Timeshares for Singles? It’s a Whole New Marketing Dynamic

If you assume that married couples with children own the majority of timeshare units, you are correct. The average timeshare purchaser is likely to be middle to upper income, married, and somewhere between ‘fortyish’ and ‘fiftyish’. A large percentage of the timeshare vacation property sold today is to people in this demographic, and quite honestly, it accounts for a lot of timeshares.

According to an article published recently by Hotel Interactive, the sales of new timeshare units in the US climbed by 16 percent in 2006 to a total of $10 billion. The article, which is based on a study conducted by Ernst & Young, LLP, and released by ARDA International Foundation, also said that among the 625 US timeshare resorts surveyed, timeshare sales are up 81 percent over the past five years. But as you will quickly realize if you look at the vast inventory of timeshare resales available at Sell My Timeshare NOW, while many people are buying timeshare, many people are also selling timeshare.

Dennis Serpone, president of Singles Marketing Group adds an interesting twist to the topic of who’s buying timeshare units. In an article published in the June 2007 edition of Perspective, A Timeshare & Leisure Property Magazine, Serpone suggests that timeshare sales today should be directed more toward singles than couples. In “The Singles Experience,” Serpone describes singles as the, “largest group of the most receptive overlooked people in the world”. Serpone says that most singles hate the way they currently vacation, traveling alone or with a friend to a resort where they are left to mingle primarily with families or couples. He points out that singles generally “have more disposable income, more time and desire to travel, (and) less family obligations…”

The article also announces plans for “the first totally dedicated singles resort”, which I suppose means first totally dedicated singles timeshare resort. The resort is planned for Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands and will feature fifty beachfront timeshare units, anticipated to sell for $15,000 to $25,000 per timeshare interval week.

It’s all an interesting idea. While I don’t anticipate that timeshare developers will ever neglect couples because couples represent the heart and soul of the timeshare vacation market, it would be nice to see the needs and interests of the millions of adult singles also addressed by the timeshare industry. Choices and options are always a good thing.