Movin' On - "fractional ownership"

It's in the "Resort" part of town. Very big and grand. Somehow we'd missed it. And we're desperate.
Nowhere to stay and the town has "no vacancy" signs everywhere.
Wow! The lobby is enormous - in a steel and concrete sort of way - a huge covered patio out the back. Other folks are in the same muddle and there is a crowd around the desk.
The rooms are also big and grand. High ceilings, deep colors, fireplace, suede sofa with fancy matching throw. I notice the designer label - from Calgary, even the address! I love this throw and keep picking it up and putting it down.
He loves the huge granite counter with one of those huge rectangular sinks. Fancy range with ceramic top, lots of white square dishes and fully equipped kitchen drawers with doo-dads of every use imaginable. On the private patio outside, the barbeque is all ready to go. Open a tall cupboard and a beautiful set of those small Maytag washers and dryers which we happen to need right away. The bathroom? Thick glass shower, big, with all kinds of spray attachments for a guy who loves toys like this. For her, a luxury bathtub with fancy spray attachments, too, and lots of counter space around one of those new bowl sinks. Well!
"I wonder if we could buy this room" he says.
Next day we find out that we can. "Fractional Ownership". We follow the signs to their "show suite" and salesman Cheryl tells us that she herself has "fractional ownership" of the very room we are staying in.
"I can't afford a lot, but I have 1/8 ownership of that room. I can use it for 1/8 of a year. But for me, that's not the main thing. For me, it's the "trade" factor. I can go to other big hotels (next week, I'm going to Las Vegas) and get my room for free. So my boyfriend and I will use the room occasionally, or let friends use it as a gift, perhaps.
The show suite, by the way, is also gorgeous (if you like the big, bold, "in your face" presentation).
"Most of this resort has "fractional ownership" possibilities. And there is also 4 large suites that are for outright sale. They're over there in the centre, right close to where the pool is going to be. I believe one of them will be empty tomorrow and I could show it to you".
It's great. We like it. It's completely furnished - part of the price. And the price is very reasonable, and there's no GST. Owned by one of the "developers" here, he's moving to Belize to work on another Resort development there.
We stay here more than once. It's high season and they're doing lots of business. We chat with Cheryl here and there. She gives me a hair stylist referral, puts us in touch with the "strata" president so we can ask him some questions about the suite she has shown us.
As all this is happening, we ponder this place. There's a suspicious air of inactivity here. Not any "building" happening. We go downstairs every morning to the fancy "coffee" room where guests can drink coffee, read the paper and watch the news - a sort of "get out of from under" alternative - very clever. (and free Vancouver Sun/Globe & Mail every day) Here we see one of those under-glass three dimensional plans for the resort. Whew! They've got a ways to go if they intend to do all these grand things.
We ask questions of realtors, and find out that this place has already failed once, that the Resort people picked it up for a good price and that for whatever reason the place just didn't seem to "meld" with the community. Mind you, this would be from the realtor's standpoint, and they could be considered "the competition" perhaps.
At any rate, it's another example of the innovative ways that people are finding to spend their vacation dollars.
We're still watching this place. If only they'd get rid of that huge yellow "show suite" balloon - so tacky.