Click Here For Our Timeshare Seller FAQ

Timeshare Buyer FAQ

What is a Timeshare?

Timeshare is a type of holiday property ownership in which the owner an agreement with a resort in the form of a deed or right-to-use contract for a designated time slot at that resort, typically in one week blocks. Timeshares have become a widely recognized option for frequent holiday travelling as the costs are much lower than owning a second, year-round holiday home.

What is the difference between fixed, floating and flex weeks?

Fixed Weeks are identified by number, and indicate ownership for the same time period each year. The first week of January is Week 1, the second is Week 2 and so on until the last week of December, Week 52. Resorts vary, but most check-in dates (the start of a week) are Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Fixed week ownership indicates that your property is only available to you during that set time frame.

Floating Weeks provide flexibility of scheduling by allowing you to call the resort to book a week of your choosing. Floating ownership may be reserved at any time during the calendar year, but is subject to the resort's availability and restrictions. Often certain weeks are reserved for higher member levels, often focused around holidays or peak travel periods.

Flex Weeks allow specific, owner-defined booking of weeks as floating does, but is restricted by season or blocked off into sections of the year at the resort's discretion. These seasons or time frames are often indicated by colour: Red, Gold, White, Blue seasons, etc. The terms and labels vary between the different holiday resort companies.

What are Points?

Points are units used to set the value of different aspects of a resort such as season, suite size, and location in the case of a resort group. Resort groups or chains such as Wyndham, Bluegreen, and Monarch use points programs to give their owners more flexibility and incentive to use their membership. These multi-destination point programs offer extremely flexible travel options for holiday travel.

What is an Exchange Company?

Exchange companies provide the means to trade travel weeks, providing timeshare owners with options outside of their primary ownership. The two largest exchange companies are Resort Condominiums International (RCI) and Interval International (II). RCI and II maintain affiliation with more than 5,000 resorts all over the world. Your home resort - where you purchased your timeshare originally - will often provide you with membership to an exchange company they are affiliated with, but you may also use any of the independent exchange companies to meet your specific needs.

What is a Banked Week?

Using an exchange company, an owner has the ability to reserve or deposit a week which they are not going to use right away for usage at a later date. Typically, a banked week has 2 years of shelf life within that exchange company's network before expiring. However, banked weeks can often be held for longer by simply paying a fee to the exchange company.

What is the difference between a Five-Star resort and a Gold Crown resort?

Interval International (II) uses the term "Five-Star" to indicate their most desirable resorts. Resort Condominiums International (RCI) uses "Gold Crown" to indicate their most desirable resorts.

What is the difference between Red, White and Blue Seasons?

Seasons at resorts are not standardised, and each will have their own way of blocking off time. It is important to know the seasons your resort uses, as it has significant impact on the value of property at that resort. Three colours are typically chosen by resorts to indicate the demand for each season. For example: Red season is peak or high at most resorts, White is mid season and Blue is low season or off-peak travel time.

What is a Maintenance fee?

A maintenance fee is a mandatory fee which resorts assess for property upkeep. Most often this fee also includes taxes, utilities, insurance, and any other maintenance-related expenses incurred by use of the timeshare. These fees applied differently at different resorts some occurring monthly, some annually or sometimes biennially.

What does RTU mean?

RTU is an acronym indicating "Right to Use". Some locations (particularly outside the USA) are not allowed to issue deeded property by law, and in these cases owners are provided with a contract, similar to a lease, allowing them to secure claim to their timeshare property. These contracts are drawn up as long-term claims to a holiday property, with periods from 20 to 99 years of ownership.

How is pricing determined for timeshare resorts and timeshare resales?

Many factors enter into the pricing of timeshares, whether they are being sold by the resorts, or on the resale market. Such factors include: time of year, location, resort amenities, size of the unit, and of course, market demand.

The resort charges a lot more than the resale market. Why is that?

Resort developers incur several costs when offering timeshares for sale, and one of the largest costs they face is marketing the properties. By buying directly from resorts, the price point is also set to absorb all of these types of administrative and marketing costs associated with making the sale. The resale market is not burdened with these extreme factors, and is therefore more directly influenced by the true current market value of the property itself.

What is the difference between Biannual and Biennial?

Biannual indicates usage two times per year. Biennial properties are only available for use every other year (even or odd, depending on one's ownership).

Is financing on the resale market available?

Absolutely! There are financing options available for any timeshare property. We recommend Tammac Financial for assistance in that field.