timeshares

Banyan Tree Private Collection

Traveling can be such a hassle when you have to scope out resorts or hotel accommodations ahead of time, and then they may or may not be what you expected once you arrive. Timeshares are a wonderful way to avoid all that messing around and make jetting off to a beautiful location on the other side of the world a fairly painless process. The Private Collection program from Banyan Tree gives you 1 week per year in a "dreamy" 2 bedroom villa in all kinds of exotic places like Thailand, China, and Italy.

Annual membership dues are $3000, which doesn't sound too bad until you hear the one time fee to join of $120,000. But once you pay that you own the timeshare forever and can even transfer it to someone else (for a fee) if you ever wanted to.

Gallery: Banyan Tree