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Expect "No Smoking" policies to increase.... (by KC):

mike1536 wrote:

teresar85 wrote:

I am looking to purchase a Timeshare in NJ. I am a smoker and would like to know if any resorts allow smoking. Is this something that is always listed like "no pets"? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks, Teresa

=========== I don't know of any specific resorts, but keep in mind there is nothing to stop the resort from changing the policy in the future.

Mike makes an excellent and valid point here. While VERY few timeshare facilities have ever allowed pets and those that haven't done so before (and don't now) never will. So it's very easy to just consistently announce and publicize that info (in exchange directories and elsewhere) that "no pets are allowed here".

For smoking policies, however, it's a very different story. Smoking policies can and do change. Such policies are increasingly moving toward outright bans on ANY smoking on the premises. This has been the case within just the past few years at three different facilities at which I own weeks, where smoking was previously permitted but is now banned outright. I fully expect that such smoking bans will spread (and as a non-smoker, that's just fine with me, although I've never participated in the campaigns to ban smoking at any of my timeshare ownerships).

It's relevant to acknowledge that at any timeshare facility, each and every unit will be used by 50 (or more) different "occupant groups" in the course of every single year. Non-smoking owners (who are the statistical majority) are increasingly and completely intolerant of arriving to use their week, only to promptly discover that their unit smells like an ash tray. This REALLY annoys non-smoking owners, particularly since the origin of that (now permanent) smoke smell might very well be from renters or exchangers --- people who don't actually even own "time" there in the first place (and so don't actually pay any maintenance fees there either). So, owners (through their POA's) can (and do) implement non-smoking policies "right across the board" for their resort, reflecting the preference of a majority of the fee-paying owners --- the people whose maintenance fees actually support the facility in the first place.

In summary, with no personal judgement about smoking intended, you should fully expect that the list of timeshare facilities which allow smoking will continue to grow shorter and shorter all the time.