Any progress in making European inventory available for US members

regatta333 · Aug 11, 2016

I have been very happy with my US exchanges, but the availability of desirable European exchanges for US members is abysmal.

A number of years ago, I spoke with Fermin (then manager of DAE NA) who assured me that they were working on better cooperation between DAE NA and DAE UK to make more European options available to us.

I have noticed no improvement, though. Despite multiple requests for multiple date ranges, sometimes in effect for as long as a couple of years, I have yet to get a single match for a European request. The two exchanges I have made to European destinations through DAE were last minute inventory that I happened to spot while searching. On numerous occasions, I have seen the resorts I have been requesting marked "Sold" on the website for the time periods spanning my search requests. Obviously, priority is still being given to
European members for any European inventory that becomes available, leaving only the unwanted inventory available for US members.

Is this situation ever going to improve? I have been a Gold member for many years and am very disappointed that nothing has been done to address this.
Do we have any realistic expectation that this will change?

barto · Aug 31, 2016

I'd like to know this, too - anyone out there able to address this?

Ask DAE · Aug 31, 2016

Thank you for your feedback. I spoke with the VP of the Americas office and he'd like to move this up the chain of command for a response. It would help if you could email me your account so we will have specific information to reference.
My email is: cheryl.street@daelive.com
Thank you

northwoodsgal · Sep 3, 2016

The lack of unit availability is why I don't really consider DAE an option anymore. We were in Europe, looking for a unit almost anywhere in France, and I needed to call the US office to see what was available rather than being able to work with the European office. Craziness that I didn't need.

Ask DAE · Sep 12, 2016

Thanks for your post and thoughts on the matter of low levels of European availability. We can be as frustrated internally as you are as a member with the lack of available space being made available in this region, and other high demand destinations around the globe. Filling our member's requests is our main priority and we take every step we possibly can to fulfill as many requests as is humanly possible, but it still comes down to 'supply & demand'. We continue to build our brand and business in Europe just as we are in the USA. The general economy in Europe has been going through many struggles over the past few years and this has had a great impact on our industry when it comes to annual maintenance fee increases, currency exchange rates (Euro Vs. Great British Pounds, etc), and for some resorts the viability to stay operating. Many of our European members have for the past three years in particular, taken their vacation at their home resorts/clubs and of course as a consequence less inventory has been deposited into the exchange pools to be offered out to members wanting to take exchanges in this region. Our membership across the board has increased considerably, which gives us the opportunity to work with and encourage more new members to exchange, and we've had good success in achieving this, but it never seems to be enough to satisfy the ever increasing individuals wanting to travel further abroad to take advantage of cheaper airline fares and more destinations being offered by the airlines. Like you stated, placing a request is important to get your name on the 'waitlist' for when inventory does come in so your request is in the Que, but as you can imagine, waitlists/early requests for high demand destinations and peak travel windows is always very high and when supply is low relative to demand, we find ourselves stuck between a 'rock and a hard place' to satisfy every request. I'm not telling you much more than you probably already know but it is worth trying to answer your questions honestly and openly so you can see we do try our hardest for our members. We are encouraged and remain confident the coming years will see continued growth in this area with a result of higher inventory levels being made available on exchange for our global membership base. Hope this helps a little bit at least!

Kindest Regards... Francis Taylor, CEO

regatta333 · Sep 22, 2016

Ask DAE said:
Thanks for your post and thoughts on the matter of low levels of European availability. We can be as frustrated internally as you are as a member with the lack of available space being made available in this region, and other high demand destinations around the globe. Filling our member's requests is our main priority and we take every step we possibly can to fulfill as many requests as is humanly possible, but it still comes down to 'supply & demand'. We continue to build our brand and business in Europe just as we are in the USA. The general economy in Europe has been going through many struggles over the past few years and this has had a great impact on our industry when it comes to annual maintenance fee increases, currency exchange rates (Euro Vs. Great British Pounds, etc), and for some resorts the viability to stay operating. Many of our European members have for the past three years in particular, taken their vacation at their home resorts/clubs and of course as a consequence less inventory has been deposited into the exchange pools to be offered out to members wanting to take exchanges in this region. Our membership across the board has increased considerably, which gives us the opportunity to work with and encourage more new members to exchange, and we've had good success in achieving this, but it never seems to be enough to satisfy the ever increasing individuals wanting to travel further abroad to take advantage of cheaper airline fares and more destinations being offered by the airlines. Like you stated, placing a request is important to get your name on the 'waitlist' for when inventory does come in so your request is in the Que, but as you can imagine, waitlists/early requests for high demand destinations and peak travel windows is always very high and when supply is low relative to demand, we find ourselves stuck between a 'rock and a hard place' to satisfy every request. I'm not telling you much more than you probably already know but it is worth trying to answer your questions honestly and openly so you can see we do try our hardest for our members. We are encouraged and remain confident the coming years will see continued growth in this area with a result of higher inventory levels being made available on exchange for our global membership base. Hope this helps a little bit at least!

Kindest Regards... Francis Taylor, CEO

Thank you for taking the time to post. Your reply, however, did not address the underlying problem, which is that as a US member, if you place a request for any timeshare in Europe, it does not matter how long you are in the have waited, or even if you are a Gold member. If a resort in your requested region becomes available, a European member gets first priority, even if your request was placed first.

The problem is not that European members are not depositing. I see plenty of "Sold" European timeshare inventory on your website in many areas that I have requested. My European requests are typically open for 2-3 years and never get filled, even though resorts in areas and timeframes I have requested pop up periodically on the "Sold" inventory. In my ten years as a member, I have yet to have a single European exchange request filled.

Fullback · Oct 30, 2018

regatta333 said:
Thank you for taking the time to post. Your reply, however, did not address the underlying problem, which is that as a US member, if you place a request for any timeshare in Europe, it does not matter how long you are in the have waited, or even if you are a Gold member. If a resort in your requested region becomes available, a European member gets first priority, even if your request was placed first.

The problem is not that European members are not depositing. I see plenty of "Sold" European timeshare inventory on your website in many areas that I have requested. My European requests are typically open for 2-3 years and never get filled, even though resorts in areas and timeframes I have requested pop up periodically on the "Sold" inventory. In my ten years as a member, I have yet to have a single European exchange request filled.

Hi, I am new to this forum and I have a T/S 3 beds in the UK at Keswick Bridge week 17 which is in the Lake District in the town of Keswick. This is a small resort without any amenities other than Lodging but is in a beautiful part of the UK, I have placed my 2019 week with DAE and was hoping to exchange for one ( 2 beds min) in the NE states of the US in June/July 19. At this time there does not seem to be anything available, does anyone have any ideas as this is the first time that I have exchanged.
Regards
Flanker 7

JeffC · Nov 2, 2018

Flanker , put in a request for New England and Mid-Atlantic resorts in that time period. Waiting for one to show up on the website is putting yourself at the back of the line. June/July are redweeks in the NE. The odds of a beach location are small. The lower demand overbuilt areas like the Berkshires or the Poconos are your best bet.

Jeff C

Any progress in making European inventory available for US members

regatta333

TUG Review Crew: Expert

barto

Ask DAE

northwoodsgal

Ask DAE

regatta333

TUG Review Crew: Expert

Fullback

JeffC