New Getaway Lesson: Don’t Rent It, Own That Timeshare

Time to buy and exchange your vacation this summer... in short, Timeshare. Timeshare simply means owning your vacation accommodation, be it a studio unit or a two-bedroom unit in a resort.

Depending on the size of the accommodation and the season, the price ranges from Rs 70,000 to Rs 4.5 lakh for a period of 25 years to a maximum of 33 years.

“Currently, there are two lakh timeshare owners in India. The industry is registering an annual growth of 18-20%,” says Radhika Shastry, director-India & Malaysia, Resort Condominium International (RCI).

Around 15,000-17,000 families are expected to become timeshare owners by ‘06 end, she adds. About 67 timeshare resorts in India are affiliated to RCI compared with mere three resorts when RCI began its operations in India in 1992. And there are 58,000 RCI timeshare members compared with 1,000-2,000 members in the initial years.

“With increasing disposable income and attractive airfares, holidaying as a concept is gaining popularity thereby contributing to the timeshare growth. RCI timeshare membership is growing annually at the rate of 15-18%,” says Ms Shastry.

However, the concept of timeshare is more popular in western states, 42% of RCI members are from the western states particularly people from Gujarat and Maharashtra who prefer to travel in groups as timeshare becomes an economical way of holidaying, she adds. North contributes 26% to RCI membership, south 25% and east 7%.

So if you want celebrate Christmas every year in a particular resort in Goa without the hassles of getting a confirmation, just become the timeshare owner of your unit. And if you want to spend your vacation in different countries, get yourself enrolled at any timeshare exchange companies like Resort Condominium International (RCI) and Interval International (II).

For instance, if your home resort belongs to a timeshare exchange organisation, you can bank your timeshare week with the organisation and exchange it for a week in another timeshare resort in India or abroad for a fee.

Apart from the exchange’s subscription fee and the one-time purchase cost for which, you are entitled to a week’s vacation accommodation every year in your home resort, you also have to pay the annual maintenance fee.