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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. While
a useful tool for many, the timeshare industry has also become a magnet
for attracting illegal and barely legal methods for the sale and resale
of property.
The timeshare
industry has been widely criticized and even likened to a travel scam.
Unlike the customary renting arrangement, where the customer decides
every year on the quality and price of accommodations, timeshare
requires a major payment up front. Doubts exist as to whether timeshare
buyers ever recover the money spent.
One of the major benefits of the product is the fact that vacation
timeshare is real property. Resort developers purchase land in a
location and develop a timeshare resort. They are actually selling
consumers deeded weeks of real property at a specific location, meaning
customers can do what they wish with the weeks they own.
This flexibility includes
the opportunity to rent out weeks that are not used or lend them to
friends or family. However, the problem is that most people buy
timeshare believing it is worry free but, because it is a real property,
it does require constant maintenance. With one unit owned by many
people, it is very hard to operate in a very efficient or economically
beneficial way while fitting the special needs of every owner.
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