Is timeshare a good idea for travelers lodging accommodations?
To understand the meaning and important differences between vacationing in a timeshare product or in a commercial hotel or vacation rental, we must start with a professional on the TS side: when to buy a timeshare that you are investing(?) in your vacation plans as a unit owner for a week and for so many years. The pro: you buy cheap. The downside though is that you own a week and there are officially 51 other owners of that unit. Pretty easy to understand, right? The fact is: You, the buyer, do not own a property, you own a vacation week for any length of time, and in some cases, you own a “share,” literally and figuratively speaking. It’s all in the name Time and Share.
go down to the return of such a unit. A hotel is professionally managed and owned and maintained, just like any vacation home, condo, or townhome. Maintenance, interior decoration, furniture, investments and improvements, interest in the property is in charge of a single person. Speaks for itself, the time share unit is not.
A renter should keep in mind that the purpose of a hotel or private property is to accommodate a guest. The timeshare, however, serves a different purpose: It’s a big sales office with a fresh load of potential buyers when the vacationers arrive. Knowing the difference in purpose, one has to wonder why a TS rental is (sometimes) cheaper than a privately owned vacation rental or hotel. For the timeshare business, the work only starts or becomes interesting the moment a new load of prospects arrives. Therefore, the business of TS is not to rent accommodation as such, but to attract prospects, at whatever cost/price.
The hotel or vacation rental business, on the other hand, is accomplished when they have earned the trust of guests and beaten the competition. When the tourist arrives, it is his experience and customer service that will comfort the tourist and make him a recurring customer.
To be fair, price can be a deciding factor in getting guests to vacation…as long as you know where you are going or what you expect from your vacation. Safe travels!