Holidaymakers Welcome time-share

Press, 23 March 1988, Page 15

Holidaymakers Welcome time-share

: .ii-i ' ! ■ ' ! Increasing numbers of New Zealanders are finding time-share a cheaper alternative to, buying a holiday house — whtich is then left | unused for most of the year — \or staying in hotels and motels.

In Residence i

by

Sarah Sands

i There are more than 20 i-ime-share developments] n New Zealand andimofe] han 5000 : families ] have I bought units. ! ' ] The success rate of the levelopments is ] astpuniing — The in Aanaka has been-the fastest selling resort] ini Atisralasia, About ifarriiies bought into] the development' and it is now • almost sold out. ] i However, Graham] Wilkinson. the managing director of Monad! Ventures, a Dunedin'company ; developing time-share re- : sorts, says that ima'ny people still misunderstand the concept of-time-shar-ing. ■ "People are slowly becoming ] educated . ]about jwhat it’s all about now] ]one in 1(1 people ]know| what it's about rather than none in 10] when we first started." Time-sharing |is' jnot.iai new concept, he says. 1 ] "Every time you fly on a jet aircraft ]— iwhiph] you probably couldn’t af-l ■ ford to buy even if you! wanted to — or pse. ]a hotel room, or hpre -al. Rolls Royce ] for., jal wedding, you’re sharing. time " I J J I-' i Five years ago, buying into a time'-share holiday resort meant (buying . a week’s holiday in a! given resort for 10 yetirs. Today it means buying] that week ‘ and owning the right td use it forever; | I ] | Graham Wilkinson sayij owning] the week- forever i and being able t]o be queath ] it to heirs is , :. ■ H- ' J'' I" .

■ 'I ■ H Queenstown Mews ; art nearly sold out. Gratian Wilkinson believes ther are many reasons why th developments have ibet so'successful. • li I ■ '1 I !i | • "One i of the main reasons for success is the 1 product( itself. We (know people ,a’re very happy because; 30 per cept lof our customers are referrals from existing owners; We also' have people; who 1 own one week coming back to' us to buy more weeks.”' | i i Buying' a time-jshare (holiday ~ makes [{good (economic sense, explains (Graham Wilkinson. (-High (land values in holiday (areas make it very exp’enjsive to build or buy, your own holiday home. ; '("It is also a waste of money — how (many people go on holiday (for rnbre than three oij! four weeks of the year? i( ( ( ("When you-buy a( holi(day home, you’ve paid; all (that money but you’ve (still got on-going costs IN' ' I '

; I ■ ■; ri P •much, better deal .than purchasing for 10 years. ‘j’Wtien you buy a holiday house you idon’t just get' it for 16 years before they fake it offlyou. ’ - Time-share units,] usually two-bedropm ] town houses, or apartments, are .available for either fixed or] floating weeks. Fixed weeks are traditional holiday | periods such as : Christmas, Easter and ; school-holidays.] A I fixed week costs ; more 1 , as is usual- with pe]ak|time accommodation. i jPeople can purchase as manj weeks as They want with | a maximum of 51 weeks per unit — one floating week is left free each] year for] maintenance; . . J j iMbnad Ventures has developed The] • Pines in » Wanaka, and Queenstown Mew]s in Queenstown, and has recently taken on the unsold units at!the Edgewatejr Resort in Wanaka : to sell as time-share. Both The Pines and T i - 4 - '

such as rates and electricity.” h p Raters are still paid for time-share units but it i works jpul: at about $4 per owner. H i ■ Even buying into a right-to-use development such as the original Edgewater i Resort is not as good | as time-share, claims:Graham Wilkinson. (Right toj use means buying a unit and having the right [to i use- it for one month each year. The rest of thehitime it is run as a hotel jl[byj the developers and any profit is returned to the owners.) “The cost of purchasing a unit in Edgewater (Resort) is $200,000 plus and you still only get to use it

for one month each year ; — I we say why outlay all that mo[ney? ; *|We have one man who almost bought an Edgewater (Resort) unit; for $220,00ft. 1 Instead he bought three weeks timeshare at Edgewater for a total of about s29,oooland invested the balance.’:’ Time-share owners) pay an annual maintenance fee bijt even so the cost is still much less than that of a holiday home or motel bills, says Graham Wilkinson. The i current maintenance fee at The Pines is in two parts. The base fee of $149 covers rates, managers expenses, insurance and telephone rental, and a large portion

of it goes into a sinking fund for refurbishing, he says. J The second "uset’-pays” charge is for linen and . electricity — this year the fee is $74, making [a total of $223. Graham Wilkinson says this | should be compared with the average per night cost! of a hotel. “To stay at Edgewater (Resort) in a two-bed-room unit with no kitchen is $lB5 per night.”; 1 For an additional small fee, owners can jpin an international agency■ giving i access to time-share units throughout) | the woijld. The week! in Wanaka or Queenstown ca i[ be swapped for one in Austria or America or

anywhere at no extra accommodation cost — just air fare's and food.) However, Graham Wilkinson has some advice for those thinking of buying in'New Zealand and swapping overseas ; every year. “I believe people should always buy where they intend going — many people do buy to exchange but exchange depends on someone else wanting to take their unit. "People should view the exchange system as the icing on the cake — if you! come fron[i Christchurch and buy a time-share unit in; Eketahiina then don’t think you will be going to Hawaii every year."