Senators seek tough new protection for consumers with timeshare agreements
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bipartisan senators introduce bill to require clearer timeshare contracts.
- FTC would enforce the law while states may adopt stronger consumer protections.
- The industry’s trade association, ARDA, does not support the bill.
Senators from both parties, including California Democrat Adam Schiff, are pushing legislation they say aims to provide new protection for consumers who buy timeshares.
The bill introduced by Schiff and Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, would “protect consumers from confusing contracts, hidden fees, and unclear exit options in the timeshare industry,” they said in a statement.
ARDA, the timeshare industry’s nonpartisan trade association, does not support the bill.
Jason Gamel, ARDA president and chief executive office, said it “interferes with states’ rights to regulate real estate property by introducing duplicative federal regulations and injecting unnecessary federal regulations into the marketplace.”
He also said it does nothing “to address the third-party fraud which has been the subject of several state and federal investigations,” and said ARDA “stands ready to work with state and federal regulatory authorities to clean up the third-party fraud and abuse that we see in the industry today.”
What the bill would do
Schiff said the bill would give people more information before they agree to buy a timeshare, “including any potential surprise fees or contract terms.” The bill, he said, would help “ensure that Americans aren’t saddled with hidden junk fees or are the victims of deceptive contracts.”
The bill would require timeshare agreements to:
- Include a single document itemizing all acquisition and maintenance costs.
- Mandate disclosure of modifiable fees and the notice requirements for such changes.
- Provide clear, documented options to exit ownership.
- Grant buyers a 14-day penalty-free cancellation period.
- Allow buyers time to privately review the timeshare agreement.
The Federal Trade Commission would enforce the legislation, while states could enact their own, stronger protections.
Pro and con
AARP supports the plan.
“This bill addresses a long-standing gap in consumer safeguards for timeshare agreements, which often involve complex terms and high-pressure sales tactics,” Bill Sweeney, AARP senior vice president of government affairs, wrote the senators in a letter.
“Timeshare contracts frequently include complicated fee structures and long-term obligations that leave consumers — especially older adults — vulnerable to costly and often irreversible commitments,” he said.
But at ARDA, Gamel said that the association has long worked “alongside state officials and regulatory authorities to advocate on behalf of consumers as well as the timeshare industry as a whole.
“The result has been the enactment of dozens of state laws that require, among many other things, timeshare companies to disclose all financial conditions of the purchase, including all fees that are part of timeshare ownership,” he said. “These state laws also require consumers to be provided with rescission rights for those who decide not to go through with their timeshare purchase.”
Gamel also cited work with federal agencies, including the FBI and Federal Trade Commission, to combat fraud by third parties on timeshare consumers. And ARDA has launched platforms to help consumers with exiting a timeshare, how to avoid scams and other issues: ResponsibleExit.com and The TCPC.org.
This story was originally published December 19, 2025 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Senators seek tough new protection for consumers with timeshare agreements."
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