Our two previous posts have dealt with some of the Timeshare Mistakes that people frequently make. In this post we will deal with Numbers 7 and 8, along with some solutions to those problems. If you have not read mistakes #1-#3 or #4-#6, click to go to those posts.
#7. Failure to Think Through Problems When Traveling with Friends and Family.
One of the great advantages of owning a timeshare is that you frequently have extra room to invite friends and family along. We have had many wonderful trips doing this, but we’ve learned that you need to plan ahead and communicate often and early with the folks involved. We’ve seen some problems in relation to our own trips, and others have indicated to us some mistakes they’ve made when inviting friends and family along on a vacation.
First, you need to realize that having people along on your vacation changes the dynamics of that trip. You have more bodies to deal with and you have to try to accommodate their needs as well as your own. This gets more complicated with each additional person that is invited. It is much easier to travel with another couple, as compared to traveling with 8 or 9 people, which we have done.
Before you invite folks along, you need to discuss among yourselves some key points. You need to be clear on some things before you extend the invitation. The following are some of the questions and issues you need to deal with:
- Who are you inviting? What if they think you are inviting the whole family and you only have room for the couple? Be specific, or, if there is room for more, let them know that. What if they suggest others that might like to come along? If you have thought this through ahead of time, you should have a clear answer as to why or why not.
- How long are you inviting them for? Sometimes we plan it so that we have some alone time on the trip, like one week with friends and one week without. Other times it works best to have them along for the entire trip. We took our family on a Florida trip, and we planned for three days before and three days after a week spent with the entire family. It worked out well, but we talked about it before and set up our plans.
- What are the sleeping arrangements? How many bedrooms are there, and what kind of bed will each person be sleeping in? Sometimes this can get a little tricky. Also, if some people have to sleep on a sleeper sofa and share a bathroom, they probably would want to know this ahead of time.
- What are the costs? Be up front before you go if you are going to charge them for accommodations, food, car rental, gas, etc. It would not be fair to give them a bill after you get home without previously discussing the costs involved. Also, go over other expenses that might come up on the trip, like sightseeing or activities.
- Are there some special needs of the people you are inviting? We have often traveled with an aging parent, and we had to plan on how that changed what we might do on the trip. They don’t have the energy we do and may not get around as well. You should probably be open in discussing this ahead of time, and maybe make some accommodations like building in down time, minimizing uphill treks, etc. We have also traveled with guests that have special dietary needs, so discussing meals (where, when, and what) ahead of time can be important.
When you, yourself have some clear ideas about what path the trip will take, then you can approach your potential guests. We usually lay out the trip and our ideas, get their input, and then suggest they take a couple of days to think about it. Our enthusiasm and careful planning, combined with theirs, makes a great beginning for a timeshare trip full of memories!
#8 Eating Out for Every Meal on Your Vacation, or when “What’s for dinner?” becomes “Where are we going for dinner?”
There are many reasons that people eat out when they are vacationing. If you stay in hotel rooms, you usually don’t have any means of fixing meals. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you do have a small refrigerator, microwave and coffee pot, but even then it’s difficult to actually pull together a meal, because the hotel room may not have dishes, silverware, glasses, etc.k and you haven’t thought to bring them.
Another reason that people eat out for every meal on their vacation is because it IS their vacation, and they don’t care to cook. This is certainly understandable, especially if we’re talking maybe one or two vacations a year. These people definitely want to make the most of their vacation time and not worry about everyday stuff, so it is just easier to go to a restaurant.
We have found that there are people on vacation, staying in timeshares, who never cook—sometimes not even breakfast. They don’t like to plan meals, shop for the meals, and then cook and serve them. AND, they really don’t like to clean up after them! (Who does???!!) But my guess is that these people fall into the aforementioned category—those who have limited vacation time, and just don’t want to spend it on everyday chores.
Nobody says you HAVE to cook, just because you have a nice, fully-equipped timeshare kitchen. And, you certainly don’t have to do it all the time. But, having that kitchen is so darned convenient, and you can probably remember a timeshare salesman once telling you how much money you could save by using that kitchen. And, though we generally don’t agree with timeshare salesmen about much, on this point, they’re right!
Let’s look at a typical 7-day timeshare vacation for a family of 4. The costs listed here are middle-of-the-road.
Breakfast $5-10 per person $20-40 per family
Lunch $6-12 per person $24-48 per family
Dinner $7-20 per person $28-80 per family
Looking at these ballpark figures, eating “cheap” for a family of four would cost around $72 a day. To bring it into that price range, probably at least one of those meals would have to be at McDonalds or a similar fast-food place.
Looking at the more moderate to high end of the scale, the food cost for the day comes in at $168 for a family of four. So if we do the math for the whole week, the low end is at $652. Wow!! That’s a lot! But the high end comes in at $1,176! I think some people could go on a whole other vacation for that price!
Okay, so I am trying to make a point. I know that there are a lot of variables here—for one, babies do not eat as much as teenagers do. You could eat hamburger all week instead of steak. You are in high-priced Hawaii rather than more reasonably-priced Michigan. But the truth is, most timeshare people probably fall somewhere in between when it comes to cooking in and eating out—they do a little of both. But when you’re on vacation, it’s easy to get carried away and not realize how much money you’re spending.
After doing some internet research, I deduced that the average family of 4 spends $100-150 a week on food. (Not groceries, because that includes toilet paper, cleaning supplies and other incidentals). The figures can also vary depending on where you live, and what you eat. So, if you eat all your meals in the condo, your food will cost about $150 for the week. To accomplish this, you may have to bring some staples along in your timeshare tub if you’re driving, or your suitcase, if you’re flying. You may also choose to use some prepared foods, which are more expensive, since you are on vacation.
But, let’s say you shop and bring your $150 worth of food to the condo, but decide to eat out for one meal every day. Your cost for that one meal out for a family of 4 for 7 days will be (on average), $336. I used the highest lunch figure of $12 per day, per person to equal $48 per day, times 7 days, to arrive at that figure. So even if you cook in for your breakfasts and lunches, and treat yourselves to dinner at a restaurant (or takeout) every night, you are still only spending $486, which is somewhat less than the low figure of $672 to eat out all the time.
So what’s the solution? Easy—read the Timeshare Cooking posts and pull out the pots and pans! This post in particular—Timeshare Cooking Cheaters—is for those who really don’t care to spend much time in the kitchen. Most timeshare kitchens are convenient and well-stocked with all the utensils and cookware that you need. With a little planning you can easily become a Timeshare Gourmet Cook, and at the same time, save money to go toward your next vacation!
Look for the conclusion of Top 10 Timeshare Mistakes, coming soon!
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