I’m going to share a story, so please bear with me while I get to the ‘Time Share’ part!
Our first overseas holiday was a trip to the US. That was over 10 years ago (November 05). At that time, I was the main bread winner and Suzie was a stay at home mum doing a wonderful job looking after the family. We had a mortgage, paid all the bills everyone else does, put a little it away and we did it on average wage. So we were ok but nothing special. Our very good friends (They are also family) the Farrell’s (Very seasoned travelers) were trying to get us to holiday with them. We had discussed it on a few occasions and I remember deciding to go the ‘Travel Expo’ (Melbourne) to see what specials they had. Well, while at the expo, I found an offer that was too good to say no to, so I booked a trip right there and then. I called Pris straight away to tell her I’d done it. She went the following day and booked her flights as well. This was our first overseas family holiday!
As it was our first overseas holiday, I probably did what everyone else does and looked for accommodation that was cheap and near the places we wanted to go to. It was mainly hotel type of accommodation. In Orlando, we stayed at Walt Disney World at Disney’s All Star Movie resort. It wasn’t really a resort. It had a room with a couple of beds, a TV, small bathroom and a fridge we couldn’t use because it had stuff in it. They put things in there for us to purchase which was quite pricey. It was fine, did the job for the four of us. There wasn’t a lot of space and Suzy and I couldn’t get any us time but again it did the job and it was right in Disney! We had to eat out morning, noon and night and we mainly ate junk food. I think you get the gist! The point is coming……….. Please keep reading!
Before we left, Pris kindly organised us a room using their timeshare. It was the last week of our 4 week holiday. We didn’t really know much about the room but was told it would be nice. Nice wasn’t the word. It was awesome. We had a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment with full kitchen, laundry, 2 bathrooms and magnificent views. We couldn’t believe it. We felt like we were special, that we were experiencing what the well-off experience. Wow!
Pricille filled us in on how the timeshare worked and suggested we go to one of the meetings to find out more. The deal is that you get a $100 voucher for attending an information session and we didn’t need to buy anything. Hey $100 bucks for an hour and half of my time, no worries but I was interested to know how the timeshare concept worked. We attended the meeting and I was able to get a good understanding of how it all worked. Suzie didn’t really understand it all but she trusted me. Well, after the hour and a half, I visited Pricille and Darren and told them that I was now a timeshare owner! They couldn’t believe it and in the end, they also purchase a week as well! From that day on, Suzie and I made holidaying a part of our lives. It was an investment in holidaying and would ensure we prioritized and planned future family holidays.
Ok so what it timeshare accommodation? I’ll try and keep it as simple as possible. In a nut shell, it’s where a heap of people own a week each year at a particular property/resort. You purchase a week or points (I’ll discuss points later) for an amount. Our week cost us $7500 US which at the time was over $10000 AU plus you need to pay a maintenance fee each year which is around $1000 AU. You can visit that property every year and stay there or you can exchange the week and stay at other properties. There are many different timeshare products out there and timeshare isn’t for everyone. Looking at the above, you may say that for $10000, I can enjoy a great holiday and yes you can, but we have this for the rest of our live and our kids’ lives and so on, and when we travel, we get to stay at absolutely awesome resorts.
Now can I also add, there’s no sales pitch here other than to say that it’s one way to both help you prioritize holidaying (if you do purchase some form of timeshare), and also stay at beautiful places you never thought you’d stay at?
Check out the pictures below. It was from our recent holiday to the US/Hawaii (January 2015). We stayed at a gorgeous place in Ko Olina. To book a 2 bedroom with kitchen at the time we stayed would cost you well over $4000, I exchanged it for my week. In essence, it cost me $1200 (maintenance fee). Our family’s thoughts on this place….. Wow! and that was the first time we had been. It was so good that we stayed again only a year later! It is the best place we had stayed at so far! Have a look at what $1200 will get you if you tried to stay on Oahu.
My thinking when we purchase timeshare is that we want to travel every couple of years, and having the week allowed us to stay at beautiful places right around the world. There are places to exchange in Australia but a lot more overseas. It made holidaying a priority for us so we’d have to plan and save to ensure we could enjoy our new purchase.
On our trip to the US (June12), we added another week to our portfolio and we also purchased points. Points are similar to owning a week but instead of having a week somewhere, you are now able to book resorts at any property as long as you have enough points. You can also stay for a day, 2 or more. It’s a more flexible product, but the value in my opinion isn’t as good as the owning a week, but it’s still a great product.
I have deliberately withheld the name of the timeshare accommodation company we are with. That’s because I don’t want anyone getting the idea that I’m trying to sell something. If you want more information on timeshare, you can Google it and find heaps about the different products out there. If you want to know about who we are with and why then you can shoot me an email at info@traveltotheus.com.au.
Hopefully this has given you some insight into timeshare and the benefits of owning!
Travelling to the US? Traveltotheus.com.au
