To discuss the history of Vacation Ownership / Timeshare it might be helpful to most people if we give a condensed background on this industry. Like all industries you can fill volumes of books about the history of how a business has evolved, it is our purpose here to give our readers a synopsis of the industry from a third person observation.

First, it is important to understand the terminology . . . technically speaking Vacation Ownership and Timeshare Ownership is the same thing. It depends on what part of the world you come from they call it two different names but they both mean the ability to buy and become a real estate owner of a one week use of a resort/hotel forever.

Some people like to own a second home, some people like the freedom of buying a Vacation Ownership and once a year they can spend their vacation in a resort without the headaches or worries of ownership the other 51 weeks of the year.

Vacation Ownership / Timeshare was born nearly a hundred years ago when the royal owners of castles in Europe could not pay the extremely expensive overheads to maintain large homes so they got the idea to allow people to stay for a one or two week visits for a fee. As the years went by, this concept took shape and people wanted to become real owners, not just visitors so in the 1960's the first real Vacation Ownership / Timeshare products evolved.

Click here to see a list of Vacation Ownership / Timeshare terminology.