A timeshare is a program in which a group of people shares use of a property by dividing among themselves the rights to use the property for specific time periods.  Although the property is usually a residential project such as a condominium, developers have applied the timesharing concept to other types of properties, such as houseboats, campgrounds, and recreational vehicle parks.  Virtually all timeshares are resort or vacation properties.

To set up the timeshare, the developer “divides” occupancy of each of the units into time-based intervals.  The developer then sells these intervals to buyers, so each owner of an interval receives the right to use a specific unit for a specific time period corresponding to the interval they purchased.  Each timeshare owner thus “shares” the usage of the property along with all of the other owners.  Through this shared usage, the owners have guaranteed accommodations in the property, without carrying the financial and property management burdens associated with a conventional ownership of such a property.

Timeshare intervals are normally one week long; a few timeshare projects, however, use other ownership fractions, such as one-tenth or one-quarter ownerships.  Since almost all timeshare projects are based on one-week intervals, the words “week” or “timeshare week” are generally used in the timesharing community to mean a one-week timeshare interval.  In keeping with this convention, through the rest of this course I usually refer to timeshare intervals as  “timeshare weeks” or “weeks”.

In addition to the purchase price, timeshare owners also pay an annual fee for property upkeep and management.  Most timeshare projects also reserve one or two one weeks usage of each unit for maintenance and repairs.

Historically, many timeshare developers have used high-pressure and deceptive sales tactics, with misleading and inaccurate portrayals of what buyers could expect from their timeshare ownership.  The timeshare industry has also had its share of unethical and dishonest resort developers and operators.  Consequently, timesharing has a bad reputation with many people.  Although the timeshare industry has improved its sales presentations, consumer awareness and education is still essential for owners to avoid being misled and to obtain the most value from their timeshare purchases.  This article is one effort in that process.

Despite these perceptions, timesharing is a good product for many people.  Timesharing makes resort ownership possible for many people who otherwise would not be able to enjoy such facilities, and there are many satisfied timeshare owners (including the author).  After buying one unit and enjoying it, many timeshare owners have purchased additional timeshares.  In addition, many well-known hotel and resort operators (such as Marriott, Disney and Hilton) have developed timeshare projects that have been successful and have greatly improved the image of timesharing.

Because of the bad impression many people have of timesharing, timeshare developers have developed other names for timeshare projects, such as “Vacation Ownership” or “Fractional Ownership”.  These programs are still timeshare projects, and many of the same principals apply.

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