The timeshare concept is a very alluring one for investors and developers. The first benefit s that they can literally sell a unit (apartment) to 52 different people. They make the initial sales price, plus ongoing yearly fees, whether they use it or not. The appeal is f course, completely profit motivated, which is why so many earlier timeshare program were riddled with con-games and hard-sell tricks that literally trapped their victims into becoming owners. Some of those very same techniques and strategies are still being used today despite the lawsuits, only have been altered to be less obvious to the victim and the law….
This concept has attracted many resort developers and prominent hoteliers, such as Starwood, Wyndham, Accor, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and Disney. Vacation ownership has proven to be lucrative for stakeholders in these major resort families, due to its popularity with vacation-goers. This form of lodging has spawned a variety of products sold on similar occupancy schemes; cars, planes, boats, condo-hotel units and luxury fractional properties (at which affluent guests may stay for as long as a quarter of a year, and which often command a six-figure price tag).
Scope of the industry
The scope of today’s timeshare industry in the USA is well documented. The ARDA International Foundation (AIF), which is the research arm of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), reports there are 1,604 timeshare resorts, with 154,439 units, in the USA as of January 1, 2006 (AIF 2006). Though reportedly fewer than six percent of U.S. households own one, the prevalence of vacation ownership continues to expand. Approximately 4.4 million households own one or more U.S. weekly intervals or points-equivalent as of January 1, 2007, an increase of sixteen percent from the prior year.
About half of the resorts in the USA are currently selling, generating sales of $8.6 billion in 2005 (AIF 2006). The global scope of the industry is not as readily quantified. Interval International, one of the two major exchange companies, reports there are 1,800 resorts in nearly 80 countries, with 2004 worldwide sales estimated at nearly $11.8 billion (Interval International 2006). RCI has more than 4,000 resorts in nearly 100 countries.
A 2001 report estimated there to be 5,425 timeshare resorts worldwide, of which around 31% are situated in North America, 25% in Europe, 16% in Latin America (where Mexico leads with 40% in the region). Emerging resorts in Asia offers 14%, led by Japan, but with Thailand and India increasingly prominent.
Recently, as of 2011, one of the largest industry leaders in building timeshares, posted a 450 Million dollar loss for the year and said they would stop building timeshare. The fact that there are 600,000 empty units to sell, a faultering economy, no profit motive for buying a timeshare, and they are usually located n places the people cannot live full time, because there is no employment and other reasons, they have no other use except for vacation home.
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