Timeshares

A method of use and/or shared ownership of vacation real estate where purchasers acquire a period of time (often one week or an equivalency in points) in a condominium, apartment, or other type of vacation accommodation. Timeshares are also known as "vacation ownership." Members who own a timeshare have considerable flexibility. They can typically exchange their week or points internally for similar accommodations within their developer's own resort network, or they can exchange externally with one of the two major exchange companies: Interval International or RCI (Resort Condominiums, Inc.), assuming that the developer has an affiliation agreement with the exchange company and the member has also maintained active membership status with the exchange company. Depending on where the member acquired their timeshare, many other travel-related benefits could be offered by the resort developer and the affiliated exchange company.