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Re: Maintenance Fees (by Kenneth K.):

The HOA voted for by the T/S condo owners also contracts services from the management company.

Management companies include VRI , Celebrity, Marriott, Starwood (Sheraton/Westin), the Wyndham Group (but not all are HOA controlled and most Worldmark & some Fairfield/Wyndham units are management controlled).

An example....Marriott is easiest- They decide to put up a hotel in a nice beachfront area. But they have a better idea....make that a Interval Condo ( I could pick Ritz Carlton...but most of us can more easily afford their MVCI division)

Hey guys ! We can build 2 or 3 bed 2 bath lock out beachfront apartments and sell them 52 times in each year! And since we are the majority owners, we control the HOA for many beginning years...don't forget that long term contract with the best management company...us !

As the units are sold, seats on the HOA are given to the buyers, and slowly (by law in most states and some countries) the Marriott HOA is replaced by the people (owners) voted in by the rest of the owners.

In Marriotts case, when you buy the unit, you (almost always) by all the facilities that come with it...ie...pools gyms, restautrants, (not all developers do this....they keep the gravey)

When the resort is completely sold out, Marriott has a long term contract to manage it...to Marriott standards. Thats good! But expensive. (Most weeks in the system have maint fees of approx $1000. (Thats why the L/O is SOOO important..you get at least two weeks for one).

Meanwhile, Marriott has set up your T/S to run as a hotel....they rent your week or left over weeks or days....it is really run like a hotel, except you will not get hotel services. They keep most fees.

And guess who pays for maintance, insurance, and taxes ???? YES the owners! Thats why it would probably be better to buy Marriott Stock than any timeshare (ok ok a bit of a joke)

But thats the general idea of an honest T/S developer. In Marriott, YOU pick the week YOU want in your float if still available. Thats very important because the best week in your float will get you better trades... (Marriott is not a point system...never was)

That might give you an idea of how a deeded, owned interval condo would work.