Timeshare
Owning a timeshare is you ticket to better vacationing. This means an ever-expanding choice of accommodations, amenities, locations, pricing, use plans, and timeshare exchange. You can tailor vacations to meet your lifestyle needs and travel dreams at resorts all over the world.
You and a group of other people share the purchase cost of a vacation accommodation, in increments of one week (or more) per year of use, thus guaranteeing your ability to use that accommodation during the period of time you choose for a specified number of years.
The vacation ownership model is really structured around the following concepts:
First is flexibility of use. You can use it yourself, with family and friends, exchange to thousands of destinations worldwide, rent it to others, and ultimately it becomes part of your estate.
Second is convenience and the fact that everything is there, awaiting your arrival. As we say at Fairmont, all you need to bring is a suitcase and a smile! Kitchens are fully equipped, BBQ's have propane, and onsite recreation directors offer a variety of activities. Jump into a hot tub and let the worries from back home drift away. Vacations are about spending quality time with the ones we love! They deserve it, don't they?
Thirdly, vacation ownership is about saving money and still enjoying the best. As a chartered accountant recently told Fairmont staff, "I've worked out all the values of making this kind of investment and learned that, within five years, not only have I been paid back, but I now have quality vacations prepaid for the rest of my life. The longer I own, the better it gets!"
Timeshares offer owners the possibility of exchanging their week, either independently or through several exchange agencies, to stay at one of the thousands of other resorts worldwide. There are many exchange agencies, of which the two largest are Resort Condominiums International and Interval International. They have resort affiliate programs and members can only exchange to affiliate resorts. It is most common for a resort to be affiliated with only one of the larger exchange agencies, but it isn't rare to find a dual affiliate resort. Together they have over 7,000 resorts. The timeshare resort one purchases determines which of the major exchange companies can be used to make exchanges. RCI and II charge a yearly membership fee and fees for when they find an exchange.