What changes are ahead for Timeshare. Will demand change?

I am receiving calls every day now inviting me to a seminar to learn how timeshare is changing and how it will impact owners. They mention Options Travel or myoptionstravel.com. I expect a bias toward sales or getting out of timeshares, but who knows.

There have been significant resort personnel reductions at resorts, hopefully temporary. Sales offices were closed and are now trying to open. Vacation use has been disrupted or deferred. Will we see higher maintenance fees? Marriott Vacation Club and others are less profitable and share prices are down. Will timeshare sales prices flatten?

Please share your insights about what you anticipate.....

dennish144 wrote:

I am receiving calls every day now inviting me to a seminar to learn how timeshare is changing and how it will impact owners. They mention Options Travel or myoptionstravel.com. I expect a bias toward sales or getting out of timeshares, but who knows.

Please share your insights about what you anticipate.....

This is a common call made to timeshare owners. They will tell you how burdensome it is and will be for you and your heirs to continue owning a timeshare. They will tell you how hard it is to get out of your ownership and how costly it will be for you to continue owning. However, for the low, low price of [around $4000, or so], they can relieve you of this burden and the $4000 will go towards buying their travel membership that will supposedly be the new wave and trend in travel and supposedly get you more flexibility and deals in travel that you would have by owning your current unit.

I don't think anyone can knowledgeably predict future changes for timesharing. That said, it would not surprise me if timeshare "products" begin to be offered in a date finite form, as opposed to the current model of timeshare ownership "in perpetuity".

Smart consumers are appropriately reluctant to sign on for a lifelong contractual and financial obligation for something that they may never be able to get rid of later without just walking away, breaching their contract and damaging their credit rating by doing so. I cannot imagine that developers can continue to successfully peddle such a "permanent albatross" product, but as the old saying goes "there's a sucker born every minute", so maybe they will be able continue to hoodwink ill informed consumers. We shall see.

Dennis, go to their website and take a look. Doesn't say much. Only reference is to RCI, which is a trading platform. One thing to consider is that anyone soliciting you will want you to spend money with them. Any website that misspells the word "room" as "roam" wouldn't have my interest.

Future of timeshare? Much, much pressure on current owners to upgrade. Owners make up 60% of current sales. It will take a while to fill the current tour pipeline. Also, reservations will be tough to come by in the next two years. Current owners got credit for reservations missed during Covid, so there will be an inordinate amount of people using this year's points next year. Same supply - excess demand.

Will developers change the nature of their product? It would be nice........

We each have different views about what we want and/or need from timeshare. We started with Marriott timeshares in 2006 and all are Marriott, 11 weeks plus 2,500 points. Four are not enrolled in the Vacation Club points system. In summary, we have access to nearly 24,000 points plus 4 non-enrolled prime weeks close to home that are used or easy to rent. We have a large family, 6 families including 19 grandchildren, and can use what we have.

We started all this with units close to home for family reunions. It's ok with the weeks but difficult with the points due to the number and cost of points we need as well as difficulty in getting reservations. However, we are fortunate to have acquired owned weeks that cost less in the initial outlay and maintenance fees. We could not afford to do what we are doing with the expensive points program.

So, I'm trying to assess what this will look like in 10 years. Vacation Club is not developing much and seems more focused on trying to get us to use our points to buy vacations provided by others. So what will this look like 10 years out for our "forever" purchase? Will my children want to inherit this stuff when they must pay the maintenance fees?

dennish144 wrote:

Will my children want to inherit this stuff when they must pay the maintenance fees?

Maybe, maybe not. You will have to ask them. Just remember that they are not forced to inherit any timeshare they don't want. Sadly, this is a scare tactic that a lot of these exit and cancel companies use on owners like you.

lancec13 wrote:

dennish144 wrote:

Will my children want to inherit this stuff when they must pay the maintenance fees?

Maybe, maybe not. You will have to ask them. Just remember that they are not forced to inherit any timeshare they don't want. Sadly, this is a scare tactic that a lot of these exit and cancel companies use on owners like you.

Good thoughts - thank you

Unsafe timeshares -

We are Marriott timeshare owners. I've been thinking about whether we would use some of the resorts considering recent turmoil, lack of "political support for law enforcement," etc. For example, would we return to the timeshare properties in New York, San Francisco, or Washington, DC? Would we feel or be safe?

It seems the Vacation Club Pulse urban program may be inviting us to unsafe cities and less secure environments.

I would go to any of those cities before I would step foot in any major city in Texas, Arizona or Florida .

donp196 wrote:

I would go to any of those cities before I would step foot in any major city in Texas, Arizona or Florida .

I understand your concern about virus exposure which, hopefully, will diminish in those states.

However, safety is always a serious consideration in vacation planning - whether from a virus or unrestrained demonstrations with looting and other destructive behaviors. Perhaps, there should be a "city siege index" to warn of unhealthy political climates and dismantled police functions.

I worry a lot more about the virus that demonstrators .

How can you avoid your kids ending up with timeshares after you die?

Nobody can force anyone to take anything in an inheritance . Just don't put their names on anything and let it die when the owner passes away . That's a threat that the timeshare exit companies use to scare people into giving them money . No one can force anyone to accept something they don't want !!

melody90 wrote:

How can you avoid your kids ending up with timeshares after you die?

Don P is correct. That being said, what I would do now while you're preparing your will and planning your estate is to let your children know about your timeshare(s). Ask them if they want it. If so, great, fairly easy. If not, discuss with them now a plan to get rid of it when you die. There are some options out there that do not involve lawyers or exit companies but do it while you are preparing your last will and testament.