Tweet
One thing that hasn't been touched on is the one constant throughout timeshare........change. What works great today will eventually be yesterdays news.
In 11 years of timesharing we've been through a lot of change and various methods of ownership. Our first week was a fixed week/fixed unit week, then floating weeks and then points based reservations week where the underlying week is still a deeded week. There are at least two companies that also offer a trust based ownership, where you don't actually own a week at any resort but own a share in a trust, which has rights to several resorts. There are also right to use (RTU) contracts that allow you the right to use a property for a set number of years, then they expire and there is little or no residual value.
Right to use is great if you don't want to be an owner forever and don't want the eventual hassle of having to sell your ownership.
Fixed week ownerships are great if you MUST have a certain week or be off during certain months. People with school age children who have to have a week during a certain time of year may find this type of ownership handy.
Floating weeks work well for those who can't be certain they'll get the same week off every year but need a particular season (Summer/Winter) to vaction in.
Points systems often offer more flexibility and allow owners to tailor their vacation to fit their needs. Owners in a points based reservation system can move between seasons, get larger or smaller units depending on their needs and can vary the lenght of stay from as little as two nights to as long as their points will allow them. Many points based systems also allow for points to be exchanged for other services such as cruises, RV camping, hotel stays, rental cars and FF miles......to name a few.
Trust based systems are similar to points based systems but, you don't own any one resort. You own an interest in several resorts. In theory this protects you from sky rocketing MF's that can occur at one resort. It also protects you from any special assessments (extra cost on top of yearly maintenance fee) should a need arrise such as storm damage or natural disaster.
Over the years timesharing has evolved to encompass all of these different types of ownership and, no one type of ownership seems to fit everyones needs. Right now points based reservations systems with their flexibility seems to be the leading contender for most popular but, points don't work best for everyone.
All of these different types of ownership have advantages and all of them have their pit falls.
RTU has a limited lifespan and little to no residual value. When the contract is over, all you have are the memories.
Fixed week ownership isn't very flexible and a persons circumstances rarely stay the same for very many years.
Floating weeks ownerships often have seasons that extend beyond the time frame one needs to have to vacation, creating a mad rush for the most prime weeks and leaving those that can't plan far enough ahead with weeks they can't use.
Points based reservation systems can be managed in such a way as to keep owners needing to buy more and more points to stay at the newer resorts.
Trust based ownerships often remove a lot of the owners voting rights and control over how a resort is managed and place it with the trust management company, which is often very developer friendly and less owner friendly.
We own a variety of different types ownerships and still work very well for us but, we have to manage each type of ownership a little differently to get the maximum value from those unit weeks. No one type is better than the other. They are only different and require a little knowledge in order to get maximum benefit from them. In our present situation I'm a points based leaning owner who finds the flexibility of points works to my best advantage........but I still have great success with our floating weeks ownership when it comes to staying at our home resorts or exchanging them through Interval International.
You'll just have to keep reading and start learning how to understand each system. Once you zero in on one or two that you think will work well for you, then you'll need to attempt to understand how they work in order to know who you can maximize your ownership. It all sounds rather complicated and, I suppose it is at first. Once you get the hang of it it's really pretty simple. It just requires more forthought and planning than spotting, renting and going, which seems to be the way most people plan their vacations.
In 11 years of timesharing we've been through a lot of change and various methods of ownership. Our first week was a fixed week/fixed unit week, then floating weeks and then points based reservations week where the underlying week is still a deeded week. There are at least two companies that also offer a trust based ownership, where you don't actually own a week at any resort but own a share in a trust, which has rights to several resorts. There are also right to use (RTU) contracts that allow you the right to use a property for a set number of years, then they expire and there is little or no residual value.
Right to use is great if you don't want to be an owner forever and don't want the eventual hassle of having to sell your ownership.
Fixed week ownerships are great if you MUST have a certain week or be off during certain months. People with school age children who have to have a week during a certain time of year may find this type of ownership handy.
Floating weeks work well for those who can't be certain they'll get the same week off every year but need a particular season (Summer/Winter) to vaction in.
Points systems often offer more flexibility and allow owners to tailor their vacation to fit their needs. Owners in a points based reservation system can move between seasons, get larger or smaller units depending on their needs and can vary the lenght of stay from as little as two nights to as long as their points will allow them. Many points based systems also allow for points to be exchanged for other services such as cruises, RV camping, hotel stays, rental cars and FF miles......to name a few.
Trust based systems are similar to points based systems but, you don't own any one resort. You own an interest in several resorts. In theory this protects you from sky rocketing MF's that can occur at one resort. It also protects you from any special assessments (extra cost on top of yearly maintenance fee) should a need arrise such as storm damage or natural disaster.
Over the years timesharing has evolved to encompass all of these different types of ownership and, no one type of ownership seems to fit everyones needs. Right now points based reservations systems with their flexibility seems to be the leading contender for most popular but, points don't work best for everyone.
All of these different types of ownership have advantages and all of them have their pit falls.
RTU has a limited lifespan and little to no residual value. When the contract is over, all you have are the memories.
Fixed week ownership isn't very flexible and a persons circumstances rarely stay the same for very many years.
Floating weeks ownerships often have seasons that extend beyond the time frame one needs to have to vacation, creating a mad rush for the most prime weeks and leaving those that can't plan far enough ahead with weeks they can't use.
Points based reservation systems can be managed in such a way as to keep owners needing to buy more and more points to stay at the newer resorts.
Trust based ownerships often remove a lot of the owners voting rights and control over how a resort is managed and place it with the trust management company, which is often very developer friendly and less owner friendly.
We own a variety of different types ownerships and still work very well for us but, we have to manage each type of ownership a little differently to get the maximum value from those unit weeks. No one type is better than the other. They are only different and require a little knowledge in order to get maximum benefit from them. In our present situation I'm a points based leaning owner who finds the flexibility of points works to my best advantage........but I still have great success with our floating weeks ownership when it comes to staying at our home resorts or exchanging them through Interval International.
You'll just have to keep reading and start learning how to understand each system. Once you zero in on one or two that you think will work well for you, then you'll need to attempt to understand how they work in order to know who you can maximize your ownership. It all sounds rather complicated and, I suppose it is at first. Once you get the hang of it it's really pretty simple. It just requires more forthought and planning than spotting, renting and going, which seems to be the way most people plan their vacations.
Comment