When timeshare owners signed their contracts, many were told that maintenance fees were ‘just’ a few hundred dollars a year. Reasonable enough, they thought. But that was then. Today, those fees tell a very different story — one that plays out over decades and costs far more than most owners ever expected.

The Average Maintenance Fee Is Not What You Think

According to the American Resort Development Association, the average annual timeshare maintenance fee is now over $1,100 per year — and that number has climbed consistently every year. Many owners, particularly those with larger units or with popular resort brands, report fees well above $2,000 annually. The issue isn’t just the current number. It’s the trajectory.

The 5% Escalation Problem

Most timeshare contracts include language that allows the resort to increase maintenance fees year over year without cap. Historically, those increases have averaged around 4–6% annually. A fee that starts at $1,200 per year becomes $1,954 in year ten, $2,530 in year fifteen, and $3,275 by year twenty. That’s a cumulative payment of over $40,000 just in maintenance fees over two decades — and that doesn’t include any timeshare mortgage payments, special assessments, or the opportunity cost of that money invested elsewhere.

Special Assessments: The Bill Nobody Warned You About

Beyond regular maintenance fees, timeshare resorts can issue ‘special assessments’ when the property needs repairs, upgrades, or recovers from a natural disaster. These can run from a few hundred to several thousand dollars and often appear with little notice. Unlike maintenance fees, special assessments don’t typically appear in original sales presentations — but they’re buried in most contracts as a legal right of the resort. Owners in hurricane-prone areas or older resort properties have been hit particularly hard.

What $40,000 Could Do Instead

A common way we help clients understand the true cost of staying in their timeshare is by showing the opportunity cost. $40,000 invested in a simple index fund over 20 years, assuming average historical returns, could grow to well over $100,000. That same money spent on flexible travel using platforms like Airbnb or direct hotel bookings could provide far more flexibility, better accommodations, and no ongoing obligation. The math rarely favors keeping the timeshare — and that doesn’t even account for all the years owners simply don’t use it.

If you’d like to know exactly how much you’ll pay if you stay in your timeshare for the next 10, 20, or 30 years, Liberty offers a free financial analysis as part of every consultation. The numbers often speak louder than any sales pitch ever could.