7 Terms Used When You Sell, Rent, or Buy a Timeshare: Part I

Like most industries, timeshare and vacation ownership comes with its own industry-specific language. Too often, those who use these terms daily lose sight of the fact that others may not intuitively “speak their language,” when it comes to the terminology of timeshares. Here are definitions of a few of the words and phrases you may run into when you sell, rent, or buy a timeshare.

• Accelerated Use: Some resorts permit you to “accelerate” or speed up the way you use your timeshare. For example, you may own the right to vacation every year at a resort for a 20-year right-to-use period. If your resort, the terms of your contract, and availability permit, you may be able to use four weeks per year, every year for five years instead.
• Bonus Time: This is one of the great advantages of timeshare and one that too often goes unused. Through your resort (or through your timeshare exchange membership), you may have the option to rent additional weeks of timeshare use at discounted prices. In the case of Developer Bonus Weeks, you may even be able to purchase unsold developer owned timeshare intervals that may or may not be discounted, but will never be as competitively priced as the same week on the timeshare resale market.
• Check-In Date: Your check-in date is the assigned date and day of the week when your timeshare interval begins. Typically, timeshare check-in dates are Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. If you check-in later than your scheduled day, you are not extending your check out date beyond your original schedule.
• Escritura: This is a Spanish term for the registering of your timeshare “Deed of Title.” Never sign a contract to buy a timeshare if any of the terms of the contract appear in a language you do not fully understand.
• Escrow: Escrow is a safekeeping transfer of funds. Using a secured account, money to buy a timeshare or timeshare resale is held by a third-party until all transfer of documents is completed, assuring both the timeshare seller and the timeshare buyer that there is a secure transfer of property ownership and funds.
• Fee Simple: Describing deeded ownership, fee simple ownership means that the timeshare owner holds a deed in his or her name to a percentage of ownership (typically measured by intervals of one week) to a resort property.
• Lockout or Lock off Unit: Timeshare units are typically a studio unit, 1-, 2- or 3-bedroom (occasionally 4-bedroom) condo or villa, most with a living area, kitchen, and one or more bathrooms. But a lockout or lock off unit could be described as a “unit and a half”, meaning that it can be used as a whole unit or is purpose-designed to be used as two separate units.

Be sure to check tomorrow’s The Timeshare Authority blog for Part II of 7 Terms Used When You Sell, Rent, or Buy a Timeshare. You can also find more timeshare industry definitions on our Sell My Timeshare NOW website under the Timeshare Glossary.