I have a week in Hawaii and a week in Palm Springs. They are "anytime" weeks. With three kids, it makes vacation easy. The kids love Hawaii. The property is fantastic. The beachfront condo sleeps 8, has three balconies and a full kitchen with granite countertops and very nice furnishings. We eat breakfast and lunch in the condo and in Hawaii, that saves a lot of money. We use frequent-flyer miles to get there, so our costs for an annual Hawaii vacation are minimal. Because the units are so big, the kids can bring a friend sometimes. Trading out the weeks for other times/locations is a breeze.

I'm not saying timeshares make sense for everybody, but it has sure been working well for us. If you buy, definitely buy from the secondary market.

BTW - I did a test condo with RCI and hated them, it was an act of congress to get a reservation.

I am using Interval International and I am a Starwood member too. Because of my Starwood Amex I accumulate points and stay for free in Westins.

Interval is a lot nicer to deal with. Reservations take appox 5 minutes. With RCI it wopuld take 3 phone calls and about 3 hours.