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jayjay notes: >> I've never heard of the 'weeks 5-15 blackout' scenario either even though I've been reading timeshare related forums for many years. << ===================================== Well, I can assure you with the certainty of the sun rising in the morning that the practice is (and has been) firmly in place at numerous resorts on the southwest Florida coast for many years now. It exists in at least three different resorts in that geographic area at which I personally own (fixed) week(s) right now (and at which I have owned same for many years). It also exists in about half a dozen more relatively nearby places that I know of, but at which I don't actually own. Re: >> This seems to me to be outright wrong ethically. Although any resort has the right to do anything they choose, but if it's a TIMESHARE resort then these weeks should be available to anyone who wants to buy one. I hope the resorts with this rule will be named here on Redweek so people won't get into such a scenario as happened above. I would never buy into a resort with this rule simply due to the unethical nature of such.<< ====================================== Well, I won't enter into a discussion on whether or not the practice is ethical, and I frankly don't even claim to know its' origins and/or reasons. My personal guess (and a "guess" is all it is) is that it may be a wily and contrived way to ensure that fixed winter weeks maintain a comparatively high monetary value. My objective was / is simply to point out that the practice does indeed exist out there and is alive and well, right now, so that the prospective buyer of a SW FL Gulf coast week can avoid the somewhat costly mistake which I made years ago, by ascertaining the nature of any reservation restrictions which may be associated with a "float" week ownership. The practice may exist elsewhere (i.e., other geographic areas) too, but I can / will only address that about which I have personal, direct and current first hand knowledge. By the same token, it maybe warrants pointing out that fixed winter weeks at these particular resorts sell for big money (and, in fact, are rarely even available for sale at all). On the other hand, the float weeks at these same places sell (VERY slowly) for peanuts. In short, it's not as though people are paying anywhere near the same amount of money for each of these two very different timeshare products of different usage options.