Last week we highlighted for you the tastiest morsels from the “2025 State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry” – the annual report of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), the trade association of the timeshare industry.

Juicy tidbits such as:

• Greedy timeshare companies raised maintenance fees 17.5% last year – nearly SIX TIMES HIGHER THAN INFLATION!

• Nearly 50% of resorts plan on raising maintenance fees by at least another 10% in 2025, revealing that timeshare companies have quite the appetite for even more fee increases.

• Rental income is up 146% over the last five years as resorts make more units available to rent by the general public, while taking a big bite out of the number of units available to actual timeshare owners.

It’s all enough to give a timeshare owner heartburn!

And here’s something else that’s hard to swallow: ARDA’s justification for this unwelcome serving of fee increases.

On page 26, the report says: “Note that the impact of inflation on maintenance fees is usually delayed, since maintenance fee billing typically adjusts at the end of a given year.”

Fair enough. Maintenance fees get adjusted each year, so this year’s fees are based on last year’s inflation.

The 17.5% fee increase in 2024 was just the industry playing a little catch up, according to ARDA.

Except inflation was just 4% in 2023. And even in 2022, when inflation was the highest in 40 years, it was only 8%.

According to ARDA’s own data, maintenance fees increased 33% in the last five years, from $1,120 in 2020 to $1,480 in 2024. 

But overall inflation was only 21% during the same period.

Timeshare maintenance fees increased more than 50% faster than inflation!

That’s not a lagging indicator; that’s more like leading the charge on inflation.

A luscious cherry on top for timeshare companies!

A barber shop’s helping of hair in the soup for timeshare owners.

It’s time to send whatever concoction the timeshare companies are trying to cook up back to the kitchen.

We can start with a message to Jason Gamel, the President and CEO of ARDA. He’s the proprietor of the whole timeshare joint. Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org and tell him it’s unfair for timeshare owners to pay the tab when timeshare companies are just running up the bill.

We should also let Gordon Gurnik, the Chair of the ARDA Board of Directors and the Chief Operating Officer of Hilton Grand Vacations, know that his heaping fee increases are giving owners indigestion. Gordon’s email isgordon.gurnik@hgv.com.

Travis Bary, Co-President of Capital Vacations and ARDA board member, should also hear that this mix of fee increases and availability reductions is getting stale. Email him at tbary@capitalvacations.com.

Tired of what your timeshare company keeps dishing out? Use this list of ARDA VIPs to tell your company’s leaders.
  
Does your timeshare company deserve a “no stars” review? Tell us why at info@timesharefacts.com
  
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