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This month we spoke with Mr J who now lives in Birmingham and bought his original timeshare in the 1980’s with his late wife. Mr J has his timeshare ownership with Marriotts.

How Did You Come To The Decision To Buy Timeshare?

I am originally from the state of Texas, USA. I met my wife when I was visiting Birmingham, UK, for business purposes. We hit it off straight away and eventually we decided that I would move over to England when we married. We would visit Texas and other states from time to time, as my wife had never been to the USA. One time we were visiting some friends of mine and they had just bought in Marriott’s first Vacation Club, Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. It then went on to become Marriott’s Monarch at Sea Pines resort.
We went with my friends to see the place and thought it was absolutely stunning but, my wife more than me, felt going to the same place every time we went away wasn’t our best option. My wife wanted to see as many of the states as she could.
We decided to leave it for the time being and as time went on we started a family so didn’t think about it again for a while. In 1988 we took our first family trip back to Texas and bumped into our ‘timeshare owning’ friends and got to talking. They told us about the exchange program that Marriotts had started doing and advised us to look into it. So we did, and as they say, the rest is history!
The exchange program gave us the chance to not only visit other parts of America but places around the world we hadn’t even dreamed about.

In Your Opinion, What Are The Benefits To Owning Timeshare?

Owning timeshare with Marriott gave us a sense of adventure in a way. As a family, we have taken some amazing holidays around the world.
When my wife passed, me and both my boys had a hard time. We struggled doing things that reminded us of her. Being in England was difficult as we were surrounded by her all the time, her things, her friends, etc but being in Texas seemed even harder as that wasn’t her home.
The first time we eventually went away with our timeshare after my wife was gone, we all thought it was going to be strange and we felt a bit wary about going. We decided to go somewhere we had never been before, we went to Marriott’s Phuket Beach Club in Thailand and it was absolutely perfect.
We all had an amazing time and feel we did my wife proud. She was the adventurer in the family, she was the one who thought having timeshare to explore as many countries and areas as possible was the way to go.
If we hadn’t had the timeshare, I’m not sure I could have even taken my first holiday without my wife, knowing I was already paying for it gave me the encouragement to use it and I am so glad I did.
Timeshare has given my family the opportunity to explore many parts of the world and make some magnificent memories I will always cherish.

Timeshare Consumer Association would like to thank Mr J for taking the time to speak to us about all the great memories and experiences he and his family have shared when using his timeshare. We hope they all have many more wonderful timeshare holidays in the years to come.

See our recent post regarding owners reviews of UK resorts.

For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk