In depth Review : Benefits of Buying a Timeshare

Long-term savings over hotels

The basic timeshare concept is simple: you pay a one time purchase fee that entitles you to a week every year (or sometimes every other year) at a resort. Instead of renting your vacations, you now own them. Due to the upfront costs, and the fact that the majority of timeshares do not appreciate like normal real estate, the cost savings is in future vacations.
Here's an example:
$1,000
x 30
----------
$30,000
Your weekly cost for a hotel room*
Number of years of vacationing

Total cost in today's dollars**
* Assuming $200/night
** Before inflation
With a timeshare, let's assume you find a deal on for $4,000 with an annual maintenance fee of $600. Your equation becomes:
$600
x 30
----------
$18,000
+ 4,000
----------
$22,000
Your annual maintenance fee
Years of vacationing

Total maintenance fees*
Upfront purchase price

Total cost in today's dollars**
* Assuming maintenance fee remains constant
** Before inflation
Using this calculation, you could pay as much as $22,000 upfront for a timeshare and break even with comparable hotel vacation costs. This is more like the high end new sales prices of timeshares sold today.