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Bian Lobo

The Eiffel Tower or the Big Ben… We all want to see the world. We all want travel to distant lands and visit those places we read about or once learnt about. But at the lowest cost.

And now we can do it.

In the past, we Indians had to plan our holidays way in advance. There was a lot of decision making to be done. Destinations, itineraries and routes to work out. And most important there was a lot of saving to be done and costs to chalk out. It wasn't easy to fly to Europe or the States at the drop of a hat. A while ago, holidays were limited to a small class of people….those who could afford it.

But today holidays are no longer only for the rich. The average man, can go somewhere, sometime in his life. There are now ways by which to have that much awaited holiday, while you're still in walking condition and not yet leaning on a cane.

A whole selection of schemes are available these days in the Indian market. There are the travel-now-and-worry-about-payments-later schemes. Or you can even own a piece of the pie and buy a weekend in a time-share resort scheme. Apart from this, airlines -- surprise, surprise -- are offering sizeable discounts. Plus tour operators rates are no longer sky high because of the competition. And hotels are offering packages for all seasons.

The Indian travel industry has finally opened its doors to the middle class.

Time-share schemes are the first of the newer options available in India that puts international holidays within reach of the middle class. Sterling Resorts Limited and Resort Condominiums International are the pioneers in the Indian market.

The concept of a time-share holiday has picked up over the past few years, mainly because people do not have the time to make plans and do bookings. Says Deepak Malhotra, a time-share owner of Sterling Resorts and RCI too. "It becomes a real pain, when you are busy, to plan ahead for your holiday. I have seen these resorts. I like them and they suit my convenience. So it provides an easy way out for me. I am extremely satisfied with Sterling Resorts and RCI."

Explains Radhika Shastri, a marketing manager at RCI, "Holiday patterns have changed drastically. In the past children used to return from spending a summer at grandma's house. But now it's Florida and Paris. Time-share has proved to be quite a rage with over 175,000 time-share owners in the India. Out of these, 80,000 are RCI members."

RCI has its own modus operandi. It functions in co-operation with a number of resort-owning companies all over the world, like Sterling Resorts. But while Sterling Resorts owns its own resorts, RCI on the other hand is an authorising body that allows time share owners to exchange their "deeds". RCI provides its members with an exchange holiday scheme where by its members -- once they are time-share owners -- can exchange their destinations, instead of taking the destination they first opted for over and over again. A customer who becomes a member of a Sterling time-share, can simultaneously, with an additional fee, become an RCI member. Thus RCI does not directly sell membership to time-share schemes.

Says Shastri, "We make sure that resorts are up to the mark by way of accommodation and meals, recreation, the area and much more. Once we are sure that the resort is fit to offer our members, we affiliate ourselves to that particular resort. Therefore, Sterling, Rugby and others offer the time-share and we offer what the exchange scheme.

"There are several schemes (time-share) that run from Rs 40,000 to Rs 250,000. But all our schemes are aimed at the middle class people. Most of our members belong to the middle class. We do have celebrities and other rich people, but the core of the market is not them. They really do not need to save on money.They can take off where and when they like. It is the salaried person that makes organisations like us flourish. Whether it be a businessman or marketing executive. Besides, it is also because we provide them with an exchange scheme so they need not go to the same destination year after year."

However, time-share schemes do have their drawbacks. Another RCI member, Rediff On The NeT spoke to, who did not wish to be named, has not yet had a chance to travel abroad utilising this scheme. But he has been facing difficulty in obtaining a booking for the destination he wishes to travel to because the resorts are all full up. A holiday that he had planned to begin in Venice may end up being a Swiss vacation because the nearest resort, with rooms available, is in Switzerland.

Time-sharing is not the only option in the market. Anchor Holidays, a Delhi based company and a subsidiary of R R Retreats Ltd owned by the Wadhwa group, offers low budget travellers an option of getting a holiday for the next 30 years of their lives at a one time payment of Rs 9,999 -- the first 25 years within India and for the last five years of the scheme abroad.

Continued

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