Timeshares: Blame the Packaging, Not the Product

There’s no good reason for unethical sales practices to exist in the timeshare industry. On the flipside, there’s a world of reasons for you to buy timeshare resales.

Imagine that you arrive at a luxury resort for the express purpose of attending a timeshare sales presentation. The salesman promises you the world, and you sign the paperwork. A few months later, when it comes time to use or exchange your timeshare, you run into complications. Confusion soon turns into anger when you find out that what you were promised verbally was not described in the actual contract, and the resort won’t deliver on the salesman’s extravagant promises. 

We’ve all heard this scenario so many times that at this point the terms “timeshare” and “misleading sales practices” seem almost synonymous in the public consciousness. The big resort companies blame rogue scammers for giving the timeshare industry a bad name, while their marketing divisions exacerbate this problem even further by misleading and pressuring consumers into buying at over-inflated prices. 

Isn’t this kind of ironic?

With all these companies desperately trying to con people into buying timeshares, you’d think that timeshare was some sort of communicable disease. Still, one of the many reasons why I love my job is the sizeable pool of timeshare properties that we own, trade, resell, or use. I’ve used a number of our timeshares while traveling on business, and I have yet to be unimpressed.

Timeshares are great, no question about it. Since this is so, why do so many companies and individuals waste money, time, and other valuable resources on unethical, sometimes illegal, business practices?

There is no good reason for a timeshare sales company to mislead or pressure potential buyers. That’s what makes timeshare-by-owner advertising such an appealing alternative to buying timeshare from questionable resort sales staff.

What this all boils down to is that timeshare is a quality product, but it is often poorly marketed.

Buyers can avoid both deceptive salesmen and inflated sale prices by buying timeshare from individual owners, on the resale market.