New guy with questions

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

Just found this forum and gained a lot of useful information. I do have one issue that I would like input on.

Have had our timeshare for 2 years and when we got it we made the decision to join II and use it for our trades. The first year there seemed to be great number of availabilities for our desired destinations, Arizona and Maine. Starting last December the availabilities seemed to dry up completely. Thus far this year we have not found any increase in the number of places and times have increased.

I don't know whether this is due to the economy or something has happened and traders are using RCI or some other system.

I would appreciate any thoughts and pros and cons on either RCI or II. I did find somr information from about three years ago but am not sure that it still has valid comments. Thanks to all for any assistance you might be able to give.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

Each of the big exchange companies have issues.

But overall I've been very happy with the trades I've gotten thru II. If you're not seeing many available weeks, you may be doing two things wrong,

First, are you depositing the best week you can, as early as you can? If you have a floating week, reserving the best week in the float time will help. Depositing that week, 12 months before check in also helps.

Second, how long before travel are you requesting your trades? Or are you just looking online to see what is there? Most people find that the really good weeks are taken for exchange by II members who have put in an on-going exchange request. So if you want March 2010 in AZ, you should put in an on-going request for a week in AZ in March 2009. That way, when a person deposits a week in AZ, you're first in line to grab the week. (The II computer is suppose to do it for you)

Hope this helps

One last thing which helps, As a posting member of this board (anyone with ~15 posts) can see the posts of what is available in RCI & II boards here on TS4Ms.

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

Just found this forum and gained a lot of useful information. I do have one issue that I would like input on.

Have had our timeshare for 2 years and when we got it we made the decision to join II and use it for our trades. The first year there seemed to be great number of availabilities for our desired destinations, Arizona and Maine. Starting last December the availabilities seemed to dry up completely. Thus far this year we have not found any increase in the number of places and times have increased.

I don't know whether this is due to the economy or something has happened and traders are using RCI or some other system.

I would appreciate any thoughts and pros and cons on either RCI or II. I did find somr information from about three years ago but am not sure that it still has valid comments. Thanks to all for any assistance you might be able to give.

We've been exchaning with I.I. for 11 years. We've had access to RCI though our HGVC ownership and have one resort that's RCI affiliated but, we dropped our personal RCI account (HGVC has a corporate account). The one constant you'll find with both companies is that change is constant. RCI has made many changes in the last couple of years affecting how owners exchange but, since you're question is about Interval, it's probably best to stick with that.

This past year it seems as if there's been a shift in what/where I'm seeing availability. The drive to destination of Branson, MO, which has almost always had good availability no matter what time of year I was looking, hasn't had as much availability for the summer months. Destinations that are expensive to fly to such as Hawaii have been a pretty easy exchange for me. I believe the economy has something to do with where availability lies but, I can't prove it.

The other consideration is how far in advance are you looking and, are you looking in the same season? For instance, looking for an March, April or even May week on Hilton Head Island isn't the same as looking for a June, July or August week. Florida is consider red season all the time but, there's a big difference in looking for a September S. Florida week and a Feb. S. Florida week. The dates you looking at can/will affect the availability you see.

Lead time also has an affect. Most people don't seem to reserve and deposit 12 months or further into the future. It seems that the majority reserve/desposit 6 to 9 months in advance. If you're looking 3 or 4 months in advance or 12 months or longer in advance, you may not see as many units. Either they haven't been deposited yet or, they've already been picked over. So if you're looking in a different time frame than what you have in the past it could affect the availability of what you're seeing.

Another thought is that those who own expensive fly to destinations are exchanging those exotic weeks for something closer to home, creating more demand for the less exotic week. If they are depositing and requesting at the same time (not doing computer searches), fewer weeks might be making it to the online searchs. With exchanges where I don't see anything I want online, I'll always do an ongoing request. By doing this (in theory at least), I'll match my request before a unit ever goes to online availability. If enough people are making exchange requests for destinations less expensive to get to, the demand/availability ratio goes up and, if they're making their request as an ongoing request rather than searching online, what use to make it to the online visability isn't making it there now.

There could be more people using their home resorts to save on the exchange fee and the membership fee to the exchange company (~ $240/years savings if you made only one exchange).

In the past, developers have deposited bulk unsold inventory for exchange hoping to get new blood into the resort and convince them to take a tour. Now it seems as if more developers are renting that inventory, gaining cash instead of giving it away to an exchange company and still getting new blood in for a chance at getting them to take a tour.

One final thought about decreased availability online or in general. Many resort groups have developed their own internal exchange system or priority. For instance, we own a Hilton Grand Vacation Club week (trades through RCI). Hilton gives it's owners first pick of the weeks available (simplistic view. It's really more complicated than that) and RCI gets what HGVC has contracted to give them (some prime weeks mixed in with the left overs I'm sure). Internal exchanges are usually less expensive than external exchanges, are often easier to make and you know the quality of the resort you're getting rather than taking a chance. If enough companies go to internal exchange systems that could mean fewer weeks available to RCI or I.I. members in general.

A further example would be Marriott Vacation Club. In the past, Marriott has had a Marriott to Marriott exchange "preference" whereby any deposited Marriott week is available ONLY to Marriott users for the first 24 days. After 24 days it becomes available to any Interval International member. Marriott has been rumored (over 2 years now, take it with a grain of salt) to be developing it's own internal exchange system. The result may be far fewer Marriott weeks available to exchange for Interval International members.

There are a lot of internal exchange systems out there now that could be keeping weeks out of the Interval International exchange pool. You have Diamond Resorts, Bluegreen, Wyndham, Starwood, Hyatt, Hilton, DVC et...... It's possible that more people are going internal and dropping external exchange options all together, either for convenience or to save on exchange fee's.


I know this isn't specific but, it's impossible to be specific on this subject. You can only speculate why you see certain things one year and not another.

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

Thanks to Bill4728 & dougp26364.

I deposit a floating week that can be used any time. Last year I deposited the week in September and immediately started looking for the following September or October.

It seems like last year one could still get good trades 4 months out, but I found what I wanted in Feb. for a October trade.


If anyone would like to provide information on RCI it would be appreciated.

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

If anyone would like to provide information on RCI it would be appreciated.

What resort and what week do you own? RCI seems to work best if you can plan 12 months or more in advance. Cany you do that?

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

I have Palace View by Spinnaker. They deposit a floating week. I usually try to do a year in advance.

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

I have Palace View by Spinnaker. They deposit a floating week. I usually try to do a year in advance.

Are you choosing the week or are you letting the resort choose the week to deposit for you? Selection of what week is deposited can make a HUGE difference in exchange value. A reservationist might try to tell you one red week has the same power as any other red week but, it's not true. Some red weeks are stronger than others. In Branson, it's important to get a summer week if at all possible and, the strongest week on Interval's Travel/Demand index is week 22 (I couldn't tell you why but it is). A red first part of November week at Palace View will not be as strong as a July week at Palace View, even though they're both red weeks.

Palace View by Spinnaker should be managed by Southwind Management (same sales staff at least). We own a Southwind Managed resort (Grand Regency) and never have a problem when I call to reserve a specific week and then ask them to deposit that week with Interval. If you're letting them pick the week and they picked a dud, that could be why your not seeing the same value as before.

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

What I did is ask them to deposit a week near the end of the year figuring that I would then have the longest time with it in the bank to use it. So I get from what you are saying that I should ask for them to deposit a week that is in a high use time as opposed to what I have done.

Am I correct that If I am depositing a week that I earned for use this year, I can't have them deposit it as week 22, as that is past, so I will have use the highest week left this year?

I then will have to figure how long it will stay in the bank before I have to use it.

Boy do I have some learning to do!

THANKS, I will probably have more questions after I call tomorrow

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

What I did is ask them to deposit a week near the end of the year figuring that I would then have the longest time with it in the bank to use it. So I get from what you are saying that I should ask for them to deposit a week that is in a high use time as opposed to what I have done.

Am I correct that If I am depositing a week that I earned for use this year, I can't have them deposit it as week 22, as that is past, so I will have use the highest week left this year?

I then will have to figure how long it will stay in the bank before I have to use it.

Boy do I have some learning to do!

THANKS, I will probably have more questions after I call tomorrow

No, you can only deposite weeks that have not past. Also, if you deposit a week that is within 59 days from the arrival date, you'll find your exchange power extremely downgraded.

At this point, if you haven't decided to do with 2009's week, you've already lost a lot of your exchange power when it comes to Branson. In order to get the most out of your week if you're going to exchange it, you really need to decide what to do sooner rather than later. For instance, you should be deciding if you're going to use your 2010 week or exchange it ASAP. We've already deposited and exchanged our Grand Regency week and, we've decided that we'll be using our French Quarter week for personal use in Sept. of 2010. Trade power increase when you give Interval more time and decreases with shorter notice.

Interval International deposits are good for two years from (past) the check in date and one year before. Most resorts in Interval, and I believe this includes Palace View, only allow you to reserve and deposit 12 months before your check in/arrival date. Thus, you have a 3 year window for exchange. One year before and two years after the check in date. At least I believe that's how it works. To be honest, our deposits don't last that long. We plan ahead and generally know where we're going long before a deposit gets very old. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on this (it could be two years from the date you make the deposit and not the arrival/check-in date).

There are basically two ways to get the most out of an exchange with Interval. One is to plan ahead, which requires you think about and plan vacations 9 to 12 months into the future. The other is to utilize short notice, or flexchange, exchanges. The flexchange period is 59 days or less. The advantage is that most restrictions are removed. Almost any week, any size at any resort still remaining in inventory can be had with any deposit, no matter how week the deposit is/was. The disadvantage of course is that your limited to what's left over and, you must be able to plan and take a vacation in less than 2 months. For some timeshare owners, Flexchange is a great way to get the most out of their week and, last minute vacation planning is what works best for them anyway. If you can be flexible with where you want to go, you can get some outstanding exchanges during the flexchange period.

Another way to get the most out of your week is to check you messages (messages tab) at Intervalworld.com. You'll have to have set up an online account with Interval to access this feature if you haven't done so already (sounds as if you have already done this). Under the messages tab you'll find information like this:

SPECIAL WILLIAMSBURG OFFER!
Exchange or Getaway into either The Historic Powhatan Resort (PWP) or Greensprings Vacation Resort (GSS), in Williamsburg, Virginia and get a Bonus Resort Accommodations Certificate.

Valid for check-in dates of
September 1, 2009 - November 14, 2009 and
January 01, 2010 - March 31, 2010.

With your Bonus Resort Accommodations Certificate, enjoy an extra vacation with a full week of resort accommodations in a spacious 2-bedroom unit using Interval's Flexchange service.




What this means is, if you exchange into either of these two Williamsburg resorts during the periods listed, Interval will give you a bonus week to use for an additional exchange. Both of these resorts would be comparable to what you own. If you haven't been, Williamsburg is an interesting place to visit and has qualities very similar to Branson except that Williamsburg is real history vs Silver Dollar City. We've been to Williamsburg in the fall months and it's a very pleasant time of year to go. Jan. thru March maybe not so much but March not be to bad.

The bonus week, or accomadation certificate, is an extra exchange you would get should you agree to the above terms. It is a limited (sometimes very limited) usage exchange. Generally there is a grid with a selection of destinations they anticipate will be available with dates they should be available. You'll find that most of the time, those dates and areas are for shoulder or off season. We've found the best use for an AC (accomadation certificate) is if we can make last minute travel plans. Our last use of an AC got us a 2 bedroom unit at Grand Timber Lodge in Breckenridge, CO for a mid July week. For an extra vacation is was an excellent value.

One last thing about AC's. They cost more to use than the standard exchange fee. Different size units have different fee's with larger units costing more than smaller units. Still, it's a great value when you can get one and, it's less expensive than buying a second timeshare and paying the yearly MF's on a second timeshare.

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

To keep the above post a little shorter, I thought I'd toss in some links to photo albums we have. Keep in mind these are examples of places we've been and how you can manipulate the system to get the most out of it. You'll need to click on the pictures to view the photo albums.

This is Greensprings resort (formerly called Greensprings Plantation) and is one of the resorts listed in the Interval bonus feature.



And this is Grand Timber Lodge, which was a very recent exchange we obtained with an accomadation certificate like the one you could get for exchanging into Greensprings Plantation.



Note that these two exchanges are years apart (2005 and 2009). We did not use the bonus feature being offered by Interval right now. I'm only including these links to the photo albums so you can gauge the quality of what may be possible to recieve on exchange. In actuality, both of these exchanges were made on accomadation certificates that we recieved for making deposits with Interval. If you have a high enough demand week and Interval wants it bad enough, they'll offer you a bonus week (accomadation certificate) to entice you to make the deposit. This past year has seen the AC offers sort of dry up. The weeks we own that use to see such offers regularly did not get those offers for our 2010 deposits.

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

Can't believe how much I am learning here. Have a call in to make my 2010 assessment today or Monday. Will then bank 20 19 as we do not pan to go to Branson in 2010.

Thanks for all the help!!!!

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

Can't believe how much I have learned from these posts. Have a call in to pay my 2010 today if possible and plan to bank my 2010 asap.

Great help Thanks!!!!

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

Can't believe how much I have learned from these posts. Have a call in to pay my 2010 today if possible and plan to bank my 2010 asap.

Great help Thanks!!!!

Keep in mind that there will still be a lot of people out there who don't know about planning ahead, getting the best week and increasing their trade power. So if you don't see the exchange you decide on right away, put in a request to get yourself towards the front of the line. If the exchange you want gets deposited, your week is strong enough to pull that particular exchange and you were the first/next one in line, the exchange will be confirmed without having to do frequent online searches.

When I have a deposited week, I'll pull searches onine with the dates from today through this date next year and check the option to see all available exchanges. Then I'll pick and choose through what's available to see the dates those weeks are available for my exchange. It's essentially window shopping but with a purpose.

In doing this, sometimes there's something that comes up that I never would have thought I'd see with my week, it's something I'd like so I grab it. When that happens, our vacation planning has changed. Most of the time it serves to let me know what resorts, regions and time frames are very easy exchanges (if it's online, it's a relatively easy exchange IMHO). It also gives me an idea of the value of my particular week and it lets me know that certain area's or times I'm likely going to have to deposit and make a request, then wait for the exchange to come through.

An example of how continued online searches might change our plans would be this year. We deposited our Grand Regency week for 2010 because I was certain I didn't need it for Brason. Even though I deposited a high value Branson week, this is just a select rated resort in a town full of premier rated resorts and I didn't really expect much. But, while doing an online search, just to see what it would pull, it pulled a 2 bedroom The Ridge week at S. Lake Tahoe. We've been to The Ridge and know we like the resort so, I cancelled the ongoing request for Marriott's Timber Lodge and confirmed an exchange for my Grand Regency week for The Ridge.

Now we had our Marriott 1 bedroom to play with and, it's a stronger week than our Grand Regency week was. So now I had more choices. We decided to change our plans to use our DRI points to go to Santa Fe, NM for May of 2010 and wound up exchanging for Marriott's Harbor Club at Harbor Town on Hilton Head Island. Now we probably could have pulled a more premium Marriott on HHI, we have in the past using the same exchange but, we'd seen this resort and, while it's not the newest of fanciest of the HHI Marriott's, it has a location we thought would be nice and wanted to try.

So, if you keep doing online searches you'll quickly learn the approx. value of your resort week (it might surprise you what you can see) and, you see what resorts almost always have availability and during what times they have that availability. Knowing those things can sometimes make vacation planning a lot easier.

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

Thanks, Digesting the info and will see what happens Monday, as I couldn't get my assessment paid today. Will put in my requests as soon as I am paid them we will see what happens.