I recently won a local charity auction for one of these certificates. I've seen this website before and am aware that these things have very limited utility for some people, but we generally like to travel away from peak locations/times, so I figured I'd take a flyer on it.

I've seen threads here about their older products that looked so bad that people literally gave them away on eBay, but this one specifically says no additional fees unless you choose to upgrade and timeshare preview requirements. They sell it directly at a face value of $599. A cursory look at some sample upgrade fees seems reasonable...a studio unit is no add'l charge, a 1-bedroom suite is a $40 upgrade, that kind of thing. If I go vastly off-peak, I can even find 2-bedroom units available at no additional charge.

I half expect that we won't use it at all and I've just made a donation to the charity. But if I do....anybody know where these certs have the best value or best overall utility? Any trick to getting better availability? (e.g., booking 11 months out, booking last-minute, that kind of thing?) I have 1 year to book and then up to 1 year to complete the stay. Is there any general advice beyond "don't expect to use them in Europe in the summer"?

On the flip side, are there any pitfalls I'm not yet aware of? I mean, other than the rather thin availability... Does no fees really mean no fees?

http://www.resortcerts.com/view