SFX Hawaii Big Island Exchanges

For those of you who have requested exchanges to the Big Island through SFX, I'd like to know how long it took you to get a confirmation, what time of the year you went and how flexible you were.

I ask because I've had an exchange request in for September 2007 for several months now with no offers. I'm trying to get back to back weeks on Oahu and the Big Island. My Oahu week was confirmed (for Labor Day week) the day after I made the request. As a result there is now only one week (the week following Labor Day week) that will work for me on the Big Island.

I hope my confirmation will come through soon because I'd like to get frequent flier seats.
Do you think it would be a good bet to book the seats before I get a confirmation from SFX?

Sept is low season.

Sept is low (gold)season in Hawaii(if Hawaii has a low season) according to HGVC season chart. If you have The Bay Club on you list they will likely not show up until at least 12 months out when reservations can be made.

Short

I exchanged a Kona Coast Week for 2 weeks on the big island last July. SFX provided confirmation for both weeks within 1 week of my initial deposit with them. The first week was for Thanksgiving and the second week was for the week after Thanksgiving (The Thanksgiving week actually came through first). I was quite pleased that both trades were accomplished so quickly.

I'm still waiting

Hi,I've had a request for Hawaii (Big Island, Oahu, or Maui) for about 4-5 months now. My request was for the entire summer 2007.
At first, I received 2 calls, but they were for resorts I didn't want, so I turned them down.To be fair to SFX, my request is very restrictive now. My daughter made the cheer team at her high school, so I had to change the request to the third week in June (she has practice the rest of the summer).

When I changed my request, I had to call and e-mail several times before I received a response. It took almost 2 weeks to change my request, so I'm a bit nervous about ever receiving a confirmation. This was a couple of months ago, and I've never received a phone call since I changed it.

I hope they come through. We deposited a prime Thanksgiving 2006 Embassy Poipu week with them.

Theresa

tmartin1 said:

When I changed my request, I had to call and e-mail several times before I received a response. It took almost 2 weeks to change my request, so I'm a bit nervous about ever receiving a confirmation. This was a couple of months ago, and I've never received a phone call since I changed it.

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Did you know that you can go to your account on their website and change the request in a manner of minutes - and you get an emailed confirmation immediately. I think that's better than calling because then you have a confirmation of your request in writing. You can also go to your account and see what's already been requested, add other requests, etc. It's very easy.

Hi Denise,
Yes, I knew that I could change it on-line. But, the only option I had was to delete and then re-create the reservation. I was worried that it would put me at the back of the queue by deleting it.

I was hoping that they could go in and modify it but keep the original request date.

As bad as RCI's website is, at least I always know I'm in control (to some extent!)

Theresa

Changing Your Request with SFX

If you change the request on-line, you will likely lose your place in the queue. The best thing to do is to phone them and have them change it manually. I have done this several times and it seems to work. At the same
time, it gives you an opportunity to discuss your request with them. I have found that the 'squeaky wheel' gets the results with SFX. After several years, I still have 'no feel' as to how they operate or how they assign exchanges. Sometimes it appears 'out of the blue' with a phone call from them and at other times I will phone to discuss a request that I have not heard anything about for awhile and during the phone conversation they will mention that 'we have one available right now.' Interesting. Still happy but somewhat puzzled.

We got confirmed for a specific week we needed in July 2007 to tack onto our Maul Whaler week (front or back) --it took two weeks. It wasn't my first desired place (got Mauna Loa), but with having to have a specific week, we grabbed it. SFX has been very good to us -- got Hilton NYC which was a dream come true this Spring.

dude-luv said:

If you change the request on-line, you will likely lose your place in the queue. The best thing to do is to phone them and have them change it manually. I have done this several times and it seems to work..

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Uh oh. I would verify this with SFX. I have called to change a request online before only to find that the request was "reset" to the date I called. You can verify the date of your request by logging into your account online. I was quite disappointed to find this out. I believe there is also a thread on TS4Ms.com in the SFX section about this.

I think this confirms it:

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8764&page=2

If you call SFX to make a change to one of your requests, your request is considered a new request and you essentially lose your place in line.

TravelSFO said:

If you call SFX to make a change to one of your requests, your request is considered a new request and you essentially lose your place in line.

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In reality isn't this fair? If I were waiting earlier than you for the same week as your revised search, why should you get priority because you had an earlier request for a different week at the same resort or area?

TravelSFO said:

I think this confirms it:

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8764&page=2

If you call SFX to make a change to one of your requests, your request is considered a new request and you essentially lose your place in line.

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You need to reread all the posts in the above link. Some changes do NOT cause you to lose your place.

philemer said:

You need to reread all the posts in the above link. Some changes do NOT cause you to lose your place.

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My mistake. If you make your change "more restrictive", then it should not be considered a new request. Though, I would make sure that part of it is clear with the SFX rep on the phone.

We requested two consecutive weeks within a three week window in July of 2007. We got our two weeks within two days of our request, back in February. We later requested another week at the same resort for our friends to come with us. This request took about from April to August, about 4 months. (Exchange was into Mauna Loa Villages and Holua Resort at Mauna Loa, both on the same property.)
Incidentally, this is type of trade is the primary reason I no longer deposit our Playa Grande (Mexico) winter week with RCI. They give no value to Mexico deposits, while SFX treats Playa Grande winter weeks with the the value they deserve.
Karen