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Which Exchange Co. delivers?

RCade

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I've learned a lot reading all of your posts. Thanks for all of the terrific information. Most of you say to buy where you vacation. I agree with that. We bought a townhouse in Orlando and go there a few times a year. We would like to broaden our vacations and go to Hawaii and Europe. If you were looking strictly to trade, which exchange program would you buy? I liked the RCI points program on paper but it seems like trading with them requires patience, flexibility and luck. We can book a year in advance.
We have two boys, 12 and 9 years old. Currently, we are looking at family type resorts but in the not too distant future might be looking to more upscale resorts. Where would you all start? RCI, II, HGVC, Marriott, Wyndham, Starwood or another? I believe a points program makes the most sense.
The pitch on timeshares is that you can trade and vacation anywhere you want to. My question is, which one delivers?
 

timeos2

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Points are the way to go.

A points program is the only way to go today. Only RCI has a "universal" points system that can accept any resort, but not all are in the system by any means. II has no equivalent.

Otherwise you are looking at a large (nothing worse than a SMALL points system limited to internal resorts) points system with internal resorts. You save on internal trades but are limited to the locations that the internal system offers. A couple to look at would be DRI (quite a few non-US resorts & a points based link to II) and Wyndham (with a tie to RCI for non-Wyndham trades). The biggest problem with DRI is the inability to buy/transfer on resale pricing which makes getting the value out of purchase very hard to achieve.

RedWeeks also has a universal points system but it doesn't appear to offer much in the way of reliable selection.
 

rickandcindy23

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RCI Points is a good way to get to Hawaii. We have owned RCI Points for about 4 years and are glad to have them.

I really like Interval for getting to Maui, but you need to have a week to trade that is worth the exchange.
 

AwayWeGo

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[triennial - points]
Were The Timeshare Seller's Lips Moving ?

The pitch on timeshares is that you can trade and vacation anywhere you want to.
The timeshare sellers are highly skilled at planting that idea in our heads without actually saying it in so many words. And even if they do come right out & say it, you betcha they will not put it in writing.

It belabors the obvious to point out that year-round vacation destinations with lots & lots of timeshares -- e.g., Orlando FL, Las Vegas NV, Williamsburg VA, the Mexican Riviera, etc. -- tend to be more exchangeable into than highly seasonal locations with fewer timeshares. Yet even the "overbuilt" places can be hard to get on exchange if you want the choicest resorts during the highest-demand times.

With straight-points timeshare exchanging, the relative in-season & off-season trade "power" of various fancypants & humble timeshares is a non-factor. Even so, that does not guarantee automatic availability at resorts where you want to go during the times you want to go there.

There is 1 proven way to side-step all timeshare trade hassles entirely. Just buy your timeshare -- resale, naturally -- in a vacation destination you want to go to again & again, at a location you can get to without breaking the bank (e.g., by driving).

Timeshare vacationing is great -- resale. Advantageous timeshare trades, when available, are just icing on the cake.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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DeniseM

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We bought a townhouse in Orlando and go there a few times a year. We would like to broaden our vacations and go to Hawaii and Europe. If you were looking strictly to trade, which exchange program would you buy?

RCI is not the best choice for Hawaii - they don't have the Starwood or Marriott resorts, which are [two of] the top resorts in Hawaii.

I liked the RCI points program on paper but it seems like trading with them requires patience, flexibility and luck.

All exchange companies require patience, flexibility and luck.

We have two boys, 12 and 9 years old. Currently, we are looking at family type resorts but in the not too distant future might be looking to more upscale resorts.

Exchanges during school holidays are the most difficult to get. Whatever you decide on, make sure you buy someplace you actually want to go, when you can't get the exchange you want.

Where would you all start? RCI, II, HGVC, Marriott, Wyndham, Starwood or another? I believe a points program makes the most sense.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect system, or we'd all buy it. If you can swing a purchase of several thousand dollars, without financing it, I'd look at Marriott first. They have top quality resorts and many locations - including Hawaii and Europe. However, they are going to introduce a new trading system in June, so I'd wait until after that to buy. Start your research by reading the stickies at the top of the TUG Marriott board and the Advice page, linked in the red bar at the top of the page.
 
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dougp26364

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My personal preference at this point in time is to belong to a timeshare system that has it's own internal exchange program. There are many out there and more companies seem to be joining the concept of self contained exchange programs each year. All have different rules for their internal programs so it might take you some time to weed through them to see which ones fit your needs. At issue for some is that if you buy resale, you don't get to participate in their internal exchange program without paying a fee or having to buy something from them direct at inflated prices.

We own in two points based systems, both of which work very well for our needs. One is DRI (Diamond Resrots International) and the other is Hilton Grand Vacation Club.

Of the two, DRI has more resorts in more locations. DRI is trying to get all of the resorts they manage to one comparable level. In doing so, MF's at some of the resorts have sky rocketed from previous level. Still, with the correct number of points we can travel to all of the popular destinations including Hawaii without to much effort. DRI does not allow resale weeks to participate in their internal points program without either paying a large joiner fee or buying something from them directly. Recently it appears they've done away with the joiner fee and require a direct purchase, which will cost you several thousand dollars in addition to any week you might buy on the resale market.

HGVC has great resorts and a very easy to understand internal points program and is very flexible. HGVC also does not discriminate against resale buyers. Resale buyers have all the same rights as those who buy direct with one exception that I know of. That exception is that points bought resale don't qualify for credit towards elite status. The problem with HGVC is their resorts are concentrated in Orlando, Vegas and Hawaii. They do have several affiliated resorts in Florida, a few overseas, one in New York and one in Colorado but, their locations are limited. That means you have to use your HGVC points to exchange through RCI if you want to go anywhere other than those few HGVC locations.

Advantages of internal points based programs are that you can avoid the external exchange companies like RCI and Interval. This might lower your annual costs for usage depending on how the progams are set up and how many exchanges you make per year. If each internal exchange you make does not incure a fee or, incures a smaller fee than what either RCI or I.I. charges, there are some savings.

Internal programs tend to be easier to make exchanges IMHO than going though an external exchange company. The rules and values typically remain the same. With either Interval or RCI points required or the value of your points can change. Interval does not have it's own points program but, it does have programs where companies that do have points programs can allow their owners to trade via points rather than having to reserve and deposit.

The big disadvantage I'm starting to see is that some companies are using points based exchange programs as a way to exclude resale buyers. This hurts those who might want to sell their ownership down the road by de-valuing those programs on the resale market. There is a HUGE thread about Marriott's probability of entering the points based internal exchange game. The rumor is that those who have bought direct from Marriott will be happy but those who bought resale will be sorry they didn't buy direct. Until we actually see the program, it's hard to tell who will be happy and who won't. But that's the power of internal programs. Developers can make rules that inhibit resale purchasers and discourage resale transactions.
 

RCade

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Wow! Great information. I guess the answer is that there is not one answer. Each program has good and bad points. I have looked at RCI, Marriott and HGVC. The most prevelent and lowest cost would be RCI points. You can buy as many points as you can afford or as many points as you can afford the maintenance on. If you had 100K points and started looking in January for something in the last week of August, will there be good destinations and resorts or would you be choosing between Minnesota and Iowa? (Nothing against Minn. or Iowa. I don't expect you folks to vacation here in PA either). What if you started looking in August for the following August. will that change the equation?
I understand that RCI points owners can only exchange into resorts that have gone RCI points. I suspect that is more than half of them. However, the part I do not understand is how RCI can rent out exchanged weeks to the general public. Seems like theft.
Are there good exchanges available though points or do you need both a points and weeks TS so you can get access to there entire inventory? The theory of the RCI points program is awesome. However, I can tell by many of your posts that they nickle and dime you and do not always offer as much as people feel that they are giving up.
My concise question is; with RCI, if you have the points available in hand, can you get what you a looking for with them?
 

DeniseM

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My concise question is; with RCI, if you have the points available in hand, can you get what you a looking for with them?

Besides having the points, supply and demand comes into play. Someone has to deposit the exchange you want, for it to be available. It's not like making a hotel reservation, where you know the hotel has x-number of rooms for rent each week. for instance, if you are looking for a particular school holiday week, at a prime resort, there may simply be no deposits available, no matter how many points you have.

Also - not all resorts are available through RCI points - certainly not 50%. Many resorts are not affiliated with RCI at all. I think you really need to decide where you want to go and the quality of resort that is acceptable to you.

Also - optimally, you should put in your request more than 12 mos. out.
 
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funtime

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II is my favorite especially since I find terriffic weeks in the 60 day window. We have traveled to a lot of Marriotts that way without using our Marriott week. Funtime
 

AwayWeGo

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[triennial - points]
Reserve Way Early, Or Wait Till The Last Minute. (Don't Mess With Mr. In-Between.)

Also - optimally, you should put in your request more than 12 mos. out.
But if you procrastinate & wait till 45 days before check-in, then anything still available in RCI Weeks can be reserved via RCI Points for no more than 9,000 points + exchange fee -- sometimes only 7,500 points + exchange fee.

RCI calls that Instant Exchange. Works great for off-season vacationers.

By contrast, straight-points exchanges in RCI require the full points-value of the timeshare even when the reservation is made tonight for check-in tomorrow. Go figure.

Full Disclosure: Practically all our RCI reservations these days are Instant Exchange & Last Call. (Last Call = cash + zero points & zero weeks.) We made a straight-points exchange exactly 1 time. Before we got into timeshare points, we made 3 week-for-week timeshare exchanges. Since getting into points, we've done just 1 straight-weeks exchange. Is this a great country or what ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

DeniseM

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Alan - with school aged kids, that doesn't work as well, because you need school holidays. For someone who is retired, it's a great way to go.
 

zcrider

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Both RCI and II have good resorts. RCI has more resorts, but II has more name brand resorts. RCI's fees are higher. You will most certainly have no problem getting someplace besides Iowa! If you put in your request 12 months out and own something of good trade value you will often get your request as long as you can pick a few different weeks that would work for you and a few different resorts you would be happy with. If you need just the last week of Aug. every year......it narrows the search considerably. (However, the end of Aug. has good inventory actually b/c school has started back for most places. Also that is hurricane season in the carribean).
I don't own in RCI, but considered it a lot just for DVC. Other then DVC and a handfull of other resorts, I have no interest in RCI. My personal opinion is I like the quality and consistancy and name brand of trading into Marriott, Westin, and Hyatt's. I also like Hilton which is in RCI, but their locations are places Marriott has too. So personally I would recommend II as long as you don't mind taking week long vacations each time.
When you are a TUG member you can go to the sightings board and II and RCI members list top resorts that they see.........this is very helpful when you own nothing yet and are trying to figure out if you will see stuff you like. I wouldn't buy a cheap resort and expect to trade into great ones.......you can do it but you must be extremely flexible and with school age kids most people can't take off last min. or shoulder seasons. I also wouldn't buy an extremely high end resort for trading either (like Westin St. John) because you will be very limited to find hardly any other resorts as nice as yours (hence you don't find them deposited much). I would also only consider platinum or gold seasons but never silver. Platinum only if it is low demand area, gold is fine if a high demand area. Just my opinions here. Others are free to disagree.
II also has the 60 day until check in trading power thing where you can put in something low demand and trade into anything even high demand. They take off the trading power limitations. So people will often use their inexpensive studio lock offs for these trades and trade up.
 
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AwayWeGo

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[triennial - points]
Biz. Plan Based On Fighting Back Against Timeshare Resales.

DRI does not allow resale weeks to participate in their internal points program without either paying a large joiner fee or buying something from them directly.
I once mentioned to a SunTerra timeshare seller that I thought Club SunTerra was the timeshare company's way of pushing back against timeshare resales.

"That's about the size of it," the guy replied. (Or words to that effect.) It was right after a high-pressure SunTerra timeshare sales presentation in stealth form disguised as an "owner update" at a SunTerra timeshare.

Since then, DRI bought out SunTerra & the successor to Club SunTerra is now operating under the name T. H. E. Club.

Membership is still not available via resale purchase of club timeshares. We are resale all the way, so around here that feature alone makes T. H. E. Club a complete non-starter.

Shux upon'm.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

AwayWeGo

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[triennial - points]
Year-Round School Calendars Are Different.

Alan - with school aged kids, that doesn't work as well, because you need school holidays. For someone who is retired, it's a great way to go.
The time we snagged an RCI Weeks exchange into a 3BR-3BA condo at HGVC Sea World, we went there in September with a friend & her pre-teen daughter. It wasn't Instant Exchange or Last Call -- just a straight-weeks exchange using as trade bait our humble 2BR standard-grade timeshare in a far-off foreign land.

September apparently is off-season in Florida (who knew?) & the September exchange worked out well for the girl & her mom because the girl's school district was on a 4-seasons year-round class calendar, meaning she was out of school right after Labor Day instead of just going back to school for the new fall semester.

Who'd a-thunk ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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JMAESD84

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If you only are going to purchase into one points system then I would choose RCI points (I'm an owner) as the best for exploiting what the RCI exchange system has to offer(both points and weeks side). RCI has the most resorts with Disney and Hilton at the top of the brand affiliations.

I would choose Worldmark points (I'm not an owner) as the best for exploiting what the II exchange system has to offer. II has the second most resorts with Marriott and Starwood at the top of the brand affiliation.

In either case you want to be loaded with points at the lowest entry costs possible and be ready to grab the hot deposit when it appears. Done well even with membership and exchange fees you will be staying at those brand name locations at a far lower cost than the those brand owners.
 

DeniseM

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The time we snagged an RCI Weeks exchange into a 3BR-3BA condo at HGVC Sea World, we went there in September with a friend & her pre-teen daughter. It wasn't Instant Exchange or Last Call -- just a straight-weeks exchange using as trade bait our humble 2BR standard-grade timeshare in a far-off foreign land.

GREAT deal, Alan! As a teacher, I am locked into the school schedule, and I can't wait until we can travel off-season! :hi:
 

e.bram

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RENT!!!. The savings(?if any) of owning a TS or points are overshadowed by the transportation costs(4 traveling), that the inconvience of having to work around TS availability just does not make sense.
ps. And you acquire a MF albatross as well.
 

RCade

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RENT!!!. The savings(?if any) of owning a TS or points are overshadowed by the transportation costs(4 traveling), that the inconvience of having to work around TS availability just does not make sense.
ps. And you acquire a MF albatross as well.

Thanks. I have been considering that also. I see some great deals in the TUG rental section. I might start there!

Rich
 

Judy

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Worldmark by Wyndham has several resorts in Hawaii: 2 on Maui, 1 on the big island, and 1 on Kaua'i http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts/ A good thing about Worldmark is that owners can book into any Worldmark resort. There's no need to trade within the Worldmark system. As long as you book as soon as reservations open, you're likely to get whatever you want, even during school vacation. (It's a bit more challenging to get holiday weekends at some very highly demanded resorts).
In addition, Worldmark has a direct exchange system with some of the Wyndham Hawaii properties.
Europe is another thing. Worldmark doesn't have any resorts there, so owners have to go through RCI, II, or the independent exchange companies for anything in Europe. Then you're back to patience, flexibility and luck.
 
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