Tourism Components and Supply - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 269

The personal greeting of guests conveys a feeling of warmth and professionalism at the Sheraton
New York Hotel and Towers. PhotocourtesyofSheratonHotelsofNewYork.

competition to the resort hotels. Real estate management firms often manage such apartments or
groups of condos within a building or complex and thus serve as agents for the owners. They rent the
condos as managers of the group, charging a fee for this service to the absent owner. Such arrange-
ments can be made through a local travel agent in the prospective traveler

' s home city. The agent will

book the reservation through the real estate management rm.

Timesharing

Timesharing is a technique for the multiple ownership and/or use of resort and recreational

properties. Timesharing has been applied to hotels, motels, condominiums, townhouses, single-family
detached homes, campgrounds, and even boats and yachts. It involves both new construction and
conversion of existing structures, along with properties devoted solely to timesharing and projects that
integrate timesharing and nontimesharing properties. While most programs may be classi ed as either
ownership or nonownership (right to use), there are wide variations in program and legal format.
The attraction of timesharing is simple: It permits purchasers to own or have occupancy rights at a
resort accommodation for a period of time each year for a fraction of the purchasing price of the entire
unit. Timeshare owners pay for exactly what they plan on using, and when they leave they don ' t have

to think about where they'll ll be vacationing next year. Another option or advantage of timesharing is

the exchange program. The exchange system affords vacation flexibility by allowing owners to trade or
swap their timeshares for other locations and times. Finally, a well-designed timeshare program can be
a hedge against in ation in resort accommodations.
The bene ts of timesharing are substantially borne out by the high degree of consumer satisfaction
it has achieved. In a survey of approximately 10,000 timeshare buyers, conducted by the National
Timesharing Council, 86.3 percent of the respondents said they were

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with their purchase. About 40 percent indicated that they were interested in purchasing additional
timeshares. Additional information on timesharing is available from the American Resort Develop-
ment Association, www.arda.org . Also see the discussion in Chapter 6.

'' very satis ed '' or '' satis ed