Timeshare Travel Chinese Style

To have one's own villa on some picturesque beach, from which one can enjoy the scenic coastline and hear the rolling waves? Many people may have such dreams, but most are held back by the exorbitant costs. Yesterday, the world's largest timeshare travel company came to Shanghai for the very first time to help the Shanghainese realise their dreams with the whole new concept of timeshare travel.

Timeshare travel is quite simply a one-time payment at prices lower than normal discounts for the right to use a property for one week each year for a total of 10 years (or 20 or 30 years). By becoming a member of this international network of travellers, one could opt to exchange timeshares with members owning other properties, and in so doing, travel to a different place each time. Particularly tempting is the idea that travel around the world no longer needs to be exorbitant. Timeshare owners can make use of their right to use their properties at the price they paid regardless of how hotel room rates may fluctuate. Therefore, with all other factors constant, timeshare travel expenses may come up to just half of traditional accommodation options, or even less. Even more enticing is the ability to swap travel destinations. As long as your visa application is approved, you can travel anywhere within the network without having to pay additional accommodation fees.

An RCI spokesperson pointed out that living standards in Shanghai are now the highest in China. The sophisticated hotel industry and the appearance of certain serviced apartments have prepared the way for the introduction of timeshare travel in the market. In the meanwhile, China now has about 115 holidays and demand for travel is on the rise. It is estimated that a timeshare travel network of a million members can contribute between RMB 5 billion and RMB 7 billion to the domestic economy, build between 3 and 5 million square metres of real estate, and create up to 20,000 jobs.


Nevertheless a spokesperson from the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission said that for RCI to be really rooted in Shanghai, it would have to overcome several obstacles. First, the reliability. When travellers buy hotel timeshares, they have to make a judgement on how reliable the property is, whether it would close down anytime, or even pretend to close down. With a spate of timeshare-related complaints that have surfaced all over China, cautious Shanghainese may adopt a wait-and-see approach. On the other hand, the hotel industry in Shanghai is booming, and the hotel occupancy rate for all the five-star hotels in November was almost 100%, and so it remains uncertain how many additional rooms would be enough for the city