What's your favorite Exchange Company and why?

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

What's your favorite exchange company and why?



I have a tough time deciding cause I'm trying out a few new ones.

I've mostly used RCI but II is definitely gaining on being my favorite.
Thanks to Angela

I tried Platinum Interchange this year and got a pretty decent exchange.

I'm depositing to Trading Places this week to see how I do there.

Haven't tried SFX yet but it looks promising.

DAE doesn't look too promising unless I want to go to Europe.


How about you?

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

So far its RCI because they have always made the play for me. RCI and Worldmark is a really good combination. We tried II for a couple of years but somehow couldn't see inventory and always had to call. Every time I called I didn't get anything I wanted. Recently I deposited a week into SFX. I have my request for New York City for next fall. I requested New York City with RCI and got a 1 bed manhattan club for late Sept. and it only took 13 days to get my request. So I requested another New York City for the week after. It might be hard for a date specific dealio.

Were wanting to head to Europe. I might look at DAE as Im not finding anything in RCI or SFX.

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

I like Both RCI & II the best.....RCI has Disney, and thats a big perk for me. RCI also has Hilton, The Manhattan Club, Gurney's and more "drive to" choices on the Northeast, such as Newport, etc.

II has Marriott's, Hyatt's, the Four Seasons, etc., and is an easier website to navigate, imo.

I like some of the new programs that II is offering such as short stays & E-Plus. Also, II has better prices on exchanges & guest certificates.

Being a Marriott & Starwood owner, II is a much better choice for me than RCI because I get the exchange preference period from both.

Oh heck, each offers different things, as does SFX and the others. Depending on what you own & where you like to travel, the various exchange companies will offer you different perks.....I've gotten very good exchanges through II, RCI & SFX.

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

Lol. Thanks!

What's your favorite exchange company and why?



I have a tough time deciding cause I'm trying out a few new ones.

I've mostly used RCI but II is definitely gaining on being my favorite.
Thanks to Angela

I tried Platinum Interchange this year and got a pretty decent exchange.

I'm depositing to Trading Places this week to see how I do there.

Haven't tried SFX yet but it looks promising.

DAE doesn't look too promising unless I want to go to Europe.


How about you?

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

I like both SFX and DAE. UKRE has made some good offers, but they unforturnately did not fit my schedule.

I had requests in for years with RCI for London, and never got close. SFX got me a two bedroom exchange to London rather quickly, and then came back and offered another 1BR. That is phenomenal for an exchange into probably the hardest place to trade into in the world. DAE has got me some great exchanges over the years, too, including summer UK canalboats (3 times), summer French Riviera, summer Croatia beach, Knocktopher Abbey Ireland in late spring (could have had summer, but spring worked better with my schedule), Thanksgiving in Puerto Rico, summer Poland beach, late spring at Stouts Hill in the UK, summer NC Outer Banks, summer SoCal, summer Myrtle Beach, summer Smugglers Notch, and the exact week and resort in the Cayman Islands that my neice wanted for her honeymoon.

Since RCI started corrupting their system with rentals of spacebank weeks to the general public and a numbers racket that stands supply and demand on its head to favor the developers still in sales who have an ''in'' with RCI, my attitude has been that RCI can get stuffed.

I thought about trying II, but their ''quality filter'' is a huge turnoff. I can understand an upward quality filter to keep like for like, but a downward quality filter is absolutely asinine. I choose my vacations by places I want to go, and if all the resorts are of lesser quality than my deposit, that is absolutely irrelevant. The quality of the resort is an extremely minor consideration compared to the factor of where it is that I want to go. That is what has kept me away from II.

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

I thought about trying II, but their ''quality filter'' is a huge turnoff. I can understand an upward quality filter to keep like for like, but a downward quality filter is absolutely asinine. I choose my vacations by places I want to go, and if all the resorts are of lesser quality than my deposit, that is absolutely irrelevant. The quality of the resort is an extremely minor consideration compared to the factor of where it is that I want to go. That is what has kept me away from II.

I own at a run of the mill resort so I don't have any quality filters to protect me from trading down.
I find II has lots of gems if you have a bigger unit. I didn't find this the case when I gave me my 1 bedroom.
I always give them a 2 bedroom now and deposit as far in advance as I can.

I've been getting great return on those investments. Even the flexchanges have been great.
Granted I am mostly looking for the overbuilt areas but got a nice 3 bedroom Marriott Grand Chateau on flexchange.
Also getting some of those nice beachfront Marriotts and 3 bedroom Orlando Marriotts here in FL with a red and white week deposit.
Sure makes me feel better about never having bought a Marriott.

So DAE is great it sounds like for Europe, but I haven't seen a heck of alot I want in FL where I live.
Maybe when I go back to Europe I'll give them a try.
Do you call and put in an ongoing request or are you finding these gems online with DAE?
I'd love to go back to London again.

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

For London, SFX is the best bet of all the exchange companies.

I have found some of my DAE exchanges online and some from ongoing requests. A few, including the French Riviera, Cayman Islands, and one of the canalboat exchanges, they sourced through their trading partners.

I own at a run of the mill resort so I don't have any quality filters to protect me from trading down.
I find II has lots of gems if you have a bigger unit. I didn't find this the case when I gave me my 1 bedroom.
I always give them a 2 bedroom now and deposit as far in advance as I can.

I've been getting great return on those investments. Even the flexchanges have been great.
Granted I am mostly looking for the overbuilt areas but got a nice 3 bedroom Marriott Grand Chateau on flexchange.
Also getting some of those nice beachfront Marriotts and 3 bedroom Orlando Marriotts here in FL with a red and white week deposit.
Sure makes me feel better about never having bought a Marriott.

So DAE is great it sounds like for Europe, but I haven't seen a heck of alot I want in FL where I live.
Maybe when I go back to Europe I'll give them a try.
Do you call and put in an ongoing request or are you finding these gems online with DAE?
I'd love to go back to London again.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

TPI is the exchange company I use most often, with SFX and HTSE tied for a distant 2nd. I haven't used RCI for about seven years, and that was only as a last resort. I've never used II, though I might use them sometime if I'm ever able to take the Copper Canyon train ride that I would like to do.

[regatta333 Member Find all posts View Profile Close regatta333]

So DAE is great it sounds like for Europe, but I haven't seen a heck of alot I want in FL where I live.
Maybe when I go back to Europe I'll give them a try.
Do you call and put in an ongoing request or are you finding these gems online with DAE?
I'd love to go back to London again.

Unfortunately, DAE is only great for Europe if you live in Europe and have a membership with their European arm.
Their inventories are completely separate and the European members get first crack at the European inventory.
I have been a Gold member for several years and have yet to get a match on any of my European requests, which I've had
out there since 2009 and keep updating with new date ranges. I also have multiple locations in my requests.
The US office has sent several emails to the European office about getting inventory to fulfill at least one of my requests,
but has gotten no response and I have gotten no follow up from the US office, even to say "Sorry, no go".
Very disappointed in their ability to deliver on inventory in Europe.

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

My favorite is Trading Places Maui. It's small, and they mostly handle Hawaii, but for what they do I love them. What I like is the extremely personal service.

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

I started using DAE for exchanges before there was a US office, going through both the UK and Australian offices in those days. I then joined the US office, and did get good exchanges working through Donita. She is the one who got me summer French Riviera, one of the summer UK canalboat exchanges, late spring at Stouts Hill in the UK, and the exact week in the Caymans that my neice wanted for her honeymoon. All but Stouts Hill were sourced through trading partners. In fact, I dragged my feet on moving over to the UK office for a while due to the good service I got from Donita. But she left the US DAE office a few months after I moved to Europe, and I immediate did make the move to the UK office. I have not dealt with the US DAE office since, but I have heard through others that they do not have anyone of the caliber of Donita in the operation since she left.

[So DAE is great it sounds like for Europe, but I haven't seen a heck of alot I want in FL where I live.
Maybe when I go back to Europe I'll give them a try.
Do you call and put in an ongoing request or are you finding these gems online with DAE?
I'd love to go back to London again.

Unfortunately, DAE is only great for Europe if you live in Europe and have a membership with their European arm.
Their inventories are completely separate and the European members get first crack at the European inventory.
I have been a Gold member for several years and have yet to get a match on any of my European requests, which I've had
out there since 2009 and keep updating with new date ranges. I also have multiple locations in my requests.
The US office has sent several emails to the European office about getting inventory to fulfill at least one of my requests,
but has gotten no response and I have gotten no follow up from the US office, even to say "Sorry, no go".
Very disappointed in their ability to deliver on inventory in Europe.

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

My first purchases were Marriott weeks which came with an II account - and I have to say that II remains my favorite exchange company.

I have dabbled in RCI weeks for certain resorts in Europe and the Manhattan Club - then, with my Bluegreen ownership, I am able to access RCI points.

I have my last RCI exchange in my original account in a few weeks and I am closing that account - I have a free RCI weeks account thru BG.

Have used SFX-resorts with good results in the past but they have now instituted a one in three rule for ALL of Manhattan, not resort specific so this really has me rethinking deposits with them in the future.

I enjoy using my owned resorts in Aruba, St Thomas and Grand Cayman and between Marriott DC/II exchanges and the internal Bluegreen points program, I will be much less dependent on any exchange company.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I have gotten some very nice things from Platinum. They manage both the Laguna Beach properties now.

The evil empire still rewards the diligent searcher as long as you have flexibility and can plan a long way out. Of course finding the cheapest way to book is always helpful.

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

Speaking of the evil empire... RCI is still mine. The other independent options take too much work to find something I want/can use, much as I'd like to.

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

I have used SFX exclusively for that past 16 years so they are obviously my favorite. Prior to SFX, I used both RCI and II. I have no use for RCI so I canceled my membership, II was much better but couldn't get the resorts I wanted. I am also a member of DAE but haven't used them.

SFX has always come through with all my requests. I also like the fact that they don't have some of the restrictions that RCI and II does nor the resort fees that RCI exchangers have to pay at some resorts. I also like the bonuses that SFX gives for depositing with them.