[Molly]

Does anyone own part of the Marriott Vacation club? Trying to debate pros and cons of this “timeshare” like program…would love to hear any feedback/thoughts/experiences with the program – good or bad! Thanks!

[Jeff]

Dont buy into it. Save your money and find good deals on hotels or understand how credit card points work and travel that way. Just got back from a vacation booked on points. Once you are in a timeshare it’s almost impossible to get out.

[Kim]

Don’t do it. As a retired couple, our annual maintenance fees are our single largest expense.

[Telesia]

Don’t do it. They make you pay maintenance fees and taxes yearly. By the time that happens, you might as well pay for the week yourself. And timeshares are impossible to sell btw and can ruin your credit if you foreclose or give it back

[Stan]

Don’t know about Marriott specifically, but any program that has a required annual maintenance fee has free reign to charge whatever they want.

[Kim]

Just had the recent experience of trying to get out of it. Impossible without a third party. Maintenance fees had gone up by more than $2K a year. Marriott Vacation has the first right of refusal on any sale of the points. In the end, I was happy to get out even if it was only for a few cents on the dollar.

[Shea]

I have one. (It’s a looong story.) 2024 maintenance fees were $3769.11. 2022 fees were $2892.71. Save yourself the headache and just get a hotel room wherever you want to go. It’s ridiculous.

[Tom]

Never heard anything good about a “timeshare” type structure.

Basically timeshare means, give me access to your checking account till the day you die.

[Brenda]

We were Starwood owners that got merged with Marriott, and have a lot of points with the system now. No major complaints, but yes maintenance fees are high. Popular resorts also fill up very fast in optimal timeframes by those who “own” at those locations first. They get first dibs, before opening up to everyone else.

If you like going to the same places, they’re not a bad deal. We take a big family vacation to Hawaii every other year and book a big lock-off condo at Westin Kaanapali Villas, so it’s worth it for us.

[Brownsword]

You lost me at “timeshare”. They’re treated as real property, which means you can’t just walk away from it. I also suspect nobody will try to repossess the thing!

[Kyle]

Timeshare is only worth it for folks that vacation regularly (more than 4-5 weeks per year) and like to stay exclusively in nice resorts.

Coming from someone who used to sell timeshare.

[Author]

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