Why has TPI availability online been so poor?

[mlsmn Member Find all posts View Profile Close mlsmn]

I check their exchange availability at least every other day - compared to 3-4 months ago very little change in what's available

Ex opps also shows this slow down
Any ideas why?

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

What many people don't grasp is that TPI, as do most exchange companies, fills on-line requests with resorts that never make it on to the on-line search list.

What they show is not all they've got or can get.

I also think a lot of people have just paid their annual maintenace fees and have yet to deposit in any company.

[Ddee555 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ddee555]

Part of the reason...

I believe part of the reason for TPI availability being so poor lately, is the new VRI*ety exchange, which was launched last week by Vacation Resorts International (a management company of over 150 timeshare resorts).

VRI*ety is being handled through TPI, and I have noticed that all the VRI-managed resorts have been funneling into the new website. VRI*ety is a new internal exchange for VRI-resort owners, so if you have a VRI-managed resort, you can join free.

Last week, the availability across the board was awesome, but as word is getting out about VRI*ety, the prime weeks are being snapped up by VRI owners.

I noticed yesterday that TPI migrated my TPI account to VRI*ety, so there is a lot of behind-the-scenes arrangements that VRI seemed to make with TPI about this new exchange and how it is going to work.

I don't know how this is going to affect those who don't have VRI resorts, but with VRI*ety I can see (at least for now), a lot more weeks than you can see on the TPI public website.

Here is the website for the new exchange:
VRI*ety Exchange Guide Online

Take care.

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

....
I noticed yesterday that TPI migrated my TPI account to VRI*ety, so there is a lot of behind-the-scenes arrangements that VRI seemed to make with TPI about this new exchange and how it is going to work....

Ddee, do you mean that TPI merged your TPI account with your VRI*ety account?

TPI and VRI*ety have very different exchange rules -- TPI counts all weeks of the same size as the same in trade power, while VRI*ety doesn't generally allow trade-ups in color except at the last minute -- so I don't see how merging the two types of accounts would work.

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

I took that to mean that you use the same TPI user name and password to log into the VRI*ety.

Which was the case for me, I did not have to set up an account with VRI*ety.

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

I took that to mean that you use the same TPI user name and password to log into the VRI*ety.

Which was the case for me, I did not have to set up an account with VRI*ety.

Oh, that's interesting! How did TPI know that you were a VRI*ety member? Was it just because you had deposited a VRi-managed week?

[Ddee555 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ddee555]

my TPI account

Hmm, all I know is that the exchange I made with my MROP week back in September, suddenly shows on my VRI*ety account as well.

I deposited a Thanksgiving week 2009 at Desert Vacation Villas and traded it for a week at Lawrence Welk Villas. I can view that on my account history in VRI*ety.

So, TPI is apparently doing something with VRI-resort owners accounts to make them integrated into the VRI*ety internal exchange.

What I do know is that it is cheaper for me to exchange thru VRI*ety than thru TPI, so I will be depositing my weeks from now on thru VRI*ety, especially since I can see more of TPI's inventory thru VRI*ety.

Hope that makes sense?

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

Oh, that's interesting! How did TPI know that you were a VRI*ety member? Was it just because you had deposited a VRi-managed week?

While I'm a member of TPI I have never done any sort of transaction with them.

I did deposit a MROP week into the VRI*ety exchange.

I'm assuming that the TPI exchange system is the one VRI has chosen to use and they supplied information and TPI cross referenced commonalities.

Who knows, until people start reporting exchanges made it may just be an experimentation as others are saying VRI has no plans for an online exchange system

The VRI*ety website initially was loaded with TPI inventory then taken down a number of times and now seems to contain only VRI inventory.

So I'm hoping that they will be functioning shortly and the other report that they will accept deposits from non VRI resorts is also correct.

[Ddee555 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ddee555]

confusion between MROP & VRI*ety

I believe the internal exchange for VRI-managed resorts is a-go, with no plans to take it down. They are just working out the glitches with the website to make it functional.

I also believe that people are getting confused between MROP and VRI. I spoke with an agent at MROP, who said that there is no plans to have a website exchange for MROP only--like Vacation Internationale (VI) has a website exchange. So, for MROP, we have to still keep calling in to make reservations.

But, once we have a reserved week with MROP, we can deposit it into VRI*ety, for more exchange options, and which is online and viewable.

ORE, the entity that did the internal exchange for MROP and handled the previous MROP exchange website was sold to VRI. So, it's been VRI's intention from the very beginning to have an internal exchange for all VRI-managed resorts. The ORE exchange changed into VRI*ety.

And to cause even more confusion, the VRI*ety exchange was supposed to be handled by RCI, but VRI apparently made the choice last-minute to use TPI. (a good choice, I think).

I hope that all makes sense? Take care.

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

Vacation Internationale (VI)

--like Vacation Internationale (VI) has a website exchange.

Please tell me about this, otherwise the info posted here is the latest; VI currently has no online reservations if that's what you mean by website exchange.

[Ddee555 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ddee555]

Sorry, Spence...

I am not a VI owner; however, I was lead to believe that VI has an internal exchange that you can do real-time exchanges in? (i.e., view VI inventory online and book your points thru; also, that you can view non-VI resorts that VI owners have deposited to get more VI points for the VI-system).

MROP used to have an internal online exchange thru a website managed by ORE. It was great for owners; but, it no longer exists, since VRI purchased it, and now, we have to call in reservations to MROP reservation agents (which I believe are RCI staff now) to reserve time at MROP resorts.

I'm sorry if I mislead anybody by my mistaken belief on VI. Take care.

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

.....

MROP used to have an internal online exchange thru a website managed by ORE. It was great for owners; but, it no longer exists, since VRI purchased it, and now, we have to call in reservations to MROP reservation agents (which I believe are RCI staff now) to reserve time at MROP resorts..

The MROP staff are the former staff of ORE, and are located out of Salt Lake City. Thank heavens they are NOT RCI employees!

For a while, VRI*ety WAS staffed by RCI employees. I don't know why VRI decided to switch to TPI, but since TPI's customer service is incomparably better than RCI's, I think this was a good idea.

As for having merged accounts between VRI*ety and TPI, I hope that owners are given a choice of which exchange to use, at least for their non-VRI managed weeks. TPI's trade rules are very different from VRI*ety's. You can "trade up in color" in TPI with no problems, but not in VRI*ety.

[Ddee555 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ddee555]

Thank you Judy

Thank you Judy for clarifying this for me. It's easy to get confused between all the different "players"--VRI, RCI, ORE, MROP, TPI, etc.

And of course, MROP has been really great, huh, on sharing info, right?

In any case, I do agree with you, that I like the decision to go with TPI for the VRI*ety exchange. I think it is, in the long run, the best choice.

Take care.