Your Summer (Plus, a Lifetime of Enjoyment) Starts Here!
by Sharon Scott Wilson, RRP

Memorial Day sales may be over for retailers, but when it comes to buying a week or points at a vacation ownership resort, bargains are still available! Start your summer out right. In fact, if you move quickly, you can get a last-minute steal and enjoy a week at one of the nation’s top resort destinations right away!

But before buying, you might do a little soul-searching: Are you and your family looking forward to taking a little R&R time each year to enjoy one another’s company and get away from the stress of day-to-day concerns? Do you feel that giving yourself and your family the chance to grow closer by building precious memories should be a priority? If so, then buying a timeshare/vacation ownership interest will be a great first step to ensuring this quality of life for the ones you love. Spending your hard-earned money on hotel rooms each time you take time off is often an inhibitor to actually doing so. Here are some of the reasons why vacation ownership may make sense for you:

Prepaid vacations – When you check out at the end of your vacation, your bill is “0,” nada! You already will have paid for your stay and, oftentimes, you will have saved money. Plus, there’s no up-charge for extra people. In many cases, a resort apartment will have beds for as many as ten people. And, because the condos have kitchen facilities, a family can easily save more than $100 a day by stocking up the refrigerator and relaxing at home! As an owner, you will get the first choice for renting unused time at true bargain owner rates.

Take a look at a recently listed bargain-price timeshare at Tanglewood Vacation Villas in Pottsville, Texas, for instance. For only $3,000.00 (and the sellers say they are even willing to negotiate), you can easily afford this 2-Bedroom/2-Bath deeded, "floating" week! (When banked with Interval International weeks, you can enjoy a two-for-one exchange privilege!)

Tanglewood Resort is located on Lake Texoma, away from the bustle of the city, approximately one hour's drive north of Dallas. Guests can enjoy an 18-hole championship golf course. With over 500 miles of shoreline, Lake Texoma offers some of the best striper fishing in the world. Three swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, day spa, and, with the addition of Barnacles Sports Bar, two full-service restaurants also are available. All one- and two-bedroom units have a full kitchen, laundry facilities, and a private hot tub.

No more pizza on a bed! Staying in a timeshare resort condo provides you with private bedrooms, kitchen and dining accommodations, and includes housekeeping at most of the better resorts. Often, a larger resort will have several different restaurant offerings, ranging from casual hamburgers poolside or sandwiches in the golf course clubhouse, to fine dining.

One such resort is Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort in Kissimmee, Florida. The mammoth 1450-acre property offers the Tradewinds Restaurant and Bar, Currents Cafe at River Island Exchange, The River Island Grilling Company, The Legacy Bar & Grill, Breezes Restaurant & Bar, and Anchors. Who’s going hungry, here? Other amenities include the marketplace, tennis, fitness center, and excellent golf course facilities. The Orange Lake Resort complex offers a lakefront watersports center, many pools and spas, and the new River Island water park area with a lazy river.

You’ll have to hurry to get this one, as Orange Lake’s amenities and its proximity to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios make it a hot-ticket item. At the time of this writing, BayTreeSolutions.com was offering the deeded week "37" in the West Village section for $8,500.00. That's the second full week of September, with the option to "float" during red season! You will have the ability to exchange through Holiday Inn Club Vacations as 96,000 points per year.... This particular unit may have been snapped up by the time your read this, but don’t worry. Bay Tree Solutions has other other excellent bargains available.

Entertain the ‘troops.’ In addition to swimming pools and tennis courts, many resorts offer a host of other activities including horseback riding, canoeing, karaoke, and more. Most resorts provide interactive games, activities for kids and adults, and tours of local hot spots. Spend your time enjoying vacationing. Save the hours and hassle of planning, because it has already been done for you!

Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg comes to mind when thinking of a hugely popular destination. At the moment, Bay Tree Solutions is advertising a 2-Bedroom/2-Bath July 4th week for only $5,000.00 or best offer! This is a really good deal. The resort backs up to nature trails, which take you straight from your cabin into the densely wooded forest of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, adjacent to the resort property. Guests enjoy two large swimming pools during warmer weather, each with a six-person in-ground hot tub. With Dollywood and other attractions nearby, the kids will find it really, really hard to be bored!

Exchange, Rent, or Sell -- Most resorts are allied with one of the large exchange companies, RCI or Interval International, which provide many different alternatives for getting the most out of your timeshare. Many resort management companies will help you rent your unit/points if you can’t enjoy your ownership privileges for some reason. The more you learn about your vacation ‘product,’ the more you will come to enjoy the great flexibility that comes with your timeshare. You can exchange time at a deeded property or utilize your points (depending on your purchase-type) to travel to vacation destinations throughout the world! And should you decide you are no longer interested in owning your timeshare, you can always put it up for sale by advertising on www.BayTreeSolutions.com. Just remember to purchase wisely in the first place, as timeshares do not typically appreciate in value.

Another very popular resort destination is Branson, Missouri. Branson’s Nantucket, perched on the coast of Table Rock Lake, has a one-bedroom unit available. This 1-Bedroom/1-Bath Branson's Nantucket timeshare is a deeded, "floating" week during Platinum Season! Exchange through RCI as 51,000 points per year, which is enough for larger 2- and 3-bedroom units during the off-season. Plus, the points may be exchanged at over 7,500 resorts world-wide.

Branson is known as the "live entertainment capital of the world." Branson's Nantucket offers luxurious accommodations with convenient access to internationally known attractions, including water parks, go carts, miniature golf, wineries, and shopping. Visit famous Silver Dollar City, which features rides, attractions, crafts and a wide variety of live entertainment. Enjoy the view of Table Rock Lake off the deck of every unit while you and your loved ones watch the sunset. The next day, you can head out to enjoy boating, water-skiing and fishing.

If you and your family or friends plan to vacation each year, timeshare makes great financial sense while offering superb facilities. Remember, buying timeshare is not a financial investment; it’s an emotional and spiritual one…a chance to ensure you will be able to take some precious time to build lifelong memories with loved ones and be able to put the worries and cares of the world into focus.