Play the Timeshare Game and Win: Tips for Getting Best Deal 2023

In addition to the payment of the deed and then the taxes, you will also find that the quality of the properties offered are nowhere near as nice as the traditional hotel.  Also, they will mention the perk of the fare of the reduced amounts on affiliated properties of which they have a telephone book full of them.  

The problem is, they are generally not in areas that they are needed, they are not the nicest properties, and they add on top of that, you can get nicer hotels for the same rate you would pay their reduced priced on, and there are very few dates. You may even here such things as “There are no black out dates”.  This may be true, but the question is, how often is there availability?  

If you ask them, they will tell you “All the time.”  Let’s just say-that would be a lie. Essentially, I tried to use Hilton’s reduced rate program at their RCI properties.  At most, I could find 5 days together and they definitely were not in the places I needed them to be.  As I travel a ton, my plan was to use the reduced-rate properties in downtown Dallas, where I’m from, and use it as my short-term apartment type of stay until I was ready to go to the next place.  

I was thinking to stay there for 3 months at a time and move to the next spot.  The salesperson with Hilton’s HGV program “guaranteed” me this was not a problem.  Then, after the signing and returning home to try to do so, I found the availability to be so short that there was no way this was an option.  After calling their customer service and my salesperson, I received the “Who told you that you could do that?”

They weren’t willing to budge one bit to make good on their words.  So, the next step, I want to sell it as it had no value to me as a once-a-year property.  Let’s just say, to sell it, after the 3-day window of regret, you will lose 80-90% of the value you paid for it sitting in that preview and purchasing.  When I heard this, my mouth dropped!!!  I was livid!   Not only had I taken the time to write down and ask those informed questions, but I was also not planning on being so blatantly lied to.  So now, what?

Well, if you paid for it upfront, you can’t sell it, and they very politely blow off your calls and tell you how sorry they are that they can’t help you with buying it back or selling it for you, what they can do is upgrade you to something where you have more points.  OMG…did they just offer to put me further in debt for some tiny upgrade on a deed that has $0 value?  

Yep, they do have the audacity to do that.  Then then next step—well, you can try to take them to court, which I’m sure somewhere in that 30-page teeny tiny fine print document it says “sucker, buyer beware and we’re not giving you your money back.  Or you can hire a timeshare lawyer to get you out of it.  

So, now that you’ve already paid off your timeshare, paid the taxes for the first year, now you have to pay the lawyer to get you out of it for several more thousand dollars. What do you end up with in the end, a negative $10K or more in the hole of course with a 1 week stay at one of their crappy properties and years of waiting to see if the company will release you from your contract.  

It may or may not hit your credit, but at least it keeps the company from bothering you constantly to pay, pay, pay.  So, over 2 years into this process, I’m still not released from the contract.  Good ole Hilton can take their timeshare and shove it.

So, here’s for a bit more of the technical information before I tell you how to Win at the timeshare game. 

While, I would 100% recommend saying no to a timeshare in most circumstances.  To help you get through the sales pitch unscathed by learning how to get to the “NO” in the timeshare game, I’m sharing this article on how to do just that. 

There are two main types: deeded-week timeshares and points-based timeshares.

• With point-based timeshare programs, you earn points every year. These points can be redeemed for free stays at your timeshare.
• With deeded-week timeshare programs, you get a week that you can stay in your timeshare every year.

Timeshares are also flexible depending on the location you intend to visit. This flexibility is achieved through programs that allow timeshare owners to swap their timeshares for another property in a different destination or at a different time of the year that is convenient to them. 

With these programs in place, you do not have to stay glued to your timeshare property, as these might limit your chances to cost-effectively enjoy your vacations in other locations.  Just determine what type of timeshare you would like to visit before you say yes to anything to know what you would be getting yourself into. 

An excellent way to play the timeshare game is by attending timeshare presentations and previews. Due to the competitive nature of the timeshare market, most timeshare programs and vacation clubs will try to entice you to purchase one of their properties by introducing you to their timeshare program through incentives and other vacation packages. 

These incentives may include tickets to a show, stays at their properties for several days, and bonus reward points from their affiliate hotel reward programs. Accommodation incentives comprise standard room packages that can be upgraded.