Sales of vacation timeshares in the U.S. 2000-2015
Vacation timeshares - additional information
A traditional vacation timeshare is a property that is owned by a number of different people, usually 25, and their ownership of the property reserves them a period of time to use the accommodation, usually two weeks per year.
The industry has developed systems to allow owners more flexibility in their choice of accommodation and destination, in order to make the prospect of timeshare ownership seem less restrictive. The two main methods of achieving this variety are points-based systems and timeshare exchange programs. A point-based timeshare is a system in which buyers purchase points rather than ownership of a specific property, where the value of the points are translated into the length of stay and exclusivity of a property within the timeshare company’s resorts. Timeshare exchange programs allow owners of traditional timeshares to stay in different properties and resorts from the vacation home they have a stake in for a fee paid to a timeshare company. As of July 2015, 40 percent of timeshare owners had taken a vacation using this system in the last year.
In 2015, the the average timeshare purchase purchase in the United States cost over 22 thousand U.S. dollars, the highest average for the last five years. This cost does not include the yearly maintenance fee, which reached 880 U.S. dollars in 2014, up from 731 U.S. dollars four years previously.