Traditional (Fixed Week) Timeshares
In a traditional timeshare, the use of a particular condo, townhouse, hotel room, etc. is shared by various "owners" throughout the year - usually in one-week increments. The benefit is a home-away-from-home with all of the maintenance expenses divided up over numerous owners. The downside is that you are invested in one particular week at one particular location every year. This is wonderful if you have purchased in a tropical location in the heart of beach season, but what if your week is in monsoon season?
Obviously, every week is not the same value at any given location. Florida is great in the summer, but Daytona in January can be too cold for the beach. Ski resorts are nice in winter - and sometimes summer if they are near a lake, woods, etc. But in the Spring and Fall it can be too warm for skiing and too cold for hiking or fishing.
To accommodate this, each week at a timeshare is given a different value rating, usually using the terms "Red" (busy season), "White" (Moderate season), and "Blue" (Not in demand). A Red Week costs more than White, and White more than Blue. But if you're a "budget" buyer, do you REALLY want to commit yourself to vacationing in off-season every year? Probably not. These are the folks who are generally dissatisfied with their timeshare experience.
Also, if you purchased a great Red Week in Key West but this year you want to visit Aspen instead you either have to pay the fees for not using your timeshare, try to rent your week to someone else, or try to enter a resort "exchange" (More about those later) which can be inconvenient.
Points and Clubs
To help avoid many of the issues associated with traditional timeshare weeks-based plans, most timeshare companies use points-based or "club" plans. You still purchase (or lease) a particular unit for a particular week each year. That unit and week is given a point value, and you may choose to either keep your purchased week or exchange the point value for any other property and date in the club's inventory each year. For example, my purchase is with Bluegreen, where I have a deeded property in Arizona called Cibola Vista for a week in February. I have never been there. Instead, I exchange the point values of that week for other dates and locations in the Bluegreen system, such as Orlando in June, Boyne Mountain, MI in August, Hershey, PA in April or any other option I can afford with my particular points value.
This system is more flexible and works best for most owners, which is why most of the timeshare companies have switched to this system for new purchases. Be careful, though, if you are purchasing a timeshare through resale as there are still some week-specified properties on the market.
Exchanges
Let's say I want to visit Australia. My timeshare is in Arizona, and my timeshare company, Bluegreen Vacations, does not have a resort in Australia. Am I out of luck? No!
What is you could trade your timeshare week or points for someone else's week or points at another resort? You can, and there are several companies that accommodate such exchanges. The largest of which is called RCI.
Using RCI, Interval International or another exchange company, you "deposit" your week or points into their inventory for someone else to use, and in exchange you may choose from other deposited weeks or points from thousands of users around the world. The exchange company charges a small fee for the service, and some resorts charge additional registration fees to non-member reservations, but this still represents and effective way to utilize your timeshare to gain benefits elsewhere.
This system also works for domestic travel. For example, I can use my Bluegreen Vacations points to purchase time at a Disney Vacations resort using RCI, and vice-versa. If you are a flexible traveler you may also find great cash-only "last-minute" deals through RCI. If you need to get away next week and you don't care where, you can visit RCI and see what deals are available. You may be surprised what you can find!
