I'm scared to deposit

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

I just closed on my second Walden II at Inverness 1 BR WEEK 27. I already own the same week in a different unit, and when I deposited my week 2008 into RCI(less than a year out), I immediately could see it was pulling almost nothing. I was able to call RCI and withdraw the week after receiving a lecture from the VC. I then deposited my 2008, 2009, and 2010 weeks into II and got pretty good exchanges.
Now there are some resorts that are primarily RCI based that I would like to exchange into, and i am wondering if i should try again with my 2010 week (more than 1 year out) and take the risk that RCI will not let me withdraw the week if it is unable to pull what I want (2BR Bass Lake summer 2010 or 2BR Maine coast or Cape Cod summer 2010). Any advice?

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

I have had very good luck with SFX and they have a free Gold membership. The "problem" with them is that they have no inventory that you can see. They also are fussy about what they will accept. They have affiliations around the world, but their strength, apparently seems to be west coast, Mexico and Hawaii.

I have been very satisfied with the weeks that they've gotten for me and I've also been 100% successful there. Other people have not been quite so happy.

Sue

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

SFX won't want it

The Walden II at Inverness is a standard resort, and SFX won't take it. I have used SFX in the past with a Florida New Years Marriott week and was happy with the Grand Mayan weeks I received in exchange.

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

From what I personally know of the Walden's they are a fairly good moderate trader. Even the blue and white weeks can prove useful.

I'll think about wether your expectations would be realistic. Not only from a trade power viewpoint but what I've seen on the supply side in RCI

Also the further out you can deposit (15 to 24 months ) the better off you will be.

I'll do my best to give you as straight up an answer as I can through observation. From what I personally know of the Walden's they are a fairly good moderate trader. Even the blue and white weeks can prove useful.

Not only from a trade power viewpoint but what I've seen on the supply side in RCI.

Also the further out you can deposit (15 to 24 months ) the better off you will be.

I'll do my best to give you as straight up an answer as I can through observation. You want a 2BDRM Cape Cod there is a resort that I certainly would recommend available now for summer 2010. Maine coastal is out of the picture. Rarely seen and you would need a blazing tiger to get Samoset. I really don't follow WM Bass Lake but May 2009s are in the system. Let me go fool around with some various traders and get an idea if that CC is realistic for you.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

I would suggest that you try one of the other independent exchanges companies, like TPI, DAE, etc..

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

I'll do my best to give you as straight up an answer as I can through observation. You want a 2BDRM Cape Cod there is a resort that I certainly would recommend available now for summer 2010. Maine coastal is out of the picture. Rarely seen and you would need a blazing tiger to get Samoset. I really don't follow WM Bass Lake but May 2009s are in the system. Let me go fool around with some various traders and get an idea if that CC is realistic for you.

I can't see the May Bass Lake with anything but a very strong trader.

I can see this with a lo-moderate but I don't know what you are considering summer...

Brewster Green (#0760)
Brewster, MA 02631, USA

Available Unit Size: 2 - 2
Check-in Date: 06/11/2010


and of course Maine is a no show with anything.

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

CalGal - listen to Lauren - your expectations are a bit tooooo high for that week in RCI - II on the other hand might get you summer Cape Cod but of course - size matters with them and u probably would not get a 2BR.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

A 2 br on the Maine coast is rather rare with RCI. There is a new RCI resort(motel conversion) in Rockland (not far from Rockport/Samoset), but I hear they are selling points only. II has two resorts with many 2 br. units in the Bar Harbor area.

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

OK, I needed a little reality testing, and am grateful for your replies. Sounds like the week would perform better than I experienced with my brief RCI experiment, but not well enough to pull peak summer 2BR weeks. (The 6/11 Cape Cod checkin would conflict with my DD's final exams.)
Also, I didn't realize Bass Lake was a tough exchange. I will need to use my "big gun" (Marriott Cypress Harbour) to exchange into it via II.
I will stick with II/ the independents for the Inverness week I guess. Thanks again!!

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

OK, I needed a little reality testing, and am grateful for your replies. Sounds like the week would perform better than I experienced with my brief RCI experiment, but not well enough to pull peak summer 2BR weeks. …

How long was your "brief RCI experiment"??

When you deposit a week with RCI it has almost zero trade power until RCI is able to confirm with the resort that the deposit is valid. That can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks to complete. When RCI verifies they contact the resort to be sure you still own the week, that you are current on fees, that you haven't already deposited the week with another exchange company, etc. IOW - they verify that the deposit is valid.

If you started looking in RCI right after you deposited and didn't allow enough time for verification, it's totally normally that you would see nothing.

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

Steve, My memory may be failing me, but I thought I couldn't even do a search until the unit was verified by my resort. Once verified, I did a bunch of searches for a couple of hours, got discouraged, and then withdrew the week.
So, is it possible to do a search prior to resort verification? And that is very interesting that the search may not be representative until the confirmation is completed.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Steve, My memory may be failing me, but I thought I couldn't even do a search until the unit was verified by my resort. Once verified, I did a bunch of searches for a couple of hours, got discouraged, and then withdrew the week.
So, is it possible to do a search prior to resort verification? And that is very interesting that the search may not be representative until the confirmation is completed.

I haven't used RCI for three or four years now, but in years past deposits have appeared in my account immediately after deposit and before verification. But, as noted, until verified by the resort all they could pull was the dregs of the Spacebank, mostly stuff that would only be available as a off-season developer bonus week.

So unless RCI has changed the system you can do searches before verification. But until verified the week will have almost zero trade power.

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

So, is it possible to do a search prior to resort verification? And that is very interesting that the search may not be representative until the confirmation is completed.

Yes you can search with them right away before they verify and Steve is right once they "cook" and get verified the power usually will ratchet up a bit.

By the way, how do you feel about week 34/35?

Cape Cod Holiday Estates (#0847)
Mashpee, MA 02649, USA

Available Unit Size: 2 - 2
Check-in Date: 08/28/2010

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

I deposited a week recently that showed a huge difference before verification and after verification. In fact I was getting a little twitchy because it had been really strong the last time it was deposited, then before verification it was very very weak. After verification it bounced back up.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Yes you can search with them right away before they verify and Steve is right once they "cook" and get verified the power usually will ratchet up a bit.

By the way, how do you feel about week 34/35?

Cape Cod Holiday Estates (#0847)
Mashpee, MA 02649, USA

Available Unit Size: 2 - 2
Check-in Date: 08/28/2010

.Lawren - it ratchets up more than a bit. My Winners Circle Week 52 is a very strong trader in RCI - not the top of the heap but one or two notches below. But until confirmed it wasn't much different than a developer bonus week.