I recently joined MVC and wanted to sanity check my decision with other owners here.

My contract is 1,500 points per year. On top of the upfront cost, I'm paying a bit over $1,000/year in assessment / maintenance fees, which feels pretty hefty.

I've also heard that transferring or reselling MVC ownership can be difficult, sometimes with very low resale value.

For those who've owned for a while:
– Do you feel MVC is still worth it given the annual fees?
– Has anyone actually managed to transfer or exit their contract successfully?

Curious to hear real experiences. Thanks!

Conventional wisdom is that they are all scams. John Oliver did a good special on timeshares a few years ago. I’d suggest watching that.

Check out Timeshare Users Group that has a wealth of advice from owners. Here's a link to the Marriott forum: https://tugbbs.com/forums/forums/mar...lub-abound.29/
Check out the "sticky" threads at the top of the list for how to weigh the factors about purchasing and using the system. In a word, the typical advice in your situation is rescind the purchase (if you're still in the window to do so) and research your options.

I sat through a sales spiel last year - I would never give them a cent of mine.
They also proved to be liars - they promised me 10,000 points for attending - never received, and they
refuse to honour the (written) offer.

I’d only keep Marriott Vacation Club if the numbers still work for how you travel like Blue Nile Livery, it makes sense when you use it regularly instead of maybe someday. If the annual fees now beat comparable cash stays and the transfer or exit route stays painful, I’d start planning an out sooner rather than later.

I sat through two of these things going back to 2016 and 2017 so it has been a while. In both cases, I received the points (10,000 Starwood points ~= 30,000 Bonvoy points, and I believe more the second year). I would totally follow up with whomever offered this to you (I am guessing it would have been hosted by a hotel/timeshare property?).

As an aside, back then at least, the number of points and other goodies were somewhat negotiable! this may have changed given that this is Marriott.

Almost everyone I've ever met who bought timeshares regret buying it

It all relies on a bunch of things to make it work

• You can plan (up to a year) in advance, as the earlier you can book, the more likely you can get what you want
• You understand that high season (ie school holidays, Christmas) has very high demand for the limited availability, while lower season may have lots of availability left, so you might need to flexible if you can't plan ahead
• You own enough to actually go where you want when you want for as long as you want -- 1500pts isn't very much
• You use it and don't let your annual usage you paid for expire
• You understand there are other costs to use it (ie transportation to get there)

the biggest path to failure is not being the early planner, as the longer you wait, the less likely the inventory you want is still available, and when the year ends, your unused vacation accommodation you paid for expires...

What is your exit strategy? (You should always think about the exit with any asset you buy. A horse for your daughter sounds nice, but when she outgrows that stage what are you going to do with it?) How easily can you get rid of it and what will it be worth?
What's kept me away from time shares (besides the sleazy salesmen) is TCO, Total Cost of Ownership. I've never seen one which made sense to me. YMMV.

Here's how I see it when I look at it:

Let's assume:
Purchase Price: $24,000 (totally a wild guess, I'm not sure what they're going for these days)
Year 1 Maintenance: $1,000 as you specified
Maintenance fee increase: 4% year

Let's also assume:
Stock market returns: 7% year average.

Timeframe | Total Timeshare Cost | Stock Investment | Value You're Better Off By
5 Years....... $29,633........................ $40,402................. $10,769
10 Years..... $36,010........................ $67,878................. $31,868
20 Years......$51,160........................ $159,816............... $108,656
30 Years..... $71,137........................ $355,929............... $284,792

At the end of 30 years, you have the asset of either 2 timeshare weeks or $285k cash. And that's me being extremely conservative with both maintenance fee increases and stock market performance. The last time MVC maintenance fees increased by 4% was 2015. It's been higher, sometimes MUCH higher (15%) in some years since. If I plug in 6% maintenance fees increase + 10% returns for the stock market, that bottom line number become $315,728.

I don't think it's quite fair to say "Value You're Better Off By" is $285K, because the comparison is $285K vs. 30 two-week vacations over the years or, strictly from a financial standpoint, the money you saved (if any) using the timeshare versus alternatives for an annual two-week vacation.

You could compare any consumer spending to "the amount of money you would have in 30 years if you didn't spend that money" and arrive at similar results.

Yes, you nominally have a timeshare "asset" (or liability?) at the end of 30 years, which makes the calculation more complicated, but you should compare all of the lifetime costs and benefits to get a true picture.

You are also commiting to going to the timeshare resort every year. I like to keep my options open, maybe I want to visit other places, or newer resorts in the area, no guarantee the timeshare resort will be renovated frequently enough to keep up.

There are outfits that promote and sell services to get people out of timeshare contracts, but I suspect that these folks are scammers.

There’s a reason why there’s a lot of timeshare private listings going for $1; people realizing it’s not worth it and rather give them away than pay the fees

Whether its worth it or not really depends on your situation and how you'd use it.
I've been in MVCI for almost 20 years - bought in earlier when prices were lower and definitely utilize the system to its fullest with exchanges, week lockoffs etc. Its been worth it for me because I use it all the time and know how to work the system.

unicorn