Timeshare was originally sold on a fixed week basis, this meant that the owner had a specific week number and apartment (e.g. week 22, apartment 186). Many people were attracted to this as it meant that they would return to the same resort at the same time each year, each time knowing the standard that they would be getting. It was also a great opportunity for owners to meet other owners, where there was the possibility to develop good friendships over many years.
The downside to this was if, for some reason, you couldn’t get away one year you would forfeit your week without compensation unless you joined an exchange club or found someone at the resort who was willing to trade with you. When floating weeks and points systems started being introduced, they were marketed as being more ‘flexible’. This was a great lure to people who wanted to experience more variety with their holidays.
A floating week is when you purchase a nonspecific week at your resort with a range of dates, for example instead of the first week in December, you could book any week from the beginning of December to the end of February, meaning that you had a wider choice of dates to book. The downside being that bookings were made on a first come, first serve basis.
With points, for instance with a company like Diamond Resorts, you still generally own at a home resort, but are assigned points that can be used at other resorts that are included in your points system. The advantage to a points system is that there is much more flexibility for owners to go to different resorts at different times of the year, but the downside is, as with floating weeks, unless you book in advance availability can be a struggle.
One of the main complaints made by timeshare owners is that they struggle getting their required availability, some having to book up to 9-12 months in advance and others sometimes forgoing that year’s holiday altogether.
Many timeshare companies have oversold floating weeks and points systems, making it very difficult for owners to book their desired week/s holiday. As well as having more owners than units/rooms it has been found that some resorts are holding back the most desirable units for new potential customers, who are flown over for a few days so sales teams can try and sell them the current ‘Timeshare product’.
On top of this units/rooms are also being held back for use by the general public. These days anyone can book into timeshare resorts; at times, a fraction of the price that owners pay. This means that the resorts can make money from owners through their maintenance fees, whether they manage to actually book or not, as well as anyone booking online. We wrote an article on this earlier this week. Please let us know your story if you have been in this situation, and are struggling to get exchanges. Our contact details are below.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk