Help! STT (free lodging) or GC (inexpensive)

[Jersey]

Jen - using a banked week is relatively easy, at least with the 2 TS companies I've used - II (Interval International) and RCI. Dad 'banks' his week via their TS company website, assuming he belongs to either II or RCI. Has X time to use the banked week. At II, I it expires 2 years from the date it should have been used (my banked week Sept 24 - Oct 4 2009 expires Oct 4, 2011). When you have travel pans, select EXCHANGE, part of world, travel weeks (the more flexible the better your opportunities) and it returns places and dates available. When you bank and exchange they charge you a $150 fee, plus applicable resort fees. As for finding excess TS inventories, try buyandselltimeshares.com, wyndam-vacations.com (BluBeards was $379 for a sleep six this morn!), cheapcaribbean.com, skyauction.com...there are a ton of other resources out there. I too love cheap travel and save my money for diving and skiing. Good luck and do dive safe!

 

[navi_jen]

Jersey, thanks for the info about how timeshares work. It takes alot of monitoring, it seems. I'm more of a 'it feels like I need a vacay' and I'm traveling a month later kinda gal. I do think my dad would give me the TS (quitclaim deed) but I'm just not sure I want to be tied down to the maintenance fees ($600 per year)...and having to plan in advance to really leverage the one TS week.

I think my intial impressions are less than stellar as Dad had his floating week reserved for late Sep, so my exchange possibilities this close were pretty bad. However, it seems like I could plan one vacayinitial waaaay in advance (Whistler & Vail had nice properties in the II exchange network) then use all the II benefits for the cheaper, less planned vacays.

A2K, thanks for the firsthand info. From what I read on other forums, I guess I equated Admiralty's popularity with hosting alot of pod people. Good to know their base is land based divers. That being said, the cruisers must have have a nasty nickname for us as well...seems only fair. :shocked2:

I actually just found a screaming deal for GC in Oct (since we can't use the TS this year). Ocean Frontiers is offering a 1 bd condo, 6 days of diving AND the rental car for $1400 (which includes both people AND tax)...we're going to GC Oct 16 :bounce4: Can you tell I'm excited???

Thanks everyone for your help!!!