posted 05-13-2005 06:17            

3) Our sales rep says that the maintenance fee (which I think is pretty large) goes up a nominal amt each year -- maybe 2%. True?

posted 05-13-2005 07:09               

As for your specific questions:

1) Timeshares generally make lousy investments. The typical timeshare purchased from a developer sells on the resale market for 25%-40% of that original purchase price. From an investment standpoint, buying a timeshare is much like buying a new car.

However, Marriott timeshares generally do better than what's "typical" in the industry. Yes, there are many Marriott timeshare owners who can sell their Marriott week for more than what they paid Marriott. But they have normally had to wait 6-10 years or so to get to that point.

Some Marriotts have not appreciated, even though Marriott's selling prices have. How can that be? As a seller, you don't have the marketing clout, the purchase incentives, the fancy talking salesperson or the reputation that Marriott has.

Further, the person who is aware of the timeshare resale market and might purchase from you is much more likely to be price savvy than you and others were when purchasing from Marriott. They will know that resale prices are much lower than developer prices. Also, the resale demand/supply balance is lousy. There are many more timeshares available on the resale market than there are buyers.

Lastly, will your week appreciate? I don't know. Some of the important factors include future cost of travel to Aruba and whether other timeshare development in Aruba might dampen the demand for weeks at your resort.

2) Yes, your resort is a high-demand resort – today. Will it stay that way? Good chance. Is it certain? I don't think there is an answer for that.

3) Maintenance fees will go up by whatever is necessary to maintain the resort, just as your cost to maintain your home goes up based on the costs (utilities, painting, new roof, new furniture, cleaning, etc.) go up. How much those fees will go up depends on inflation, the economy in Aruba and what the HOA and Marriott decide is necessary to appropriately maintain the property.

posted 05-13-2005 07:12               

2) Aruba is an excellent trader but most people would recommend that you not buy there unless you plan to go 3 out of 4 years. Buy at a resort that you want to go to frequently.

3) I think 2% a year is a fair estimate but sometimes when Marriott sells out there can be a jump from the removal of the subsidy. In theory the subsidy should cover the units that are not sold but it seems to me that Marriott also has a vested interest in helping keep the fees lower while they are trying to sell developer weeks.

posted 05-13-2005 07:35               

One other thing I want to add is that if you are not paying cash for this timeshare then you should definitely rescind. Financing a timeshare is not a good idea, especially if you are unsure about the purchase in the first place.

posted 05-13-2005 09:53               

My only reservation for you though is that your week is gold and it seems gold weeks are not as popular, have not appreciated as much or traded as well. Winter months in Aruba are prime because it is one place you can be sure will be warm and sunny during the winter. Also because it is south of the hurricane belt you don't have to worry about losing your t/s for a while due to one of those.

Good luck on your decision!

posted 05-13-2005 14:31               

Your angst and anxiety is perfectly understandable. Once one returns home and reality sinks in, it certainly is gut check time as you ponder that you are in the process of purchasing timeshare.

You're a little behind the eight ball here as the clock is indeed ticking, and I doubt that one can undertake a "timeshare 101" lesson idealing with the mechanics and nuances of trading in the time that you have left.

My best suggestion is to ask yourself why you might want to own timeshare and to determine your goals of ownership over a period of years. Try to get a feel for how you might utilize TS for destination travel. Do you really want to go to Aruba every year, or will you trade your week to other destinations? Can you get comfortable with the idea of owning or not? If you're still interested, then begin fiddle with the numbers and the travel logistics and see how it all feels to you.

More questions will flow from this process and you can post more queries or search the TUG archives for more information that will help you mentally work your way through things.

Do keep one thing in mind -- Marriott TS is a good product so your real task is to determine if TS and destination travel fits your personal outlook, expectations, and budget.

It's up to you to make the call about whether to proceed or to rescind.

Good luck,

Barry

posted 05-13-2005 14:48               

If you visited the thread that I linked in my post above, I'm sure you have noticed the difference between responses in that thread (Rescind! Rescind!) and the responses here.

I'm guessing that most of us on this forum, as Marriott owners, had the same uncertainties that you now have when we purchased our first Marriott week. Most of us are very happy with our purchases. We like the product, we like timesharing, we get good exchanges and some of us buy more Marriotts, often from the developer, even though we now know we can buy on the resale market for less (unless its a new resort).

posted 05-13-2005 15:09               

My sense is that if you are concerned with value at resale, it's best to purchase resale. Then the developer markup has already been discounted and you have a better chance of getting all of your money out.

posted 05-13-2005 17:33               

One thing that wasn't mentioned, and definately needs to be, is how much reward points were received from the purchase. That is definately part of the value received. When I bought I got 470K (includes 2 yrs of alt use points for $1500). Those points to me were worth $7K-$8K. So I may have spent $22.4K total, but in return I got a $7K "rebate", so to speak.

If in this case a similar scenerio is possible, I say its not that bad a deal to buy from dev, becuase the overall value is similar to buying resale.

Let's not forget that the Surf Club is a super nice resort that will trade like gangbusters.

When I bought at the Aruba Surf Club in 11/03, a plat OV was going for $20.9K, now $30.1K. What could I get if for some reason, I needed to sell?, probably $22-24K, I would think.
How much more are the prices going to rise?, I don't know, probably not too much more, but alittle maybe.

posted 05-13-2005 20:50               

Since as you can see we now own 5 weeks, one of which is our Aruba Surf Club, gold week. We bought this thinking we would go once and trade the rest of the time. Since it is a lock off we have many options. We went once and now are going for the second time. We will trade for 2006 but I would not be surprised if we went back in 2007.

We have thought about rentng also, but have never actually gotten around to it because we keeping using our weeks. Great vacations we would not have taken if we did not own timeshares and some wonderful family time.

If you can afford your purchase, keep it. We financed some and bought cash for some. I do not think you will regret being a Marriott owner. As for the expensive airfare, purchase another - ) week so that you can alternate trading for points and using for a couple of years. Once you build up a few points you will get a leg up on frequent flyer miles. We have been getting our airfare free.

Enjoy and welcome to the family of Marriott owners.

Beverley

posted 05-14-2005 11:35               

As for trading, if you are willing to go during lower demand times such as September and early December, you may be better off buying something else that you like better and trading into Aruba since you don't want to go every year anyway. Also, Aruba does have several nice resorts that you can visit for a lot cheaper. They aren't as nice as the Marriott, of course, but are still quite good.

posted 05-15-2005 15:18               

1) Gold weeks appreciation is not likely, Marriott getting big in Aruba, and almost sure will not be a "great" trader in gold season.

2) For same price you can buy resale at Marriott Ocean Club, Platinum 2bed/2bath, and this floater has option to be used on peak holidays weeks (Christmas & New Year), in Surf Club, those weeks are under special Plat+ weeks.

3) Maint. fees at Surf Club now have subside from Marriott, the real maint. fees will easily jump over $1000 once project is near sold.

Given above facts, if you have no intention to use property "almost" every year...better cancel.

posted 05-15-2005 15:53               

1. Aruba Gold is considered the strongest Gold season in MVCI and a summer week will out trade probably 1/2 the Platinum weeks in MVCI
2. MVCI gives to the mait. fees to suplement the unsold units, not to keep fees lower. If done correctly there should be no changes once MVCI stops kicking in money !!
3. The odds on Buying Platinum Ocean Club and getting a Holiday week are less than getting hit with lightning

quote:

---

Originally posted by Indigo:
Betsys, as an owner of both Marriott Ocean & Surf, if your idea is to go once in while...I would say "cancel".

1) Gold weeks appreciation is not likely, Marriott getting big in Aruba, and almost sure will not be a "great" trader in gold season.

2) For same price you can buy resale at Marriott Ocean Club, Platinum 2bed/2bath, and this floater has option to be used on peak holidays weeks (Christmas & New Year), in Surf Club, those weeks are under special Plat+ weeks.

3) Maint. fees at Surf Club now have subside from Marriott, the real maint. fees will easily jump over $1000 once project is near sold.

Given above facts, if you have no intention to use property "almost" every year...better cancel.

---

posted 05-15-2005 16:15               

1) If you consider an Aruba gold a good trader "now" doesnt mean it will remain same when (4) Bldgs. are ready + project at Holiday Inn pops...maybe.

2) If you own Surf Club, take a look at yr last maint. receipt.

3) Platinum Ocean will always be better trader than any Gold (at same price), and yes, I've pulled out Christmas and New Year weeks (several times), agree is not easy, but at least chances are there.

posted 05-15-2005 16:30               

What does last years fees have to do with it ? sounds like you don't understand why MVCI pays part of the fee and from your answer, you still don't

Platinum Ocean will out trade any Gold. Where did I say it wouldn't ?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Indigo:
Jason,

1) If you consider an Aruba gold a good trader "now" doesnt mean it will remain same when (4) Bldgs. are ready + project at Holiday Inn pops...maybe.

2) If you own Surf Club, take a look at yr last maint. receipt.

3) Platinum Ocean will always be better trader than any Gold (at same price), and yes, I've pulled out Christmas and New Year weeks (several times), agree is not easy, but at least chances are there.

---

posted 05-15-2005 16:41            

As for our decision... We are cancelling this contract, not because we think it isn't a good deal but because we did not do our due diligence before making a decision. We are now concentrating on getting educated before taking the plunge again.

Thanks again to all!

posted 05-15-2005 18:34               

I think you are making a wise decision and for the right reasons. If you do your due diligence and decide within the next few months that this is the right timeshare for you, you can still buy, likely at something very close to what your deal was.

Also, to correct some apparent misinformation in this thread...

There is no evidence that fees at Marriott timeshares increase more significantly in years when Marriott's subsidy is eliminated than in other years. By taking a careful look at the historical fees chart linked near the end of my post above (the second post in this thread), you can see the years for which a subsidy was applicable at various resorts. Then look at the increase in subsequent years.

There have been one or two reports here - long ago - of a significant fee increase at a Marriott resort when the subsidy ended. Although the details in the chart don't support that, it's likely that it has happened. All that means is that Marriott likely calculated inaccurately at the start of the project how much in fees would be necessary to maintain the resort when it started operating on its own.

You can also see (in the chart) that there are sometimes significant increases in years when there has been no subsidy in recent years. The reasons for such increases relate to the specific maintenance or replacement issues of the particular resort. Thus, unexpected significant increases occur – for many reasons.

posted 05-16-2005 06:49               

I have deleted three recent posts in this thread that were directly or indirectly critical of others or that responded to such criticism. According to TUG BBS posting rules, those who post may politely disagree with the content of other posts but are not permitted to attack those with whom they disagree.