Interval Joins the Points Bandwagon

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

So we let down our guard and attended an "owner update" at our beloved little timeshare Desert Breezes in Palm Desert, Ca. We haven't been subjected to this sales tactic here before. We generally use our 3 weeks here and rarely trade any of our time but we decided to go ahead & find out what the recent sale of Trading Places (our management company) to Interval International would bring. Low & behold, we can now convert our weeks to points for the low (snark) one time fee of only $2700. BUT WAIT! If we do it now, for only shipping & handling, we can trade our points for nightly stays. I asked the salesrep, " Is that is why we now see people checking in & out every day?" Yes was his answer. People that have unused points from their resort conversions that they are using (utilizing) before they expire.

Sorry. I'm not buying it. This is a boon for the exchange companies but it doesn't help me. I am quite dismayed to find that my timeshare is feeling more & more like a motel. The 2 women & their 2 teenage kids occupying the studio unit across the way had a little dog with them. I am not a complainer so I didn't say anything but the rules say no dogs. The timeshare system seems to be devolving in that very direction. To the dogs.....

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

The points program sounds interesting, but it didn't fit into my vacation ideas. The price I could have bought it for was $ 900, so it's not only the exchange company that's cashing in.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Points and partial week stays are just another evolution in what we know as timeshare. Timeshares need to continue to find new markets and evolve to keep up with trends. There are only so many families that can take full week vacations but there's a lot more that can take weekend trips or partial week stays. It's the flexablity that gives developers a tool to overcome one of the objections people offer to buying into timeshare.

For us this isn't a bad thing. Our lives have changed and the flexablity that points offer has helped us. Sometimes we just want to experience more than one location in a trip. In AZ it's nice to spend a few nights in Scottsdale and a few nights in Sedona as an example. Sometimes it's nice to experience more than one Hawaiian island in a trip without having to take two or three weeks of vacation time.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I agree with Doug.
I love having a mix of points and weeks.
I don't want to spend a full week at many places but 3 or 4 nights makes it perfect.
That's what I love about Wyndham.
They've got lots of resorts within driving distance of each other and you can book partial weeks and not have to exchange.

This worked out great for me in Arizona too with Sedona, Flagstaff and Scottsdale.
I still book weeks and use only part of them if that makes more sense which is often the case, but with harder to get resorts
it's nice to have a points option and then play the exchange game for the rest of the trip.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

There's a big advantage in points if you own a lock-off unit from what I saw.