Why Not Timeshare?

Vacation time is fast approaching and what more can a family think of rather than spending a wonderful vacation. You might be preoccupied with turning the pages of your directory to find out some nice place to visit. But you probably have no time making a call and inquire on these resorts. Then suddenly you remember that it’s about time that you and your family purchase a timeshare.

Oops! You might as well not. While timeshare gives you a hassle-free vacation, it might turn out to be a real hassle in the long run. Yes, you can save for hotel expenses in a span of 30 years, but you will be consumed with paying the increasing annual maintenance fees.

Let’s start on the most important detail of purchasing an item or a property—and that is money. Of course, once you purchase an item, you get to pay them first-hand. Timeshare of course costs a thousand dollars. But apart from that first payment, you will have to pay for its maintenance and miscellaneous fees. These fees are mandated by the resort for the continuous upkeep of your unit. You don’t want your unit to be messy or dysfunctional. The fees itself shall also be used for other bills such as phone, water, and electricity. The maintenance fees are paid annually that cost around $250 depending on the property you have chosen. Now, these fees are sometimes confusing in contracts. So might as well find out under fees as these may escalate if for example the timeshare organization decides to increase it.

And most likely it will increase due to the ongoing global recession. In 2008, timeshare sales have dropped. The major hotel chains like Wyndham, Starwood and Marriott have reported that there was a significant timeshare sales drop because of the lack of market. Since there has been a financial crisis, people did not choose timeshare as a vacation getaway. Two of the mentioned hotels have stopped its construction while Marriott continued since it is already at its last phase of development and still opened its doors to those who still wanted a timeshare though the public thought it was stupid for them to do so. Starwood have slashed down employees and closed some of its offices. The sales loss tremendously affected the timeshare industry that its sales increase as of this early 2010 was not significant though.

What so devastating about timeshare is that if you decide to dispatch your unit you just cannot easily find a market. It is pretty hard to sell a property that is not worth investing and is not really an investment at all!

Now if someone gives it to you as a gift, then you might as well disregard it. Remember the increasing maintenance fees!

Nowadays, we don’t just consider the fun and excitement of spending on an extravagant vacation. Since the world is suffering on a severe economic crisis, think wisely of spending your hard-earned cash. You don’t want to waste every single centavo that you have earned.