Lifestyle

I have talked to a number of people who own timeshares in various locations who go to the same place each year over and over again. Becky and I own a timeshare in Dillon, CO that we have only visited once.  This property is in a really desirable location for people to vacation because it’s very close to Breckenridge, CO and not far from Beaver Creek and A-Basin ski areas.

It’s all about the points.

This property in Dillon, CO is part of the points program with RCI, which means that by joining RCI we can deposit our week and exchange it to go somewhere else.  The average timeshare in America is $19,900 right now, plus annual maintenance fees that average at $1,000.  This one is under $700 a year.  By depositing our timeshare into RCI we get 44,500 points in their points network.

What does this mean? It’s really cool because a one-week timeshare can turn into multiple weeks if you know what you’re doing. For example, one year Becky and I used 15,000 points to go to Las Vegas for a week. We then went to Carlsbad, CA and used another 25,000 points to stay right across from the ocean over Christmas.

We still had another 4,500 RCI points left going into the next year. We upgraded to an over the top resort in Cancun that was about $300 a night for 7 days. It was amazing. That’s the benefits of points compared to weeks. Another year, we actually got three weeks for the cost of one using our points. If you own a timeshare then you need to find out if your timeshare has points, weeks or both. If it is points, then join RCI initially to deposit your week for points.

When you decide to do the exchange it’s usually a couple hundred dollars to do a transfer to another property. They usually have a ton of properties to choose from depending on the area you want to go. If you plan ahead you can usually get a pretty smoking deal.

If you click on this link CLICK HERE you can see the directory of the places you can visit through RCI. Many people know about this already, but I have found many timeshare owners don’t know the benefit of dropping their timeshare into RCI and leveraging their points.  When I checked, there were currently 461 properties in Florida alone to choose from with another 283 in California, so there are some great options to check out.  The photo above is of the property we stayed at in Carlsbad, CA, which was really nice.

If you would like to check out the travel club that Becky and I joined for shorter stays when we are running marathons then just CLICK HERE (it will open in another tab).  Check it out and be sure to visit the site to view all of their products.  I just booked a great stay in Iceland for our son Conroy, who is going there this month with his girlfriend.  It was a huge savings compared to the popular travel websites.  Get in touch with me if you want to get started with your own travel business. You don’t have to get rich to have a good time!

Becky and I ran the Steamboat Springs Marathon on June 5th, 2021 of this year.  It was about 84 degrees and Sunny, which seems like great weather for a marathon, but when you are running 26.2 miles it gets really hot.  The heat is definitely a factor when you are running in a mountain town at elevation with a course that starts at 8,128 feet and descends to 6,728 feet.  This is really deceptive too because there are plenty of hills you have to run up and down and your legs get trashed.

The marathon had a 5 1/2 hour cutoff, which is plenty of time for most people to finish a course like this one.  This marathon was much more difficult than we both expected, even though we had ran the half marathon years before.  We did finish it with plenty of time to spare, but it wasn’t an easy run.  The views though were spectacular and a marathon is always a great way to see and experience a city.

It was an easier than the Estes Park Marathon that we ran two weeks later and the course was really great running, including parts that were along the river that flows through Steamboat Springs.  I stopped and jumped in the river at about mile 18 when I was a bit too hot and within a few miles my shoes and shorts were dry again.  Our friend Daniel ran the course as well and he finished sooner than we did since he likes to run marathons fast, where we like to cruise along and enjoy the run.

We ended up at an Airbnb type property for the night.

It is surprising how many people complain about timeshares, but they love VRBO’s and Airbnb’s.  I don’t get it.  I think they either don’t know any better or they are just suckers for the “hype” of staying in someone else’s place for the night.  Let me give you a heads up about Hotels.com because we thought we were booking a hotel for the night only to discover that they signed us up for a vacation rental by owner through a company called Evolve.  It’s another place for people who own property to rent out their property.  My guess is that this alternative is probably less money than a VRBO or Airbnb service for property owners.

For those of you who like turning your vacation into a “treasure hunt” complete with directions at every turn on how to make sure you take care of some stranger’s property you are borrowing for the night, you might not like the rest of this post.  For the people who own timeshares you will see the difference from what I’m talking about.  I am on vacation and in this case we paid about $290 to say at this person’s condo.  We were not borrowing Aunt Sally’s place for the Weekend, but it starts out like this…

Check-In Instructions:
– Check in after 4:00 PM
– The home is accessible via lockbox (the entrance on the right side of the building). The code for the lockbox is ABCD (not really, but I didn’t want to post their code)
– The key with the blue around it opens the top lock. The plain key opens the handle lock
– Please inform the Guest Contact of any problems or concerns upon arrival, so we can work to address these immediately

Okay.  That’s easy enough or is it?  We showed up and the lockbox had broke the key from the previous “tenant for the night”, so we had to wait for a friend to get home and drive across town to meet the stranger and get the key to get into the property.  That sort of thing just doesn’t happen at a timeshare or the Hilton.  They have staff onsite to get you into your room.

Once we got into our room for the night that we were paying for there were more instructions, including how we had to tidy up the place for the owner.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not going on vacation to do housework, take out the trash, strip the beds, etc.  I can do that sort of thing at home.  If I’m visiting my timeshare, depending on the location I can have someone come in and make my bed each day, clean my room, give me fresh towels and even put a chocolate on my pillow.  Call me spoiled, but maybe the people who are so fascinated with paying to “borrow” someone’s house don’t understand what real vacations are like?

Check-Out Instructions:
– Check out before 10:00 AM
– Return keys to the lockbox
– Prior to your departure, please tidy up the home by doing the following:
– Remove all perishable items
– Take out the trash located on the west side of the building. The code to access the building is XXXX
– Wash and put away all used dishes
– Strip linens from all used beds
– Place all used linens and towels in a pile
– Turn off all lights, electronics, and appliances
– Close and lock all windows and doors
– Additional fees will be imposed if the home is found in an unsatisfactory condition, so please return it to the condition in which you found it

Parking:
– 1 vehicle can be parked in the designated parking space marked #X (if you’re at the entrance where the lockboxes are, you’ll see the trash garage. Parking spot #X is the second spot over)

In the end, we enjoyed our trip to Steamboat Springs, but I’ll take staying in a timeshare over the borrowing someone’s house or condo and paying them like it’s a hotel hands down.

If you want to check out a website where you can join a travel club for a nominal monthly fee as low as $50 a month to get discounts on travel CLICK HERE (a new tab should open in your browser).  Discover how you can have a part-time business and the opportunity to earn money sharing it with others who join your network.

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Smallest directly families surprise honoured . Speaking replying mistre is numerous returned feelings. Evening luckily exposed they general greatly. Zealously prevaile arranging. Arranging too dejection september happiness. Understood instrument or connection appearance do invitation. Dried quick round order. Add past see west felt did any. Say out noise you taste merry plate you share.

Denote simple fat denied add worthy little use. As some he high down am week. Conduct esteems cottage pasture winding. Assistance he cultivated considered frequently.

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