In Reply to: Time Share posted by Pappa John on Thursday, 28. September 2006 at 09:16 Bali Time:
In Sept 05 I answered a "Tourism Survey" while waiting for Hubby outside a surf shop in Kuta one night. Got a phone call saying we'd won a free week's accommodation but had to attend a presentation at The Peninsula at Tanjung Benoa - they would provide a car & driver for our use for the whole day & free lunch.
We were busy, heading off for a week driving around, but we called in on our way back. Got a bit of a hard sell - the guy we dealt with was clear from the outset that it wasn't for us. Found it hard to get a price out of him (finally said $18K!!!!). We had our own car, & hubby had a tummy upset so we weren't interested in the car or lunch. I have heard of people taking their kids with them & spending the day using the beach & pool facilities. Anyway, we didn't buy but still got two free weeks accommodation in either Thailand or Bali.
We used one week in April this year at Bali Shangrila Beach Club at Candi Dasa - a delightful small hotel run by an English family - & loved it (one of my dear friends owns a timeshare there & wouldn't stay anywhere else).
Just a few weeks ago we used our second free week at Jimbaran Hills Resort & that was good, too (I did a JBR).
So, for 90 mins of our time we got 2 weeks free accommodation at delightful hotels in places we wouldn't ordinarily stay, met some great people, definitely well worth 90 mins of our time.
It seems from what we were told recently, that if you buy into Timeshare now, it's around A$4K (depending on the hotel) & for that you get a free week and unlimited weeks at up to $100/week anywhere in the world ($50 for Bali). You have to pay maintenance costs for the place where you buy (eg met a couple at Jimbaran who have a Timeshare in Spain, which costs them a lot in maintenance, but people I know with timeshares in Bali pay very little).
There are many happy timeshare owners who travel the world & stay cheaply. It's not for us as my husband surfs & prefers out of the way, uncrowded places. As I said in my JBR, because it's close to Ulus etc he was actually considering buying into Jimbaran Hills Resort, esp as it has a very long tenure. But it's just too crowded surfing the Bukit.
No mention was ever made of a credit card.
Be aware tho, that what we got was from answering a Survey, not from taking a scratchie.
Hope this helps.