The death of the 14 day window

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

I'm always on the look out for last minute driveable exchanges. I work from home and can work anywhere this is ability to tether or have wi-fi.

In the last 24 hours I have seen:

Lake Placid Club Lodges in the Adirondaks and Briarwood in Cape Cod pop up for ~ 18Aug check-ins. RCI wanted 26TPU for Lake Placid and 22TPU for Briarwood. Points were no better. 84.5k and 58.5k respectively.

I would have jumped on either of those if they had been priced at last minute prices.

The northeast and mid-atlantic seem to be the hardest hit with price gouging. I have not seen any juicy SCal for a comparison but I bet they are not cheap either.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Seems like any thing that was good can become bad very quickly.

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

RCI is always morphing, and usually not to the benefit of its members. This lack of stabllity in the way they operate gives little confidence in them. It looks like none of the ''windows'' is useful any more with them. At least you can still get good value last minute exchanges with many of the independent exchange companies.

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

There are still plenty of places you can get for 5-10TPUs just not where I want to drive. It is a very prejudiced system when you can get oceanfront Myrtle Beach for 7 points and then they want 20+ for mid-atlantic/northeast.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

very disappointing

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

Right now I see 2617 units available for August 2012. 2597 of those are 10 or less TPUs. The 18 remaining seem to mostly be in resort areas, but the highest TPU value is 14. Apparently someone was willing to pay those high TPUS for last minute Cape Cod and Lake Placid.

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

I've seen it too but even with the high cost for last minute they get scooped up. If it were low it would probably be gone in minutes but even high it only lasts in the inventory for a couple of hours. The 6500-7500 point weeks beach front carolinas get snapped up but so do the 35,000-60,000 points ones for August 17-Aug 31.

I saw a National Harbor in the 40's for next month that lasted less than an hour. In the mid Atlantic the only thing that doesn't go fast is the Pennsylvania inland resorts. I saw a few in Ocean city and some were the reduced rates and others were full price but all were gone within a few hours too.

(The Tybee Island at 24,000/15 is still hanging around but that is the only one.)

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

There are still plenty of places you can get for 5-10TPUs just not where I want to drive. It is a very prejudiced system when you can get oceanfront Myrtle Beach for 7 points and then they want 20+ for mid-atlantic/northeast.

Just what I was thinking when I read the Heading . . . who cares about the 14-day window when there are so many great places to go to for 5, 7, or 10. I'm looking at stuff like that now, four months out!!!

(that says something, huh?!)

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

Opinions solicited:
Am I better off planning to use Marriott points?
OR what are the odds I might find ANYTHING helpful in:
-RCI Points - not concerned about Points required because I'm considering closing RCI Points account when membership expires 31 March 2013
-RCI Weeks - lots of TPU
-II - some deposits expire soon & will go unused since we are fully booked after 29 Sep 2012-March 2013
-DAE
- Platinum Interchange - I have 3 days left from a partial Jockey Club deposit that expires Nov 2012. $99 exchange fee for 3 days seems ridiculous BUT they have lots of Southern California properties managed by TriComm

Are the odds of finding options for San Francisco Bay Area August 21 & 22 (Wednesday & Thursday):
(we decided to leave Donatello in SF early on Tuesday 8/21 instead of Thursday 8/23), in San Rafael 8/23.

We'd like to avoid driving 3 hours North from SF to home then 2 hours South two days later to Ken's birthday party in San Rafael, Marin County on Thursday, 23 August for my husband Ken's birtday party with Marin County relatives.

We have not stayed at:
Napa Vino Bello
Napa Riverpoint
or any other timeshares North of SF except Point Arena where the temperatures are usually 20 degrees lower than Central Northern CA which has reached 100 degrees yesterday & today. I think those trailers can ONLY be rented weekly via RCI Points or direct with the resort. It beats the heat but there isn't much to do around the area.


We are OPEN to OTHER areas for 21-22 August too.

Sometime after Labor Day to mid September we need to be drive SOUTH for an extended trip down the coast to Baja, California for a 29 Sep 2012 reservation at Villa del Palmar in Loreto. . We'd love to stay at Hyatt in Carmel and also in the San Luis Obispo areas. We will want to stay at least one if not two night just short of the U.S./Mexico border to ensure and early border crossing.

Updating options:
- using Marriott reward points (we should have enough)
- we realize even Motel 6 can be expensive in Northern CA as we fly in/out of SF (our closest large airport)
- we could leave our car @ Richmond BART, pick it up on the 21st and head over toward Sacramento/Stockton to visit relatives while staying at more reasonably priced places there? We flew home to SFO 5/4 and since we haven't gone up or down Interstate 5 and don't really want to in September, a quick 2 night trip in that direction to see people we wouldn't be able to see until at least after Easter 2013 might be the best option.



California Coast about 22 Sep a few days various places w/be ideal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have LM cancellations and/or availabilty in California in September, we are looking for 3 to possibly 14 days worth of acommodations IF we can be packed & ready to leave

8 Sep 2012: Earliest POSSIBLE travel date
22 Sep 2012: latest probable date to START travel
for
Northern California coast towns - SF & South
Southern Califonria coastal towns

OCCUPANCY: 2 Adults no children or pets

We plan to drive South
101 via SF or 5 via Sacramento/Stockton
THEN
Carmel area - Hyatt Highlands is around there?
SLO San Luis Obispo - Avila or other places for 2-3 days?
Oxnard - might have Channel Islands nearby

Visit a friend in Palmdale -

Head South again
either 5/15/101/?
San Diego area perhaps a week?
Welk Resort near San Diego on the I-15 has been suggested as a great place

__________________

[FloridaGuy Member Find all posts View Profile Close FloridaGuy]

The northeast and mid-atlantic seem to be the hardest hit with price gouging. I have not seen any juicy SCal for a comparison but I bet they are not cheap either.

It's a seasonal thing. In the northeast you only have 3 or 4 warm summer months. In Florida it's the opposite, the winter season here is high season.

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

There are still plenty of places you can get for 5-10TPUs just not where I want to drive. It is a very prejudiced system when you can get oceanfront Myrtle Beach for 7 points and then they want 20+ for mid-atlantic/northeast.

I'm guessing you're not the only one looking for a "last minute, drivable" exchange, and there are a lot more people who can easily drive to mid-Atlantic/northeast resorts than who can drive to Myrtle Beach. I don't know what the numbers are, but going south sure feels like the rural areas get a lot emptier than they do heading east, anyhow. Definitely there are more cities in the north east, and more really big ones. RCI's "Mid-Atlantic" includes three of the top ten most populated urban areas, and New England a fourth. I think the closest really big city to Myrtle Beach is Atlanta (also in the top ten), and that's six-and-a-half hours away, and probably most people there would be just as happy with Charleston, Savannah, Hilton Head Island, etc. I would guess the closest city to Myrtle Beach is Charlotte, which has grown considerable since we lived there but has only the 38th largest urban area, half the size of the area around Baltimore and smaller than Virginia Beach.

Also agree with FloridaGuy's point about the seasonal availability. I'm guessing there are fewer units available in the first place (shorter summer season so more people make an effort get out then), and more people wanting them.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

In Florida it's the opposite, the winter season here is high season.

Thank God someone finally came along and set us straight on that.

[FloridaGuy Member Find all posts View Profile Close FloridaGuy]

Thank God someone finally came along and set us straight on that.

See that you learned something new today, I guess the saying is right. You're welcome.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Here's what 8 will get right now, in my trading window:

USA
Carolinas and the Southeast [4538]
Florida [3401]
Gulf States [1391]
Mid-Atlantic [885]
Mid-South [3649]
Midwest & Plains [1811]
New England [1851]
Pacific Coast [1861]
Rocky Mountains [1789]

Mexico [32160]
Canada [2200]
Africa & The Middle East [1062]
Asia [2503]
Australia & South Pacific [153]
Caribbean & Bermuda [5640]
Central America [85]
Europe [9874]
South America [1705]

Here's everything available:

Carolinas and the Southeast [9143]
Florida [14151]
Gulf States [3847]
Hawaii [755]
Mid-Atlantic [2271]
Mid-South [6745]
Midwest & Plains [3827]
New England [6360]
Pacific Coast [7470]
Rocky Mountains [8130]

Mexico [49139]
Canada [4699]
Africa & The Middle East [2680]
Asia [8289]
Australia & South Pacific [770]
Caribbean & Bermuda [7963]
Central America [1279]
Europe [25867]
South America [4715]

Kinda revealing, like Hawaii, for instance. & 8 doesn't cut Mexico back much.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

See that you learned something new today, I guess the saying is right. You're welcome.

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...s-on-the-Beach