This timeshare article explains some considerations about timeshare in the tourism industry.
What is timeshare?
With timeshare you acquire the right to use a holiday complex, a hotel or an apartment for several years for a certain period of the year. This right is usually valid for a certain time of the year, for example the third week in June, either for a certain apartment or a certain category of holiday home, it is transferable to others. Therefore, when entering into such a contract, you can basically go on vacation wherever someone else wants to exchange his timeshare rights, whenever a desired point in time is available, and you can sell the rights to this contract. There are international exchange agencies for this. That’s the theory. In practice, this depends on many boundary conditions. And with a one-off payment everything is by no means done, there are also annual ancillary costs.
watch out, trap
However, this idea, which is good in its approach, is often misused, prospective customers are deliberately incorrectly informed about the property, they are not informed about their rights. Unfortunately, these are not isolated cases. The following are possible approaches by recruiters:
Recruiting on the boardwalk
On the way to the beach you pass a booth. It is adorned with a logo that could belong to the local tourist information office. There are some nice-looking men and women in uniform outfits, their T-shirts also have an official-looking logo. They politely ask if you would be willing to give up a minute for an opinion poll, as a thank you you can take part in a raffle. The questions are silly, the game is over after a few seconds, and now you get a scratch card. 1 lucky symbol 1 t-shirt, 2 identical symbols - some trite stuff, completely uninteresting, these tickets do not exist anyway. 3 identical symbols - oh, you're in luck, that almost never happens, you get either 1 video camera or 1 week of free vacation or € 500 in cash. You must of course pick up the camera or the money at our facility. To set the vacation date, you have to get there too. Don't worry, you will be brought there, free of charge, of course, you will also receive a drink and of course you will be brought back too. With that the advertiser has done his job, he probably doesn't know much more than what he said. In return, he receives € 20 per customer, the head of the push team receives another € 10. This practice is ancient, but it is still very current and is practiced in this or a similar way in some vacation spots. There are holidaymakers who have experienced this several times a day in Gran Canaria in different places within 10 days. Strangely enough, the woman always got the lucky ticket, the man always got nothing.
Those who get involved will be dragged into a time-sharing agency and then perhaps confronted with this type of vacation for the first time in their life. The new interlocutor turns out to be an excellent advertising expert, he instructs you in his own way about timeshare, explains that you can definitely take a vacation here in a first-class facility in the coming years, and briefly calculates how cheap it is and what it will bring a handful of first class references. And if you want to go on holiday somewhere else, no problem, there are always people who want to swap. For very skeptical customers, a price reduction is then offered, which only applies here and now, then the contract is perfect. Just bad luck that the contract was concluded in the holiday destination, the law of the holiday country applies and the local courts have jurisdiction in the event of disputes.
Recruitment through travel agents
The following type of advertising is not quite as clear. Tourists land at the destination airport, e.g. on Gran Canaria, are distributed to waiting buses at the exit and driven to their holiday destination. On the way, they will receive an offer for a free information event. This takes place the next morning, you learn more or less interesting details about the country and its people, and in addition, representatives from partner companies come to organize excursions, rent cars and offer the opportunity to visit a great new holiday complex. There is no mention of timeshare. As a thank you for your interest in the new holiday club, a voucher for excursions worth € 30 will be offered. The new resort happens to be owned by a timeshare company. When asked by phone, you find out that the head office of a large German tourism company has been informed about this additional employment of its representative and is at least turning a blind eye.
Timeshare models
- Stock system: after acquiring shares in the company you receive a kind of dividend, e.g. as points. These points can also be acted upon. A certain number of points is then required for a holiday in a certain apartment, depending on the season. One of these providers is the Disney Vacation Club, the Swiss company has a similar procedure Hapimag.
- Point system: The timeshare company has joined a swap club, the points at your own company are standardized worldwide, so you can use swap companies such as RCI choose holiday destinations around the world from a large number of facilities. The exchange companies then incur costs for a multi-year membership as well as a processing fee per vacation.
Regarding the shares, it should be noted whether they are tied to a specific vacation period (fixed) or variable float) are.
In theory, you can sell the shares in timeshare facilities again, but in practice the market for this is relatively small, at least in Europe. The American market is much more open in this regard, including in terms of price Hotel timeshare resales shows.
Timeshare costs
The cost of a week in a timeshare facility should pay for itself in around 10 years. This is what consumer advice centers and reputable providers suggest. If the timeshare entry for an apartment in Gran Canaria is set at a 5-digit euro amount per holiday week, this is comparable to the price for pure accommodation in an apartment of 1000 € / week. In addition, there are ancillary costs, which are also several 100 € annually. Some of these apartments can be occupied by up to 4 people, then it might pay off. Most timeshare facilities are extremely attractive and offer the comfort of upscale hotels, corresponding to 4 or 5 stars.
In Gran Canaria the plants are from Beginning a good example. In Patalavaca at Arguineguín the complex rises Anfi del Mar with luxurious accommodations. A white beach laid out with 10,000 tons of sand from the Caribbean, numerous restaurants, a diverse range of activities and artistically designed landscape with tropical vegetation guarantees an attractive holiday, not only for timeshare customers, but also for package tourists who work with a large German tourism company book.
The Anfi Group also has a plant in Tauro at Puerto Rico, it is known for its exclusive golf club. Not far from that Amadores Beach, and here comes one with Anfi del Mar comparable timeshare facility. Attempts are made to market these by all means (As of Nov. 2010)).
Whether timeshare shares pay off or not is not just a question of money, but also of personal preference. When on vacation, however, you should consider:
- If a contract is concluded abroad, the contract law there applies.
- Timeshare shares are usually notarized. This should be clarified before the first payment.
- Consider follow-up costs such as renovation, maintenance and servicing.
- Take a contract with you before signing it, check it out in peace and sleep on it for a night. A possible discount offer also applies to reputable providers on the following day.
- Under no circumstances should you pay a deposit, according to German law, such a deposit is only payable 14 days after receipt of the contract, in Spain a period of 10 days applies.
- Insist on a right of withdrawal of 14 days, this is common law in Germany. In other countries, too, there are rights of withdrawal with sometimes different deadlines.
- Do not close any holiday club memberships. These have a shorter duration and the legal basis is less favorable.
- First of all, calculate whether a timeshare share plus additional costs without flight and without meals is really that much cheaper than the cost of 10 package tours to a comparable destination including flight and half board.
