Timeshare

A vacation timeshare is a form of vacation property. Instead of purchasing a vacation home that you cannot use for most of the year, timeshare allows families to purchase a fractional share in a vacation property. This share could be one week per year (i.e. 1/52 share) or more; some resorts offering one week every other year (1/104 share) or four weeks per year (1/13 share). Some timeshares are sold as fractional ownership in a trust that owns one or several resorts.

Related Topics:
Vacation - Property - Resort

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The notion of a timeshare was originally created in Europe in the 1960s. A ski resort developer in the French Alps innovatively marketed his resort by encouraging guests to "stop renting a room" and instead "buy the hotel". The developer was successful in increasing occupancy and the idea spread worldwide.

Related Topics:
Europe - 1960s - Ski - French - Alps

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Timeshare properties tend to be apartment-style units ranging in size from studio units (with room for two) to three and four-bedroom units that can comfortably house large families.

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Timeshare owners can elect to stay at their resort during the prescribed period, which varies depending on the nature of their ownership. They can rent out their week or give it as a gift to friends and family.

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Most significantly, timeshare offers owners the possibility to exchange their week, either independently or through several exchange agencies, to stay at one of the thousands of other resorts worldwide.

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Today's timeshare industry includes nearly 6,000 resorts worldwide, for a total of 11 million timeshare "intervals" that have been individually sold to nearly 7 million families around the world. There are timeshare resorts around the world. Global timeshare sales total over $9 billion annually, with a projected growth rate that is twice that of world tourism. 75% of timeshare intervals are sold by major players in the hospitality industry (i.e. Trendwest, Marriott International, Consolidated Realty, Disney, and the world's bestselling timeshare company Resort Properties). Recent surveys conducted by the American Resort Developer's Association and the Organization for Timeshare in Europe indicate that virtually all timeshare owners are satisfied with their purchase.

Related Topics:
Tourism - Trendwest - Marriott International - Consolidated Realty - Disney

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The concept of vacation timeshare has also been extended to luxury items such as planes and luxury cars.

Related Topics:
Plane - Car

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