Timeshares

The Timeshare industry in general began in the 1960′s in Europe & since then it has progressed around the World. It started with resort developers & now several hotel chains are involved, such as Marriotts, Hilton, Sheraton & Hyatt’s.
When Timeshare were first sold clients would buy a week(s) & stay at the same resort every year in that particular week in various unit sizes. Over the years as more resorts were being sold as Timeshares there has been many changes such as:
Season Weeks: This meant you chose between low/blue, mid/red, high/peak season & you could stay in your resort within a week(s) in that particular season.
Floating weeks: This meant you bought your weeks(s) but you could chose the time of year you wanted to go.
Points based Timeshares/Holiday Ownership/Fractional Ownership: These all started around the 1990′s & with this type of ownership you owned a specific amount of points which could then be converted to accommodation stays whether that be for a weekend, a week or longer.

As the timeshare industry developed there was then exchange companies set up where clients didn’t have to go back to the same resorts every year they could exchange the week(s) they owned to stay in other resorts around the world by paying a small exchange fee. The most well known exchange companies are RCI (Resorts Condininium International), I.I (Interval International) & more recently Dial an Exchange.
The Points based companies generally own quite alot of resorts & because of this are referred to as Multi Destination Clubs. This generally means that once you are a Points owner you can stay in any of that companies resorts. Some of the resorts may require more points than others to stay there.
With all Timeshares there are generally various unit sizes such as studio, one bed, two bed, three bed & more, sleeping from two to even 12 people. There are various types of units such as apartments, lodges, cottages, lock off’s & hotels, this can all vary between resorts.

The cost of Timeshares/Points varies around the World & the price from some developers can be extreme. Once you have paid your initial investment you generally will have to pay an annual membership/maintenance fee, or sometimes both.
Many of you will have been invited at some point to a Timeshare presentation/Holiday Ownership presentation either by receiving a call from a company/marketing company direct, by being stopped while on a holiday & given a scratchcard for example or by staying at a resort & being invited to a welcome meeting or similar. Generally at these types of presentations clients in general have been put under immense pressure to sign on the dotted line & to take out loans to pay for the Timeshare/Points & this is generally why Timeshare companies have received such bad publicity over the years. Most of these presentations are run by Franchises for the developers where the sales representatives/supervisors & managers are working on commission only & all they want to do is achieve a sale so they will tell you just about anything to get you to sign/join. Although there are laws in place in some Countries such as the UK & Europe where once you sign you have a ‘Cooling off period’, which is generally a statutory 14 days in which to cancel your agreement. The problem is most sales people will not inform you of this, so unless you are already aware of it or you search through the owners pack you should receive when you sign you could end up having to complete & pay for the product.
Obviously not all companies are like this but because of the minority this is generally why Timeshare companies have a bad reputation. There are some excellent companies just as in most businesses.

There are several options you can do to make the most of your Timeshare/Points once you are an owner.
The best advice is to make the most of it & get the best use possible.
If you are not going to use it one year rent it out so that you get an income from it.
If you have decided after a while it’s not for you & obviously you are still having to pay the annual costs then it’s time to either pass on to another family member or sell it. There is no point holding on to it if you are not using it, the only person that will benefit from that is the developer.
If you would like advice on selling or renting a Timeshare/Points in general or would like to advertise your Timeshare/Points for sale or rent please contact us.