LTD - I imagine you knew what type of responses you'd get when you posted this. Literally every post I've ever seen about timeshares results in exactly what's happened here.
Knowing all this, and being very aware of the secondary market my wife and I bought one several years ago. It wasn't nearly as expensive as what you mention, but we don't regret it at all. We put down which was a fairly meaningless amount of money for us, and now for the maintenance fee, we get to go to an awesome place every year. That fee ends up being about 40-45% of the rate if we wanted just to pay cash each year.
What we like about it is the we are literally forced to use it, which, if you can't relate to, then probably timeshares aren't for you. We had been to the area several times before purchasing, so we knew we loved it, and while the trade value is great, we haven't ever used that - we just like having this guaranteed week, whatever week we want, with no issues.
Of course there were a lot of ancillary sweeteners, but fundamentally if you buy in a place you want to return to, in a high end resort, and the initial $$ aren't much of a hit, it might be the right move for you.