RCI started in 1974 with a handful of resorts in the USA and has grown to include over 4,000 resorts in over 100 countries, today.

Typically, if you take one apartment, or unit, and divide it into 52 slices, or weeks, one slice for each week of the year, this created what is known as the "Weeks" system. There are 52 "unit/weeks" per unit per year. The consumer can purchase 1 unit/week, or 1/52 of one unit, and with all the same ownership rights and benefits of any property ownership.

As with most deeded property, the owner retains rights for perpetuity, which initially was considered a good thing, but as the industry has matured this has not always been a positive aspect of timeshare ownership.

Some timeshares, instead being deeded property, offered memberships on a "Right to Use" basis, say, for 15 to 25 years, after which the membership reverted back to the developer. This initially was thought of as inferior, but again, it proved to be in the best interest of the member as time progressed. Either type of ownership offered the prospective client with these benefits:

1. You can USE it;
2. You can Rent it;
3. You can LEND it to your friends and family for free;
4. You can put it into your estate and WILL it to whoever you want, or;
5. You can SELL it.

Now for example, if a timeshare resort has 100 units, there could be a maximum of 5,200 unit/week owners. If each person owned only one "Week", or 1/52 of each unit, they would then own 1/5200 of the entire resort. Each owner would receive a Deed, or Right to Use, membership certificate stating they own a specific unit in the resort complex, and a specific week of the year, which is allocated to them to use every year.

The resort would install a management company to maintain the resort, and the overall cost would be shared equally among the owners, with each owner having a vote as to how the management company operated. This concept became known as timeshare: to share your time and to share the cost of something that would otherwise be too expensive. The timeshare concept became prevalent during the recession of the early 1970's as a way to help developers sell their condominium complexes along the beaches of Florida, one week at a time.

People who could not afford to pay $100,000 for a condominium to use only a few weeks per year, plus annual maintenance and taxes, etc., could afford to pay $6,000 as a one-time payment for 2 weeks, and to share with others the running cost of up-keep of their unit and resort. It was a good idea born out of necessity to the benefit of all, or so it was thought.

There were different sizes of units, there were different seasons to the year: High, Medium, and Low. The size of the unit and the season of the year, would determine the price of each unit/week. This was a great concept, but as good as it sounded, one problem remained. Who wants to go back to the same location year after year, and at the same time period each year? And this is where RCI capitalized on the concept of timeshare with their ability of "Exchanging."

Exchanging was the 6th benefit of purchasing timeshare, and the main reason why anyone would purchase timeshare. Now, instead of owning at one vacation/holiday resort in one location, at one time of the year, you now have at your disposal thousands of resorts all over the world in which you can travel whenever you want to go. You can choose wherever, and whenever, you want to go, with RCI. "Let us turn your holiday dreams into reality." The world is your oyster, or so the saying goes.