I was wondering if anyone on this board has bought any Sunterra Timeshare. I got bribed into going to one of there presentations last night because they offered a free trip to vegas for two just for showing up. The presentation looked really nice and everything seemed like a go, but I just felt so pressured to buy that I had doubts and didn't do it. Of course they said it's a one time deal, and I wouldn't be offered the same price again if I came back, so I just passed it off and picked up my free vegas tickets. I really like to do more research before I make a fairly large financial commitment ($16K) so I wanted to check the boards.

Anyone have experience with Sunterra? Can you give your opinions, good or bad?

I wouldn't be offered the same price again if I came back

In general, if someone says it's a one-time offer, and thereby prevents you from shopping around, you should always turn them down flat. Unless it's the Mafia or something.

I havent bought from them, but I have traded to stay in one of their places. It was nice. It depends on the details, but 16k for one week a year sounds a bit outrageous. Do some shopping around among the various timeshares and look on the internet for more information. This site has a lot of good info and would be a good place to start: http://www.tug2.net/

16K was a 2-4 week plan. or 150 points a year. They had a 1 week plan for 8k.

Just make sure you watch the South Park timeshare episode before you buy anything. That's episode 603 on your favorite filesharing client. (I'd link to the DVD instead, but I don' tthink it's out yet)

Matthew

I'd always thought timeshares were scams. Anyone care to explain how they work? Not that i'm interested... just curious.

They seem to have a fairly clean record with the BBB. Still, I'd search around on the BBB and check out the FTC website for any kind of feedback you can get on them and timeshares in general.

I went out to look at a timershare flatly resolved not to buy. I went to see if I'd win the prize. They started off nice enough, but by the end they got downright rude and started using high pressure tactics. We're certainly not going back there. The "manager" who came over when we said "no" to make us the "special deal" noticed the cross my wife was wearing and started asking about our church. When he found out we were regular attenders he started playing the "we're of the same religion, so clearly you should buy from me." Needless to say I was very offended by this approach more than anything else.

I think time shares can be nice though, as long as you go in with your eyes open. My grandmother has one and got us a place in Hawiie for my honeymoon. It wasn't fancy, but it did the trick and we had a real blast.

For those who want an expination of how it all works, basically you are buying into a property with 51 other individuals. Each person gets one assigned week a year that they can use the property. You can then trade this week for a different week if another person makes theirs available (because they want to trade for a different week, etc.) Then there is the large association you can join, which lets you trade your week out to a property somewhere else. You give up your one week at your location and if another comperable timeshare is available you can use it there. There are variations on the theme, but I believe that's how it generally works.

Sooo... why would you pay upwards of 8k for just a week of a condo? Wouldn't it be cheaper to book a nice suite or something? What's the motivation?

You actually have ownership which can be passed on to your kids, etc you can deduct the interest from your income taxes the same as any other mortgage. Once you've finished paying it off, it's yours for life.

Sooo... why would you pay upwards of 8k for just a week of a condo? Wouldn't it be cheaper to book a nice suite or something? What's the motivation?

It’s an investment. Sure it’s 8K now, but then you have it for life. After 20 years of vacationing, a one time payment of 8K doesn't seem to be that much considering how much you’d spend paying for a week in a condo every year. And since you can use it (via trading) all over the globe, it makes for a nice variety of vacationing.

The caution is, however, that after a few years your shiny new timeshare doesn't trade as well, or at least that's what my Grandmother experienced. Not that she couldn't find good places, but the newer (and nicer) ones she'd have to trade multiple weeks for (since you can accrue them, etc.).

Almost gave in to one these deals last year, signed up on the night then went home to do some research (luckily in the UK we get a 14 day cooling off period, where you can back out with no penalties, guess everyone else has similar laws?).

On investigation it seems that the best approach if you're gonna do it is buy the absolute minimum "points"off your agent to "become a member" then purchase all your other points off members at less than half price (our agent was offering us NEW points at £150 each, on the members web site they were going for £60 - £70 each + a nominal transfer fee).

The agents also have huge leeway in their pricing, ours dropped from £8000 to less than £6000 when we said we were backing out, so haggle like a mad man, it will pay off.

The reason we backed out in the end is that even if we amortised the amount over "a long time" we couldn't justify the cost, after all it represents accomodation only so you add all your travelling on top plus there is a yearly maintenance charge.

Do your sums very carefully and make an informed choice, the members BBS's are a wealth of info from satisfied & disatisfied customers alike.

Cheers, Sim

after all it represents accomodation only so you add all your travelling on top plus there is a yearly maintenance charge

Yeah, when the guy was giving us the sales pitch he was trying to show how much money we'd save in the long run. He added up what you'd normally spend in food, lodging, and entertainment and showed how much we spend in vacations. Later he compared this number to owning the time share. Apparently you don't need food when you stay at his timeshare . . . He got very frustrated when I pointed this out and said "you bring your own food; you have a full kitchen set!" I also pointed out that while there certainly was some entertainment value to the time share (at least the one we were looking at), if I were taking the kids to Disney World for vacation, that certainly wasn't going to cut it in the price. Again he just sputtered and told me I didn't "get it". I "got it" all right though.

I still they they CAN be a good idea, but like has been said before, NEVER make a snap decision on one of these things. This is a major investment, and one to be considered carefully. They'll always tell you the deal isn't any good tommorrow. Well, I don't do business that way, and I'll bet if I called up the next day and asked, they'd sell me a place, it's why they're in business.

thanks for all the replies. i'm glad i didn't take it right away, they called back and asked if we were still interested even though they said the deal only lasted that day.

That just reminded me of a story.

I have a reasonably wealthy cousin who, on occasion, will search out these timeshare (or whatever) offers that give you a small vacation just for listening. Then he shows up to the place and immediately tells the person that he has absolutely no interest in purchasing the timeshare (or whatever). If he wants, he'll be happy to sit there for several hours while the salesman makes his pitch, at which point he'll say no, or the salesman can let him go right then and put that time to much better use on someone who might actually buy something.

Much more often than not, the salesman tells him to leave.

Under most circumstances, I'd find this fairly unethical behavior, but I find it hard to blame someone being unethical to an organization wholly unethical to begin with. Plus, it's funny.

Under most circumstances, I'd find this fairly unethical behavior,

I don't see anything unethical about it. He clearly asks the salesman for permission to leave.

Didn't work for me. They pleaded with me on the phone to come out and said we really didn't have to buy. So we went, already having said we weren't going to buy. When we got there I told our salesman that we were within a month of closing on a house and that there's no way I'd make a several thousand dollar purchase which could mess up the loan approval. He said he understood but that we still had to sit through the presentation. We did, and then he got really rude that we didn't buy. I suppose he's just normally that good that he can "convert" people with his pitch.

It’s an investment. Sure it’s 8K now, but then you have it for life. After 20 years of vacationing, a one time payment of 8K doesn't seem to be that much

Oh, sure, it's an investment all right. Unfortunately, the one profiting from the investment is the guy selling you the time share.

Let's say that you took that $8,000 and invested it very conservatively for 20 years, getting a rate of return of 5% compounded annually.

Your original $8,000 would be worth more than $21,000.

And your time share? Well, what would a 1/50th share of a 20-year old condominium be worth, after upwards of 1,000 families (well, the same 50 familes twenty times each) spent a week in it without being particularly concerned about how well they took care of it? A lot less than your original $8,000, I'll warrant. Also, don't forget about the annual maintenance fees, and the unexpected assessments along the way.

Any way you look it, you are far better off just taking a nice hotel suite once a year.

tanstaafl.

Good point. I actually did bring up the "Time Value of Money" concept with our sales person and he just got a confused look on his face and started to stutter again. Guess they don't get that one that frequently.