With the economy improving, albeit slowly, consumers are continuing to look for ways to stretch their vacation dollars. For budget-minded families, timeshare remains one of the best vacation values.

Four new high-quality videos released by Holiday Resales, one of the nation’s oldest and largest timeshare resellers, illustrate the real world convenience and value of timesharing, as well as the advantages of vacation ownership versus traditional hotel-based vacations. The "Timeshare vs. Hotels" videos average about 3 minutes in length and can be viewed at http://timeshare.holidaygroup.com/2009/timeshare-vs-hotels.

"We invited timeshare owners to talk to us about what they liked about their timeshares," said Geoff Klein, Holiday’s Marketing Director. "In the videos, which were unscripted, the owners were quite enthusiastic about their experiences, and especially about the price point that timeshare resales provides."

As over 4 million Americans already know, one of the most wallet-friendly vacation options is timesharing. But the vacation industry’s best-kept secret, timeshare resales, remains relatively unknown to most travelers. Timeshare resales typically sell for 60% to 80% below retail prices and require no high-pressure presentations to purchase. In fact, most resale timeshares can be purchased by consumers via the Internet.

Klein noted that, "Many of the buyers we interviewed stated that if it hadn’t been for the low resale prices and extra amenities that timeshare provides, such as kitchens and a larger living space, they wouldn’t have been able to vacation as much as a family."

Studies conducted by the American Resort Development Association ( http://www.arda.com ) show that nearly 85% of the 4.3 million US timeshare owners are satisfied with their purchase. It is also clear that, as with other leisure lifestyle products, the more information consumers have before purchasing a timeshare, the more satisfied they are afterwards.

"Holiday has always placed a high value on educating buyers about the timeshare product," Klein said. "We’ve sold more than 32,000 timeshares over the last 16 years, not just because of our low prices, but also because of our strong consumer approach, which is reflected in the fact that 25 percent of our business comes from repeat buyers."