I am sure that you have been approached in the last year by someone trying to get you to purchase a timeshare ownership. This may have been a simple sales call promising a free weekend stay if you agreed to attend a 90 min. presentation during the three day weekend. It may have been more forward as you received an e-mail or phone-call attempting to sell you a week at some resort. So what should you do, listen to the marketing or listen to that little person inside you telling you it can't be that great of a deal.



To make this decision it is important for you to analyze the type of travel you enjoy and undertake with your family. Do you as a family:

Take Vacations every year at approx. the same time of year.

Go to the same vacation spot year after year.

Enjoy staying at extended stay Hotel style accomodations.

Then the traditional timeshare is the perfect fit for you and your family. Proceed to any of the online sites and research the best value for a timeshare that you can find. Low price with Low flexibility is the perfect fit. Now what if I always enjoy:

Different vacation spots every year.

Taking my vacations at different times of year.

Staying in quaint houses and Bed and Breakfast spots.

Then the timeshare ownership is not for you. Now what happens if I fall somewhere between the two lists:

I occassionally like to change up my vacation destination, but not every year

I generally like to take one summer vacation a year and maybe a winter vacation.

I prefer deluxe accomodations and also occassionally enjoy a little more intimate setting.

Then you will either need to continue on your current course of action or be prepared to pay for one of the premium timeshares. Companies offering the Premium Services are Marriott, Hilton, and Disney. These companies offer flexibility with an extended network of timeshares and trade partners. You get premium trade value with any of their accounts.

What is this trade value. Simply put, timeshare owners are teamed together and allowed to deposit vacation weeks in a bank for later use. The owners at a later time can request different resorts and different weeks from their originally scheduled week. So why was it said that certain resorts get premium trade value, do they not rate everybody the same?

The answer to that question is no, in the area of timeshares not everyone is the same. If you own a Marriott, Hilton, or Disney week you get first options on any weeks in those chains. What does this mean, if you are a non-owner and are awaiting a week to come up at a Marriott for example and are next on the list for that resort. Naturally when the week comes open you should get it ? first come first serve. Not so fast, a Marriott owner comes in and says that they want the same week as you. The Marriott owner gets the nod even though you have been on the list longer. Does not seem fair but it is the way of the timeshare companies.

So what does this cost. The premium companies are going to cost you from 3x to 4x of the non-premium companies. For this added cost you gain flexibility and priority in trades. If moving is not important go with the cheaper vendors. If flexibility is needed go with one of the premium companies.

Charles Cater