Peter Sinclair: Timeshare on the web

By PETER SINCLAIR

I don't know what it is about timeshare, but to me there's always been something faintly dodgy about it. Perhaps it's the MLM (multi-level marketing) or vaguely Amwayish tactics often employed: the breathless evangelism (aka hype), the incentives, the rah-rah, revved-up, American-style enthusiasm of its get-togethers.

Yet when you come down to it, as schemes go it's a pretty good one: for a relatively small amount of cash you get the right to excellent accommodation at a resort of your choice for however many years, subject to reasonable availability clauses.

It's also an idea which lends itself perfectly to marketing on the web.

So for those readers for whom a weekend on Waiheke just doesn't do it any more, the Sleuth presents a quick overview of timeshare online:

All-Timeshare Services: "The only bilingual timeshare site on the net," if you happen to speak Spanish. Mostly the Americas and Hawaii but, intriguingly, includes houseboats and yachts: "PDQ32 is a high-performance sailing catamaran fitted out with real ocean-cruiser comforts. Sleeps 7 comfortably. Only $12,000 ... "Cool — and you'll find the same sort of thing closer to home at ...

DreamBoats: "hassle-free boating" is the promise to armchair sailors — each share represents 28 days of exclusive usage, plus 12 group days per year when everyone can fire up the barbie together. Best of all, someone else has to scrape the barnacles. The gin palace of your dreams ...

Timeshare Users' Group: started free way back in 1995 but now you have to cough up a $US15 annual fee to access its voluminous resort reviews.

Tri-West Real Estate: includes "Mario's Tips for Timeshare Owners" and a useful rundown of typical resale price ranges, for reselling your timeshare can be tricky. Let's face it, timeshare's a dicey investment; like cars and computers, it depreciates rapidly. Its value is in its use.

TimeLinx Database: a Swedish resource searchable by continent. Clean, simple design.

Lawai Beach Resort: a single-destination site on Kauai, the Garden Island of Hawaii — Eden with Americans.

TimeSharing Today: online version of the oldest timeshare magazine. Includes an active message-board for talking timeshare with other surfers.

Fern Modena's Timeshare and Travel Page: travel guru Fern is a sort of timeshare den-mother and a major source of good advice.

Century 21 Tri-Timeshares: a licensed brokerage with a directory of over 4000 resorts.

The Timeshare Beat: travel, trends and timeshare talk exclusively on Europe, featuring trenchant overviews of the Top 10 resorts ("Marbella: exclusive, Hispanic, snobby ... amusing nightlife ..."; "Cannes: classic beaches, very sexy girls ..."). Whether it has any connection with the Thunderer, other than a lookalike font, isn't clear.

And finally, for the hopelessly stuck-in-the-mud, let me recommend our own BachClub. Readers who'd choose Karekare over the Caribbean any old time will welcome this free new online service to help manage sharing, usage, maintenance and everything else you need to jointly look after the traditional bach.

Marbella notwithstanding, you just can't beat the discomforts of home.

Links:

All-Timeshare Services

DreamBoats

Timeshare Users Group

Tri-West Real Estate

TimeLinx Database

Lawai Beach Resort

Time-Sharing Today

Fern Modena's Timeshare

Century 21 Tri-Timeshares

The Timeshare Beat

Thunderer

BachClub

E-mail: petersinclair@email.com