The Owner Update Meeting: Why Upgrading Doesn't Get You Out

An upgrade is a new purchase

An upgrade does not end or shrink your timeshare obligation. It is a new purchase, signed on new paperwork, that adds to, or trades in, what you already own and often comes with a new loan. Travel + Leisure Co., which sells Club Wyndham, describes upgrades in its annual report as sales to existing owners “to supplement their existing VOIs.” If you want out, an upgrade moves you the other way. Don’t sign anything at the owner update meeting. Ask for the developer’s exit program in writing and check the resale market. If the answer is an upgrade pitch, treat that as a no, and if the week has no resale value, a free file review is the next step to consider.

The invitation often comes during a stay at the resort, framed as a short review of your account or your points, sometimes with a gift attached. It is a sales presentation for people who already own.

Why the resort wants you in that room

The industry’s own numbers show who buys timeshares now. ARDA, the developers’ trade group, commissioned its 2026 study from Ernst & Young, and it found that 61% of 2025 sales volume went to existing owners and 39% to new owners.

The big developers’ annual reports to the SEC show the same pattern:

• Hilton Grand Vacations: 74% of 2025 contract sales were to existing owners, up from 72% in 2024.
• Marriott Vacations Worldwide: approximately 70% of 2025 contract sales were to existing owners.
• Travel + Leisure Co.: upgrade sales were 72% of net VOI (vacation ownership interest) sales in 2025 and 68% in 2024.

Travel + Leisure is direct about the method. Its report says it seeks to “actively solicit upgrade sales to existing owners of VOIs while they vacation at our resorts,” and that “On average, new owners nearly double their initial VOI purchase within six years.” Its risk factors note that upgrade purchases “favorably impact our business.” Selling you more is how the business is built to grow, which is worth remembering when the person across the table offers to “fix” your ownership.

Don’t sign anything at the meeting

Go in having decided that you will not sign anything. If you want out, say so and ask for the developer’s exit, surrender, or deed-back program in writing: what it is called, what it costs, and what it requires. Check what comparable weeks actually sell for, too. The FTC tells owners exploring an exit to “start by contacting your timeshare company directly.” An upgrade is a bigger contract, and it does not end your ownership. If the answer to your request is an upgrade pitch, treat that as a no.

Some developers set conditions on outside help, so get their written answer first. Wyndham asks owners to make it their “first and only call for guidance and solutions” through its Certified Exit program and warns that working with anyone other than its Certified Exit Specialists may leave options “limited or nonexistent,” so finish that conversation and get Wyndham’s answer in writing before you contact any outside firm. Holiday Inn Club Vacations’ Horizons program says that if third-party exit company involvement is detected on your account, “you will forfeit the ability to participate.” Apply to Horizons and wait for its written answer before contacting any exit firm, including for a free consultation. For Westgate, according to Rebecca Tushnet’s law blog, an exit company alleged, in a lawsuit decided in 2024, that Westgate has conditioned repossessions on an affidavit that the owner has not worked with “any timeshare exit company, lawyer or law firm.” Westgate disputes that the language covers all lawyers, and the court called it “sweeping.” Ask the Legacy Program whether any such condition applies before you contact an exit firm.

What should you do when the answer is an upgrade pitch?

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm, and may be paid when readers hire it.

When the developer offers only an upgrade, refuses, or quotes a price you can’t accept, and the week has no resale value, a free consultation and file review from an attorney-backed exit firm is one route to consider. Vacation Ownership Consultants, an attorney-backed exit firm we work with, follows the same order. Its process starts with “contact your resort and check the resale market.” After that, you upload your billing statements, purchase agreement, and deed (if you have one) through its eligibility form, VOC determines which options you may qualify for, and you receive a free file review. Only then do you decide whether to enroll for its one-time flat fee, and VOC says it doesn’t “discuss billing until we’ve made sure you qualify.”

A review tells you which exit fits your ownership, whether anything said at the original sale or at the meeting may support a claim, and what not to sign if the resort calls back with a new offer. If you already have your own attorney, they can review the same papers.

What owners say they hear at the meeting

VOC has published owner accounts of these meetings for years. They come from an interested party.

• “It’s just an update.” In a client story VOC published, a couple asked at check-in to attend an owner’s update meeting, with a free breakfast offered, said it turned into a sales pitch that ran more than six hours. They said the salesman wrote two fees on a piece of paper and crossed them off to show they would not pay them again, and that after the sale they were told they still owed them.
• “Your ownership is losing value.” VOC quotes one owner who said, “I was told that I would have to upgrade [my timeshare] for it to have any value.”
• “Convert before it’s too late.” VOC reports that a retired schoolteacher in her late seventies got four calls in a single month pressuring her to convert her 1991 deeded week into a new points membership “before it’s too late.”
• “Upgrade now so you can exit later.” VOC says some Capital Vacations owners report being told they had to upgrade to become eligible for an exit later. In many cases, VOC says, the upgrade came with a new loan, and customer support may then say the loan must be paid in full before they are eligible for exit.
• “It will fix your booking problems.” In a Better Business Bureau complaint VOC reproduces, an owner who was promised “priority booking” wrote, “I felt pressured into an upgrade and a loan just to finally get out of there.”
• “It pays for itself.” Another complaint VOC quotes describes being “repeatedly encouraged to upgrade our existing ownership based on promises of equity, long term savings, rental income.”

If you heard any of these and signed, write down who said it and when. Calling a timeshare an investment, predicting its value will rise, or misrepresenting a rental or resale program is prohibited by statute in several states, and our page on what was said at the sales presentation covers what an attorney does with that record.

What an upgrade does to your contract and loan

It adds to, or trades in, what you own. Travel + Leisure’s own word is “supplement.” VOC says some developers take an existing ownership as “trade-in equity” toward a new contract with a ten-year loan, and that upgrades pitched as a way to lower your costs “add more contracts and debt.”

It often comes with a new loan. VOC says upgrades offered to Capital Vacations’ legacy owners often involve new loans. Travel + Leisure typically requires a minimum down payment of 10% on timeshare sales and finances the balance for up to 10 years. Weighted average rates on the developers’ owner loans were about 12.9% at Marriott Vacations Worldwide, 14.6% at Travel + Leisure, and 14.7% at Hilton Grand Vacations. A new balance means a new payoff date, years out. Few lenders will refinance against the timeshare itself, because it has almost no resale value.

It can raise your annual bill. Ask for the new yearly maintenance fee in writing before you sign anything. California requires developers to disclose the annual maintenance and association dues before you sign any purchase contract, and the FTC’s advice for points programs is simple: “If you’re allowed to buy points to upgrade, find out how much it will cost.” For scale, the average maintenance fee per weekly interval in ARDA’s study rose from $1,120 in 2021 to $1,550 in 2025.

It can change the term. Marriott’s annual report says its points products “offer usage in perpetuity or for a specified term of years.” Find out which one the upgrade contract says before you sign it, and whether it changes the end date of what you own now.

It can move you out of the developer’s free exit. Wyndham’s Certified Exit page lists voluntary surrender only under the heading for owners whose loan is paid in full. Owners who still have a loan balance are offered a featured reseller, a hardship exception application, or a phone call. Hilton Grand Vacations’ resale guide says “The loan will need to be paid in full before ownership is transferred.” A financed upgrade puts you back on the loan-balance side of those lines.

VOC published a letter from one couple that shows how it plays out. They signed an upgrade in January 2020 and put a $25,000 down payment on American Express cards. They later sent a certified letter asking the resort to rescind or buy back the contract, citing age, health, and cost. According to VOC, the resort called in August and said it would not approve the request because of the couple’s loan obligation. In the couple’s words, “the more we looked into this upgrade, the more ripped off we felt.”

How to decline an upgrade

Decide before you go that you will not sign anything. If you are told the meeting is required to check in or use your reservation, ask for that rule in writing.

In the room, say one sentence and repeat it as often as needed: you are not buying anything today, and you would like information about the developer’s exit or surrender program in writing. Avoid discussing prices or “what it would take,” because each counteroffer extends the meeting.

Sign nothing on a tablet or screen you have not read in full. Ask for copies of any documents to take with you. California requires the developer to let you take as much time as you need to read the documents and, if you ask, to come back the next day without losing that day’s price or incentive.

The FTC tells buyers, “You have the right to get all promises in writing.” If a salesperson says the upgrade will add value, cover itself through rentals, lower your costs, or make you eligible to exit later, ask for that statement in writing and signed, and do not rely on any promise they will not write down.

VOC’s advice to long-time owners pressured to sign something new applies to everyone: “slow down and call someone who works for you.”

If you already signed an upgrade

Check the cancellation window today. An upgrade is a new purchase contract, so look for its own cancellation notice. Nevada’s exemption for out-of-state units sold to existing owners applies only if the developer lets the buyer cancel until midnight of the fifth calendar day after signing. Our rescission guide and state table cover the deadline and how to deliver the notice.

If the window has passed, build the record. Keep the upgrade contract, the new loan papers, any worksheet the salesperson used, and your own notes on what was said. Statements that an upgrade was an investment, would pay for itself, or was needed to exit are the kind an attorney looks for.

Keep paying. The FTC lists instructions to stop paying your mortgage or fees as a sign of a timeshare exit scam. If you qualify for a lower rate, a personal loan can replace the developer’s loan while you work on the ownership.

What to ask for instead

The developer’s exit program, by name and in writing, plus a resale check. The FTC tells owners exploring an exit to “start by contacting your timeshare company directly.” Some programs have conditions. Holiday Inn Club Vacations’ Horizons program says owners without a mortgage may qualify and collects a $1,200 processing fee per contract from those who do. See the Horizons, Wyndham, and Westgate notes above before you contact any outside firm.

The real numbers. Add up ten years of fees and loan payments with our exit cost calculator and the cost of owning page before anyone offers you a monthly payment.

If the answer is no, an upgrade, or a price you can’t accept, and the week has no resale value. A free consultation and file review is one route to consider, and the firm that reviewed your file is one option if you decide to hire help. Your own attorney is another if you have a documented claim, and a resale listing through a licensed broker who charges no upfront fee is a third. A legitimate firm reviews your documents before it quotes, charges one flat fee in writing, names the attorney (who you can look up with the state bar), says in writing what happens to your fee if the developer refuses, never tells you to stop paying, never guarantees a result or claims a connection to your developer, and tells you when a free route is still open. Our full route list covers every option in order.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm, and may be paid when readers hire it. This page’s author, Kira Fairbank, is a manager at Vacation Ownership Consultants. We cite its published case data on this page where marked.

This is general information, not legal advice. What an upgrade changes depends on the exact contract, the loan terms, and the law of the state that governs the sale. Before you sign an upgrade, cancel one, or change how you pay, put the paperwork in front of an attorney licensed in that state.