We Said "NO" to Owning our Vacation

Curtis and I went to a Portland Beavers baseball game last week. While we were walking in, I passed one of those attention-getting spinny-wheel things. It had names of cities - none of them too exciting. One of them - Coeur d'Alene - was mis-spelled. That's what really caught my attention, to be completely truthful. I just notice these things. In any event, you spun the wheel and then you won a two-night stay in that city. What was the catch? Attending a timeshare sales presentation, of course!

I was slightly intrigued, honestly. I LOVE to travel, yet I knew nothing about timeshares. I signed up with the nice man, who made sure, on behalf of his company, Worldmark by Wyndham, that I had a major credit card, earned more than $50,000 per year, and was available for a two-hour block on Saturday past. In return, $20 cash was promised, as well as a $75 American Express gift card, and a two-night stay at one of the destination properties. I selected Victoria, B.C., somewhere I've been wanting to go but had not yet ventured.

On Saturday, at the designated time, Curtis and I appeared in Vancouver, WA. We were ushered into a room with other (mostly young) couples, where hip music was playing and a video of resort properties was showing. I wasn't overly impressed with some of the properties. We recognized one that we had stayed at previously in Seattle. We had a group presentation, first, which intent was to get us all excited and into a buying mode.

We then got introduced to a personal salesperson. Ours was Dominica, from the Ukraine. She had back up from a very tan man. She informed us that she herself had been in our seats just a few short years ago. She claimed that her timeshare purchase changed her life - and her career! She had pictures from the properties she had been to, including Vancouver, B.C. and Cozumel (lovely!). She pointed out that all of their properties were paid off, debt-free. The annual maintenance fee (we were quoted between $345-$750) would only climb a maximum of 5% a year.

Their timeshare works off a system of points. We talked first about the 12,000 points-per-year program. She also had a catalog that listed all of the domestic properties. The times of year were divided into red (busy season), white (moderate season) and blue (off season) zones. The points required to book a room at that particular property were also divided by whether one wanted a studio, two-bedroom, or three-bedroom condo. It looked like almost all of the months of the year were red, which meant they were spendy (in points currency) and (I imagined) difficult to book. One of the perks was a discount when staying at their properties during weeknights. If you took the required points, multiplied by $0.048, you could see what it would be for a night at one of the domestic properties (this was very attractive for some of the places).

We were quoted a $23,000 initial investment, with 10% down, at 17% interest, for ten years. In addition, there was the $750 annual maintenance fee. More fees: $164/week for staying at a domestic property, $199/week for any international property. On top of that was a cleaning fee charged at the end of one's stay. We thought about it and declined.

Undeterred, Dominica and Tan Man told us that maybe we were thinking of too many points. We then got quoted the price for a 6,000 points-per-year plan. It was $13,388 over ten years with 10% down at 17% interest. The maintenance fee was $541. Curtis and I both crunched numbers on our iPhone calculators.

Sales staff kept bringing us Coke and lemonade. Loud, fun music played. People at tables around us were drinking champagne or sparkling apple cider after they had signed on the dotted line. Dominica would give us time to think, but then we would be interrupted by the Tan Man. We asked specific, pointed questions, to which we got consistently vague replies. She explained that when we wanted to book a reservation, all we had to do was call her. She said she would teach us how to work the system and maximize our points.

When booking travel now, I actually feel more comfortable doing so on the Internet, by myself. I also worried out loud about the flexibility of it all. After all, what if I wanted to plan a trip to Thailand but couldn't get the resort I wanted, or the dates I needed? She assured me that it was never a problem, as long as one was flexible. The trouble is that my work vacation schedule doesn't always afford that flexibility.

As we continued thinking about the deal, I told Curtis that we hadn't yet booked hotels for our upcoming trip to Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. We sat and computed whether or not we could get our money's worth by using timeshare properties this year in those countries. The longer we sat with the salespeople, the sweeter the deal got. They offered a one-time extra deposit of 7,000 credits into our account, as well as TWO complimentary one-week stays (a $249 broker fee each time). I felt sorry for the poor saps who had said yes on the first offer and had already left.

In the end, as the headline up above already told you, we said no. They feigned shock and surprise, but we said no. The system had a financed lump sum, which means a monthly payment we don't currently have or need. There were also fees built in everywhere you turned around, which sure didn't make a week's stay seem like that much of a bargain. Once the lump sum was paid off, maybe, but not until then.

We left with our $20 cash, $75 American Express gift cards, and a voucher for two nights at a property on the Oregon Coast. We hurried back to Oregon, where I had to get ready to go in to work. We now have a basic understanding of how timeshares work.