A great read for those in the industry of "timeshares". Does anyone know much about them? Well, after reading this, you should at least have a basic understanding of it - apparently.

A highly research, experienced title that is an essential for those in the industry. Offers unique perspective with both positive and negative aspects to offer a complete account of a secretive industry and therefore allows consumers to make more educated decisions and also sets standards for industry professionals to follow.

Highly informative and a great business tool!

My history as a time share owner is actually very similar to that of the author, having bought my first time share in Orlando in 1997 and now owning four weeks through three organizations. Like the author, I am a personal financial advisor and have often thought about the financial aspects of time shares from the consumer perspective. I was intrigued to read what the author had to say after his investigations.

I must agree with the author that the purchase of a time share can be a valuable lifestyle choice and should never be seen as a financial investment. I have found my home resort to be excellent and return there almost every year, sometimes bringing visitors. For us, it is a little slice of home away from home and we look forward to each visit.

The financial aspects, however, include things I wish I had learned from this book before I purchased. The recognition of the high up-front price, the inflated sales commissions, the non-existent liquidity, the high rate "mortgage" the vendor is happy to provide and the continuing and rising maintenance fees are something that should be clear in the mind of a buyer - before buying. A truly helpful tip the book provides is to attend a sales presentation, visit the resort, investigate the company and then go to the after-market to make a buy, likely at 25 cents or less on the dollar. In fact, some people are happy to give their time share away to get out prom under the annual fees they are obliged to pay whether or not they use the service. Having observed many hundreds of people attend sales presentations I have thought to give them a simple card with such a recommendation and let them make more informed decisions.

I appreciate the author giving the benefit of the doubt to the industry. As a long time consumer of time share services he sought out the good and was quite surprised to be so rebuffed. As he says, it seems likely the industry has established a pattern and simply refuses to break out of a model that evidently works so well. It would be great is a disruptor would come along with a new business model that includes the author's suggestions.

The book is an easy read but could certainly use some editing. I found some parts repetitious and the inclusion of lengthy correspondences with industry insiders a bit tedious. I think the book could have been less than half the length and brought more focus, enabling readers to quickly gain essential knowledge, then the already lengthy appendices could have been left to those wanting to read detailed letters. The book is a first-person biographical experience and this makes it approachable to the reader, but some good editing advice would improve it significantly.

I found myself actually wanting more details - the same details the author sought out but was unable to obtain from his thinking and questioning of industry participants. Perhaps there is more information out there or maybe an investigative journalist will go hard at the business of time shares and provide as deeper behind the scenes look to help people understand the business model. Regardless, I found that i could speed through this book, skip parts I could tell were more than I wanted to read, yet identify a few new thoughts that I found interesting. I hope prospective time share buyers will take a little time to read this book before committing their money to time share ownership.