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Accelerated Use:A right-to-use program that allows the member to accelerate usage of the time purchased. For instance: you have a 10-year right to use one week per year at a resort offering accelerated use. Instead of using one week every year, you may choose to use 2 weeks every year for 5 years or 5 weeks per year for 2 years. (Based on availability.)

Accrued Weeks:Weeks that you "banked" from the prior year which are available for use in the current calendar year.

Amenities:Features that add to the value of the property such as swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses, spas, boating, fitness room, laundry facilities, etc. Generally speaking, the more amenities a resort offers the greater the increase in value and desirability of the property.

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. See Accrued Weeks, Block Banking and Space Banking.

Biennial:Use of a fixed week every other year (‘EOY’). Owners are referred to as ‘Odd’ or ‘Even’ year owners. See Odd or Even Year Usage

Block (or Bulk) Banking:The depositing, usually by the resort management, of a large number of weeks into the exchange company "bank" at the earliest time possible

Blue week:see Season

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 timeshare. Sometimes owners can purchase bonus weeks from the resort as unsold developer-owned weeks.
A second type of bonus week is one issued by an exchange company. Owners of high-demand resort weeks receive them as incentives to deposit their timeshare week.

Camping Membership:A membership to a resort or resort community catering to campers, some of which are affiliated with national organizations providing camping locations for members in many states and other countries.

Check-In Date:The assigned date and day of week the timeshare week begins; usually Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. (You will find a calendar here)The check-in day begins the seven-day timeshare week. For example, if the timeshare week begins on Friday, the week ends on the following Friday. The timeshare owner (or renter) need not always check in on the specific check-in day; however, late check-in does not extend the timeshare week beyond the scheduled checkout day.

Check-In Time:The assigned hour a timeshare week begins; usually 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM, or occasionally 5:00 PM prevailing time. The timeshare owner need not check in at the precise time; however, late check in does not extend the timeshare week beyond the assigned check out time. Check-out time is normally 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM prevailing time on the seventh day following check-in. [Example: check-in on Saturday at 4:00 PM and check-out on the following Saturday at 10:00 AM].

Closing Costs:Those costs associated with the closing process, usually including: deed preparation or transfer of equity for right-to-use properties, recording costs, escrow fee, and administrative fees

Club/Trust Membership:Year-round usage of resort facilities with purchase, on a space available basis. This is the most generally used system of timeshare ‘ownership’ in the United Kingdom and is growing in popularity everywhere else. Owners belong to a Club; their accommodation unit (and sometimes the leisure facilities) are held by Trustees who licence a ‘Right-to-Use’ to ‘Owners’. Sometimes club membership is backed by a deed of ownership, sometimes it is not. (The escritura system in Spain is a deeded system, but deeded timeshare ownership is not legal in the UK and some other countries.)

Constitution:The collection of inter-related legal documents establishing the relationship between timeshare owner, developer, trustee and management company. Effectively the rules by which the resort is run.

Deed:A legal document providing title to your property; gives you your ownership rights

Deeded Property:A deeded property is one in which the property title does not expire. The purchaser legal ownership until they decide to sell it, much like home ownership. Deeded timeshares may also be sold, rented, passed on to heirs or given away

Deposit Window:The 24 month time frame within which timeshare owners are eligible to deposit their vacation week in the exchange pool.

Developer's Price:The developer's current or market price for a timeshare. Full retail price. Includes the developer's marketing costs, etc.

Disclosure Statement:Details of the purchase and a breakdown of costs and distribution of funds at the closing.

End-user Finance:Provision of a loan to enable an owner to purchase a timeshare. Some finance agreements are personal loans (without security) while others are loans secured by the timeshare week or, occasionally, by a mortgage on the principle residence

Escrow:A special secured account used to hold funds from the buyer and the seller related to closing of purchase and/or sale of a property.

Exchange:The process of trading a week at one resort for an week at another resort or trading a specific week at the home resort for another week at the same resort. The exchange system allows an owner to trade their week with other owners thereby allowing each owner to travel and vacation throughout the world. Some resorts have internal exchanges with other resorts which are usually owned by the same company.

Exchange Company:A company or organization that accepts timeshare weeks on deposit from its timeshare 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.

Exchange Confirmation:Notification that owners of timeshares and the host resorts receive regarding the unit they receive in exchange and the dates of occupancy.

Fee Simple:The preferred type of real estate ownership. This type of timeshare 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 Unit:A time period that is fixed for each calendar year, either by date or by calendar weeks; most in numerical sequence 1-52. A fixed unit property assures the owner that he/she will always have the exact location and the exact unit they have purchased. With a week number, your actual start date may vary slightly from year to year. Unlike a floating unit, a timeshare owner who owns a fixed unit at a resort will always vacation in the same physical unit each year he/she vacations at that resort. This type of ownership is particularly important if you have purchased, for example, an oceanfront property with the ocean at your door step and are not willing to vacation in an ocean-view unit.

Fixed Week:Referring to the 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. Owners may request a specific unit and if it's available for that particular week the resort normally will honor the request.

Floating Week/Time (also called "flex" time):The purchaser of a floating week has the flexibility of scheduling their timeshare vacation with yearly variations in accordance with the resort's guidelines. Typically, resorts will accept requests for specific weeks by the timeshare owner as soon as the annual maintenance fees are paid. Therefore, the earlier the maintenance fees are paid the better the chance that the owner can pick a specific timeshare week.

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

Grantor & Grantee:The Grantor is the person conveying the property; the Grantee is the person receiving the property. Once the Grantor executes a deed (signs a deed before a notary), it is recorded in the county where the property is located and the transfer is completed. The Seller should provide the Closing Company with a copy of the deed they received when they took title in order to ensure that the legal description and names of the Grantors appear the same on the new deed.

Guest Certificate:A certificate issued by the resort's affiliated exchange company authorizing a nominated guest to use an exchange instead of the owners.

HOA/POA (Home Owners Association/Property Owners Association):When a resort is sold out or approaching sell out its ownership is generally turned over to an HOA or POA consisting of the timeshare owners of the resort, with an elected board to administer the rules and regulations. Sometimes a sold out resort will hire an outside management company to operate the resort, collect maintenance fees, etc.; sometimes the developer maintains management rights.

Instant Exchange:A vacation exchange conveniently made by telephone for travel dates within the next 2 to 45 days.

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

Joint Tenancy:The main distinguishing characteristic of joint tenancy is the right of survivor ship. If one of the joint tenants dies, his interest passes automatically to the surviving party or parties instead of being tied up in lengthy probate proceedings. When two or more people own a property as joint tenants, they own an undivided equal interest in the property.

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.

Legal Description:A description by which property can be definitely located by reference to surveys or recorded maps. Sometimes referred to simply as the legal.

Levy:In a points club, the annual charge to members to pay for administration of the club in addition to any management charge or supplementary management charge made for actual use of a week. Also a one-time charge made to owners by an Owners Club or Management Company to pay for major or unexpected costs.

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. See HOA/POA

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.

Maximum Occupancy:The maximum number of persons a unit will accommodate; usually from 2 to 10 persons. Maximum occupancy is typically expressed in conjunction with "private occupancy" referring to the number of persons the unit will sleep privately and the number of bedrooms within the unit. Configurations of units vary from resort to resort.

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Odd or Even Year Usage:Timeshare ownership usage every other year--some odd-numbered, some even. The ownership of this type of timeshare is valued at one-half the value of a full ownership property since the use is restricted to one-half of the annual usage.

Points:Programs offered to timeshare 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 timeshare ownership.

Points Clubs:A timeshare system where ‘owners’ hold points which entitle them to use a period (varying from a few days to a few weeks) every year from a choice of resorts. Sometimes points are backed by an actual deed, sometimes they are not.

Property Bonds:A system similar to Points clubs for owning shares or bonds in a company owning properties.

Quartershare:3-month timeshare ownership, with a rotating schedule.

Quitclaim Deed:This deed transfers whatever interest or title a grantor may have, without warranty or guarantee of clear title.

Resort Ratings:A system of comparison of resort quality, amenities, and location. The two foremost rating systems are Resort Condominiums International (RCI), Interval International (II). RCI and II rate their affiliated resorts based upon predetermined criteria of exacting standards of quality and services provided by the resort as well as the availability of amenities at or near the resort. RCI uses the Gold Crown designation for their highest quality resorts and Resorts of International Distinction for second-level resorts. II designates their top resorts as 5-Star resorts.

Red week:see Season

Repossession:The removal of rights to use by a Club (or Management Company) for breach of the Constitution (usually non-payment of Management Fees) and the sale of those rights to recover any debt. Deeded property cannot normally be repossessed.

RCI (Resort Condominiums International):The largest exchange organization in the world, owned by Cendant Corp.

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.

Season:Exchange Company division of the weeks in a year into popular (Red), shoulder (White for RCI or Amber for II) and off peak (Blue for RCI or Green for II) for the calculation of trading power in exchanges. Each resort may have different seasons depending on the geographic position etc.

Sinking Fund:A portion of the Management Fee specifically dedicated to ensuring that the main structure, furniture and fittings of accommodation units (and sometimes leisure facilities) are kept in an ‘as new’ condition for the full period of ownership.

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 timeshare owners. This fee is, when assessed, is intended to defray expenses related to major repairs and refurbishing of resort equipment, facilities, and units.

Tenancy by the Entirety:A tenancy which is created between husband and wife and by which together they hold title to the whole with right of survivorship so that, upon death of either, the other takes whole to exclusion of deceased heirs.

Tenancy-in-Common:This is so standard a form of ownership for unrelated buyers that it is generally presumed to be the way they hold title if nothing else appears to the contrary. The shares are presumed to be equal unless stated otherwise on the deed, and each of the tenants has equal rights of possession. There is no right of survivor ship; each tenant-in-common should note in his will the person or persons to whom his share will pass.

Timeshare:A right, shared with others, to occupy a unit of accommodation for a period of time (usually a week) on a regular basis for a number of years. Sometimes referred to as ‘Holiday Ownership’, ‘Multi Ownership’ or ‘Group Ownership.’ Timesharing can be in a single building, an apartment block or a boat.

Timeshare Calendar:An annual calendar depicting the fifty-two or fifty-three weeks of each calendar year showing starting days of Friday to Friday, Saturday to Saturday, and Sunday to Sunday, check in dates. You can find a calendar here.

Title Insurance:A contract by which a private title insurance company agrees to pay the insured a specified amount for any loss caused by defects of title to real estate, wherein the insured has an interest as purchaser, mortgagee, or otherwise.

Title Transfer:The legal document used to convey real property from one party to another is a Quitclaim or Warranty deed.

Trading Power:The assessed value of an timeshare 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.

Unit Size:Normally expressed as hotel unit, studio unit, and efficiency unit or by number of bedrooms. Hotel units, studio units, and efficiency units typically are a single room with sleeping accommodations and perhaps a small built in kitchen and sleep from two to four persons. One, two or three or more bedroom units are usually condominium style accommodations and feature a partial or full kitchen and other living areas.

Warranty Deed:This deed provides a guarantee from the seller that he has good, clear and marketable title to the property and is conveying the property free of all judgments, tax liens or assessment liens.

Week 53:Almost all Calendars contain only 52 weeks of use in a year - but roughly every seven years there is an extra week, week 53 which is generally reserved for the use of the Developer/Founder Member.