Use WM or exchange

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

do you use WM resorts or do you use credits to exchange with exchange companies? Which exchange company?

[Icc5 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Icc5]

Worldmark

In our case we use Worldmark for use. We own 3 other timeshares and sometimes use some of them but many times exchange and many of those exchanges are into Worldmark. We really have been impressed with Worldmark ever since we bought in. We actually bought in because every time we exchanged on the West Coast it was into Worldmark.
Bart

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

I've been able to get some wonderful exchanges thru II. They have a 59 day "flex" period. During this time you are charged only 4000 WM credits for anything that pops up. We've been lucky to get Four Seasons Aviara twice and Four Seasons in Scottsdale once during flex time. Also I just booked Cottages at South Seas (Captiva, Florida) for December 2008 with 10000 WM credits. The nice thing about II is that you can "search first". You can also use RCI to exchange although I never have. Check out WorldMark Owners Community for further info. on exchanging WM credits.

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

it seems like most WM owners like II.

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

New WM owner appreciates II

We bought WorldMark in Sept. 2006 so we're pretty new. I love the 4000 credit flexchange options with II (within 59 days). As a young retired couple we are pretty flexible to go any time we want. We were also happy to exchange to Aruba Marriott Ocean Club for our daughter and her husband for this May. So far, WM has lived up to its exchange reputation, at least for us.

BookIt!

[ladycody Member Find all posts View Profile Close ladycody]

So far I've used WM in WM...but that's mostly because we generally stay close to home (too much $$ to fly more than once every few years) and WM owns a ton of resorts in our area. I've (so far) use credits for booking planned red-season vacations...and BT and last call for additional getaways. Having said that...there are a few exchanges I'm looking at over the next few years...and I cant wait until I have a bit more flexibility in life and can take advantage of flex and instant exchanges.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

We bought WorldMark in Sept. 2006 so we're pretty new. I love the 4000 credit flexchange options with II (within 59 days).

We bought Worldmark last Nov so we're even newer and have booked Fiji for 13nts. We don't plan on exchanging with it as Worldmark has a number of resorts near Sydney which we want to try. We use our SA wks to exchange and used the Exchange Plus feature to get extra credits with Worldmark by depositing one of our other regular timeshares with them. We figure it's better than letting RCI Pts have it. We really like Worldmark and have thought of purchasing for a few yrs before finally taking the plunge. So far so good.

Once our RCI account expire, we might give II a go unless we work out that it's worth keeping our RCI account since RCI have a similar instant exchange system for Worldmark credits within 45days as II have with their flexchange.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether II Flexchange or RCI instant Exchange is better with Worldmark credits?

[roadsister Member Find all posts View Profile Close roadsister]

Hi Syd,

I have been a WM owner forever and have memberships with both RCI and II and here is my 2 cents....
RCI
More resorts than II
Can't search online for instant exchanges
I have booked some great resorts short notice 45 days.

II
Longer flexchange - 59 days out
You can search online with a float week!! This is a huge advantage.
I have also booked some great resorts short notice with II

It depends on where you want to travel...take a look at their directories online and see which one you might prefer based on where the resorts are. AND luck of the draw when you search what pops up

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I use and exchange WorldMark in about the same amount. 5-7 weeks per year of WorldMark resort weeks and 5-7 weeks of II exchanges. I own a lot of WorldMark credits.

Flexchange is awesome. Trading power in II is awesome. WorldMark has one of the best reservation systems in the industry.

What I really like about WorldMark is that you can string together several weeks with partial week stays in what is called a "group" reservation. So, I can book my entire summer vacation on one call.

We are getting ready to book our Summer 2008 vacation which will include Las Vegas, Estes Park, Yellowstone, Banff Canada, Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria. It's fantastic that that is even possible to do with one company.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Thanks for the replies.

We in Oz can't search online with II at all so that perk is not available to us. So we have to ring up both RCI & II for instant exchanges and flexchanges.

I know that RCI instant exchanges can be pretty useless with RCI because they limit availability even within the 45 days in practice, regardless of what Madge says. The VGs operate differently, or rather their search system does. I'm concerned that the same applies for Worldmark instant exchanges as for the RCI Pts instant exchanges. When I've checked both by ringing up, Worldmark also gets me into pts resorts with it's instant exchange but there's just not much there. This may or may not change in the next couple of years. If it doesn't change for the better, I will give II a go. I am just loathed to pay two membership fees at the same time.

We used to also belong to II before Worldmark but let it expire. So I was wondering whether II had a similar issue where they say, yeah, you can have anything within 60days but not that good week you want. It looks like from reading Roadsister's reply that II is not plagued with the same inconsistencies as RCI. Thank you.

Boca, yes, I think the Worldmark system is great. You would know that you are one of the main reasons we bought into it. Thanks very much for all your behind the scenes help and education! We very much appreciate it.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

You can't search online with II? Why not? Can't you set up a US account and exchange with it? If you want to do that, I'll help you out.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

You can't search online with II? Why not? Can't you set up a US account and exchange with it? If you want to do that, I'll help you out.

They won't let me since I live in Australia. I asked them last month whether we can search online yet and they said no so I didn't renew my membership. They said they wouldn't charge me the fee to re-establish my account but with no internet access, I said "no thanks". I hated the thought of ringing up for everything.

How could you set it up if I have Worldmark SP credits?

Our RCI accounts will let us do regular searches nut won't let us search Worldmark instant exchanges either.

Exchanging gets really frustrating in the Southern hemisphere.