Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

Resorts and Time-Shares
Resorts exist in nearly every part of the world. In many instances, they are open year-
round. In other cases, a resort is operated as a seasonal hotel.
FRONT OFFICE SEMANTICS
Seasonal hotel:
Hotel whose revenues and expenditures vary greatly depending on the time (season)
of the year. For example, ski resorts are busy in winter months and lake resorts in the northern part of
the United States are busy in summer months. Many seasonal resorts are open for only part of the year.
OVERVIEW OF THE LODGING INDUSTRY
A ski resort is one type of seasonal property.
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Many travelers like to visit exciting places and to engage in recreational or leisure
activities that are not possible in their everyday lives. Resorts, unlike their hotel coun-
terparts, are often a traveler’s destination, rather than a resting place on the way to a
destination. Tourists represent a large percentage of the guests visiting resorts, but
they are joined by people who are attending corporate meetings and conventions.
Groups often hold their meetings in resort locations, and this allows participants
(and, increasingly, their families) to mix business with pleasure during their stay.
Resorts are a unique segment of the hotel market because of the seasonality of their
business (in many locations), a dependence on location, and the availability of leisure
activities beyond those normally provided by a hotel.
Sometimes guests enjoy their stay at a resort or in an area so much that they want
to return frequently. Because of this market of guests who return frequently, some
developers build time-share properties. In addition, some owners convert all or part
of their properties to time-shares. Buyers of a time-share do not typically occupy the
same room during each visit. Instead, they know that a room of a specific type will
be available. Most time-shares have been built on ocean-front property, near moun-
tains (for skiing), or around lakes (for water-related sports).
Time-sharing involves the right to use specific weeks of a resort during a spe-
cific time period. Essentially, it is the prepurchase of future vacation weeks. Most
vacation ownerships consist of either a deeded interest or a leased interest for a spe-
cific number of years. In the United States, virtually all time-shares are deeded inter-
ests; in effect, buyers purchase access to real estate that is owned outright forever.
Time-share ownership is an absolute right that can be sold or passed on to the
owner’s heirs. Therefore, a time-share owner may legally use, sell, rent, give away,
donate, or will a time-share much as the owner of a private home or other real estate
property might do. By contrast, a leased interest in a time-share is like renting an
apartment, except the right to use the space is restricted to a specific week (or weeks)
during the year. When the lease expires, the right to control the space reverts to the
resort’s owners.