The very mention of the word timeshare can cause someone to experience significant stress and consternation: they are usually not a good financial investment; a presentation of one typically involves a relentless hard sell by salespeople; numerous binding legal terms and conditions can limit the full enjoyment of a timeshare; and securing the desired duration of time out of the year could prove to be more difficult than easy — and those are only four reasons among many others.
Watch For This Before Taking Advantage of a Timeshare Promotion
Before continuing further along with this article, a timeshare by definition is generally the arrangement whereby several joint owners of a property have the legal right to use it as a vacation home under a formal fractional ownership agreement — meaning that if twelve people have entered into a timesharing agreement of a seaside villa, each one has an allotment of usage of one month out of the year as an example. That month could be split into several periods of time or used all at once, depending on the terms of the agreement; but the typical duration of time is one week.
Many different types of properties can be used for timesharing: villas, vacation resorts, condominiums, apartments, and campgrounds are only five of many different examples of properties which could be offered for fractional ownership for the purposes of enjoying a vacation.
Although many potential negative aspects of shared fractional ownership can be daunting, one positive aspect is that frequent travelers take advantage of timeshare opportunities from multinational lodging companies: in return for simply listening to a presentation and sales pitch for a couple of hours or so, the potential customer is rewarded with a very low room rate at a popular tourist destination for several days plus tens of thousands of frequent guest loyalty program points — and a few other items may be thrown in to “sweeten” the offer, under which the participant is under no obligation to purchase a timeshare.
The ultimate goal of these presentations is to sell as many timesharing opportunities as possible — but selling one once in a while among many can be rather lucrative, as the cost up front to purchase a timeshare in 2019 averaged $22,942.00, according to the American Resort Development Association. To the multinational lodging company, offering a room which normally costs $200.00 per night for three days to ten people at a deeply discounted rate and only one person actually purchasing a timeshare is still potentially lucrative…
…but included in the terms and conditions of the timeshare offer of at least one multinational lodging company is the clause that a person many only take advantage of the offer up to maximum of three times in a lifetime.
Timeshare Offer Example
As an example — through a recent offer from Holiday Inn Club Vacations — one can enjoy a discount of up to 70 percent off the regular rate when booking a reservation for four days and three nights at one of the following ten timeshare getaways by Saturday, December 31, 2022:
- Branson
- Cocoa Beach
- Galveston
- Gatlinburg
- Lake Tahoe
- Las Vegas
- Myrtle Beach
- New Orleans
- Orlando
- Williamsburg
Once the offer to attend a presentation has been purchase, travel to the chosen destination must be completed within twelve months — which means you can travel when you are ready; but blackout dates and other restrictions do apply.
In addition — after attending a timeshare presentation — a bonus of 10,000 IHG One Rewards points is awarded to the membership account of the person who attends the presentation.
The getaway costs either:
- $249.00 plus tax at a Holiday Inn Club Vacations resort property
- $149.00 plus tax at a partner hotel property which is centrally located
As part of the fine print for this offer from Holiday Inn Club Vacations — which is a division of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts — the following restriction is included…
Must not have toured in the last 6 months (maximum 3 permitted per lifetime)
Also — as a good example of how lucrative is selling fractional timeshare ownership — this clause pertains specifically to this offer…
TIMESHARE INTERESTS BEING OFFERED FOR SALE RANGE IN PRICE FROM $4,995 to $151,390.
…which means that many potential customers can say no before one says yes — and the companies involved still profit from that one sale.
Final Boarding Call
If you plan on taking advantage of this particular offer, know that you have at most two more chances to take advantage of future offers from Holiday Inn Club Vacations.
The good news is that at the time this article was written, timeshare presentations from other multinational lodging entities — such as Hilton, Hyatt, and Wyndham — still offer opportunities to take advantage of low room rates while simultaneously earning tens of thousands of points with no lifetime restriction embedded in the terms and conditions of their offers…
…but that may be the least of your problems if you decide to actually purchase a timeshare…
All photographs ©2010 by Brian Cohen.
