Understanding Timeshare Points

The acquisition of Sunterra timeshare by Diamond Resorts marked the end of an up and down period for the timeshare points based vacation ownership company, which had first come to the public’s attention in 2006 when Sunterra put its European timeshares up for sale. The Timeshare Owners Blog reported on the sale of the European properties in an entry titled, “Don’t Panic About Sunterra Timeshares.”

At our company, Sell My Timeshare NOW, we help timeshare owners advertise and market their timeshare for sale or rent. We always get questions about timeshare points in general, and sometimes about Club Sunterra Points specifically.

Sunterra Points represent a true undivided interest. For example, if you divide the ownership of a piece of property by the number of owners — AND you issue each owner a deed for their fragment of ownership, then you have what is known as divided interest.

The alternative is to establish an undivided interest. For example, if there are 52 owners of a timeshare unit, and they collectively own the timeshare unit under one deed, they have an undivided interest. But there still needs to be a way to define what each timeshare owner (or club member) owns. Assigning “points” is a perfect way to establish how large a piece of pie each person gets. If you own more points, then your piece of pie is larger than that of someone who owns fewer points.

And points function in the world of timeshares like currency. You can spend your points on a larger timeshare unit this year, but perhaps next year choose to use the same number of points on a smaller timeshare unit during a higher demand season. In some cases you can bank your points to use in a future year, purchase out-of-pocket additional points to increase your “spending power” or sometimes use your points for something totally different than timeshare, such as a cruise or airline tickets.

Here is some additional information about points that appliesspecifically to Club Sunterra Vacation memberships:

• Your membership is in perpetuity.
• The real property that you own in your undivided interest is deeded to an independent trustee, which is currently First American Trust. Sunterra members do not hold a deed to a timeshare unit or interval, but instead receive a Vacation Ownership Policy and Membership Certificate.
• Sunterra ownership can be sold or transferred. Club Sunterra Vacation SunOptions and membership in the Association are transferrable and a new owner can travel within the nineteen Club Sunterra Vacation resorts, or pay an additional fee for membership in to Club Sunterra, Inc.

The timeshare resale and rental professionals at Sell My Timeshare NOW are available to assist you when you buy, rent, or sell Sunterra timeshare, as well as other timeshare and vacation club memberships. They will also help you understand more about points, and the differing types of timeshare ownerships. Visit our website at www.sellmytimesharenow.com or call toll-free 877-815-4227 to learn more.