I don't own a timeshare myself, but have looked into it and I think the only difference is anyone who buys in a resale other than through Marriott is not eligible for the Marriott Rewards program. You have to buy directly from Marriott to get that perk. Other than that, I believe all timeshares are the same.

Timeshare Resales is a big business and while the developers would prefer you buying directly from them, anyone smart enough will go to the secondary market to buy at 20 cents or so on a dollar. The biggest benefit of timeshares is the exchange program and if you exchange your week in Hawaii to a week somewhere else, they wouldn't even know where you bought your time share at. The industry has cleaned up a lot since the early days and is a much more reputable business now. Since I didn't know enough to answer your question, I just called someone I know at JW Marriott at Koolina on Oahu. She said all owners are treated equally.

Don't let the developers scare you! We purchased a 1-week float ocean view unit at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club on Maui, using the Redweek.com and Myresortnetwork.com websites to find a buyer. Paid less than half off the developer's asking price.....the only benefits we don't enjoy is the Marriott's Reward program. We are also members of Interval International, and have had nothing but good experiences with them. Save your money for trip expenses....don't give it to the developers! Good Luck!

We bought directly thru Marriott..except in Florida. When we were serious into buying we did negotiate a very fair price and what we thought was reasonable for the property. We told the salesperson after there initial shocking sales price that we would like to see the foreclosure list. At that point, they made several offers lower than initial cost. We did actual bid fairly low and it was accpeted. This was through Marriott so we got all the perks that go with the purchase including if I remember right 2 free weeks.

TT is right on his prices.... never buy a time share for more than 20% of the ask The prices are so front end loaded it is not funny.... all the price is is a tivket to the maint. fee ruse.... and on and on fees stuff.......... its your money

I am a Marriott Timeshare owner - Canyon Villas in Phoenix - and I want to warn you about a problem I just discovered. I own an every other year membership for odd years. We decided we want to use our week at Canyon Villas next year during our kids Spring Break, so we called one year in advance to reserve a room. We were told all rooms are sold out for the first 3 months of the year, with a few rooms available the second week of January only. Thinking this did not sound right, I went to the Marriott website and tried to reserve a room through the regular internet resrvation site. I booked a 2 bedroom villa for the exact week I wanted, only at a rate of $500+ a night. Does this seem fair to anyone?? I am supposedly an owner, pay my maintenance fee as billed, yet I can't stay there, but anyone who is willing to pay Marriott $500+ a night can. I am going to be complaining long and loud to Marriott, but I am looking for advice from others who have been in this situation. Until this is resolved, be careful buying any timeshare, even Marriott.

I would visit the tug2.net website for more information.

This is a site that has all information about timesharing ran by volunteers who are timeshare owners.

There is a timeshare 101 location in the Tug2.net site as well as a great forum.

To answer your question:

To buy resales, you are not able to trade your timeshare into points.

However, as points are not worth nearly as much as the maintenance fees owners pay each year...many owners turn their unused wks to Intervalworld or RCI to exchange for future years/current year (rather than turn into Marriott).

Small numbers of owners like to turn timeshare into points as like to travel to locations that have fewer timeshares at desirable location Example: Paris, Spain, Italy.

Judy

I was just informed that my unit which would cost 150,000 points to stay in for a week, only gives me 90,000 reward points in return + a fee of over $100 !! I don't mind the fee but raping me on the value of my unit stinks!!! Anyone else notice this????

I have another property that I deposit to Interval International and wind up getting a 1bdr week on deposit, plus a bonus week certificate, plus I use a studio for 3 and 4 days at my home resort...my total cost is about $1,000 per year this way.