Timeshare 101
If any promoter tells you timeshare is an investment that will increase in value, run the other way. It is a way to guarantee pre-paid vacations, a way to commit yourself to going on vacation (for the workaholics out there), a way to expand your lodging from a hotel room to a condo for roughly the same money.
If you are a vacationer who prefers shopping for the best last minute bargains and will stay in budget properties, don't even consider a purchase of timeshare anywhere.
As for the "bankruptcy" scenario, when there is no mortgage on a property, there is no impatient lender with a right to foreclose. All there are is operating costs, which are covered on a pro rata basis by the timeshare owners. So there is no likelihood of bankruptcy, despite how scary that prospect may seem.
As for the "scheme", Paul, there isn' t enough room to address all of the reasoning, but suffice it to say that there are many more marketing and sales costs that must be recouped in a timeshare scenario than from a "whole ownership condo" or a hotel--we all wish there weren't, but, frankly, as long as there are people like yourself who haven't yet been fully educated (and I say this respectfully)and who are locked into generalizations and the ancient history of timeshare scams of decades ago, that marketing/education process is going to continue to take time and money.
But once a timeshare is sold, guess what! The manager/developer no longer has to incur advertising nor travel agents costs that must be passed along to the vacationer and the operating costs go down. Management must be crisp and responsive because the resort is now populated by people with an ownership stake and who are demanding good service and accountability. All of which bodes well for the individuals who bought the timeshares.
Truthfully this board isn't the place to go into this any further. There are scams in timeshare in the DR, yes. For example, Rhumba Heavens in Playa Dorado is closed, and who knows what is happening to those individuals who purchased a timeshare interest there last year. I have no idea if they had a lender breathing down their necks, or just what happened there.
The DR is still a country with a developing legal system vis a vis this industry. But specifically Sunset Resorts for one has been a major presence in Cabarete for a long time now--and they enjoy a good reputation in their home office in Winnipeg. If they had not been delivering the goods for their largely Canadian clientele, there would have been a major uprising up there (Manitoba) because they are so visible.
I do not and did not intend this to be a commercial for them, but there are some basic truisms about how to make resort timesharing work for all concerned, and that company seems to have figured them out and delivered them.
You will all have good lives with or without an ownership in timesharing anywhere--but a little education is a good thing. If you are inclined to disbelieve everything--rational or otherwise--about timesharing--I understand that. The industry made its bed, now it has to sleep in it. But there are some operators around with everyones' best interests in mind. You just have to find them.