Following the 1-2 punch of the COVID-19 pandemic and the litigation brought by the California Department of Justice, Welk Resorts has been sold to Marriott Vacations Worldwide.  The official company release is HERE. 

What does this mean to current owners of Welk Resorts timeshares?  Well, it's still too soon to say.  One thing we do know from the press release is that at least some of the Welk Resorts properties will be rebranded under the Hyatt Residences flag. 

We have seen a big increase in people buying Welk Resorts timeshares, including both fixed-week timeshares at the Lawrence Welk Resort in San Diego, and points packages.  In fact, this may be the best time to buy a Welk timeshare in recent memory.  We have seen the company waive their right-of-first-refusal on points packages, allowing buyers to pick up both small and large packages for incredibly low prices.  Savvy buyers seem to be scooping up cheap timeshare weeks now with the expectation that they will increase in value after the resorts are re-flagged as Hyatt or Marriott properties.  

Due to the big increase in demand, we need more listings of Welk timeshares ASAP!  Please call or email me today if you are interested in purchasing or selling a Welk Resorts timeshare.

​Courtney Jex    

During our stay, my husband rode his bike from the Resort up to Valley Center and the hills overlooking the resort.  A word of caution - although it may look like it on Google Maps, the road behind the resort going up the hills is closed to through traffic, so if you ride up to Valley Center, don’t expect a quick descent on the back-side of the hill coming back to the Resort.  

Another thing that really impressed us was the great activities offered by the Resort through the Welk Resorts Inspired! Program.  We can definitely see our kids doing the Game of Drones and 3D Printing activities when they get a little older, and of course the Craft Beer Tasting looked amazing!

​Besides visiting family in the San Diego area, we also made time for a couple excursions to some of our family spots.  Our kids love the San Diego Zoo, so of course we had to devote a day to seeing the animals.  I love the beach, so we spent another day at Coronado Beach - about a 45 minute drive from the Resort, but well worth it.  All-in-all, it was a great trip, very comfortable, and a very fun way to spend the Christmas holiday.

Last month, Welk Resorts made a big step forward with the construction of their new Breckenridge resort, called "The Ranahan."  Welk officially broke ground on construction of the Phase I development, and celebrated the opening of their new preview center.  According to Welk:

"Completion of the first phase of construction is expected, weather permitting, in late 2019. This first phase will be      comprised of two-bedroom villas — 7 standard and 30 lock-off — for a total of 67 keys." 

Sounds like a great family trip for the winter of 2019-2020!

In addition to the new resort in Breckenridge, Welk is currently projecting they will start construction on a new resort in Poipu, Kaui in "2020-2021."  Welk also confirmed they do not currently anticipate any further expansion of their Cabo San Lucas resort.  Until the new resorts are completed, timeshare owners can explore different resorts by exchanging through Welk's internal exchange - the "Experiences Collection", and through external exchanges like Interval and RCI.

We spent this last Easter weekend at Welk Resorts' incredible Northstar resort on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.  Having previously stayed at other ski resorts during holidays in the Lake Tahoe region, including Labor Day weekend at Mariott's Timber Lodge on south shore and President's Day weekend at Red Wolf Lodge on the north shore, it's fair to say this resort really amazed us with just how modern and luxurious it is.  In fact, it is by far the nicest resort of the three.  We were so impressed that we decided to buy a 480k Platinum Points package so we can stay there every year - it's that nice!

The Welk Resorts already had timeshare resorts in San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, Palm Springs, and Branson when it purchased the Northstar resort in 2013.  At the time of purchase, only 1 of the 3 resort buildings had already been built.  In the past 5 years, Welk completed construction on the other 2 buildings, and they are incredible!  The units are spacious, the appliances are new, and the building materials are of excellent quality.  Fireplaces in just about every living space (bedrooms, living rooms, balconies) contribute much to creating a warm and cozy ambiance during ski season.

For skiiers, Northstar is a true ski-in/ski-out resort, with valet service on the ground floor.  Here's a little known fact for people serious about skiing, besides the three main buildings, Welk also owns 10 units in One Village Place, which is located literally right above the ski lift on the other side of the village.  Owners and their guests have access to an exclusive line that lets you bypass everyone else in line.  Here's a photo of this magic door, showing an empty line next to the crowd of people waiting to hit the mountain:

There is so much more to say about this resort.  Please call us if you want more info on the different buildings, recommendations about where to go, how many points you would need to book a 2BR vs. 3BR during ski season, how much these packages cost on the resale market, or any other questions you may have.  We have already assisted many buyers with purchasing packages from 240,000 up to 1,920,000, and we love talking about this resort!  See you on the slopes!

When we stayed at the Lawrence Welk Resort in Escondido during the 2016 holiday season, one of my favorite things to do was use the recently updated Melody Hill Rec Center, particularly the outdoor fitness area.  This was walking distance from our unit in Melody Hill, but it's available to all resort guests.  

Non-vacationing owners also have day use privileges at the Welk Resort, but there is a charge of $10 per person per day. Monthly access is available for $100 per person, or $150 per couple.  The silver lining for having to pay a fee is that unlike every other recreation center at the resort, advance reservations are not required for day use at the Melody Hill Rec Center.

Whether you're a vacationing owner at the Lawrence Welk Resort, or are using day use privileges, another benefit of the Melody Hill Rec Center is that the pool is the only adults-only pool at the resort. We love taking our little ones to the splash pad at the Mountain Springs rec center, and older kids certainly love the 120'water slide there, but there's nothing like the serenity at the adults-only pool at the Melody Hill Rec Center!  See the pictures below.

We have some great Lawrence Welk timeshare resales available at great value prices, including fixed summer weeks (26, 27, 31 & 32) and holiday weeks (51 & 52). Please call or email us if you would like more information on these Welk resorts timeshare resales.

This is an interesting article regarding the Welk Resorts' recently-filed lawsuit in the U.S. Southern District Court of California against the "Timeshare Exit Team."  According to this article:

"The suit, filed on Tuesday, July 25, provides details on how Reid Hein, based in Lynwood, Washington, Timeshare Exit Team and its co-conspirators used false advertising, fraudulent guarantees and misleading correspondence to recruit vacation owners in a nationwide scheme based on the false promise of getting owners out of their timeshare contracts with no consequences."

We will continue to monitor this litigation and post updates here on our blog. If you currently own a Lawrence Welk timeshare free-and-clear, and no longer want to use it or pay maintenance fees, we will help you get it sold on the timeshare resales market.  

When other timeshare brokers ask us "what's your specialty?", we always say "Lawrence Welk timeshares!"  Courtney's father-in-law, Brent W. Jex, was the timeshare industry expert in Welk Resorts timeshares.  When he retired at the end of 2016, he passed along his expertise and knowledge to Courtney.  Since then, we have successfully completed dozens of transactions at this resort.  You can find photos of the Lawrence Welk resort in San Diego on our website.

When we lived in San Diego county, our family would often enjoy day use privileges at the Welk Resort, including use of their beautiful clubhouse and pool in the Mountain Villas (see below).

When we hear from people interested in buying a Lawrence Welk timeshare, we often hear from people who already own a certain fixed-week at the Welk Resorts in San Diego (for instance, week 27), and are looking to buy another week for a friend or family member.  Increasingly, we are hearing from people interested in buying large Welk Platinum Points packages, with a lot of interest in booking winter weeks at Welk's Northstar resort. You can find the Welk Resorts Platinum Points chart here.

Please call or email Courtney Jex if we can help you buy or sell your Lawrence Welk timeshare.

One of the great benefits of owning a Lawrence Welk timeshare in Escondido, CA is the ability to have "day use" of the resort facilities, especially the pools and splash pads.  This benefit comes with ownership in the Resort Villas, Villas on the Green, and for Platinum Points members.  Even the smallest, 90k every-other-year package gives you day use at the Resort.  

Last Sunday we loaded up the kids and took advantage of "day use" to enjoy this late summer weather at the Resort.  Once you get to the Resort, simply check-in with the guest booth outside the lobby, and you will exchange your owner's card for a pool key.  Then drive to the pool of your choice and enjoy the day!  

We really like the pool and splash pad at the Mountain Springs rec center, but this is the only pool where you can't bring your own cooler of food and drinks.  You can purchase food and drinks at the west end of the pool.  

Because we have family staying in the Palm Springs area the first week of November, we wanted to join them for the week.  We already had a week deposited with Interval International (Week 52 at the Welk Resorts, Escondido), so we called Interval to place a request for the Palm Springs area using this deposited week as our trade credit.  Interval did not have any inventory immediately available, so we placed a request and crossed our fingers.  A week later, we received an email confirming that an exchange had been made for a 2BR villa at the Marriott Shadow Ridge Enclaves in Palm Desert.  We were excited because not only is this a beautiful resort, but we also knew that we got great value for our exchange, as demonstrated below.

As I mentioned above, we used our ownership of a Lawrence Welk timeshare to reserve Week 52 at the Welk Resorts, Escondido.  The 2015 maintenance fee for this week was $902.  The maintenance fees and club dues for the week 44 at the Marriott would have cost us $1,469.  That's obviously a great deal, exchanging $902 for $1,469, but it gets even better when you consider that if we did not use timeshare, and just booked a week using Marriott's online reservation system, the cost would have been $2,150!  By using timeshare, we effectively cut our costs by 60%!  And the truth is that had we not owned timeshare, we never would have paid $2,150 in lodging expenses to make this trip happen.  So either we would not have gone at all (most likely), or we would have stayed somewhere more "affordable" (meaning, not nearly as nice as the Marriott).