Great places to go, lots of availability

I'm one of fewer and fewer folks who is still reasonably happy with owning to trade, and I've held onto an average to mediocre trader or 2. Admittedly some of these destinations can sometimes be had for less $ thru Extra Vacations or whatever. But in the effort to not let my weeks expire, I've accepted exchanges to places I barely knew about, and I never would have gone there without this "pressure"!

Here's my short list of destinations with lots of availability, I'd return to all of them. Most of these rival the US national parks for astounding beauty.

Dolomites, Italy
Madeira
Mallorca
Canary Islands - 2 trips, 3 of the major ones TS, + a 4th for a couple of days because it was so accessible by ferry.
Southern Spain

I have a future trip to Malta booked too. I haven't ever visited Orlando yet. French Alps is on my list, mainland Portugal, and Hungary too.

What are your favorite exchanges that were easy to get with average to mediocre traders?

We are using RCI points...but easy exchanges with good availability (depending on season) are:
Malta
Greece
Mexico
Spain
Las Vegas
Arizona

We have managed to get Gold Crowns in most of these areas as well
Greece and Malta are great in the Fall or Spring

Laurie said:

I'm one of fewer and fewer folks who is still reasonably happy with owning to trade, and I've held onto an average to mediocre trader or 2. Admittedly some of these destinations can sometimes be had for less $ thru Extra Vacations or whatever. But in the effort to not let my weeks expire, I've accepted exchanges to places I barely knew about, and I never would have gone there without this "pressure"!

Here's my short list of destinations with lots of availability, I'd return to all of them. Most of these rival the US national parks for astounding beauty.

Dolomites, Italy
Madeira
Mallorca
Canary Islands - 2 trips, 3 of the major ones TS, + a 4th for a couple of days because it was so accessible by ferry.
Southern Spain

I have a future trip to Malta booked too. I haven't ever visited Orlando yet. French Alps is on my list, mainland Portugal, and Hungary too.

What are your favorite exchanges that were easy to get with average to mediocre traders?

Click to expand...

Were all of these in-season trades, or did you travel to any of these locations off season? (My definition of off season usually coincides with when the kids are in school.)

These places sound great, but airfare from the US adds a lot. Also, I find long plane trips and crossing time zones to be extremely fatiguing.

However, I find that II still has plenty of availability in nice places in the US. The fact that I'm a Disney addict helps, since Orlando is just overflowing with Marriotts and Sheratons in II. (I've gotten Sheraton Vistana Villages through RCI Points, too -- 7,500 points plus exchange fee.)

Besides Orlando, other places in the US where you can easily get a Marriott or similar resort through II, assuming that you have a high-quality trader, are:
Williamsburg
Palm Springs almost anytime of year except Christmas
Western ski areas from spring through fall
Hilton Head most of the year except summer
... and probably a bunch of others that I haven't checked into

Yeah, I know most of these are "offseason," but I'd rather go to Park City in summer than during ski season, and Hilton Head in September rather than July

I'm thrilled with exchanging!

For SCUBA divers, Sandy Point Beach Club in Tobago has lots of availability and great diving! I'd recommend going in the dry season to avoid mosquitos.

Add me to the list of the not-completely-disillusioned.

I'm an off-seasoner most of the time and am not overly concerned about finding a place to go since I'm not the pickiest traveller, either. I camped most of my life so any resort is an upgrade from sleeping in a tent. I draw the line at bug colonies inside or disgusting bathroom but have had no problems like that in a timeshare.

Exploring the area is always fun for us so it's rare that picking a resort has much to do with its proximity to an attraction. The exception is beach - I cannot be a short drive from it - I want to see it and smell it and walk on it as much as I can no matter the season.

The first "because it was there" was Canary Islands and we want to go back. The only "must do" is Ireland. I've been in every state but Maine and Hawaii - we're looking at Hawaii in the next couple years. I love the US but want to see The World.

I don't like RCI's policies and frequent price hikes but since membership comes with my resort group, I'm in whether I use them or not. I put in the very cheapest and don't worry about trading power. I will never give them more than the minimum and will trade with DAE for anything I can.

My list of favorite easy trades

There are some my favorite places I've visited using a week with low trading power:

Summit @ Massanutten (VA)
Orange Lake Country Club (FL)
Vacation Village in the Berkshires (MA)
French Lick Springs Villas (IN)
Blue Ridge Village (NC)
Crown Point Resort (AR)

DonM said:

Were all of these in-season trades, or did you travel to any of these locations off season? (My definition of off season usually coincides with when the kids are in school.)

Click to expand...

Madeira was over Xmas and New Years, and I forgot to mention Williamsburg at Xmas was another favorite exchange using a week with average to mediocre trade power.

What's great about Madeira and Canary Islands is they are temperate year-round, so you can go in any season, including when fares are cheapest.

I haven't checked, but I'm guessing since "President's Week" isn't a widely-celebrated holiday in Europe there may be plenty of availability then, still with lower-cost flights.

Also from the US east coast, these European island destinations are as short a flight as some US west-coast destinations are, not to mention Hawaii. Used to be they were about as cheap too, in the past we flew to Europe in the $300-range, but those fares are higher now.

Germany

Cologne has an impressive Catherdral. It is also where we boarded a "Rhine River Cruise" as part of our Eurorail passes. You might want to check out Rick Steves guide books which are available at his web site or at the local book store.