I'm Going On Vacation, Should I Start Thinking About Timeshares?

Let's face it, as people, we all work very hard day by day. As a matter of fact, the general American consumer works quite a bit, somewhere around 38 hours per week 50 weeks out of the 52 annually. With that said, Americans tend to look toward their 2 weeks of vacation annually! I know I do. However, when planning a holiday, the first thing that consumers will look towards is the hotel room. There is always something incredible about sleeping in a bed other than your own on your holiday. Because many consumers holiday annually, there are a great deal of them looking into timeshares. At first glance, these timeshares look amazing. They provide Americans a place to stay every year at their favorite vacation location, the timeshares are much more beautiful than hotel rooms and finally, timeshare owners tend to get perks like discounts on events and theme park tickets. But are timeshares really worth it? As you can see, timeshare owners get amazing perks and I won't shoot that down. However, as I researched to look more into the timeshare industry, I found a few skeletons in the closet. The first thing I did was talk to some of my friends that are timeshare owners. What I found was quite disturbing. First, many of the timeshare owners that I spoke with were explaining that they were never really able to vacation to their resort. The reasons really ranged from financial hardship to availability. No matter what the reason for not being able to visit the timeshare every year, these people are upset because they feel as though they lost their investment. (Strike 1) Another thing that I found out about timeshares after speaking with timeshare owners and doing a bit of online research is that these resorts are extremely expensive. As a matter of fact, I found that most of the timeshare owners that I had spoke with paid upwards of $20,000.00 or more for their timeshare. (Strike 2) After being astonished by the overwhelming initial expense, I found out about the maintenance fees. When talking to Americans about maintenance fees associated with a timeshare, the owners that I spoke with started to get extremely angry. They weren't angry with me, it was more that they felt as though the timeshare developers were taking advantage of them as consumers. I was informed that the maintenance fees associated with timeshares increase annually. I felt this was something that I should research myself and after doing so, I told myself I would never buy one of these. This is because maintenance fees have been on a trend and increasing by at least 8% each year. At this rate, in 20 years, nobody will be able to afford their timeshare! (Strike 3) After my research, I figured that since timeshares were a total strike out, I should look into how consumers can get the amazing benefits associated with timeshares without dealing with the headache involved. This is when I came across Vacation Clubs. I will admit, Vacation Clubs are not all the same and some are better than others. But when it comes down to it, these clubs give Americans with prepaid accommodations just like timeshares and in the same resort, discounts on events and theme parks and more discounts on airfare, transportation and much more! This would be your best bet if you are looking for long term vacation plans. So where does that leave Americans that already own a timeshare? Are they stuck with their investment? Well to be honest there are multiple websites that will teach people how to sell a timeshare but to be honest, if you are looking to sell your timeshare you have to be willing to take a loss. I found the best place to get information before making your decision is www.ATimeshare2Sell.com. At A Timeshare 2 Sell, the editors give information not only on selling timeshares but also timeshare cancellation.