What is a timeshare

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Home >> What is a Timeshare

History of Timeshare Industry

A $10 billion industry servicing hundreds of thousands of owners worldwide, the timeshare industry has a relatively short, but very productive history. Timeshares first began in the early 1960's at a ski resort in the French Alps. At this time there were two timeshare companies who began purchasing other resort properties around Europe giving their owners a choice of multiple vacation destinations. By the late 1960's, timesharing appeared in the United States in Hawaii, and by the early 1970's, timeshare quickly gained popularity in Florida when existing condo developments turned to the timeshare resort model. Read More..

Hyatt was the first major brand to offer deeded ownership. As the timeshare industry continued to expand in Florida, Resort Condominiums International (RCI) was founded in 1974, giving timeshare owners the flexibility to exchange weeks between different resorts across the U.S.

In the late 1970's and throughout the 80's, the timeshare industry continued to grow at leaps and bounds. Timeshare was seen as an affordable way to enjoy a lifetime of great vacations...at incredible destinations across the country and world. In the early 1990's, timesharing was a common word in vacation travel with major brands such as Marriott, Sheraton, Ramada and Hilton all offering some form of timeshare ownership.

Today, the timeshare industry is a multi-billion dollar industry spread all across the world. Seeing unprecedented growth year over year for the last ten years, timesharing is poised to grow even more in the years to come. [ Close ]

Timeshare Terminology

The following is a list of commonly used terms within the timeshare industry. To help you gain a better understanding of the many features and benefits of vacation ownership, please read through the following terms and corresponding definitions. Read More..

Banking or Deposit - Depositing a week of timeshare into an exchange system or inventory pool.
Biennial - Use of a timeshare week every other year. Owners are often referred to as either 'odd' or 'even' year owners. This purchase option is currently not available through Gold Key Resorts.
Developer - the Company owning the resort, responsible for constructing the accommodations on-site and selling the product. Gold Key Resorts is the Developer for all the properties that we currently sell.
Exchange Company - The system that allows timeshare owners to trade the accommodations they own for comparable accommodations or travel-related services. For our exchange company, Gold Key Resorts is affiliated with Interval International.
Fixed Week - A type of timeshare ownership in which usage rights attached to a specific week of the year in perpetuity. This is the product that Gold Key Resorts currently sells.
Floating Week - a type of timeshare ownership where the use rights are subject to the owner reserving his or her week within a season purchased or sometimes throughout the year. This purchase option is currently not available through Gold Key Resorts.
Fractional Ownership - Leisure real estate sold in intervals of more than one week and less than whole ownership. This purchase option is currently not available through Gold Key Resorts.
Home Owners Association (HOA) - The group of owners that administer the rules and regulations of a resort. Creation of an HOA is often required by state laws.
Home Resort - The resort location where a new purchaser owns his or her week or designated as the home resort in a club or points based program. Ownership is usually tied to this home resort and generally involves priority reservation rights in that location.
Lock-Off - A type of timeshare unit consisting of multiple living and sleeping quarters designed to function as two discrete units for purposes of occupancy and exchange. The unit can be combined to form one large unit or can be split or 'locked-off' into two or more separate units, allowing the owner to split the vacation into multiple stays or bank all or a portion of exchange purposes.
Maintenance Fee - A fee that timeshare owners are required to pay, usually on an annual basis, to cover the costs of running the resort, including daily management, upkeep and improvements. Gold Key Resorts offers Owners Rewards, an easy option for you to pay your resort maintenance fees without having to put money from your pocket.
Points - A 'currency' that represents timeshare ownership and is used to establish value for seasons, unit sizes, and resort locations. Points are used by some developers for both internal and external exchanges.
Right to Use - A timeshare owner's right to occupy a unit at a resort for a specified number of years and having no real estate interest conveyed.
Trading Power - A term used for the value assigned for exchange purposes to a member's deposited vacation time.
Vacation Ownership - A term often interchanged with the term timesharing, described as a method of use and/or shared ownership of vacation real estate where purchasers acquire a period of time (usually a week) in a condominium, apartment or other type of vacation accommodation. [ Close ]

Industry Facts & Stats

Vacation ownership has seen some of the fastest and most consistent growth in the entire travel industry over the past 10 years. Realizing double digit growth year over year, vacation ownership shows no signs of slowing down in the years to come. Read More..

Number of Timeshare Units: 176, 232 timeshare units.

Number of Timeshare Owners: On January 1, 2007, approximately 4.4 million households owned one or more US timeshare weekly intervals or points equivalents. This represents a 7% increase over January 1, 2006.

Sales Volume: In 2006, there were nearly 538,000 active sales intervals sold, at an average price of $18,502. Total sales volume was $10 billion, a 16% increase over 2005. [ Close ]

How Timeshare Works

Vacation ownership takes the hassle out of second home and vacation home ownership. You purchase your future vacations at today's price and for just the time you need. Read More..

You make a one-time purchase of furnished resort accommodations at a fraction of whole ownership costs and only pay an annual maintenance fee. Each unit of a Gold Key timeshare resort is divided into weekly intervals, with your vacation ownership including a deeded interest in real estate. The accommodations are priced accordingly to a variety of factors, including size of the unit, resort amenities, location and season of use. You own the vacation accommodations but only for the number of weeks that you purchase.

This traditional one week interval purchase offers the owners the use of their home resort for one specified week out of the year. Or, through our affiliation with Interval International, your purchase allows you the option of vacation exchange.

Vacation exchange offers you a lifetime of exciting travel adventures and luxurious services all across the world. From ski slopes to beaches, spas to luxury cruise ships, modern cities to quaint villages, championship golf courses to dude ranches, exchange offers a variety of experiences and accommodation choices abound, with villas, efficiencies, condominiums, cabins and more.

Vacation exchange works in the following way. Through Interval International, you place your week into a pool of available resort weeks. You then choose an available resort and week from that pool. An exchange fee is typically charged by Interval International.

As a Gold Key timeshare owner you will be required to pay annual maintenance fees. These maintenance fees help maintain the quality and future value of the resort. Yearly maintenance fees pay for onsite management, unit upkeep and refurbishing, and utilities and maintenance of the resort's common areas and amenities. The amount of the yearly maintenance fee typically varies by resort and size of unit and is paid by the owner in proportion to the amount of time and / or unit owned. [ Close ]