A glossary of Timeshare industry terms.

ARDA (The American Resort Development Association)
The main trade association in the United States for the timeshare industry. Provides lobbying and other services in support of the industry.

Banking
Depositing a week of timeshare into an exchange company’s “bank”. If you do not use a week in a particular year, you are generally allowed to bank it and use it at a later time.

Be-back
Salesperson’s term for prospective purchasers who avoid buying by saying that they will ‘be back’. Salespeople sometimes refer to them as “riding the be-back bus” and in other less flattering terms since they most always never come back.

Bi-annual
Use of a fixed week every other year (EOY). Owners are referred to as Odd or Even year owners. The ownership of this type of interval is valued at one-half the value of a full ownership property since the use is restricted to one-half of the annual usage.

Bonus Time
Use of your resort in addition to your regular allocated time on a space available basis. A Developer Bonus Week (DBW) is available to members who own at participating resort. These bonus weeks are issued directly from the resort, often issued as a signing bonus upon the purchase of a timeshare. Sometimes owners can purchase bonus weeks from the resort as unsold developer-owned weeks.

Exchange
The process of trading a week at one resort for a week at another resort or trading a specific week at the home resort for another week at the same resort. The exchange system allows a Timeshare owner to trade their week with other owners to travel and vacation throughout the world. Some resorts have internal exchanges with other resorts they own or are affiliated with.

Exchange Company
A company or organization that accepts timeshare weeks on deposit from its interval owners/members to establish a pool of weeks from which other members may select the resort and vacation times of their choice. When a member deposits their week with an exchange company, the company compares the week the depositor is asking for with weeks deposited by other members and provides a suitable match based on availability and value. Factors affecting the exchange value are: the resorts’ rating, the time division; i.e., prime time versus low time, the size of the unit desired, etc.

Exit Program
Usually, a reduced cost package/trial program offered to a customer who is on the point of walking away. This serves two purposes: it rescues something for the salesman and entices you to use the resort’s facilities in the hope that they will get another crack at selling you. Also called Discovery package.

Fee Simple
The preferred type of real estate ownership. This type of interval ownership is the opposite of Right-to-Use or lease ownership and continues forever. The owner holds a deed in his/her name and the ownership of the property can be bequeathed to heirs.

Fixed Week
Referring to the interval calendar, the purchase of a fixed week property assures the owners that they will always have the same week each year; i.e., week 52 or week 35, etc. Alternatively, an owner of a floating week may choose another week within their season allocation. A floating week owner may also elect to upgrade or downgrade to another season allocation to meet their annual vacation schedule. Upgrading to a higher time division usually incurs an additional cost.

Floating
Your time period is defined by a season and your week period is not fixed. You reserve your time period within the appropriate season annually. Most resorts have a High, Medium, and Low Season. Owners of a floating unit at a resort might not vacation in the same physical unit each year. Interval owners may request a specific unit and if it’s available for that particular week the resort normally will honor the request.

Fly-Buy
A mini-vacation package where the resort pays all or most of the holiday costs of a prospective purchaser in return for that prospect attending a sales presentation. See Mini Vac.

Fractional
Multiple week ownership at the same resort. Usually 2 or more weeks of timeshare ownership for use in one calendar year.

Heat Merchant
A salesperson who is willing to tell even the most outrageous of lies in order to make a sale. Modern Timeshare companies generally do not allow this because they want happy owners. Old-time salespeople had a saying “No Heat, No Eat”.

II (Interval International)
The second largest exchange company in the world.

In-House Rep (Also called IPC, Internal Personal Contacts)
Sales staff employed to sell to existing owners or guests of owners who are staying at the resort.

Lease/Leasehold
Some states and some foreign countries do not allow deeded ownership of timeshares. Alternatively, a lease ownership or Right-To-Use (RTU) ownership grants the leasor the right to use the property for a specified period of time; usually from 20 to 99 years. Ownership of the physical property is held by the resort developer or management company. Most properties in Hawaii, for instance, are leasehold properties. The same is true in Mexico.

Lockout/Lock-off Unit
Typically, a unit which has the capability of being divided to create two separate but complete sections. If an owner buys a lockout unit, he can divide the unit and either stay in one half of the unit and rent the other half or rent both halves to different parties.

Maintenance Fee
Maintenance fees are established and collected by the Home Owners Association or Resort Management Company to maintain the property, pay insurance, utilities, refurbishing and taxes. These fees vary from resort to resort and with the type and size of the unit purchased. The cost of resort operation is spread among owners. This fee must also build up reserves to pay for non-recurring costs like furniture, appliances etc. that need periodic replacement and other capital costs as normal physical deterioration occurs. Note: During the active sales period, maintenance fees may be temporarily subsidized by the developer as a marketing tool. When the HOA takes over, fees may rise to unsubsidized levels.

Management Company
The company contracted, usually by the Owners Club/HOA, to carry out all the day-to-day management of the resort. Very often owned or controlled by the developer.

Management Fees
The fees, usually paid annually, by each owner or points club member to cover the costs of running the resort on a day-to-day basis.

Marketing Company
A separate company from the developer responsible for marketing. Sometimes a developer will manage the on-site marketing and employ a separate Marketing Company to manage off-site marketing.

Mini Vac
A mini-vacation package where the resort pays all or most of the holiday costs of a prospective purchaser in return for that prospect attending a sales presentation. See Fly-Buy.

Moocher
A term used by timeshare sales people to describe prospective buyers who are attending a sales presentation only for the gift, with no intention of even considering a purchase. This is one of the more flattering terms (relatively speaking). There are other industry terms for such people, but they are mostly unprintable. A professional mooch is someone who makes a regular practice of doing this.

Nosebleed drop
A sales term for quickly dropping the initial stated price a precipitous amount without much haggling in between.

NQ (Not Qualified):
A term for prospects who do not fit the qualifications profile outlined by a resort or marketing company trying to make a sale.

OPC (Off Premises Contact; Outside Public Contact)
Marketing term used to describe people who approach potential buyers on the street, beach etc. and offer a gift or tickets to a local attraction to visit a timeshare project. Usually the OPC gets a fixed amount for luring in the potential buyer minus the gifts they give.

Owner Referrals
Resorts that are in active sales often have special vacation promos that they offer through their current owners. The owners are encouraged to submit referrals and will receive various incentives from the resort for their leads. Usually the person collecting the leads gets a few pennies per lead.

Points
Programs offered to interval owners by resorts which allow the owners choice and control over when and where they vacation or for how long or short they stay. Points are a symbolic unit of measure having no intrinsic value separate and apart from interval ownership.

Rescission
A period of time granted by company policy and state statutes during which a person has the right to cancel a purchase contract for a timeshare without incurring a penalty. The person also receives a complete and full refund of his deposit. Rescission periods vary from state to state with the average being 5-10 days.

RCI (Resort Condominiums International)
The largest exchange organisation in the world, owned by Wyndham Worldwide.

Right To Use (RTU)
Occupancy rights for a specified number of years, with no ownership interest in the property. Some states and some foreign countries do not allow deeded ownership of timeshares. Alternatively, a lease ownership or Right-To-Use ownership grants the lessor the right to use the property for a specified period of time; usually from 20 to 99 years. The resort developer or Management Company holds ownership of the physical property. However, during the right-to-use period, the owner may rent, transfer, or bequeath the remaining years of their right-to-use property.

SPIFF (Special Performance Incentive Fund)
An industry term for a bonus, usually given in addition to a general commission, paid to a salesperson after making a sale.

Space banking
Depositing a week of owned timeshare with an exchange company. See Banking

Special Assessment
A fee over and above the annual maintenance fee assessed by the resort pro rata to interval owners. This fee is, when assessed, is intended to defray expenses related to major repairs and refurbishing of resort equipment, facilities, and units.

Timeshare
A right, shared with others, to occupy a unit at a resort for a period of time (usually a week) on a regular basis for a number of years. Sometimes referred to as “Holiday Ownership”, or “Interval Ownership”. Timesharing can be in a single building, an apartment block or even a boat.

Trading Power
The assessed value of an interval week when trading or exchanging for another week within the same resort or at a different resort. In some situations, the owner of a red week at an RCI Gold Crown resort can trade that week for two or more weeks at a resort of lessor distinction or for weeks in a lower time division. Supply and demand rules prevail in this type of exchange and the owners can greatly enhance their trading power with high demand weeks and resorts.

VPG: Value per Guest (Also called APG, Average per Guest)
This measures how efficiently a salesperson is doing. Take the dollar volume of your sales and divide it by the total number of guests you toured and it tells you your VPG. The higher the VPG, the better you are doing. For example: in one week’s time you have 7 tours. You sell one of them a deal for $12,000. Divide 12,000 by 7 and you get 1,714.29. Your VPG is 1714. (Dollar volume divided by number of guests= VPG).