Percentage of timesharers who exchange

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

I don't have any figures to offer but find that very interesting abut the OBX - it surprises me that even the off season owners buy to use unless when u say 30% - it is really all the Nov-March owners!

I imagine that people who purchased OBX weeks 15-43 DID buy to use, more then the off season owners.

Do you have a breakdown at YOUR resort about which weeks do get deposited?

In looking at seasons, in the summer it is only about 10% who deposit for exchange, and in the secondary Fall fishing season, September through Thanksgiving, it is about 20%. The balance is in December through April.

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

From reading this thread one can see that there are many issues at play when it comes to percentage of exchangers depending on the definition of what constitues an exchange.

For a stand alone property, and by that I mean a property not belonging to any group or affilated with any group of resorts, I don't doubt the 30% figure. I would imagine that this figure would vary with the age of the resort and it's sell out date. Initially, I could see a higher percentage of owenrs returning every year to the resort they purchased. However, as time goes by and situations change, I could also see the group of original purchasers wanting/needing to do something different. Kids get older and may Orlando isn't the #1 destination anymore for that family. Jobs change and the original resort is no longer within driving distance. Divorce happens and the new partner doesn't want to go to the same place as the previous partner. After a period of time, I would imagine the number would remain relatively stable but, probably not for the first 5 to 10 years.

Then you have the Systems as Bocca has pointed out. What's consitutes the definition of exchange with a system? We own in DRI and Marriott. Since joining DRI, we haven't "exchange" outside of the DRI system yet, we haven't returned to our "home" resort either. Are we exchanging?

How about or exchanges with Marriott? With Marriott, for the last couple of years we have used the internal Marriott preference to travel to other Marriott resorts. What about exchanging Marriott units for Marriott Rewards points? Are these considered an exchanges?

We also own with HGVC. During our time owning with Hilton, we've used our points twice for short stay exchange outside the HGVC system. We used our HGVC points twice thru Hilton to offset the cost of cruise vacations we've taken. We've used our points to go the the HGVC in Oahu and we've used our points twice for stays are our home resort and one short stay at our home resort. What, out of that group, constitutes and exchange?

Then we come to the complicated matter of lock-off units. Most of our units are lock-off style units. How is it counted when an owner locks-off their unit, uses a portion for personal use and then exchanges the other portion? We've stayed at Ocean Pointe, a resort we own, every year except for one year since purchasing in 2001. However, we've locked-off, used the master suite one year and exchange the studio suite the next to get back into Ocean Pointe. We've used the master suite most years and exchanged the lock-off studio for either other Marriott units or units outside the Marriott system. We've exchanged for points and then exchanged back into Ocean Pointe using another week we owned. How do you determine what is counted a an exchange, what is counted as owner usage and what the "percentage" is for owner usage. I can think of several ways one could look at this without there being one straight forward method to cacluate percentage of exchagne.

So you see, it would be very difficult to determine the percentage of exchange vs owner usage across the board without first considering what parameters a resort or resort system uses to determine what is an exchange and what is owner usage. In the end, it doesn't really matter so long as you get enjoyment out of what you own and are able to make the "exchanges" that make you happy.

Actually, the longer a rssort is sold out, the number of exchangers drop. Many resale buyers buy for that particular resort and don't get all the exchange company hype that those who attend developer presentations do. Secondly, many developers give a year or several years of exchange company membership with the sale, which does not happen with a resale. Many owners buying from the developer who mainly want to use at the home resort, simply drop the exchange company membership when it comes times for them to pay the annual fees. The experience of the French and German resorts was the same; that over time the percentage of exchangers dropped.

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

I almost always exchange my week.....It just seems to give me so much more value for my money. Even if I want to go to my home resort, I try and exchange back into it.

I lock-off any units that have that option, and deposit both into II. I usually get an AC, as well. So, that's 3 weeks for my one maintenance fee.

If not a lock-off, I still deposit into II, and get an AC. That's still 2 weeks for one maintenance fee.

I have booked my home resort for the week that I would like to visit, and then waited to see if anything showed up in II for that date, or another date that would work for me. If so, I grab the sighting, and then deposit my booked week into II. Doing this has enabled me to grab 2 bds with a 1 bdrm, or even a studio. Many times, I wind up getting 3 weeks for the price of 1, and upgraded from a 1 bd, or studio, to a 2 bd.....Not guaranteed, but it seems to work out most of the time.

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

I almost always exchange my week.....It just seems to give me so much more value for my money. Even if I want to go to my home resort, I try and exchange back into it.

I lock-off any units that have that option, and deposit both into II. I usually get an AC, as well. So, that's 3 weeks for my one maintenance fee.

If not a lock-off, I still deposit into II, and get an AC. That's still 2 weeks for one maintenance fee.

I have booked my home resort for the week that I would like to visit, and then waited to see if anything showed up in II for that date, or another date that would work for me. If so, I grab the sighting, and then deposit my booked week into II. Doing this has enabled me to grab 2 BRs with a 1 bdrm, or even a studio. Many times, I wind up getting 3 weeks for the price of 1, and upgraded from a 1 BRs, or studio, to a 2 bd.....Not guaranteed, but it seems to work out most of the time.

I suspect we would both have a different perspective if Marriott had its own 'internal exchange' system when we first purchased....with the large number of Marriott resorts, I might have felt I never needed to exchange out of that system and NOT joined II. I also suspect that companies like Starwood and Wyndham do not emphasize (only mention in passing) the external exchange companies as they want to keep the usage in their system - it does not benefit Wyn or SVN for their owners to deposit in RCI/II

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

I suspect we would both have a different perspective if Marriott had its own 'internal exchange' system when we first purchased....with the large number of Marriott resorts, I might have felt I never needed to exchange out of that system and NOT joined II. I also suspect that companies like Starwood and Wyndham do not emphasize (only mention in passing) the external exchange companies as they want to keep the usage in their system - it does not benefit Wyn or SVN for their owners to deposit in RCI/II

I'm not familiar with Wyn, but with SVO, it pays to buy an inexpensive resale that locks-off. You wouldn't get an AC from II, but you would still get 2 weeks for one, and would be able to upgrade from a studio & 1 bdrm to a 2 bdrm....This works with every SVO that I can think of, except Harborside, and St John.

BTW....This is one reason that I personally wouldn't be thrilled if Marriott moves to an internal exchange system.....I won't do so goood, when that happens.

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

...at other OBX resorts, I found that they also had about the same percentage of exchangers vs. owners who used their weeks.... At a resort in France I traded into, only less than 5% of owners deposited for exchange last year.

...what constitues an exchange.... it would be very difficult to determine the percentage of exchange vs owner usage across the board without first considering what parameters a resort or resort system uses to determine what is an exchange and what is owner usage.

Perhaps here, it's whether a unit is "deposited" with an external exchange company or not. Owning a lock-off is just owning two units so that's really not complicated. Points systems still ultimately deposit weekly reservations with the external exchange companies, so that's pretty easy for them to track too. Wyndham even knows when I've done an exchange back to a Wyndham resort through RCI - it says it right on my RCI Confirmation.

Besides external exchanges, I'd consider all other uses (home resort use, gifting, personally renting, leaving vacant, internal swap or reservation, renting through the resort) to be "owner usage" because the owner does not sign away rights to the unit's use to an external exchange company and their own management company is handling "their" vacation. Maybe that's just me. If I owned 3.5 weeks and points that got me 2.3 more weeks, I'd count as 5.8 "owners."

Do we know the total number of timeshare intervals that exist out there per year, affiliated with at least one of the larger exchange companies? Do we know the total number of confirmed exchanges that each of these exchange companies complete in a year? Given these figures, it'd be pretty straightforward math to see how many typically exchange externally.

It's likely possible for any interested owner to contact their home resort manager or system management and find out their percentages for owner usage vs. exchanges. Then they could compare this with the overall exchange company numbers and see if their resort is more frequently exchanged or used.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

I suspect we would both have a different perspective if Marriott had its own 'internal exchange' system when we first purchased....with the large number of Marriott resorts, I might have felt I never needed to exchange out of that system and NOT joined II. I also suspect that companies like Starwood and Wyndham do not emphasize (only mention in passing) the external exchange companies as they want to keep the usage in their system - it does not benefit Wyn or SVN for their owners to deposit in RCI/II

I'm not familiar with Wyn, but with SVO, it pays to buy an inexpensive resale that locks-off. You wouldn't get an AC from II, but you would still get 2 weeks for one, and would be able to upgrade from a studio & 1 bdrm to a 2 bdrm....This works with every SVO that I can think of, except Harborside, and St John.

BTW....This is one reason that I personally wouldn't be thrilled if Marriott moves to an internal exchange system.....I won't do so goood, when that happens.

Very interesting observations, Pat and Angela. This is an advantage of floating units and weeks that fixed units and weeks do not have otherwise it wouldn't pay to buy it fixed in the first place.

I agree with Doug that everyone should do what makes them happy and works well for them.