“Vacation Clubs” sound fantastic, don’t they? Being part of a group that travels to fabulous destinations, staying in perfect accommodations with superb service, and all the while enjoying sun and sea, mountains and rivers, boutiques and museums, or whatever combination of sights and experiences that pleases you. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a vacation club?

And what do vacation clubs have to do with timeshares?

A short history of timeshares

After WWII, more people took to vacationing, so the hospitality industry took to innovating beyond hotels, resorts, and holiday camps. However, owning a vacation home was, and still is, out of reach for most. Then, some enterprising entrepreneurs developed the timeshare concept.Starting in Europe as a way for groups of people to share ownership in a vacation home, the industry expanded and then exploded in the 1970s and 1980s across Europe into the United States, then Asia and around the world. Timeshares offered people access to properties in popular holiday destinations, from the beaches of the Canary Islands to the ski slopes of Colorado.

What are timeshares?

The name covers the basic concept. People buy “time” for a property (or properties) that they “share” with other buyers. Generally, time in a property is split into weeks, and most people would buy a week. In some cases, it would be the same week every year in that same property. In others, you had more flexibility as to when you could use that week. Then, with a timeshare, your family could have a guaranteed vacation every year. (There are finer details to this, which will be covered in other articles.)

The value proposition is that you pay today so that you can access your holiday accommodations in the future without worrying about price hikes, inflation, etc. More importantly, you pay today so that you commit to taking yourself and your family on vacation every year.

Because timeshare owners and their families would stay for a week each year, the properties offered would often be a cross between a resort and an apartment: swimming pools, tennis courts, and other leisure activities, aimed at adults and children, as well as well-appointed suites or villas with kitchens and other residential amenities.

Vacation clubs as timeshares

Then, developers noticed that people were not satisfied with one week at one property. The urge to travel grew as airfares lowered and routes expanded to previously hard-to-reach spots worldwide. The market demanded not just a week at a Colorado ski slope one year, but also a week on a beach in Bermuda the next, then maybe a week watching elephants in the hills of Chiang Mai the following year, and so on. So, the timeshare concept evolved into vacation clubs.

Vacation clubs are basically timeshares by another name. Rather than focusing on “time” and “share”, vacation clubs showcase the “vacation” aspect. This is a product that allows you to go on holiday with your family! And the “club” part? Well, there is a sense of community and of greater options. A club can have many members as well as many locations. A vacation club offers its members high-end accommodations in a wide range of destinations where they can spend the time that they purchased.

Vacation club points: How do you spend a week?

With many vacation clubs, such as Anantara Vacation Club, Points owners can spend their points not only on accommodations but also on any added expenses, like a meal or a spa treatment, during their stays and on experiences, such as dinner cruises or golf rounds.

Anantara Vacation Club could be right for you

There are many other benefits of the vacation club life, some of which will be explored in other articles. But if you would like to learn more in a personalised presentation, Anantara Vacation Club would be happy to give you a glimpse into the lifetime of journeys you and your family can take with us.