Time-share

A timeshare (sometimes called vacation ownership) is a property with a divided form of ownership or use rights. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each owner of the same accommodation is allotted their period of time. The minimum purchase is a one week ownership, and the high season weeks demand the higher prices. Units may be sold as a partial ownership, lease, or "right to use", in which case the latter holds no claim to ownership of the property. The ownership of timeshare programs is varied, and has been changing over the decades to accommodate the changing needs of the vacationing public who prefer timeshare ownership to the more conventional forms of accommodations such as resorts, hotels and motels.

The term "timeshare" was coined in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s expanding on a vacation system that became popular after World War II. Vacation home sharing, also known as holiday home sharing, involved four European families that would purchase a vacation cottage jointly, each having exclusive use of the property for one of the four seasons. They rotated seasons each year, so each family enjoyed the prime seasons equally. This concept was mostly used by related families because joint ownership requires trust and no property manager was involved. However, few families vacation for an entire season at a time; so the vacation home sharing properties were often vacant for long periods.

Enterprising minds in England decided to go one step further and divide a resort room into 1/50th ownership, have two weeks each year for repairs and upgrades, and charge a maintenance fee to each owner. It took almost a decade for timeshares in Europe to evolve to a smoothly run, successful, business venture.

The first timeshare in the United States was started in 1974 by Caribbean International Corporation (CIC), based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It offered what it called a 25-year vacation license rather than ownership. The company owned two other resorts the vacation license holder could alternate their vacation weeks with: one in St. Croix and one in St. Thomas; both in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands properties began their timeshare sales in 1973.

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