Selling Vacation Ownership Vs Timeshare Ownership

Steve Luba

June 16, 2022

Accurately Position Your Vacation Property on the Resale Market

Vacation ownership is incredibly popular in the U.S. With an estimated 5.7 million vacation homes and nearly 10 million timeshare owners, there are a lot of people who own vacation property – and a lot of people potentially looking to sell that property. 

Tapping into a Sizeable Industry

According to a 2018 study by the University of Central Florida, as many as 85% of timeshare owners regret their purchase. That’s a lot of properties for potential buyers to acquire. 

Vacation home sales are a $13 billion-a-year industry, with vacation ownership sales hitting $8 billion a year, not including the timeshare resale market. So, what is the difference between selling a vacation home versus a timeshare, and how can owners correctly position themselves to sell their property?

Before reviewing the differences relative to the sales process, let’s clear up some confusion between the terms “timeshare” and “vacation ownership.”

Timeshare vs Vacation Ownership

“Timeshare” and “vacation ownership” refer to the same product and can be used interchangeably. Think “couch” vs “sofa.” The words mean basically the same thing in the context of owning vacation time. Some developers call their products vacation ownership instead of timeshare to explain their product.

For example, vacation ownership more broadly explains a type of timeshare because the term timeshare tends to refer to programs for fixed week ownership in a specific resort rather than the points-based club programs that are now so prevalent.

The term timeshare can also be used for shared ownership products that have nothing to do with vacations at all, such as timesharing cars, bikes, dogs, and even some positions in football – running backs in a timeshare for their positions regarding playing time.

Vacation ownership simply helps better explain the product, and Wyndham Vacation Ownership, Marriott Vacation Ownership, and Hyatt Vacation Ownership are just a few examples of developers that use the term to immediately communicate their program offering.

What is Vacation Ownership?

Defining vacation ownership can be tricky since the term has been used in multiple ways over the years. It has become an all-encompassing term for any accommodation product or program that has been purchased for vacation use. Essentially, vacation ownership can include

• timeshare: Includes fixed, floating, or flex weeks.

• a points-based ownership product: whether points are overlayed onto per-week ownership or in a club product.

• vacation clubs: these include the aforementioned Wyndham Vacation Ownership, Marriott Vacation Ownership, and Hyatt Vacation Ownership, as well as Disney Vacation Club, Hilton Vacation Club, and many others.

As we mentioned earlier, companies have migrated away from the term “timeshare” to “vacation ownership” since timeshare can also be used for non-vacation products. However, it is definitely a type of vacation ownership product.

Travel clubs are another type of vacation product, but they don’t tend to come under the vacation ownership umbrella even though they can be resold on the resale market. Their standalone nature is mainly because travel clubs renew on an annual basis and are not deeded products or typically owned in perpetuity.  

Timeshares vs Vacation Homes 

Now that we’ve discussed the definitions of timeshares and vacation ownership, let’s look at how vacation homes differ from timeshares so sellers can position their properties accordingly: 

It’s important to note that because timeshare and vacation home arrangements are different, the above table is only a general guideline. The primary benefit of the table is to show you just how much difference there can be between vacation homes and timeshares and provide general information when preparing to sell them on the resale market.

Selling a Timeshare vs a Vacation Home

Because vacation homes are more like traditional real estate, they are usually sold through a real estate agent familiar with the local community. Pricing, negotiations, and closing services are normally facilitated by the agent.

By comparison, timeshares are considered a use product in the resale marketplace, similar to the way cars are marketed and sold on the secondary market. The value of a timeshare is its ability to provide great vacations to the owners. As such, they can be advertised online to be sold.

If you are looking for a place to sell your timeshare, SellaTimeshare.com has the solution. Our automated system advertises your timeshare on our platform of websites that receive one million viewers per year.

Ready to Sell your timeshare? Download our process overview to learn how it all works.