I am curious what trading in Interval will yield in quality US or Caribbean high season trades. Seems it has to be better than SVN strict limitations.
As far as trades go, I just wanted to report that I just got a call from an exchange company, and it found us a requested exchange using my large one bedroom SDO that we had deposited a couple of years ago. The exchange window was about to expire, so we had to settle for a non-air conditioned unit in August, in a villa that doesn’t even have a dishwasher or a washer/dryer . . . .
. . . in a TWO-BEDROOM villa in the HEART OF LONDON!!!!!! (aka Unit No. 10 in the
Sloane Gardens Club)
Yep, that’s right, although SFX and I haven’t seen eye-to-eye in the past, that one little phone call has erased each and every bad thought I’ve ever had toward ‘em.
Now, I’ve got to search all the sofas in our house for any loose diamond rings that may have fallen between the cushions so we can afford air fare.
Regarding my other exchange company trades with my lowly SDO (which is probably about the same on the exchange food chain as an updated VR Fountains unit), here are a few:
Using II:
Trader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traded For
Small one bedroom SDO (Gold Season). . . .. . Small one bedroom at WMH’s (Platinum Season)
Large one-bedroom SDO (Gold Season). . . . . Two Studios at WKORV-N in April (under 2-for-1 II promo)
Large one-bedroom SDO (Gold Season). . . . . .Large one bedroom at WKORV-N in Nov. AND studio at WKORV-N during the same time in NOV (by asking real nicely for the 2-for-1 II promo)
Here are a few links to recent SVO sightings using my SDO:
WPORV (Kauai)
WKORV (Maui)
WKORV-N (Maui)
Sheraton Mountain Vista (Avon) Ski Weeks
Harborside at Atlantis (Bahamas)
Westin Lagunamar (Cancun)
Four Seasons Aviara (Calsbad, California)
Disney's Old Key West
Disney's Saratoga Springs
Using SFX:
Using a large one bedroom SDO (March week) as a trader:
We got:
1 week in a large one-bedroom at the Mayan Palace in Riviera Maya (near Cancun, Mexico) over New Years; AND,
1 week in a 2 bedroom near Salzburg, Austria in July (Club La Costa Alpine Centre - which we ended up not using); AND,
1 week in a 2 bedroom in LONDON in August.
(Yep, we got all three weeks for that one large bedroom SDO March week)
Using RCI:
We’ve never traded anything using RCI, but often buy its “extra vacations” for cheap. These include: Large one bedrooms at SDO in Nov for $400/week, Manhattan Club 1 bedroom/2 bath weeks in the summer for “cheap” (about $225/night), lots of weeks in Orlando and other places for family and friends using RCI guest certificates.
Armed with II, RCI, and SFX memberships and having a job that requires you to sit on your butt in front of a computer with internet access all day, you can rule the timeshare exchange world and not have to rely on SVO’s over-hyped StarOptions.
-nodge