Timeshare is a concept of shared ownership vacation property. The selling of shares and construction issues is handled by a management company. Usually the locations of timeshare complexes are in popular places with the high demand of vacation property. On the other hand holiday exchange is swapping your property or timeshare with others to enjoy the vacation staying at no living cost.
Timeshare in Brief
- It is a marketing concept
- Operates on the basis of membership
- Ownership for a specific period
- Payment is made in advance
- Exchange timeshare properties within members
Major Domestic Brands of Timeshare
- Club Mahindra
- Sterling resort
- Cambay group
- Kamat Group
- Magic Holiday Resort
- Toshali Resort
The timeshare concept evolved due to the idea that for vacation people require lodging for a maximum of one to two weeks in a year. So dividing the ownership of a room, villa or cabin into 51 weeks (keeping one week for maintenance) will allow the buyer to purchase an ownership for one or two weeks in a year. So the owner can stay and spend a vacation at this place once a year. The next interesting thing is, now that the owner can exchange this ownership with similar ones from different locations. This way, once you buy a Timeshare property you can use it while you travel to different locations each year. Thus Timeshare is coupled with a Holiday exchange program. Usually these exchanges are done within members of a particular brand where once you have a membership, you can stay at different places covered by that brand. Timeshare allows a user pleasure, freedom, luxury and satisfaction to a traveler. The timeshare is one of the fastest growing hospitality industries in the world and is spreading in India at a rapid pace as well.
Timeshare Pros
- It is a onetime investment for the owner as the room rate is fixed and already paid in advance and allows the owner to revisit the same place time and again with a feeling of a second home.
- The stay is comparatively safe as only members a particular brand is given access to the place compared to the traditional hotel staying. You can enjoy a family atmosphere.
- It can be considered as an investment as well. The company may allow owner to transfer, sell or gift the timeshare ownership to others in future.
- The holiday exchange concept opens up a large number of options for you at different locations.
Time Share Cons
- Considerably large investment at the beginning of the membership.
- You have to book rooms well in advance to get accommodation as the ratio of members to room offered is still not great in India.
- Sometimes the management company operating your timeshare ownership offers substandard rooms and service and as you have already given the payment in advance, this creates a problem.
- Not for sightseeing type travelers as these rooms are often situated away from the happening places.
- Negative publicity by the traditional hotels may dampen your spirit.
Final Verdict
Timeshare and holiday exchange is still in its development stages in India. Though the current leading brands have over 1 lakh members each, and increasing their membership base at 20% per year, they are not expanding their rooms at the same pace. They also tend to keep the owners at dark regarding the number of members and rooms available. You have to book the rooms well in advance. Timeshare is not for sightseeing type of travelers, but for the ones who want to spend some luxurious leisure time in exotic places.
That is indeed an interesting dissection of timeshare. One observation from my own experience - not all timeshare properties are well maintained or well located. As a traveler, I like to get the pulse of the city and not all of them allow this owing to the location.
ReplyDeletePlaces like Mahindra are a destination by itself. And most often than not, we end up spending time in the resort only, forgetting to visit the place we actually are in. :-)
Thanks for providing your valuable inputs and enriching the post......
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