Interval International Timeshare -- Experiences?

Anyone have any experiences with Interval International? I think the terms are $4500 for 40 years, 1 week anywhere plus a yearly maintenance fee. My fiance's father is thinking of purchasing this.

Sounds like a good deal as long as the maintenance fees are low, and you can actually get something you want somewhere. Personally I think I'd rather just book vacations as I choose, with the all inclusive packages and such, even if they are slightly more expensive.

Originally Posted by Shiifty

Anyone have any experiences with Interval International? I think the terms are $4500 for 40 years, 1 week anywhere plus a yearly maintenance fee. My fiance's father is thinking of purchasing this.

Sounds like a good deal as long as the maintenance fees are low, and you can actually get something you want somewhere. Personally I think I'd rather just book vacations as I choose, with the all inclusive packages and such, even if they are slightly more expensive.

My parents have one. They think it's okay, you have to book way in advance for the "exotic" places.

I think the maintenance fees are about $500 per year, then there are extra fees to book a different timeshare, etc. Probably works out to about $6-700 per year.

I think it would be just as cheap, or cheaper, to book a package somewhere. Plus you don't have to put up with the hassle of trying to get your specific dates and vacation spots, you aren't guaranteed a spot, you have to 'apply'.

Originally Posted by Shiifty

Anyone have any experiences with Interval International? I think the terms are $4500 for 40 years, 1 week anywhere plus a yearly maintenance fee. My fiance's father is thinking of purchasing this.

Sounds like a good deal as long as the maintenance fees are low, and you can actually get something you want somewhere. Personally I think I'd rather just book vacations as I choose, with the all inclusive packages and such, even if they are slightly more expensive.

Interval International is a timeshare exchange brokerage - they do not sell 40 yrs for $4500. A private developer is selling the "week of timesharing" for $4500 to your fiance's father. Interval International acts as a broker taking the exchange of someone's "banked" unit week of their timeshare and turns around and offers it to other members for their use for an "exchange fee". Your fiance's father can then "make an exchange" for somebody else's banked week.

Have a look at the Interval International web site and take the "visitors tour"
http://www.intervalworld.com/iw/cs?a=60&p=visitors-tour

The fees for owning and participating in timeshare exchange are as follows:
- Initial unit/week purchase cost (this is the $4500 you are talking about)
- Interval International membership fee ( $75 a year???)
- Annual mtce fee for levied by the resort owner where your fiance's father hypothetically owns (similar to residential condo fees incl property tax) varies from $300 to $800 per year depending on the resort and it's location.
- Exchange fee for Interval International's service $150 or so.

So - basically in addition to the initial outlay of $4500, It'll cost your fiance's father approx $700 or so each year he makes an exchange.

So...what's the benefit?

Depending on where you stay - the fee for an equivalent hotel room may be $250 - $300 USD PER NIGHT - where your fiance's father is still paying only the $700 a year in fees. Also, timeshare units tend to be set up more like an apartment with separate bedroom(s), multiple washrooms, have full kitchens and often in-unit laundry facillities - where a hotel room is a hotel room is a hotel room - ie 4 walls, a bed, a night table and a TV and a minibar.

Yes sometimes there is better value to be had on package deals...
It depends where you are going and what you are looking for in a vacation.

IMHO for a young family with children, timeshare is a better deal...especially if you drive to the resort in the minivan

Wow, thanks for the info! I guess it depends on the type of people who are going to use it. For myself, and my fiance, I wouldn't bother, not worth the hassle to me. But her family would probably get a lot of use out of it, especially for large family outings. I think the maintenance fees are around $500 or so per year.

Anyone else have any experiences or advice?

This thread is probably dead but i just heard about this while i was on a trip in punta cana. Some of the staff members tried to convince me to buy a membership from them when i thought i was getting a tour of a vip location.

But they were trying to get me to buy it from them in the Dominican Republic so i can avoid taxes and fees if i were to buy it in Canada.

They had block of weeks for sale. I was offered for 30 weeks i would get it for 14000 US dollars and had 10 years to pay it off. It was way to elaborate for me to even comprehend when i thought i was getting a tour on my vacation. Sneaky sales people.