Timeshares versus Hotels, You Do the Math

Reading the travel blog that Kitty Bean Yancey writes for USA Today always gives me new insights about travel, and particularly hotel accommodations. Her blog, the Hotel Hotsheet, cites Smith Travel Research showing that in November 2007, occupancy rates at luxury hotels were 68.9 percent compared to 51.8 percent at economy lodgings, but down overall from the same month last year.

Across the US, room rates are up 6 percent, bringing luxury hotel rooms in at $300 per night and economy rooms at $52 per night. According to figures from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the average daily hotel rate is now over $100 per night.

Comparing Hotel Accommodations with Timeshare Condos

The average hotel room in America provides comfortable sleeping accommodations for one or two people in a queen size bed and rather cramped accommodations for 4 in two standard beds. It won’t have an in-room washer and dryer; is not likely to have a patio or balcony, and at that price, probably won’t have a separate living area.

Your $100+ per night room will not afford you multiple televisions and DVD players and the odds are very high it won’t have a full kitchen with dining area. In fact, for $100 per night, your hotel room will be little more than a bedroom, bathroom, and maybe a mini-fridge and an overpriced mini-bar.

Timeshare resales on the other hand, frequently feature all the amenities the hotel room lacks, as well as having many other perks that make your stay more comfortable in far more spacious accommodations. And the prices? Well, they just don’t compare.

For starters, your hotel room at $100 is subject to sales tax. In many areas, it is also subject to tourist or resort tax, sometimes known as a bed tax. In Orlando, Florida, for example, the tourist tax is an additional 6 percent on top of the 6.5 percent sales tax. Boom! Your $100 per night room, suddenly became – in reality – $112 and change each night.

With timeshare condos, you actually own your timeshare. You may in fact pay property tax outright or property tax as part of your annual maintenance fee, but you won’t pay sales tax or bed tax each time you vacation in your timeshare.

If you finance your timeshare condo, you may also be able to write off part or all of your mortgage interest as a deduction on your federal income taxes. Don’t expect to write off any part of your hotel room on your taxes unless of course, you are claiming it as a business expense, in which case you can make the same claim about the nightly cost of your timeshare condo.

Lastly, and this is the most important part of all, the money you spend on your hotel room is money gone for good and these days, those words are particularly hard to hear.

The money you spend on a timeshare condo pays for vacation ownership. A timeshare condo becomes a lifestyle that you own, can enjoy for years to come, and that actually becomes cheaper and cheaper the more often you use it and the longer you own it.

Hotel rooms are great for some types of overnight stays and travel. But in the big picture, money you throw out the window forever for a hotel room simply never compares to owning timeshares – especially timeshare you buy smart as timeshare resales.

To learn more about the opportunities in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW on the web or call us at 877-815-4227.