Why Can’t You Ever Use Your Timeshare?
If you find yourself with a timeshare that never seems available to you, that could be because your bookings are competing with non-timeshare-owning customers.


If you have been kicking yourself and considering a name change to “sucker” for buying a timeshare while on vacation at that nice resort — but you can never actually book a hotel stay — then today’s story will make you feel less guilty.
As I have written over the past several years, when you are having the time of your life at a lovely destination, attend a sales presentation and buy a timeshare, thinking, “How nice it would be to come back here again and again,” this is often the single worst financial decision you could ever make.
Buy it today, new from the developer, for $25,000, and tomorrow it is virtually worthless, a gleaming white elephant that you can’t give back and no one wants — and you are stuck with the yearly “maintenance fees and assessments” that never end and are well over $1,000.

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
(I will point out that timeshares are available on the resale market today for a tiny fraction of the original selling price — even for $1 — if you really want one.)
As a result of the morally bankrupt companies that run many timeshares and one enabler — the Better Business Bureau gives some of them an A grade— when you try to book a resort stay, nothing is ever available. In a moment, you’ll see why.
Won a trip to Las Vegas
Today’s story began late last year when two sales associates and their families from a Midwest industrial paper supplier were awarded a week’s stay in Las Vegas. Their employer phoned me, explaining, “I had to fire one other sales associate for dishonesty, and he was a friend of the two guys. After being let go, he returned home to Las Vegas. When my employees checked into their hotel for their stay, who should they run into, but the jerk I fired, and he was selling timeshares at their hotel! He conned them both into buying a timeshare! And they have never been able to book a resort stay. Why is this, Mr. Beaver?”
Owners can’t book a stay, but others can on travel sites
In a 2022 class-action lawsuit filed in the Delaware U.S. District Court against Wyndham Vacation Resorts — the world’s largest vacation ownership business — a former executive, Danielle Henderson, turned whistleblower on why its timeshare owners were often unable to book a stay. Her position was eliminated after bringing “this integrity concern” to the attention of the company’s CEO.
I have summarized her sworn declaration for length: Wyndham misappropriates owner inventory for its own financial gain, severely reducing the availability of accommodations and resulting in an inability to reserve on its website, but giving it to other, publicly accessible booking sites, like Expedia. Senior leadership is aware of this issue, yet continues to force owners to remain in their contracts even while knowing these business practices are the direct causes of the problems being experienced by owners. None of this is disclosed before timeshare purchase agreements are signed.
Blatantly fraud
“Throughout the timeshare industry, this fraud has been known for years,” observes attorney Mike Finn of Finn Law Group in St. Petersburg, Fla. Finn is one of a handful of attorneys in the country who concentrate on timeshare law. “As access to your timeshare is based on availability, this means that you are competing with members of the public to use something that you’ve (already) paid for, but the public have not paid a thing for (yet) — they can get it, and you can’t because it often is not available to the timeshare owner!
“So, when they realize what’s going on and that their first chance to use the timeshare could be a year or two away, people try to cancel. But (by then), it is well beyond the cancellation period spelled out in the purchase agreements! It is truly maddening.”
OK, so I’ll just hire a timeshare exit company
We’ve all heard the ads for timeshare exit companies. Finn correctly warns that virtually all are not run by attorneys and that people should steer clear of them — a point I agree with. Each one I looked into proved to be a scam.
Chances are, you’ve heard a catchy but misleading radio spot by Chuck McDowell, CEO of Wesley Financial Group, who incorrectly tells us “the ugly truth about timeshares.” He states in the ad, “Even when you die, your family will be stuck with this burden.”
The truth is that anyone who receives a timeshare through an inheritance or gift can decline to accept it, in writing.
A day of reckoning is coming for timeshare companies
If you’re thinking, “Why has no one gone after timeshare developers with class actions?” Well, the Timeshare Law Firm, a national law firm based in Melbourne Beach, Fla., is filing a class-action suit against some of the largest in America. Its website shows which ones they are.
To see how the BBB grades the timeshare companies on the Timeshare Law Firm list, visit www.bbb.org and do a search. Some of the companies have been given D or F grades or are not rated, but others have gotten A’s.
See my article Best Way to Exit Your Timeshare: Never Buy One in the First Place for some advice on how to best buy a timeshare if you really want one and how to go about getting out of a timeshare you’ve already bought.
Related Content
- Considering a Timeshare? Don't You Ever!
- Six of the Worst Assets to Inherit
- Six Things Not to Do if You Want to Resolve a Conflict
- Confessions of a Timeshare Scammer
- Five Ways to a Cheap Last-Minute Vacation
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.

After attending Loyola University School of Law, H. Dennis Beaver joined California's Kern County District Attorney's Office, where he established a Consumer Fraud section. He is in the general practice of law and writes a syndicated newspaper column, "You and the Law." Through his column, he offers readers in need of down-to-earth advice his help free of charge. "I know it sounds corny, but I just love to be able to use my education and experience to help, simply to help. When a reader contacts me, it is a gift."
-
Cord Cutting Could Help You Save Over $10,000 in 10 Years
How cutting the cord can save you money and how those savings can grow over time.
-
The '8-Year Rule of Social Security' — A Retirement Rule
The '8-Year Rule of Social Security' holds that it's best to be like Ike — Eisenhower, that is. The five-star General knew a thing or two about good timing.
-
You Were Planning to Retire This Year: Should You Go Ahead?
If the economic climate is making you doubt whether you should retire this year, these three questions will help you make up your mind.
-
Are You Owed Money Thanks to the SSFA? You Might Need to Do Something to Get It
The Social Security Fairness Act removed restrictions on benefits for people with government pensions. If you're one of them, don't leave money on the table. Here's how you can be proactive in claiming what you're due.
-
From Wills to Wishes: An Expert Guide to Your Estate Planning Playbook
Consider supplementing your traditional legal documents with this essential road map to guide your loved ones through the emotional and logistical details that will follow your loss.
-
Your Home + Your IRA = Your Long-Term Care Solution
If you're worried that long-term care costs will drain your retirement savings, consider a personalized retirement plan that could solve your problem.
-
I'm a Financial Planner: Retirees Should Never Do These Four Things in a Recession
Recessions are scary business, especially for retirees. They can scare even the most prepared folks into making bad moves — like these.
-
A Retirement Planner's Advice for Taking the Guesswork Out of Income Planning
Once you've saved for retirement, you'll need your nest egg to support you for as many as 30 years. For that, you need a clear income strategy, not guesswork.
-
Why Smart Retirees Are Ditching Traditional Financial Plans
Financial plans based purely on growth, like the 60/40 portfolio, are built for a different era. Today’s retirees need plans based on real-life risks and goals and that feature these four elements.
-
To My Small Business: Well, I've Been Afraid of Changin', 'Cause I've Built My Life Around You
While thinking about succession planning might feel like anticipating a landslide (here's to you, Fleetwood Mac), there are strategies you can implement to manage the uncertainty and the transition.