I’ve often said that the timeshare industry seems to operate in an alternate reality from other industries and as such, the “rules” that pertain to other industries seemingly don’t apply, despite the fact that reason and common sense should dictate otherwise.
Consider these questions:
What other product do you have to pay the seller when you want to give it back, only to have them sell it again to someone else with no differentiation between new and used?
What other industry has created another industry devoted to getting the customer released from the product? This is NOT like the used car market.
What other industry sells a product that is clearly not a real estate interest but charges closing costs, real estate taxes and general upkeep?
What other industry markets their product not by extolling the many virtues of it through traditional advertising methods, but by bribing consumers with a product totally unrelated to the product and in any cases, a direct competitor to the product (market timeshare by dangling a cheap hotel stay)?
I believe that the timeshare industry is at a critical tipping point. Their old, outdated marketing methods as well as their product that is perpetual will not work on a younger, savvier consumer. As more inquiries are made into the industry by the media, advocates and the general population, more questions are being raised such as the ones in this post.
The real question is which timeshare developer is going to take the important first step and change the paradigm?
2 comments:
Here’s another question:
How can a company that paid $800K to settle a case brought by the Arizona AG claiming they “used deceptive sales practices and made numerous oral misrepresentations and false statements during #timeshare sales presentations” still be allowed to operate?
The AG merely "warned" them about the many complaints it had received. No one proved they did anything wrong. There was no trial.
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