About SFX Preferred Resorts

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

About SFX Preferred Resorts

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The San Francisco Exchange Company (SFX) was founded in September, 1992 by current President & CEO Mel Grant. Mr. Grant has 25 years of industry experience.

The company goal was to create a network of strategic alliances between Gold Crown and Five Star rated resorts in areas of National and International demand. Creating a network that would provide timeshare Owners of quality resorts an alternative system to the conventional, which in many cases would provide preferred access to resorts as a result of the special relationships created in the Alliance.

For many years, timeshare owners were lead to believe they could only exchange their time with the affiliated exchange company to their resort. This is a misnomer, as individual's have the right to request the service of any exchange company that is willing to accept their week.

Thus various Anti-trust laws created the shield that allowed SFX to grow and prosper.

For many years, SFX has tried to stay under the radar-screen just simply working quietly behind the scenes providing enhanced services to developers, Owner Service Departments and of course Owners. There was no agenda within the business model to grow to the size of the large exchange companies. Simply to stay focused and targeted creating a system of "Quality" not "Quantity".

As time went by, and the company experienced market driven expansion, brand name resorts recognized the added value component to our services, and have affiliated us.

As much as we tried to stay as low-profile as possible, both consumer and industry driven demands have forced us to the level of dynamic growth and further expansion, to where we are not the behind the scenes service provider anymore. At this time, we are honored to have nearly 70,000 members. With constant invitations from developers around the world to affiliate their resorts, we now look forward to exponential growth and development.

We design and develop our own exchange software, of which earlier versions are use by other exchange companies. This year alone, we have budgeted in excess of $100,000 in "cash" (SFX is debt free) for further technology development to constantly improve what we do for you, our valued Members. Of course for us too, it improves our efficiences and profitability and presents a finer product to the market-place.

We realize continuous improvement is a never ending journey, and is one that allows us to be more creative, cost efficient and to provide a service that no other exchange company offers.... a network of the highest rated resorts in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and Western Europe (soon to be... S. Africa, and the Far East).

You do not have to be restricted to the resorts in one network. With SFX, subject to availability, you may access resorts in different networks without having to pay their membership fees, or have your resort affiliated with them.

This is all about having more freedom of choice to do your vacation shopping, higher quality at a lower-cost. We thank all of our Members for their business, and of course www.timeshareforums.com for allowing us this platform to inform and help you ... The Timeshare Owner.
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Thank you,
Mark @sfx
Member Communications
SFX Preferred Resorts
www.sfx-resorts.com

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

Thanks, Mark...& Frank, too

It is a lovely thing to be able to see and share the history of SFX. Your company is a class act, and I appreciate the help, and all the great exchanges we've received.
Thank you for spelling it all out. Jean

[icydog Banned Find all posts View Profile Close icydog]

"I have no idea of what I am doing So, If the site goes down you know who did it Where's the spell checker, 2005 and still no spell checker ""
Hi Frank did you mean to leave this at the bottom of your wonderfully worded post?

I am happy to be here and thrilled you're here too. I always wondered why you touted SFX on tug so much. Now I know.
I have specific questions about SFX
How do you get two weeks for one as you mentioned in Tug? Do you pay anything to belong or exchange your week? I have a London Week at 2 Hyde Park reserved for April. SFX agreed to take it in trade but I am not sure how they do this so I haven't faxed back the paperwork. How exactly does it work for a regular person like me? I mean how do you know which weeks and resorts SFX will accept? And once accepted, where do they get enough inventory to give you two weeks for one? I don't get it. I have two Marriott weeks reserved in Park City UT for Thanksgiving week would they merit SFX consideration? Is there a fact sheet somewhere?
Marylyn

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

"I have no idea of what I am doing So, If the site goes down you know who did it Where's the spell checker, 2005 and still no spell checker ""

Hi Frank did you mean to leave this at the bottom of your wonderfully worded post?

Marylyn

Marylyn, I would love to take credit for it but that post was from Mark. He emailed it to me to post before he came over here.

[Mark @SFX Industry Representative Find all posts View Profile Close Mark @SFX]

How do you get two weeks for one as you mentioned in Tug? Do you pay anything to belong or exchange your week? I have a London Week at 2 Hyde Park reserved for April. SFX agreed to take it in trade but I am not sure how they do this so I haven't faxed back the paperwork. How exactly does it work for a regular person like me? I mean how do you know which weeks and resorts SFX will accept? And once accepted, where do they get enough inventory to give you two weeks for one? I don't get it. I have two Marriott weeks reserved in Park City UT for Thanksgiving week would they merit SFX consideration? Is there a fact sheet somewhere?
Marylyn

Marylyn - For your London week, the dates can be anytime between April through October.

We receive many weeks of space from developers in addition to timeshare owners just like you into our system. The bonus week typically comes from developer bulk bank space, and also any over-supply of deposits in our system.

If there are other questions you have, I will be delighted to respond either publicly or privately.

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

Mark,

Would the Manhattan Club qualify for a Bonus Week?

Jeff

[Mark @SFX Industry Representative Find all posts View Profile Close Mark @SFX]

Mark,

Would the Manhattan Club qualify for a Bonus Week?

Jeff

Jeff - Absolutely !!

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

Thanks Mark.

I have another question concerning the Manhattan Club. If I own at Marriott's Timberlodge, what are the chances of trading into the Manhattan Club? Would I need to trade a 2 bedroom Platinum week (summer or winter) or could I trade into MC with the one bedroom or Lock-out unit? How about the one bedroom or Lock-out unit in a Gold season (spring or fall)? I would likely want to travel to New York in the spring or fall rather than the summer, and certainly not the winter.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Mark @SFX Industry Representative Find all posts View Profile Close Mark @SFX]

Thanks Mark.

I have another question concerning the Manhattan Club. If I own at Marriott's Timberlodge, what are the chances of trading into the Manhattan Club? Would I need to trade a 2 bedroom Platinum week (summer or winter) or could I trade into MC with the one bedroom or Lock-out unit? How about the one bedroom or Lock-out unit in a Gold season (spring or fall)? I would likely want to travel to New York in the spring or fall rather than the summer, and certainly not the winter.

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Jeff - We are not allowed to quote chances for availability. If we thought there was no chance and you would be wasting your time, we would tell you so. That is not the case here.

New York has very high demand, and of course a small supply of space. There are only two properties with limited inventory. You would need a minimum of a one bedroom unit sleep 4 in Ski Season Jan - March, for high trading power which is favorable for a NY exchange. If you are planning on going this year to NY, this late the odds are not great. If you are planning for next year, there is a greater possibility.

Hope this helps.

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

Helped a lot. Thank you

Jeff

[talkamotta Member Find all posts View Profile Close talkamotta]

I have already had a completed transaction for my 2 bedroom Hawaii week for a one bedroom week (I was too nervous to wait any longer so I took what was offered me).
I now have a week that I deposited last year. I have certain weeks of vacation scheduled but I am fairly flexible in where I am willing to visit. Its kind of a juggling act, you see what is available when you have time off and then you do a quick search for flights and car. For example, if there is availability to a destination and flights for that time of the year are too high, then it wont work.

When I am searching on line for vacations, it is nice to be able to see what is available on a certain week(s), then I can choose if I would like one of those destinations. With SFX that is impossible. This week I called SFX and finally after being disconnected in error, left a message that wasnt returned, after 24 hours I called and waited for an agent. She was very pleasant to me, even after I made her look at 5 different requests, each time asking if I wanted to put a request in. I explained that I wished I could do these searches on line and that would eliminate having to waste her time and I could do it when it is convenient for me. She said that wasnt how SFX works and she said I had a choice of which exchange company I use. "Yes, I do". I asked her if she had heard of TUG's before and she said she hadnt. I explained that it was a large group of timeshare owners, thier positive comments about SFX is why I joined. The one negative that had been mentioned a number of times about SFX, was thier internet site and how hard it was to use.

Im sure this isnt the first time that people have requested to be able to searches on line,etc. Being able to search for availability is one of II's most favorable assets, for me at least. I joined SFX and have paid the membership for a couple of years, so I will continue to use SFX.

[Mark @SFX Industry Representative Find all posts View Profile Close Mark @SFX]

I have already had a completed transaction for my 2 bedroom Hawaii week for a one bedroom week (I was too nervous to wait any longer so I took what was offered me).
I now have a week that I deposited last year. I have certain weeks of vacation scheduled but I am fairly flexible in where I am willing to visit. Its kind of a juggling act, you see what is available when you have time off and then you do a quick search for flights and car. For example, if there is availability to a destination and flights for that time of the year are too high, then it wont work.

When I am searching on line for vacations, it is nice to be able to see what is available on a certain week(s), then I can choose if I would like one of those destinations. With SFX that is impossible. This week I called SFX and finally after being disconnected in error, left a message that wasnt returned, after 24 hours I called and waited for an agent. She was very pleasant to me, even after I made her look at 5 different requests, each time asking if I wanted to put a request in. I explained that I wished I could do these searches on line and that would eliminate having to waste her time and I could do it when it is convenient for me. She said that wasnt how SFX works and she said I had a choice of which exchange company I use. "Yes, I do". I asked her if she had heard of TUG's before and she said she hadnt. I explained that it was a large group of timeshare owners, thier positive comments about SFX is why I joined. The one negative that had been mentioned a number of times about SFX, was thier internet site and how hard it was to use.

Im sure this isnt the first time that people have requested to be able to searches on line,etc. Being able to search for availability is one of II's most favorable assets, for me at least. I joined SFX and have paid the membership for a couple of years, so I will continue to use SFX.

Talkamotta - thank you for your post.

I think there needs to be a better understanding of our business model. I will try to briefly clarify for you and others.

You can place a search online in your SFX account without speaking with an agent. Although I think what you are referring to is actually booking a unit in real time.

Basically you have 80% of the timeshare world requesting 20% of the best timeshare space. SFX only works with the 20%.

Why don't you see our inventory online??? It's very simple, for the same reason you don't see it online with the other exchange companies !!

What you do see online with them, is inventory in their system they have "no requests" for from their Members, which may be the 80%. Does that make it bad? not necessarily. Is it the most desirable? probably not as there is always a higher demand than supply for the most desirable and a queue. The top layer of 20% as soon as it comes in, it gets booked to the Members in queue. "You don't get to see it"...... and that is why you don't see ours, it's all the top 20%.

Our website for quite a while was somewhat cumbersome. Our recently launched web is very much improved and user friendly, even though it's far from complete.

In conclusion.... SFX is specialized in the top layer only. That is where demand is greater than supply. If it were that easy to get that space from other exchange companies, SFX wouldn't have been in business for 15 years, almost totaling 100,000 Members. We must be doing something right.

We hope this gives a better understanding of some of the basics of our business model. (Remember the 80/20 rule).

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

Hi Jeff - We are not allowed to quote chances for availability. If we thought there was no chance and you would be wasting your time, we would tell you so. That is not the case here.

New York has very high demand, and of course a small supply of space. There are only two properties with limited inventory. You would need a minimum of a one bedroom unit sleep 4 in Ski Season Jan - March, for high trading power which is favorable for a NY exchange. If you are planning on going this year to NY, this late the odds are not great. If you are planning for next year, there is a greater possibility.

Hope this helps.

Would like to go to Manhattan Club next March (2008). I have a 2 BD in Carlsbad, California to trade (Grand Pacific Palisades). What are the good trading months for the Carlsbad resort to get into New York in March 2008?

Thanks,

Kathy

[Mark @SFX Industry Representative Find all posts View Profile Close Mark @SFX]

Would like to go to Manhattan Club next March (2008). I have a 2 BD in Carlsbad, California to trade (Grand Pacific Palisades). What are the good trading months for the Carlsbad resort to get into New York in March 2008?

Thanks,

Kathy

Hi Kathy - Thank you for your post. Any week from June 15 through Sept 7... or major Holiday weeks.

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

I am looking to buy into a timeshare points system in Australia which is only affiliated with II. Do you accept Australian resorts? Also do point owners need to book a specific week at a specific resort, then submit that information to SFX to conduct an exchange?