Prepay your vacation travel

Timeshare 101 — Yes? No? Maybe!

It’s no longer the annual week-in-the-same-place-and-time experience

Derek Reinhard
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs
7 min readNov 21, 2023

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View across water with houses on the shore and a cloudy sunset
Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash

After I wrote my piece on why I bought into a timeshare (for the third time), someone asked me how they might get started exploring this. So here is MY perspective on researching what is commonly called, “buying a timeshare.”

While timeshare properties still exist, what I discuss here is timesharing with a twist — they are better called “vacation clubs.” Along with describing my experience and thoughts on this type of vacation, I also list five considerations you need to make before getting involved.

NB: I am neither a professional in the timeshare/vacation club field, nor do I represent in any way the vacation club we joined, nor am I a financial advisor. I am sharing my personal thoughts and experience. You need to do your own due diligence before deciding whether this is for you.

In a traditional timeshare, you buy the rights to use a specific piece of property for a specific length of time, typically a week, at a specific time of the year. You can use it or skip going. If you want to go somewhere else, or use your property at a different time of the year, you need to find someone to “swap” with, though it may also cost money…

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Derek Reinhard
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs

Writes quirky life, productivity, and relationship stuff (uses the Oxford comma). Author of 3 books on GTD and a couple coloring books.