How to Maximize Your Timeshare Vacations

We love to go on timesharing vacations.  When we tell folks that we own 11 or 12 timeshares and we use those to go on 18 weeks of timeshare vacations every year, they are surprised and always ask, “How do you do it?” In one of our recent posts, we had a reader ask the same question. so we will try to answer that question in this post.

If you own one or more timeshares, or if you are thinking of buying one, your goal should be to get the most out of your purchases. Carefully study the system you are buying into in order to determine how you can get more vacation days for your money.

You also should be searching the internet for help in using your timeshare.  There are some excellent groups out there that are more than willing to assist you.  We have made reference to a number of them like:  TUG, Wyndham user group, and the DVC section of Disboards.  I am sure there are others.  Also, when you travel, ask other folks at the resorts you stay at how they use their timeshares.

We thought it would be helpful to go through some of the ones we own and explain just how we try to use them to their maximum potential.  Let’s start with the Hilton Grand Vacation Club.  In the Hilton system you purchase points.  We own 7,000 points in Las Vegas, which is a two bedroom in red time.  So if you want to stay in a 2 bedroom during prime season, it will cost you 7,000 points.  But if you can go in one of the off seasons it costs you fewer points. Also, if you could stay in a studio or 1 bedroom, that will save points.

We sometimes only stay for part of a week, and if you can stay during the week rather than on the weekend, you use far less points. In addition, if you use your points to trade through RCI, it takes less points– only 4800 for a 2 bedroom in red time and 3400 for a 1 bedroom, as opposed to 7000 for a 2 bedroom or 4800 for a 1 bedroom in Hilton.

You can then use that RCI trade to book back into the Hilton system, if there is availability.  As you can see, we can use our one week of Hilton timeshare and end up getting two or more weeks of vacations.  Hilton currently charges $49 to make an internal reservation.  The RCI exchange fee of $189 would apply if you book through them.

The Disney Vacation Club works on the point system as well.  So again, travel off season and in small units and you can get more days of vacation.

Many timeshare people are into the RCI Points system, so let’s take a look at how to work that system to your benefit.  Because it is also a point system, the information above and the same ideas would apply.  Also you can get last minute vacations for 8,000 to 9,000 RCI points for any unit that is open in the 6o days or less window. So if you can travel on short notice, it is an excellent way to get more timeshare vacations for not many points.

The RCI Weeks system can also be used to your advantage.  They do have some last minute deals but they charge for these, and we have not had much luck finding anything we would be interested in. You can deposit your week into the system and quite often get a larger unit, or a unit in a better season than the one you are depositing.  So if you own a week in off season or in a small unit, give it a try and see what you can get.

This can be done online and it’s great fun to explore looking for new places to go or just to see what you can pull in the RCI Weeks system.  We do this using Wyndham points, which we explain in more detail in the next section.

The Wyndham system  is also a points system, so again, the explanation for using points would apply to their system as well. Wyndham lets you take small deposits from their inventory and turn it over to RCI—again, trying to get something better than what you give.  You can take a weeks’ worth of points in the Wyndham system and very easily turn it into four or five weeks of vacations from RCI.

Also, your Wyndham deposits have good pulling power in getting other Wyndham resorts, so you can trade back into a Wyndham resort with very few points.  You do have to pay the exchange fee, but you are getting more vacation days for your one week of Wyndham points.  Probably our best “deal” was trading 2 28k weeks back into Wyndham for 2 weeks at the Kona Hawaiian Village.  Had we gone with straight Wyndham points, it would have cost us 462,000 points instead of 56,000!

If you own enough points in the Wyndham system, you achieve one of three VIP levels (Platinum = 1,000,000 points; Gold = 500,000 points; VIP = 300,000 points). Then, you get a reduction in the number of points you need to book a resort within 60, 45 or 30 days of travel, depending on your VIP level.  Within the same window you can upgrade your reservation if they have units available.  So if you booked a 1 bedroom and they have a 2 bedroom unit, you get an upgrade.

So you can see how we can take a few weeks of timeshare we own and turn them into more days of vacations by using each system to our benefit.  Feel free to ask questions or relate some of your own experiences. Again, study the timeshares you own and work the system.  Enjoy!

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