The idea of fractional yacht / timeshares first originated in Europe in the 1960's.  During this time, commercial air travel opened up new vacation possibilities, causing considerable growth and change for the travel and tourism industries. In France and Switzerland, two different companies debuted the first vacation ownership offerings in their ski resorts.  The idea caught on very quickly in popularity and rapidly spread around the world.

Shortly after this boom in Europe, the first timeshares in the U.S. opened in 1969 in Kauai.  Fort Lauderdale, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico followed in 1970 as condo developments were sold as timeshares.  There are two types of timeshares; the first is ‘deeded ownership,’ where owners actually hold an equity share in the property, and there is a “right to use” agreement, also known as resort clubs, where owners have no stake in the property, and the usage and fees are considered similar to a lease agreement.  Developers found that by offering these options of timeshares to the public, they were able to finance the building and growth of their properties.  By the 1990’s there were more than 4 million timeshare owners at more than 2,300 timeshare facilities.  To date there are over 6.7 million households worldwide that own the rights to about 10.7 million weeks of timeshares.  Over the decades, timeshare / fractional ownership has become more and more commonplace, emerging in many leisure industries, including jets, helicopters, yachts, even sports cars and RV’s. 

The concept of timeshares, or Fractional yacht transferred over to other vacation / travel industries with the creation of the first fractional jet company, Executive Jets, Inc., in 1986.  The company later evolved into a more formal NetJets, in 1998, which is still the industry leader today. 

The popularity of fractional jet ownership has and continues to increase steadily every year.  According to a 2002 Honeywell Aircraft Sales Forecast, “fractional operations account for about 7% of the global business aircraft fleet and service nearly 4,000 shareholders.  Honeywell estimates that roughly 45% of the current aircraft order backlog is from fractional operators. By 2012, the fractional ownership fleet will comprise 10-12% of the active business aircraft in the world. On a yearly basis, fractional demand in the near term contributes around 15-16% of annual deliveries but could increase into the 20% range by 2012.”  The Honeywell report continued to say that Fractional Jet Ownership has not even begun to reach its full growth potential.

Fractional Yacht has existed for decades as informal agreements between friends, relatives, or business partners.  These owners were still left with the worries of maintenance, schedule coordination, cleaning, and other time-consuming tasks revolving around their vessels.  Professional fractional management companies first began to emerge in the early 2000’s.  Several types of companies provide variations of fractional ownership, similar to timeshares on real estate, they are actual equity shares, and “right to use” agreements.  To date, there are about a dozen Fractional Yacht companies worldwide, however, more and more yacht manufacturers and dealers are beginning to offer this option to their clients.  

In addition to the obvious benefits of sharing costs between owners, fractional ownership appeals to a broad demographic, from businesses using their vessel for meetings and benefits to employees, families with little time to maintain the vessel, individuals looking to upgrade to larger boats without paying the full purchase price of the vessel plus the monthly costs.  Fractional Management companies also offer many benefits to their clients that individuals purchasing a yacht together do not have.  SeaNet provides excellent maintenance and upkeep of their vessels, a professional owner training program, full-time/part-time captains, concierge/scheduling services, provisioning services, and vessel exchange programs.  SeaNet Company, Inc. put its first boat in the program in 2004, and has annually doubled its fleet since then.  Currently, there are nine yachts in the program and approximately 30 owners who have been able to enjoy all the fun of owning their boat with none of the hassles.