Monarch Grand Vacations Excessive dues makes point system worthless Laguna Beach California

Due to the last increase of the maintenance dues it makes no financial sense to have a point based time share with MGV. The maintenance dues are calculated based on the amount of your points. Your point amount determines what size of a unit you can get at the resorts, from a junior suite up to two bedrooms. I have 155 points and the dues are now $548.00 a year. Not too bad but the problem is my points are for every other year, not once a year. My 155 points will allow me up to a 2 bedroom unit for 1 week over the two year period. So after 2 years I would have paid $1,096.00 maintenance dues for only a one week vacation at most of their resorts, most popular being Palm Canyon Resort in Palm Springs and Cancun Resort in Las Vegas. For their newest resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mex 155 points would get their less desirable garden view 2 bedroom unit (for an ocean or pool view you would need minimum 222 points). I can use any online travel service to book a vacation in a nice resort with 2 bedrooms for this price or less. Oh I haven't even mentioned the initial cost to buy the timeshare points. Minimum, after their high pressure sales tactics, for 155 points would be around $6,000.00. Divide that over let's say 10 years and you are paying $600.00(plus interest if financing) per year, $1,200.00 over the two years of your points, plus the maintenance dues of $1,096. So for two years you get a one week vacation for $2,296.00! Tell me how that makes any sense. (Un)luckily I bought my points through a resale at a huge discount so there was some savings. Also let me add they are selling points and not a specific time in a specific unit, there is no limit to the number of people they can sell to. The owners must compete with each other for availability by calling the reservation dept and hope the resort is not full. So if a resort has 200 units, for let's say Christmas week, there could be 1,000 of owners trying to get that week. And in that regard would it not make sense that if you do sell to more people that the dues should go down, not up. The only response I received from Monarch was that if I want to vacation every year then I should just buy more points. And of course that means more maintenance dues. DUH!

Tony
Ontario, California
U.S.A.