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
The idea behind a timeshare is that, for most people, owning a second home in a vacation destination is financially unattainable for most people, but because people only go on vacation a handful of times a year at most, so instead of owning the unit outright you would be one of many owners of that condo that would be entitled to use it for so many days a year. Timeshares were sold as being more accessible than a vacation home and cheaper in the long run than hotels, but in practice it didn’t work out that way.
The practical issue with timeshares is that people often want to travel during national holidays, so you would be in constant competition with the other owners for prime weekends like Labor Day or the Fourth of July, and many owners often didn’t take their full allotment of time because they simply couldn’t get the vacation time to travel during some random weekend in May. So just in practical terms timeshares just aren’t a good idea.
The scam comes in with the management companies. Because you’re an owner, that makes you responsible for the maintenance fees like when you own a condo with an HOA. These companies would often charge exorbitant fees for “maintenance” and “property management” that was way beyond what was actually needed. On top of that, getting out of a timeshare is incredibly difficult, as the only real out is finding someone to buy your timeshare with no way to cancel your contract, so often times people who hardly ever used their units would be stuck paying hundreds of dollars every month in fees.
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