Timeless Europe - Make it yours Forever!

Travel Possibilities With Timeshares - If you're looking to make a lifetime of European travel memories, consider purchasing a timeshare in your favorite region of this expansive continent. Many frequent travelers will shy away from timeshares for fear of being tied down to one locale for the life of their contract, but savvy vacationers and timeshare owners know that, in fact, the opposite is true. With a timeshare you can explore every corner of Europe, year after year, for one annual or biennial rate.

Rather than owning actual property, when you buy timeshare you own the right to use the property for an increment of time. As such, it's easy to trade this time at your "home resort" (the property or unit that will be deeded or contracted to you) for time at thousands of resorts all over the continent of Europe and the world. In order to use your timeshare to travel, you'll need to make sure that it's affiliated with a vacation club or exchange company, or both.

Vacation clubs, like Marriott, Hilton Grand Vacations Club and Bluegreen have hundreds of resorts all over the world. Ownership at one of their resorts generally grants owners access to all of them. For example, if your vacation club has properties in France, Italy and Spain, you'll have access to all of them, no questions asked. However, there are some things to be aware of when you're deciding whether to buy timeshare with a vacation club.

First, with vacation club timeshares, you're paying for a certain level of quality. As such, they tend to be more expensive than other timeshare options. Many buyers find the guarantee of quality to be well worth the extra expense, but you'll certainly want to consider whether that's a priority of yours.

Second, some clubs, like Marriott, for example, prohibit owners who have purchased their timeshare resale from participating in their points program (the program that allows fluid movement throughout their network). To get around this, owners who purchase resale will need to become members of compatible exchange companies. (In this case, Interval International and Marriott are partners; but as a general rule RCI is the largest and most expansive exchange club.) Exchange companies work much like vacation clubs in that they allow owners to trade within a network of resorts. But with over 3,700 affiliated properties, RCI offers the most flexibility. Whichever option you choose, a timeshare will allow you to make memorable trips year after year.