Luxury, long-term time-shares are proving to be popular on Maui.

Nearly one person a day since July has plunked down $418,000 on average for three-week annual stays at the Ritz-Carlton Club, Kapalua Bay.

The Ritz-Carlton is the first so-called fractional ownership condo development, essentially a longer-term version of timeshares, to be sold in Hawai'i.

Project director Jeffrey Berger said 55 of the three-week intervals have been sold over about 60 days for a combined $23 million.

"That is an extraordinary number," Berger said. "The reception has been overwhelming to say the least."

Prices at the project range from $300,000 to $850,000 for perpetual use of a unit limited to 21 days a year. Annual maintenance and service fees are about $15,000 for each owner of the roughly 2,000-square-foot units with two and three bedrooms.

The general appeal, industry observers said, is to wealthy vacationers who view fractional ownership as an alternative to buying a million-dollar condo for occasional vacation use.

Ritz-Carlton, since May, has also been selling 56 fee-simple condos at Kapalua Resort for $4 million to $10 million, and has sold more than a dozen of the units with 3,000 square feet to 4,200 square feet of space.

A third element of the Kapalua Bay project is 28 condos being developed for Exclusive Resorts, which has about 1,800 members who pay a one-time fee and annual dues for use of about 300 luxury residences around the world.

All three condo projects are part of Kapalua Resort's redevelopment by landowner Maui Land & Pineapple Co., Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. and Exclusive Resorts.

Construction started this month after the Kapalua Bay Hotel on its 24-acre oceanfront setting was demolished. Completion is slated for late 2008.

The fractional ownership project includes 62 units, which equates to 744 three-week intervals. (Ritz-Carlton sells 12 three-week intervals per unit, reserving 16 weeks a year mostly for use by members at additional cost.)

Joseph Toy, president of local consulting firm Hospitality Advisors LLC, said fractional ownership has been considered for Hawai'i since the mid-1990s and was a natural evolution from the traditional time-share that in recent years has been pursued by major hotel companies.

"They're selling multiweeks already," Toy said of traditional time-share projects that typically sell one-week intervals.

According to trade group American Resort Development Association, the average price for a time-share week was $15,789 nationwide in 2004, the latest year for which data is available. Only three other states — Florida, South Carolina and California — have more time-share resorts than Hawai'i.

Other developers are pursuing high-end time-share projects in Hawai'i, including Texas developer Ken Hughes who is working with the state to develop a mixed-use leasehold condo project near Aloha Tower on O'ahu that would include some fractional vacation condos.

Toy noted that several others are in the development pipeline. "There is demand for this product," he said.

Ritz-Carlton has been in the fractional ownership business since 1999 and has about 3,000 members at seven projects, including two Colorado ski resorts, a golf resort in Florida and a beachfront resort in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Maui along with projects in San Francisco and Miami Beach are recent additions.

Berger said the Kapalua property has generated record prices and sales pace compared with Ritz-Carlton's six other projects.

Part of the reason, he said, is that there was pent-up demand from existing club members to have fractional ownership options in Hawai'i.

As part of Ritz-Carlton Club, members can trade use of their property with other members, but unlike typical time-shares, Ritz-Carlton intervals cannot be traded with owners outside the exclusive club or for other items like hotel stays or air travel.

Berger said about 40 percent of buyers at Kapalua are club members, and 20 percent are referrals from members. The balance is roughly split between people who own other property at Kapalua Resort and guests of the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua hotel.

Part of the appeal, Berger said, are services and amenities, such as stocking units with preferred items, arranging itineraries and unpacking and pressing pre-sent garments. Amenities include a lagoon-style pool and beach club.

Berger expects the project to sell out in three or three-and-a-half years, compared with four or five years as initially estimated when Ritz-Carlton announced the project in March.

If all the units are sold for an average of $418,000, proceeds would total roughly $311 million.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.