Where Do You Get Your Timeshare Information From?

If it’s only from this blog, you’re making a mistake. That might sound odd, but it’s true. While after spending 20 years in and around the industry, I have a fairly good grasp of things in this country, I have almost no understanding of how timeshare operates in Australia for instance. Nor do I have a solid understanding of the byzantine language of how most timeshare contracts are written, other than they’re in perpetuity and they heavily favor the developer. 

Why am I saying this?  Because in 2020, it’s incredibly easy for anyone with a keyboard and an internet connection to disseminate all sorts of timeshare “stuff” with little or no regard for facts. 

Self-proclaimed exit companies with not a single licensed attorney on staff profess to be able to get you out of your timeshare contract and in the most egregious cases, also claim they’ll be able to get you a full refund of your purchase price. Angry owners, disguised as advocates who profess to be working to change the industry but instead show a clear misunderstanding of what meaningful change is. Bloggers who’ve never even sat through a timeshare sales pitch, much less looked at a contract, trot out the old standby “timeshare is a real estate investment.”

Of course, the industry itself puts out press releases and infamous infographics proclaiming how much money is being saved by owning a timeshare, curiously overstating the amount of annual hotel price inflation and mysteriously omitting the cost of food in their equation. Oh, and let’s not forget their claim that timeshare owners have more sex on vacation than those staying at hotels. 

Add this all up, and you’ll see that while consumers have access to more information than ever before, it’s imperative to be selective in what information you pay attention to. 

Should you believe the salesperson who has a short amount of time to sell you the most expensive product they can or the zealous but not fully informed creator of a Facebook page who claims to be legally fighting the timeshare industry on behalf of owners, but has accomplished nothing to date?  The answer of course is NEITHER without doing more digging and asking more questions. 

I’ve been saying for many years now that anyone who uses the words “free”, “perfect”, “always” and “never” is lying. I’m going to add “quick” and “easy” to that list. Nothing is as cut and dry as most people make it out to be when it comes to timeshare matters. 

It’s also important to find out what the other side thinks of the person or organization you’re getting information from. Have they been sued?  Why?  Are they respected?  Why or why not?  Are they able to work with the other side towards positive change?

I’ll take this opportunity to pat myself on the back here and let you in on a little secret...I’ll be announcing later on this year that I’ll be working with “the other side” on two, perhaps three projects designed to improve timeshare for everyone. That’s not an indication that I’m giving up my stance as a consumer advocate or under any influence by anyone or any organization, rather it’s a clear indication that I have earned the respect of both consumers and the industry. 

In the meantime, be careful, ask questions, follow the money and remember that no one knows everything about this complex product known as timeshare. 

Where Is Your Public Offering Statement?

If you’re like most first time timeshare buyers, you may have no idea what I’m referring to. BIG MISTAKE. 

The Public Offering Statement (POS) explains in detail everything you should know about your purchase PRIOR TO PURCHASING. In fact, if you look through the mountains of paperwork you received when you purchased, or as is increasingly common these days; buried in a CD-ROM, you’ll find the POS with this phrase on the front: “READ PRIOR TO SIGNING”.

Chances are you did not know you received, much less read this POS when you purchased your timeshare. 

To be fair, the POS must be received prior to or at the same time as the other paperwork. Either way, you didn’t know it even existed, did you?

Asking for this POS prior to signing any purchase paperwork is a wonderful thing to do as it will put the sales staff and the closing/verification officer on notice that they’re not dealing with an ordinary uninformed consumer. 

If this post helps one consumer from making a bad purchase, I’m happy. As for the rest of you who already purchased; find the POS, make a pot of coffee and settle in for a long and eye opening read. 

You’re welcome.