Timeshare Merchant Account

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Your purpose is to make people’s vacation splendid. So you offer them time-limited ownership at some beautiful locations all over the globe. It might be a country house, villa, apartments, etc. The thing is, that to offer such services, you need to open a merchant account first. As soon as you do this, you are good to accept payments from travelers or people who are interested in time-based property ownership.

What is the timeshare business?

The timeshare business emerged in 1960-s in England and shaped itself a business model in 1970-s. Nowadays, families or friends can buy timeshare ownership for a house from the timeshare company. This will mean, clients can use the property for a certain amount of time. Customers who buy ownership can:

Use it by themselves,
Share with family/friends,
Donate to charity,
Give as a gift,
Exchange to another property (if the timeshare company has multiple locations).

There are three most common ownership types.

Fixed-week. In this situation, the client owns a right to use the property only during the week(s) stated in the contract. For instance, the client has week 25. So, s/he stays in the property during a week 25 on the 1st, 2nd year and so on (depending on how many years are stated in the contract).
Floating week. In this case, the company gives a client a right to choose weeks during different seasons. The client can choose a summer week and, let’s say, the one in the winter period. But the demand for holiday weeks will be much higher.
Flex-week (rotating week). This ownership type lets clients to enjoy different weeks on every next year. For example, there are two families. On the first year Family 1 will have week 51 (that has Christmas in it) and Family 2 has week 52. On the second year, Family 1 will spend their time in the property on the week 52, while Family 2 on week 51. This ensures equal rights for both families.

What are the core needs of timeshare merchants

As a timeshare real estate company owning the properties and allowing timeshare works globally, they will have some special requirements.

Security. As transaction sums are usually rather high, timeshare business merchants require sophisticated security solutions. PCI DSS compliance is a must for the payment service provider. The main aim of these Standards is to lower payment cards fraud. Of course, except this, the PSP needs to have top-notch anti-fraud solutions to offer extra safety.
Payment methods. As we have mentioned, clients can purchase a timeshare for properties anywhere in the world and the clients may originate from different places. That’s why it’s essential to give them a choice of currencies and payment methods (traditional and alternative ones).

Why Ikajo

Ikajo is a trusted payment service provider with 15+ years of experience under its belt. It provides personalized solutions to all its clients, to help their business grow. Your timeshare company may benefit from affordable fees Ikajo provides (from 1.2%). Moreover, you can gladden your customers with 100+ currencies and 100+ payment methods. As a matter of fact, Ikajo International is PCI DSS Level 1 compliant and has its own fraud & chargeback prevention software.