Holiday Inn Club Vacations

Yes, Holiday Inn Club Vacations is essentially a timeshare company even though it offers multiple products. Owners can buy a week of timeshare which is deeded to a specific resort or they can purchase points that can be used to stay in a variety of resorts within the HICV network. Holiday Inn points can also be purchased to add onto a week to give owners more flexibility to use their week within the network.

Timeshare at its basic level is an owner buying vacation time to take a vacation in a resort. The product has evolved over the years to expand into multiple use programs but the basics are the same – use your ownership interest to book a vacation stay in a resort.

The Holiday Inn Vacation Club has grown to 28 resorts covering some of the most popular vacation destinations in the US. From the flagship Orange Lake resort in Orlando to places like Las Vegas, Branson, Myrtle Beach, Gatlinburg, Tahoe and New Orleans, members and owners can experience terrific vacations each year.

Over 365,000 owners are part of the Holiday Inn Vacation Club, so thousands of vacationers enjoy the program. But many times, evaluating a good deal has to do with the price paid compared to the use of the product. This is why resales are so important.

Because of the way timeshares are sold at the resort, the price can be marked up as much as 60 percent to cover sales and marketing costs. Since the average price of a week of timeshare is about $23,000, that’s thousands of dollars given over to Holiday Inn that can be saved by buying on the resale market.

Those sales and marketing costs are excluded from resales because buyers are buying from an existing owner who has already paid those costs. It is similar to the way the car market works when cars depreciate once they leave the car lot. Timeshares depreciate – not because there is anything inherently wrong with the product but because of the way it is initially sold.

When you see Orange Lake timeshares for sale for under $10,000 on the resale market, you can see how much better the deal is than buying through Holiday Inn. The first item you will need to decide is when you tend to vacation each year. This will guide you to certain seasons (such as Gold or Silver seasons) or specific weeks so you can then look for those weeks online. Also decide on the size of the unit you need, whether it is a studio, one or two-bedroom unit, since that factors into your search as well.

If you have questions or just want someone to handle the searching for you, contact a licensed timeshare resale broker. The agents operate like a traditional real estate firm so they can consult with you and search for the best deal on a Holiday Inn Vacation Club timeshare.

There are a few ways to get out, but the best way is to sell your Holiday Inn vacation club timeshare and at least get some money back for your initial purchase. Selling with no upfront fees can be discussed with a licensed timeshare resale agent, so you can at least talk over your options and find out what your timeshare is worth on the resale market.

If you just want to get out and aren’t bothered by just handing over your timeshare with no return, you can contact Holiday Inn vacation club directly. They have a program called Horizons with customer service staff that may be able to help you. Keep in mind that owners need to have their timeshare paid off with no outstanding mortgages and all annual fees up to date. The decision is ultimately up to Holiday Inn whether they take it back and most cases are decided because of the poor health or financial distress of owners. Just make sure they don’t try to upsell you into buying more timeshare.

One group you want to avoid are the timeshare cancellation or timeshare exit companies. They say they can get owners out of their timeshare, but they charge huge upfront fees as high as $10,000 and basically do the same thing an owner can do for free by contacting Holiday Inn vacation club directly. Remember that only Holiday Inn Club Vacations can approve a timeshare cancellation, not a third-party exit company, and many of these companies have come under attorney general investigation and legal scrutiny.

The primary difference between a timeshare and a vacation club is in the way the ownership is used. The conventional timeshare product is where an owner has a week of vacation time that they can use in a specific resort each year, whether fixed during a specific week or in a designated season or over certain months. For owners who want a guaranteed vacation week in a high-demand season like ski season in Tahoe or during a popular week such as New Year’s week in New Orleans, this can be a great way to secure your vacations.

Vacation clubs tend to provide more flexibility, since the owner can use their ownership among several resorts within a given club network. For instance, an owner who buys Holiday Inn Club Vacation points can use those points within the 28-resort network that HICV operates.

The overall concepts are basically the same in that an owner buys vacation time to stay in a timeshare resort each year. The difference can be in the way the ownership operates and the type of vacations that are important to an owner.

This often comes down to the type of vacations an owner takes, whether they even use their vacation club membership and the amount of money paid in the first place.

Like any product, if you pay for something that you do not use you’ll be more inclined to think it isn’t worth the money. Some owners can no longer use their Holiday Inn vacation club membership, whether it is for health, financial or other reasons. This is where it is important to consider your options to sell Holiday Inn Club Vacations and contact a licensed timeshare resale agent for a consultation.

For other owners, the programs can become confusing with all the points and exchange options available to them. The advantage of the Holiday Inn vacation club is that an owner has options to vacation at different times of the year among a variety of resorts within the network. This is where you should contact HICV to discuss your options with them and find out the best way to use your membership.

Lastly, the money spent can factor heavily into an owner’s perception of their membership. Considering that the resort prices can be 50-60% higher than resale prices, an owner can lament the extra money spent by buying at the resort. The good news is that if you are looking to buy Holiday Inn vacation club timeshares and are already searching the resale market (which is why you are reading this now) then you can save thousands of dollars by buying resale.

Resort prices are higher because of marketing and sales commissions recouped through the sale. Resale prices do not include those overheads, so you will save money by buying resale through a broker. Even factoring in annual maintenance fees, which average about $1,000 for a timeshare week, paying $9,000 for a timeshare and prorating the overall costs over 20 years of ownership breaks down to about $1,450 for a week’s worth of accommodation or just over $200 a night. Remember that timeshare units offer multiple bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and all the comfort you need on vacation compared to a cramped hotel room, so the value is definitely there.