Understanding Ownership

Purchasing and essentially pre-paying your future vacations at today’s prices guarantees that you won’t deprive yourself of that much-needed vacation each year. It’s easy, affordable and according to owners, very worthwhile.

Make a one-time purchase of furnished resort accommodations at a fraction of whole ownership costs and pay an annual maintenance fee. Each unit of a timeshare resort is divided into intervals most commonly by the week or some other combination of days. Often the amount of time you purchase is expressed in terms of “points”—a popular trend that is aimed at increasing the range of options for the use of your timeshare interval.

In a majority of resorts today, your vacation ownership interest will include a deeded interest in real estate. Other timeshare programs do not include an interest in real property, but are structured more like a membership. How you actually use your timeshare vacation is generally not affected by the absence or presence of a real estate interest.

The accommodations are priced according to a variety of factors, including size of the unit, resort amenities, location, and season of use. You own the vacation accommodations but only for the amount of time you choose – typically one or two weeks each year for a traditional timeshare. There are other types of timeshare programs, such as fractionals, offering longer use periods (as long as three months), but these are priced much more like a traditional vacation home.