How does Timeshare work?
Plain and simple: A timeshare is 1-part ownership in a resort condominium. For example, owning 1 week (your share) of a condo at a particular resort; Most often it is 1/52 of the unit as you own 1 week of the 52 weeks. You purchase a timeshare from a resort developer (e.g. Marriott, Hilton, Westgate etc) for a fixed price and then pay your share of the maintenance fees each year. Timeshare owners have the right to rent, sell, and timeshare exchange.
More complicated explanation: A timeshare is when you own a piece of real estate where a number of individuals share ownership in the subject property. As opposed to a standard home where an individual or, for example, a husband and wife share ownership, a timeshare is owned by many different people, for example 52 different people for 52 different weeks. You pay 1/52 of the maintenance costs for that unit. If there are 100 condominium units in the resort, you divide the total cost to maintain the resort by 100 (100 units) and then by 52 to get your share of the annual costs.
Timeshare Destinations:
Timeshare destinations range from the beach to golf, lakes to skiing, Vegas to Family and from U.S. to Europe and beyond. Here are a few: Myrtle Beach timeshares in South Carolina; Las Vegas, Nevada, and Honolulu, Hawaii are examples.
Timeshare Resorts:
There are over 5,000 timeshare properties worldwide in over 100 countries found anywhere from warm climates like Westgate Resorts in Orlando, Florida Beach Resorts; Wyndham Resorts; Blue Green Resorts; Diamond Resorts and more to colder climates for skiing like Holiday Valley Ski Resort; Boreal Ski Resort; and Bear Mountain Resort; and Fernie Alpine Resort.
There are also international resorts like Mexico: Cabo Azul Resort as well as Europe which a hotbed of resort development especially in Spain on the coast (Marbella).
Timeshare Resort Directory
To find a large directory of timeshare resorts visit RCI Directory or Interval World. They each have large selection of resorts with little overlap. If you want a comprehensive list and selection, visit Timeshare Exchange service, TimeshareJuice.com.
Timeshare properties are larger than simple hotel rooms. Typically, they include one to three bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, a full kitchen and a living room and many times a nice large soaking or Jacuzzi tub. These condominium-style units are almost always fully furnished. Indoor and outdoor swimming pools are common at most timeshare properties.
Instead of owning the standard 1 week (80% of timeshare ownership is this) an owner can also own points. Timeshare points can be redeemed for time at the resort instead of owning the timeshare deed, they merely own the right to timeshare exchange. And you don’t necessarily have to own a fixed week. Some timeshare owners own a floating week whereby they buy the right to use any week within a certain period of time (e.g., Jan to April or Jan to December).
Prices are based on demand. So a timeshare for a week on Vail Colorado during the winter is much more expensive than a week in the summer. Once the owner purchases the timeshare, they are responsible for their “share” of the maintenance fees each year. Those fees are decided upon by the Board, elected by the owners.
Background History of Timeshare
The notion of the term “time-share” was originally created in Europe in the 1960s when Hapimag, a ski resort developer in the French Alps, marketed resort properties by encouraging his guests to “stop renting a room” and “buy the hotel”. This new idea quickly caught on and soon many other developers were following suit and sales grew quickly worldwide.
Timeshare Exchange
Due to the promise of timeshare exchange, these units often sell regardless of their deeded resort.
Learn more about timeshare ownership and timeshare exchange at TimeshareJuice.com as well as how to exchange your timeshare for free at any resort.
Renting a timeshare
Each timeshare owner has the right to rent their unit out to whomever they want. When timeshare owners rent out their unit, the resort takes a credit card as a security deposit on the unit. If the traveler damages the unit, the resort can seek damages from the owner.
Selling a timeshare
Many timeshare owners fed up with the high fees and hassles of timeshare ownership try to sell their unit on their own, use a service or try to give it back to the resort. Selling a timeshare often times yields almost no money and timeshare owners just try to get out from underneath the fees and stress. In my experience, those owners don’t understand the true power and potential enjoyment of a timeshare. They also don’t know about the resources to rent on their own to recoup their annual costs.
I wish you a great vacation in your near future. Have a great year!
