If airfares increase will more people deposit their Hard to get trade weeks?

[lprstn]

I wondered if there will be more highly sought after trades (internationally/carribean/Island locations at coveted resorts) deposited for more local destinations? Like next year I have trades that I would have thought I would never get. Now I have to decide if I am even going to keep them. Or my other option is to leave my kids behind and just go for shorter times with just me and my DH.

[tombo]

I feel sure that more people will be exchanging, renting, and selling their weeks that require air flights. The extent that people will change their travel plans and deposit or rent their weeks rather than going themselves will depend on how high air fares get and how much the recession deepens.

For the $1000 round trip for 2 that it cost in March 2008 for me to fly to Aruba I would go to Aruba every year. At the current $2200 for the same flights 2009 I will probably change to going every other year and renting or depositing it on the years I don't go. If it gets to $3000 or $4000 for two of us to go to Aruba I will probably sell my week The same is true for my St Maarten week turning into every other year (alternating with Aruba) and I already sold my Kauai week so no problem with air fare to Hawaii any more..

[timeos2]

There has always been a problem with remote resorts (those that require costly non-land based travel to reach) as the costs and planning required to get there adds additional concerns to ownership. It is tough to make the annual meetings of land based resorts - almost impossible if your resort is a long plane flight away. Utilities and supplies tend to be more expensive at remote locations making annual fees higher but, of course, many are beautiful locations and very desirable to visit.

Now that travel expenses are skyrocketing ownership, rather then the occasional rental or trade in, doesn't look so good for those locales. I think we are already seeing an influx of formerly tough to obtain island or overseas resorts for rent or trade. The trend is likely to continue. In fact even drivable resorts that require long trips from home are beginning to appear more often for trade and rental - even II getaways in the case of DVC. Another sign that even for auto trips people want to spend the least possible and enjoy a change of scenery as close to home as possible rather than spend hundreds in fuel to drive to a resort thousands of miles away.

The oft expressed advice to buy what you like and within driving distance of home seems to be more applicable than ever before for timeshare owners. Do that and there will be PLENTY of opportunities to take that once every 5 year or lifetime dream trips to the remote areas as your resort, if it is of decent quality and has reasonable features, will be in demand and those remote resorts will most likely become much easier trades.

[DonnaD]

Maybe the trick will be to go every other year and stay longer at your resort, if you can do so. Raintree allows us to roll our weeks into next year or borrow from the following year, so maybe a longer stay will make the more expensive flights more reasonable for every other year.
The get-away to Mexico for an extended stay in winter still has the appeal to me.
DonnaD

[rickandcindy23]

They already are depositing more Hawaii than I have ever seen before. The next six months, there are about 41 resorts available for Hawaii. I have seen almost zero availability at this time of year for the past 3 years in a row.

[lprstn]

I have seen a lot of juicy locations in Extra Vacations - RCI and Getaways - II. Heck, I got tons of great trades from RCI for 2009 (thanks to sightings board) that I never thought would be possible. So maybe the tide is changing for those of us still willing to pay the price to go to our desired locations.

[tombo]

I checked on exchange availability through RCI using a silver crown 1 bed room trader that I banked exactly 14 days before check-in (giving it very low trade value), and I can currently trade for 1 and 2 bed rooms in Hawaii and the Caribbean in 2008 and 2009 like never before. I don't know if that is because many more people are depositing their formerly hard to get locations (rather than using it themselves) increasing availability, or once they are available for exchange that there are less people requesting those weeks because of the ever increasing travel increases. It could be a combination of both. For whatever reason, now that I can apparently trade into pretty much anywhere I want at most anytime of the year, I can't afford to do it very often because of the rising cost of air fare.

[winger]

Just looking into Spring Break 2009 April Maui - WOW, even an economy Hawaiian Airlines flight (thought to be less expensive than the bigger carriers like AA and UA) from Oakland to Maui costs $850 roundtrip for one adult !!! So, for four of us, it will cost a hefty $3k +

[shagnut]

I will have a perfect excuse on my upcoming Tradewinds Cruise club at BVI. All I have to do is say how hard it was for me to find a decent airfare (altho still to high) and how hard it was to get there. (4 Plane changes) shaggy

[cindi]

Double edged sword, huh? Wonderful availability and horrendous airfare.

I wish I lived somewhere that airfare wasn't a killer even BEFORE these huge airfare increases. I am afraid it is only going to get worse for us.

[JoyceFNP]

I still can't seem to exchange into Hawaii, even with my 3 BR gold crown deposit. What am I doing wrong? What is the sightings board?