looking for summer 09 options

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

When you log in to your RCI account and select a week for exchange, how many available units does it show in parenthesis? This will give you a general idea of your trading power. I'm guessing about 100,000. The stronger weeks will pull about 170,000.

[Lisa P Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lisa P]

So do I understand correctly, that you own a double unit, lockoff, week 43 and you may also get up to 2 additional RCI last minute (under 45 days out) exchanges per year? And you may swap your week 43 for any other time slot for an internal exchange fee? If so, then here's what I see, for your options...

Week 43 is simply not a strong trade week, unfortunately. Right now, looking online at RCI, I see 122 units sitting available for trading into the various Massanutten resorts during the month of October. Given this, you will probably have some difficulty trading your week into a summer beach week. You may still be able to snag a last minute trade into a late cancellation within the 45 day window. It will require a good bit of effort on your part to do this, with no guarantees of success.

"Sightings" of tough trades are called that on another online website for timeshare owners, TUG. Here at TS4Ms, the forums for each exchange company are called "Exchange Opportunities," sorry for the confusion. I'm not sure how many posts you'll need to have or what the contribution level is before you are able to see these forums in your lists.

The way you've used your ownership so far seems sound. Using your bonus weeks to trade for last minute RCI vacas and using your regular weeks for internal swaps is good. In years when you don't need 4 weeks, just deposit your week 43 (either together or locked-off) with RCI, 12-15 months ahead for best trade power. Chances are, Mass will not let you swap for a stronger week and then deposit that one into RCI - it's rare that a resort will let you do this but it can't hurt to call Mass and ask. Also ask whether Mass allows you to swap your week for a prime week than rent that prime week out or not.

For your 2010 week, you may want to see if you can offer a prime week at Mass for a direct exchange but it may be hard to find someone who owns a beach week that wants to trade it for a week at Mass when getting in on an RCI exchange is so easy. I don't know.

And yes, if you reserve your home week or a swapped week at Mass for another party, you just give the guest's info to the resort. They probably have a Guest Certificate fee. This is done whether you give or rent out the Mass week or do a direct owner-to-owner exchange. RCI only allows you to get a Guest Cert for a gift/guest, not for rentals or barter/trades.

Lastly, your chances of getting a summer beach week are best if you are searching for a check-in date that's more than 18 months out or less than 45 days out. Consider alternative times or alternative locations for an easier time getting an exchange. HTH!

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

Consider the Florida beaches

You should still be able to get something nice at a Florida beach resort for 2009. NC, SC, VA etc. beach resorts will be very difficult to get at this point.

[nlbrown Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nlbrown]

You should still be able to get something nice at a Florida beach resort for 2009. NC, SC, VA etc. beach resorts will be very difficult to get at this point.

Thanks for all your help. Actually just today I called RCI and they had a match at Myrtle Beach, SC for the first week in May. Does anyone know if it is warm enough weather to go to the beach that early? I also noticed that the first of May is within that 45 day window you were talking about. Perhaps if I wait two more weeks with the ongoing search I could get a later date in May.

I tried to go on my RCI.com account to find out how many available units in () but I have no weeks that I can exchange at this point showing up. They have it "on hold" so it is not showing up in the exchange window and I have not yet deposited for 2010 yet.

If I go with this booking which is within the 45 day window, perhaps it is better to use our bonus week and bank my owners week?? What would be the difference .. the trading power???? I think I have two years to use my week once I deposit it with RCI right? Last year we only used one of our two available bonus weeks and I need to find out more about how I could let others use them, because I know we will mostly likely not use them all every year.