "used" unit for much less. Two questions: 1. I prefer the points system to the weekly system, but where do I find people selling points? 2. When I make a purchase of a "used" unit, do I get all the benefits of membership - access to other units in the system? access to RCI units? Earl

earlc56 wrote:

I just purchased and then cancelled the purchase of 100,000 points from Holiday Inn Resorts. I cancelled when I saw on Redweek that I could buy a "used" unit for much less. Two questions:

1. I prefer the points system to the weekly system, but where do I find people selling points?

2. When I make a purchase of a "used" unit, do I get all the benefits of membership - access to other units in the system? access to RCI units?

1. Look for posted ads on RedWeek, Timeshare Users Group, MyResortNetwork, eBay.

2. The answer to this particular question depends upon the "system" in which you purchase. GENERALLY speaking, with "pure points" contracts (such as Wyndham CWA), there is no "unit" and there is no difference in benefits or reservation access between developer-direct and resale market purchases. A minor exception would be Wyndham "VIP" status, which requires a huge, expensive points purchase made directly from Wyndham, with only minimal and insignificant advantages that are not worth even discussing further.

3. Access to RCI requires RCI membership. RCI membership first requires ownership at a resort (or within a system) which is affiliated with RCI. For example, the answer would be YES within Wyndham (which actually OWNS RCI, by the way), but the answer would be NO within Hyatt, which has no affiliation with RCI. In short, it's a resort or system-specific matter; there is no accurate "one size fits all" answer.

Hope this helps you. You were very smart to cancel your developer-direct purchase. You can buy (with some effort and searching and patience required) the same "product" in the resale market for pennies on the dollar. And by the way, if you think about it, ALL timeshares are "used", whether purchased developer-direct or in the resale market. Any and every timeshare unit has been (and will be) utilized by others virtually every week of the year, regardless of the particular resort or "system" --- hence the word timeSHARE.