The first fee-ownership timeshare project in the world.

The Challenge

Bring to market a concept that had a few early entrants, who sold an unregistered lease product, and to do it right.

Innisfree, the Hyatt subsidiary, was a land developer, so moving over chosen sales personnel to sell timeshare was a hit-and-miss process.  Marketing, however, was effective, as it was directed to those who chose not to buy a lot, but wanted immediate use.  There was no exchange option at that time.

The Action

Star’s principal, Carl Berry, set out on a quest of shared ownership in 1969. By 1972 he had joined the resort development subsidiary of Hyatt Corporation, and got them to agree to try shared ownership. Their project at Lake Tahoe was chosen for the launch. During the ramp-up period, the term “timesharing” was taken from shared mainframe computers, and applied to the new product.

Through Hyatt’s law firm, a California Department of Real Estate public report was issued for timesharing; Title Insurance and Trust agreed to issue a title policy; Placer County agreed to record the interest; AVCO finance agreed to provide buyer financing; and Brockway Springs timesharing came to market in late 1972.

The Result

Brockway Springs was a mixed-use project.  The small, timeshare test was successful, and all the two-week interests, fixed-time, and fixed-unit product were sold.  Families who purchased then still own today.