How Does a Timeshare Work?

Timeshare History

In the early 1960s in Europe, skiers were sold on the idea of buying partial ownership of a hotel rather than paying for a room each time they came to ski. Thus, timeshares were born. They have boomed in recent years, as hotel corporations have jumped into this market offering resort locations next to established hotels in addition to locations that are entirely new to the corporation. You can use a timeshare one of three ways--stay, exchange or swap for points.

Staying at Your Home Resort

If you choose to stay at your home resort (the location at which you have fractional ownership), you simply make a request to your vendor for the dates that you would like to stay. If the dates are more than 12 months from your last stay, the vendor will check the availability and process the request. If the dates are too close to your last stay, the vendor will discuss the options with you as some resorts do not allow you to stay more than once each 12-month period.

Be aware of the period in which you purchased. Some resorts have differing values for their weeks, depending on peak periods. If you have a week in the most popular period, you'll likely have any request at your home resort granted. If, however, you own in a less popular time period and wish to stay during a more popular period, you may be required to exchange your week prior to making the reservation.

Exchanging a Timeshare

If you are exchanging your week, you typically do so in one of two ways: either depositing the week into the inventory of the vendor or exchange company, or requesting a specific time period at your home resort with the intent to exchange for another specific resort. Typically, if you own a popular week at a popular resort, making a specific time and location request will be more effective.

If you own a timeshare with a hotel corporation, you might also be able to swap your week out for points in the hotel's loyalty program. These points, values vary based on your timeshare week, can then be exchanged for airline miles or tickets and hotel accommodations, which can be very useful if you want to stay in a location without a resort into which you can exchange your week. Be aware that most hotel timeshare programs, though, may limit the number of times that you can swap your week for points.