Timeshare, Vacation Club, Vacation Ownership, and Fractional Ownership are all terms which refer, broadly speaking, to the same concept; buying time in a property or resort for the purposes of vacationing with your family.

What you might not realize, however, is that there are different formats and models within this industry, and these terms refer to different forms of the same concept. The only term which refers to a wholly unique state of being is Fractional Ownership.

Read on to find out more:

Understanding Timeshare

The term “Timeshare” refers to the original model which first became hugely popular in the 1980’s. The concept was that an individual or family bought a set amount of time, on set dates, in a specific place, and that this was their time for a term of 20 – 30 years. The units value was broken down into 52 weekly segments by the hotel or resort, and people bought a share of the time available in these units. Hence the term “Timeshare”.

This model worked for the target consumer of the day, as they would most likely be able to count on the same two-week vacation time each year. As the world changed, however, so too did the needs and wants of the consumer.

Vacation ownership and membership

Vacation Ownership came next and saw the introduction of more flexibility for the consumer. Fixed weeks were replaced with floating weeks which could be moved across a season. This allowed the consumer more freedom to change their schedule when they needed to.

After this came the Membership model which is most often found today; this did away with the idea of buying time, and instead put forth the concept of buying points which could be exchanged for time in a timeshare resort and unit. This model enabled customers to change the length of their stay, the units they stayed in, and even the specific resort in which they vacationed. Furthermore, the points could often be banked or borrowed as needed.

So as you can see the terms are representative of the steady move towards flexibility in the same industry.

Vacation Clubs

The term “Vacation Club” is an umbrella term which is used to describe an array of timeshare products of varying age and style. These products in turn offer a varying range of benefits and drawbacks; some only offer discounted vacations, whilst others can be traded through International Exchange networks, some even offer travel agency services and cruise locations.

It really is possible to tailor make your timeshare product these days.

Fractional Ownership

Fractional Ownership is a different product with a similar concept behind it.

Fractional Ownership, first and foremost, is the deeded ownership of a portion of a property as opposed to the long term leasing of a portion of time in a property. Generally speaking the time gained through buying a fraction comes in chunks of months rather than weeks, and the owner of this fraction does not need to book time to use the property during their allotted time. Furthermore, they benefit from any rises in value that the property experiences, and own their fraction in perpetuity.