What is the problem with timeshare?

Is it time to say goodbye to that timeshare you purchased years ago, or you felt pressured into purchasing, or perhaps you simply have not been able to use it, or you cannot for whatever reason? Well, it probably would not surprise you to know that there are more unhappy timeshare owners than happy satisfied ones. For most people who enter the world of timeshare or holiday club membership, they soon realise that they are way more trouble than they are worth. For people who find themselves stuck in timeshare contracts and desperate to get out of them, the path to freedom is sometimes difficult and littered with obstacles. So why are there so many people in this position and what is exactly the problem with timeshare?

Many people come to us after learning that they could book a holiday at their timeshare cheaper online. This is a massive gripe for owners who often may have paid thousands to own a timeshare at an ‘exclusive’ resort and later find out they could have paid a lot less and not signed up to paying annual fees. Salespeople often sell timeshares on the basis that they are exclusive, but this is simply not the case. A simple online search soon exposes the amount of timeshare resorts selling rooms online for way below the price an owner is asked to pay.

There is no value in a timeshare, apart from the odd exception timeshares do not increase in value, in fact they decrease rapidly overtime too almost nothing. The timeshare resale market is almost non-existent in Europe and you can find them listed on eBay and other similar sites listed by desperate timeshare owners selling them for pennies just to be rid of them once and for all. There is a vibrant resale market in the U.S but they still sell for way less than the initial buy in cost.

Maintenance fees: Undoubtedly the number one reason people want to get rid of that pesky timeshare. Every year timeshare owners face a huge bill to pay for the upkeep at their resort. And it is anyone’s guess as to how much they would have increased by. Typically, they start off quite modest around the £400 mark, but without doubt the following year they would have increased, and this trend continues every year, above the rate of inflation, and can end up costing an owner over £1,000 a year. If an owner is also making loan repayments to pay for the initial cost of the timeshare, which are normally high interest, then this can end up costing in the thousands. So, if you were to add all these payments up annually, they would more than likely cost way more than the average family vacation.