(Note: timeshare is spelled one word not two!)

Regardless of how you spell the word, the basic philosophy of timeshare is simple; You and a group of other people share the purchase cost of a vacation accommodations, in increments of one week (or more) per year of use, thus guaranteeing your ability to use that accommodation during the period of time you own, either for life or for a specified number of years. I just said it's simple didn't I? That sounded a little confusing... how about this: Instead of buying a vacation home, timeshare allows you to buy the amount of time you actually vacation.

Accommodations range from hotel rooms to condos, from cabins to luxury houses and castles, from yachts to cruise ships to RV's and houseboats. Now you can even own a timeshare interest in a private jet! There are many other travel opportunities that are available to timeshare owners provided in large part by external exchange companies such as RCI and Interval International. The exchange companies do not actually build resorts; they allow owners to trade with other owners to travel to other resorts destinations in over 100 countries around the world.

Owning timeshare in the traditional sense meant owning 1 week of use per year. A developer would build a resort made up of condominiums, villas, houses, etc and sell them by the week instead of full ownership. Even though there are 52 weeks in a year, the developer would normally only sell 51 shares leaving one week each year for annual renovations and maintenance. The weeks were assigned a number based on the calendar year. You would pick the week number you wanted to own at the time you purchased and you would have the right to use that week at the resort you purchased every year. Today we refer to this type of ownership as "FIXED WEEK" ownership. If you have friends or family who purchased timeshare in the United States more than 10 years ago, this is probably what they own. This sort of ownership allowed people the opportunity to own their vacation home without the hassle of maintaining it, security and trying to figure out what to do with it when they were not there.

Over the years timeshare has changed dramatically. Most changes in timeshare came due to the fact vacation owners wanted more flexibility. There were a lot of people who didn't want to go to the same resort or travel during the same week every year. There are many different types of timeshare available on the market today. With all the different vacation ownership options available, if you travel or want to travel more it's not so much "is timeshare right for me?" it's "what type of timeshare ownership and which timeshare is right for me?". If you don't want to travel, timeshare is definitely NOT right for you.

To learn more about different types of ownership, visit 'Types of Timeshare Ownership'