Media

How to avoid the next timeshare maintenance bill

Timeshare memberships come with uncapped management fees that often start small and then rise to at least equal other accommodation of the same standard. Clearly this is unacceptable but timeshare contracts are impossible to escape…

…aren’t they?

What’s the problem?

Timeshare resorts cost tens of thousands of dollars to join. The sales pitch is that consumers are ‘paying for their vacations in advance.’
The only costs remaining (they are told) are minimal fees paid annually to cover upkeep and management.

So when those fees rise to the same cost as accommodation fees for any other equivalent standard hotel, customers have to wonder what exactly they paid all that money upfront for. Especially when they consider:

They legally bound to pay every year whether they vacation or not

They have no choice but to pay whatever increases are unilaterally imposed by their resort

Practically all timeshare resorts are available to non-members via sites like Booking.com

Why won’t resorts let their customers leave?

Timeshare companies only make part of their profits from new member sales. In the past, the product was a game changing travel industry disruptor. Many experts feel it has failed to evolve, and that regular vacation providers have overtaken timeshare in terms of quality, flexibility and value.
This has left an appreciable amount of current timeshare owners wanting to relinquish their ownerships and enjoy the advantages of regular vacations again.

Timeshare companies however rely on the money that their members have contracted to pay them in management fees.

Resorts will not give up that revenue without a fight.

Have people tried?

Absolutely. In both Europe and the USA people have tried court actions, walking away, resales and enlisting the help of firms advertising ‘timeshare exit’ services. Generally the result is the same: expense but no success.

The companies offering relinquishment or exit services are almost (but happily not quite) all either incompetent, or sometimes downright crooks.

So what can consumers do?

Relinquishing by themselves is very difficult. Timeshare companies have decades of experience in fighting their corner, and a practically unlimited legal budget.

Expert help is needed to combat the experts on the other side and safely negotiate a customer's way to freedom from the contract. But generally expert help is needed.

Out by Christmas?

The good news is: “If people take action now,” says Suzanne Stojanovic, spokesperson for Timeshare Advice Center, “there is a strong chance they will have their timeshare contract relinquished before their next management fee bill is due, by the end of this year.”