Why are timeshares generally considered a “scam” or “rip-off”?
Do any legitimate timeshares exist where the deal works as advertised?
Generally, Timeshares are talked about in the context of a joke and are rarely taken seriously, but they must have been, or at least to appear to have been, viewed and taken more seriously at some point.
In: Economics
there are 52 weeks in a year. imagine 1040 people, agreeing to buy 20 properties, each getting 1 week per year. take the total cost and divide it by 1040, and that’s how much each person pays. the problem is that some weeks are desirable, and others are not.
so, either the party arranging the whole deal has to pretend everyone who buys in will get to use it whatever week they want, or the party actually has to buy more properties and increase the cost somehow.
the end result is you either don’t get what you thought you were buying, or you end up having to cough up more money later to help even get you closer to the use you thought you were getting in the first place
there are other gimmicks with the larger companies, too. they hide your money behind points, and you can use more points to get more desirable things, like fancier properties and/or high demand weeks. but by the end of it, you’re overpaying because even though airbnbs and hotels have some of the same fees to maintain and manage the properties(salespeople’s commissions excluded), they’ve effectively locked you into an agreement where they don’t have to be competitive
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