Poll. How many of you use the ongoing request feature.

[JDrozen Member Find all posts View Profile Close JDrozen]

maybe I could use some education here....relatively new owner since April 2008, I'm not sure I even understand the difference?

I have always called II or gone online, deposited my unit (what's request first? you can request first while still holding on to your II week?), put in all the weeks/resorts I want and then waited. I've gotten a call or 2 trying to offer me something else that isn't close, but eventually I have always gotten what I wanted.

Is there a better way to do it? I try to plan these trips WELL in advance, so going on in May of 2011 to see what's available at that moment for Maui in Summer 2013 (see my post on Hawaii...still waiting to hear back about my Maui exchange for this coming summer....maybe that's the point of people saying you wait and wait? I get it now...lol), is very slim that something will be there, so I just "get in line" so to speak with the exchange and wait...is there a better way to use my TS than I am? I own at Welk in Escondido and am platinum II member so have had no issues not getting an exchange. Maui will test that theory, I suppose, though I gave them 2 resorts and TWELVE WEEKS...help?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

maybe I could use some education here....relatively new owner since April 2008, I'm not sure I even understand the difference?

I have always called II or gone online, deposited my unit (what's request first? you can request first while still holding on to your II week?), put in all the weeks/resorts I want and then waited. I've gotten a call or 2 trying to offer me something else that isn't close, but eventually I have always gotten what I wanted.

Is there a better way to do it? I try to plan these trips WELL in advance, so going on in May of 2011 to see what's available at that moment for Maui in Summer 2013 (see my post on Hawaii...still waiting to hear back about my Maui exchange for this coming summer....maybe that's the point of people saying you wait and wait? I get it now...lol), is very slim that something will be there, so I just "get in line" so to speak with the exchange and wait...is there a better way to use my TS than I am? I own at Welk in Escondido and am platinum II member so have had no issues not getting an exchange. Maui will test that theory, I suppose, though I gave them 2 resorts and TWELVE WEEKS...help?

With II you can request without deposting, although I have never understood the merit of that, since if many did it, there would never be anything available.

Folks say you can't do that with RCI, but you can deposit a week, search, and then withdraw the week if it did not get taken, say by an Ongoing Search, which seldom happens.

This thread is an extension of the Ongoing Search v. looking yourself online debate that has been going on since, oh, let's see, 1997.

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

I set up some very specific ongoing requests in RCI recently. I won't be surprised if none of them come through.
I chose some specific beach resorts for Christmas/NYE 2013 - didn't include Villa L'auberge cause I don't know the RCI code for that one, but did include several GPR resorts.
I have a few weeks chosen throughout 2013 and 2014 at VGC as part of my experiment to see if I can more without owning there than I did when I did own there.
And, lastly, I put in a search for Christmas/NYE 2014 for Aulani in a 2 bedroom.

Not holding my breath, but would be tickled pink with any of those.

ETA: Based on what I have learned about RCI from all the fine people on this forum and others, I will only place ongoing searches for specific resorts and never for an area.

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

Pssst. Presley. Can you still trade in GPX? Go look at your time frame there.

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

Pssst. Presley. Can you still trade in GPX? Go look at your time frame there.

I just saw!

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

I just saw!

T-giving too...if it's still there.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I just saw!

So tell us, did u get something fabulous????

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

So tell us, did u get something fabulous????

Almost. I am waiting for their business hours because I overpaid last time and was told my next exchange is free. I have to pay with a CC if I book it online. It is, of course, Villa L'auberge. I love the Christmas lights all around the town of Del Mar.

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

My last ongoing search was started the beginning of January and I had a match within 2 days. I got a 2BR at Disney's Beach Club for the beginning of March.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

The success of a search is totally related to what and when it is you are looking for.

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

Not very impressed with RCi and on-going search. Twice now it has not picked up a unit that perfectly matched the criteria.

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

Not very impressed with RCi and on-going search. Twice now it has not picked up a unit that perfectly matched the criteria.

I've read that several times by other people. I still check every day for that very reason.

[JDrozen Member Find all posts View Profile Close JDrozen]

If you have an ongoing/pending search on intervalworld, can you also still search daily with that same week/search and grab something with it if you want it? If so, can someone tell me how, lol? I feel like an idiot but all i see is review request which shows me the dates and resorts i already know are there. Thanks!

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

posted 12-07-2004 09:41
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Prior to RCI.com we got very little that we requested, either through RCI.com or having a VC search.
Since RCI.com, we have gotten everything we've wanted, eventually.

Since RCI.com we have owned as many as six weeks and none have gone unused.

This is a very old discussion, having been conducted many times. Some folks have confidence in ongoing searches and some not.

We do not.

Each time we talk to a VG they say something that is not true and they sometimes say they cannot see stuff I can. We have seen some pretty strange things with the computers, which never could be explained by anyone at RCI.

Nor do we like to pay for something, upfront, that we may never get, just for the right to shop.

I do not know what I would do with the first of hour of each day if I did not do my searches and drink my coffee.

What do you do with yours?

The only way to learn more about what your week(s) are worth, trade-wise, is to see everything they pull in a search. I have become familiar with the resorts in our favorite areas by seeing them in print so many times. If you never do that, you will be forever clueless, perhaps asking questions on Internet forums that you could have answered for yourself many years earlier.

If you can search yourself, even if there were no problems doing it another way, why not?

In a recent interview, a member of the British Royal family said they are driven to official functions, but like to drive everywhere else themselves.

How many here have said how much they love the thrill of the hunt? There is no thrill if someone else does the hunting.

If they did not want us to use it, it would not be there.

Edit: Oh yeah, I could not do my study, and would have not known how bad availability has become, if I did not do my daily searches.

And, sometimes they come in handy when dealing with RCI. Here is a snippet from a message I sent to another TUGger almost three years ago, when we had a trading power issue:

"I put
> my
> > "study" in the mail today--139 pages of before and after searches!"

That's about it.
- - - - - -
Carol:

Yes, I added "Resorts on the Beach" to my searches earlier this year, to figure out where folks are going next. And, Yes, after the Keys and SW, Sarasota appears to be the next area preferred.

IMO, it seems to be following the economics of Florida. SW has priced itself out of the range of many, and folks are now settling for further north. I have followed SW Florida since the 1970s and the price of coastal property for almost 15 years.

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JLB

http://www.tug1.net/tugbbs1/Forum11/HTML/004223-2.html

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

posted 12-07-2004 14:25
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I do not want to be the one responsible for you getting or not getting the exchanges you want.
I'm just stating what works for us, and why.

Email me to continue the discussion.


Bev:

It may not be that it was snapped up by another ongoing search, or it may have been.

You may have noticed recently that I have been trying to ascertain what happens when two people are looking at the same unit online, and it is the only unit available, and one moves to the Hold or Confirm page, what does the other see or what message do they get if they then try to put it on Hold or Confirm it.

I have worked with two VGs and some strange stuff does happen. First, if a member is looking at an only-available unit and has moved to the Hold or Confirm page, a VG cannot see it. The VG sees it immediately when the member logs out(in my case) but not before. Me just moving off the Hold page did not make it visible.

Likewise, if a VG is looking at an only-available unit, a member cannot see it online. When the VG released it I could not see it immediately. I could not see it until I logged out, logged back in, and did a new search.

So some strange things do happen, and perhaps releasing something captured by an ongoing search creates a similar delay in viewing online.

Anyway, it's nice to see more than me on this thread, even if the discussion isn't about lack of availability in SW Florida in January..




quote:
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Originally posted by pbenham:
I've been "observing" this bbs for just over a year now and somehow I've managed to miss this trick. You really think I'm better off stopping my ongoing search that I've initiated and start checking inventory daily? I must admit that I do miss seeing which inventory I can pull (since I only have the one week banked)...Are there certain times/days of the week that are better than others to search on RCI's website?
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JLB

http://www.tug1.net/tugbbs1/Forum11/HTML/004223-2.html