Timeshare Weeks

Surely you have heard about timeshares, as a way to stay at the world’s most popular vacation resorts, for –what they like to call– an affordable price. On the surface, a timeshare might seem like a good investment with an excellent value, being that you get to share the expenses of the property with others.
However, when all the timeshare fees must be paid, you will realize that you could have saved more money by planning your vacations on your own.  In this article, we’ll find out what timeshare weeks are, how they work, where to get them and how to get rid of them.
Timeshare ownership
Before going deeper in discussing what timeshare weeks are, let’s talk about timeshare ownership in general. A timeshare is a very particular type of ownership or use rights in a certain resort, which allows you to use the unit for a specific time every year, during a certain number of years –usually from 5 to 50.
Timeshare prices vary depending on several factors such as the brand of the resort, the location and the size of the unit, however, the average price of a timeshare is about $20,000 USD.
Timeshares are complicated products; therefore, they cannot be entered into lightly. Unfortunately, the timeshare industry does not have the best reputation. That is because timeshares are generally sold during high-pressure sales presentations, and most of the promises told by the timeshare salespeople are just illusory.
Timeshare Weeks
Timeshares are regularly sold as a one-week program, which means that you purchase the unit for use during a specific week of the year. Most of the time, when you buy a certain number of timeshare weeks, the developer still owns the resort, which means that you only purchase the right to use your unit.
How does it work?
Every year has a total of 52 weeks, of which you can choose the one that meets your vacation needs better. The following chart shows the timeshare weeks of this year:
2013 Timeshare Weeks
So, do the math: 52 weeks, sold for $20,000 USD each one, which gives us a total of $1,040,000 for each timeshare unit! Isn’t it an incredible business for the resorts?
Where to buy timeshare weeks?
All timeshare companies would be happy to sell you a timeshare, but we would suggest you not to buy direct from the developer. The secondary market has many units available, usually at half-price or even less.
However, our biggest recommendation would be to think it twice before buying a timeshare, assure you to read and understand all and each one of the points written in the contract, and calculate the total cost of the unit to see if you will be able to use it and afford it.
The inconvenient truth about timeshares
Not all timeshares are bad, in fact, fractional ownership can be considered as a good option for some people, especially for big families who enjoy revisiting the same destination every year.
Nevertheless timeshares are not for most people. Also, there are lots of timeshare complaints about the yearly fees and how it becomes almost impossible to pay them, being that they increase every year.
How to get rid of my timeshare weeks?
We know that getting out of timeshare contract can be a big issue; and the bad news is that timeshares are definitely not easy to sell, mainly because the resale market has collapsed and there are few incentives for buyers.
Nevertheless, the good news is that there is another possible way to get rid of your timeshare weeks efficiently. Timeshare cancellation is the real and most effective solution to get rid of a timeshare. When properly cancelling a timeshare, there is no further strings attached to the resort.