TS Today - Creating a Vision for the Future of Vacation Ownership Issue #159 May/Jun 2018 | Page 5

TimeSharing Today
Other tactics
Page 5
While researching this issue’s cover
story about Magic Tree Resort, I learned
from several inventive owners how they
have parlayed what they own into addi-
tional vacation time and/or space.
The resort began offering fi xed
weeks, and later offered conversion to
fl oating weeks for seasonal fl exibility.
Some owners now have points instead
of weeks, giving them even more usage
fl exibility.
Jean-Luc Gingras of Ottawa, ON,
Canada, owns points equivalent to two
unit-weeks—one in a one-bedroom
unit, the other in a two-bedroom unit.
Depending upon who will join him for
a given vacation, he may use either unit,
or both.
Exchange and horse-trading
Exchange is another possible way
to obtain more time or space. Eighty
percent of Magic Tree’s exchange
“guests” are owners seeking to extend
their stay, or to give points to family
members or friends.
Internal
horse-trading
among
friends and relatives also occurs. Some
long-time owners have more time or
points than they can use easily, while
others need more.
At Magic Tree, for example, Joan
Morris of Poughkeepsie, NY, owns two
May/Jun, 2018
unit-weeks and wanted eight. For the
cost of the maintenance fees, Morris ob-
tained enough additional points for the
other six weeks from Paula Di Paola,
the resort’s board president.
If all else fails, wise timeshare
owners should ask at their resort’s front
desk whether vacant inventory will be
available to rent.
Consider renting through an online
travel agency (OTA) only after check-
ing with the resort for better deals.
A timeshare resort typically sets its
OTA rates for the general public based
on what competing hotels, motels, and
resorts in the vicinity are charging—a
rate that may be two or three times what
it charges owners for a direct booking.
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