Back in 2002 I purchased my membership in the points based timeshare club, Worldmark. At that time it was managed by the developer Trendwest. a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation.
Cendant also owned Fairfield which is a similar points based timeshare club on the East Coast. Cendant also owned a string of hotels and motels including Wyndham, Howard Johnson's, Super 8 and Ramada. They also have one of the large timeshare exchange companies RCI.
The way it works is you buy points from the developer and they in return deed the units over to the club. Unlike most traditional timeshares where you are locked into a specific week and time at a specific resort, points based timeshares allows you to use your points at any one of their resorts anytime.
It's a pretty good deal if you are flexible with your travel options.
For the cost of a mid-sized Ford sedan. you can have vacations at a resort each year for the rest of your life. I get 15,000 points yearly each September on my anniversary date. The basic model is for 12,000 points you can stay at least one week each year at any one of their resorts.
Just a partial list of the location of some of their resorts: Lake Tahoe, Reno, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Monterey, Cabo San Lucas, Branson, Taos, Seattle, New Orleans, Anaheim, Orlando, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
Each condo has ammenities that you won't find in standardized hotel rooms. Murphy beds in most of the living rooms provides for additional sleeping capacity.
Gas BBQ grills on outside decks, where allowed by local codes makes casual dinners and lunches so fun.
Units have kitchens with refrigerators, stoves, diswashers, microwave ovens, toasters, glasses, dishes, utensils and basic cooking spices.
Most of the condo units have a washer dryer in each unit. If not, there usually is a free to use laundry room in the facility somewhere.
Some of the newer resorts have very extensive pools and outdoor entertaining areas. Las Vegas, Indio and Daytona Beach have endless lazy rivers to float around all day long if you so wish to.
Unit sizes range from studio size up to four bedroom presidential penthouse suites.
HTTP://www.worldmarktheclub.com
Worldmark Owners is a seperate forum of members and is not a part of the club. This freedom allows members to be honest with reviews. If something needs to be fixed they can speak freely. The club has a similar forum through their website but, it has been censored from time to time.
Having travelled staying in condos, I can't imagine ever staying in a regular hotel again.
