TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Time Share

Since the KLM on the ground forum mentioned time share owners, I was just wondering what the advantage to "owning" a TS really is, if any?
I've been to a couple TS presentations and I don't see why anyone would want one, but I dont have one so I don't know. I can go where ever I want whenever I want. I just dont get it. I see alot of ...itching about them. Didn't really know where to post this???

I just heard a can of worms opening...;)

Sounds like a general discussion topic

See what I mean. A can of worms. LOL

My big plus is that by owning fixed weeks in a resort I like I know what dates way in advance to get great airfare rates plus I know that I have a unit and location I like. Plus it forces us to take a vacation every year to a place we look forward to. TSs aren't for everybody but it works for many like us.

Not a can of worms. You'll just get varying reasons pro and con.

Do not even think of buying TS on Sint Maarten! As we have seen, the facility owner can pocket all the income, run up bills, and declare bankruptcy. The bank sells the property to the highest bidder who then writes TS owners that their contracts were with the former owner and they are under no obligation to honor them.

One case has been taken to court and has been sitting there for years while the offended timeshare owners pay lawyers and vacation elsewhere, if at all. We are amongst those kicked out of The Caravanserai whose name was changed to Alegria and now Morgan's. Stay away.

There has been one noted exception where the new owner has worked something out to the TS owners satisfaction. Dot and I are very pleased with Mark Cleveland's treatment of us at Mary's Boon.

Exactly....works for some (me) and doesn't work for others....I have had four fixed weeks in two different locations (LAS and SXM two each) for MANY, MANY years and have had zero issues with both (except for the Irma year in SXM)

While I admit the maintenance fees are a bit out of control I still really enjoy oyster bay. I have another in Aruba that I really enjoy also. I hear a lot of horror stories though from other owners so who really knows. Different strokes

1st a little history. Timeshares became popular in the 70s and 80s, not because they were a good investment but because they assured you that you could vacation at the time of year you wanted and at a resort you liked as well as the flexibility to exchange for other vacation places that you may also want to enjoy.
A good concept but just like condo fees in the US and other places, the Maintenance Fees got higher and higher and soon it became about the same cost to maintain a timeshare as a conventional rental in many resort locations.

Enter the internet. where people can sell their timeshare at discount prices to get out from under a maintenance fee commitment. In the case of SXM, most timeshares are walkaway agreements since they are Antilles based contracts but some timeshare resort managements chose to create bogus exit fees or termination charges and owners who don't take the time to review their original timeshare agreements will pay to exit.

I personally feel that now Sint Maarten/Saint Martin is at an equal situation between standard rental or timeshare rental for your vacation. Irma has had an impact but the effort to recover levels the bar to people that desire the unparalleled cuisine and the friendliness of SXM.

Been going to SXM for 30+ years. Every year (including Luis) for 30+ years. First miss was post Irma so I feel qualified to "Speak my Mind", like Queenie.

Not all TS are the same. On SXM a couple of good ones are Divi and La Vista no reported problems.

OBBR is another good example, in my opinion, it was up a running again sooner than I thought it might be considering I think it took almost a direct hit. On the other hand, think of Dawn Beach Club almost next door, well...

Timeshares can be good if you know what you want, where you want. Just don't purchase directly from a developer. Look at Ebay, Redweek.com, Timeshare Users Group (lots of information pros and cons about timeshares). Just do your homework first and don't buy on impulse.

The whole island took a direct hit.

True

Hi Bob Dot
I was under the impression that it was Mr. Cleveland who sold the timeshares in the first place.
Then sold the hotel to a friend as things were not going well on the books.
After some time took back ownership and gave timeshare owners some special rates.

There has been no mention of Royal Islander in this thread. I have owned my first unit for almost thirty years now...and have NEVER regretted my decision to buy there. In fact....as most know by now...i currently own three weeks. La Plage was up and running a little over a year after Irma passed. When i was there last March, no one ever would've known that Irma ever existed when on the LaPlage property. It was in excellent condition, refurbished to an extent...the landscaping lush....the pool immaculate, and the suites in beautiful condition. And ...with all the negative thoughts here, we were not assesed ONE DIME after Irma. The year the timeshare was closed...we didnt even have to pay the maintenance fees. I have NEVER regretted our three decisions to buy there. It is very comforting to know we will be in our oceanside rooms, with our timeshare ''family''....and all this for just a bit over only 100 dollars a day. As Frank Sinatra sang....''regrets...i had a few....but then again....to few to mention".....and my decision to buy timeshare on SXM was NEVER one of them!!!!!!! Unfortunately, not all timeshare resorts are as well run as ours.....and it is the crap ones, that left a black mark on all of them. It does tickle my funny bone though...that so many people attempt to stay at the Royal Islander, but then bash timeshare owners in the same breath.

sounds like someone just wanted to stir up the stew

Hi Tammy;

Yes, Mark and Carla started the timeshare program but did not sell because of poor business and I'm not sure Raoul was a friend before he bought it. Mark held a mortgage from Raoul and the business dropped off and so to protect his interests he was forced to take it back. The bank would not support his taking the resort back if it had timeshares. Mark created a different system for existing timeshare owners and Dot and I have been very pleased with our treatment. This treatment continues even though Irma leveled our unit.

Bob

Thank you, Bob, for clarifying the situation there.

I thought that was the case and from what we knew of the Cleveland’s strictly from renting from them and staying at the Boon, they were very honorable people. We had heard the same set of realities when we learned they had reclaimed their property from Raul and we also knew they had worked out arrangements with you and other former timeshare owners as well. Would that all timeshares were run so well.

That's good to hear.
I had heard it a different way from folks I met who used to own there.

Also that recently hotel was advertised for sale again.

Tammy--pretty much ANYTHING on SXM is for sale, for the right price.

🤣 Anything, you're right.
Heard some crazy stories over the years.
Saw some crazy things.

It has been posted often even after Mark bought it back.

There's a company running advertisements to "get you out of your timeshare". Unfortunately, it is pretty telling of the majority of the industry.

Timeshares are like cars. You can buy a lemon or a gem. We got a GEM in La Vista. 25 years+.

I always comment on how lucky we were that we chose La Vista instead of one of the other timeshares on the island. We were totally ignorant, but after spending $2,000+ for a week in a hotel room on the French side, two years in a row, we decided to look into timeshare. La Vista's "No Gifts, No Gimmicks" ad caught my eye, and we went in and bought two weeks that day. Later they had a half-price sale and we were able to get a third week, so we now have three consecutive weeks in the same unit at La Vista Beach.

To answer the OP's question, for me, the beauty of timeshare ownership is knowing exactly what to expect when we vacation. We go the same time every year, and have developed lifelong friendships with others who are on the island at the same time as we are. It's not for everyone, but it works well for us.

"To answer the OP's question, for me, the beauty of timeshare ownership is knowing exactly what to expect when we vacation. We go the same time every year, and have developed lifelong friendships with others who are on the island at the same time as we are. It's not for everyone, but it works well for us."
Our sentiments exactly too.

Not to repeat the same as above BUT....the advantage of seeing our many friends every year, having a large group of tennis players that play every year AND having the same 5th floor unit (SBR) with a view of Simpson bay is a keeper. I would never exchange it.....

Boucharda my wife is a big tennis player and I’m just starting. Are there courts for rent or do you have to be stay at a resort with the tennis court

Timeshares ..lemons or gems you don't know till you know.

Reminds me of funny quote:
Sometimes you gotta kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.
And sometimes time changes them slowly back.

Re: tennis

Quite a few of our tennis group either live on Island or stay at other resorts...maybe 25%. Re: SBR...just park somewhere and see if there is an empty court. (three available after Irma) You would have to be a SBR occupant if making a reservation though,

Simpson Bay Yacht club (Isle de Sol) and Port de Plaisance have available courts for a small fee...haven't played there myself

With out timeshares, I probably would not have discovered SXM. Add to that, if no timeshares then there would likely be no "November Gang"! I did my due diligence and it has paid off well for us.
Cheers!

With no time shares there would be far less places for people to stay.

Thank you. I will check on this before we come back in November. May have to pack the rackets.

Agreed!! Cheers to the November Gang!!

Going later in the fall, and we want to give back our timeshare to Royal Islander. Just not sure how this is done or even if it CAN be done. Need to read the contract again, I suppose ! But with VRBO and AirBNB, a timeshare makes no sense anymore. Plus, after Irma, we realized that the fall is clearly a dumb time to own a timeshare week. We were newbies when we purchased it from someone we knew well, and we didn't think through the fact that hurricane season could impact the vacation on any given year. All this being said, it was great that we didn't get any assessment fees after Irma. And the maintenance fee that we payed for our non-existent trip in 2017 has been carried over until this trip, so no maintenance fees had to be paid in Jan, 2018, or Jan 2019. But we do want to give back the timeshare. We still would like to rent a week there in the future, probably for a month during springtime.

If these TS reverted to hotels there would be just as many rooms. And lots of people have turned to VRBO with great success. In my opinion, I don't see less rooms. And new places are building as non TS, Great Bay to Planet Hollywood, Secrets in Anse Marcel, a new building in Cupecoy at road to University, a new hotel in Concordia, to name a few.

RonDon--agreed, the rooms will not go away. And it's obvious with what happened to Caravanseri, that t/s is not that economically feasible for developers anymore, unless they charge outrageous AMF, like Diamond does. The developer can make more money as a hotel.

Rooms might not go away now but they probably would not have been built in the first place without the original need of TS's.

Yeah, but you said they would go away....