More than 68% of timeshare owners own more than one week. Although the vast majority of first-time owners purchased retail, from the developer, most 2nd and 3rd week buyers have learned a valuable lesson and looked to the resale market.
Recent interviews of timeshare buyers by Lisa Schreier, founder of independent timeshare consulting firm Timeshare Insights (www.timeshareinsights.com), and author of Timeshare Vacations for Dummies, reveals key reasons for purchasing multiple timeshare weeks.
"Most of the owners that I interviewed said that the number one reason for purchasing more timeshare was that they really enjoyed timeshare vacations and didn't want to go back to the "old" way of renting a hotel or motel," says Schreier. "They said that despite what people who 'don't get' timeshare say, it's a great product."
While many owners choose to own in a few different locations worldwide, one of the participants owns six weeks at two resorts not even 3 miles apart from each other in Orlando. "Living in Central Florida, that surprised me," said Lisa, "but then you realize that for many people, this really is the vacation capital of the world."
The freely downloadable report, Why Timeshare Owners Buy Multiple Weeks, is a collaboration with Holiday Resales (www.HolidayGroup.com), a large Seattle-based timeshare reseller. Says David Skinner, Holiday's CEO, "Like all businesses, the key demographics of the timeshare business are changing -- we're so happy Lisa is helping us to better understand the wants and needs of a new breed of timeshare buyer."
This is the first of a series of research reports that Ms. Schreier will be authoring in conjunction with Holiday Group. Her next piece investigates timeshare "resorts" that aren't really resorts at all, a common ploy among less-than-conscientious timeshare developers.
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