Timeshare company experiences or recommendations?

[marianne]

Started looking into purchasing a timeshare. There are so many to choose from: Marriott vacation club, Disney vacation club, etc. Most of these companies are affiliated with RCI or Interval International. I'm looking for a summary spreadsheet that lists all the vacation clubs, ammenities, and costs but I can't find anything like this on the 'net. So I don't know how to compare/contrast vacation clubs. Does anyone have any advice regarding timeshare companies or personal experiences?

 

[hollywoman]

www.intervalworld.com is a great website to see all the places you can trade too. We bought our timeshare 15 years ago and still use it. Marriott/Disney are very expensive, if you go with someone like Monarch/Westgate who is smaller it's cheaper. It's also cheaper to buy in the preconstruction stage. Buy at least a 1 bedroom 5 star in the RED. That way you get the best exchange. We've never had a problem exchanging to a 2 or 3 bedroom. You still have your maintance fees (ours are 400 a year). If you don't use your week at your home resort and deposit it in II you have up to 3 years to use it anywhere in the world with an exchange fee for 89-149.00 depending if in the states or out of country. We exchanged ours for a trip to Orlando last December we stayed in a five star resort, 2 bedrooms, big screen TV, two bathrooms, full size kitchen and it had a washer/dryer in unit. It's a nice investment if you use it, plus you can write off the interest on your taxes if you finance it. GOOD Luck!