Unit by Unit
As you learned a few chapters ago, all maintenance fees are not created equal. Timeshare unit owners who spend their vacations in the exact same resort will often pay greatly varying fees, sometimes with hundreds of dollars of difference between them.
Why? For the most part, the total amount you are charged in annual maintenance fees depends on two things: the size of your timeshare unit and the number of weeks of use that you own. If you buy the right to use a three-bedroom timeshare unit for three weeks out of every year, you are — rightly so — going to pay a heck of a lot more in maintenance fees than someone who bought one week's worth of timeshare use in a studio unit that sleeps only two people. You will have more people using the resort's facilities and services, and you should pay for that usage.
E-ALERT
For the purpose of determining maintenance fees, every two-bedroom timeshare unit in a resort is exactly the same. You will be charged in accordance with how many people your unit sleeps, not whether it has an oceanfront or garden view. The latter unit may have been less expensive to purchase, but it will have the same annual maintenance fees as the more-expensive, same-size unit overlooking the beach.
It is important to keep in mind that, more often than not, there are no other purchasing factors that will affect your annual maintenance fees. Whether you buy one week's worth of two-bedroom timeshare use during a low-demand season or one week's worth of two-bedroom timeshare use during a high-demand season, you are going to pay the same amount in annual maintenance fees. After all, the resort needs to be staffed, cleaned, and overseen no matter what time of year you decide to visit it. Hence the fact that seasonal concerns — oh so important when considering exchange value — are not taken into account at all when maintenance fees are determined.
