Accomodation Certificate Help

I have owned my TS at Fairmont Resort - Riverview, Fairmont,B.C. for 2 years. We have used our resort twice for ski vacations and exchanged into the Marriot Cypress Harbour and Marriot Horizons in Orlando. I absolutely love our TS so far.

We just received in the mail a request from II to deposit our week for 2009 and in return we will get an A/C. (We have the week of June 21, 2009 booked) Have read through the threads regarding this but am still unsure what 'the grid' is.

Does anyone have any idea what I might get for an A/C, where I could go, restrictions, etc?

When we exchanged to Orlando, I did a deposit first as I thought that was the best way to get 'trading power', I did this 1 year in advance. Then I read that I should have done a 'request first'. Originally we wanted to be on Cocoa Beach but couldn't get into the resort I wanted, although as it worked out I was very glad to be in Orlando for the full 2 weeks.

Now I am leary to deposit first, although if the A/C is really good than of course I would like the bonus week!

Any help would be greatly appreciated - I love to stretch my weeks and get the best value for my vacation dollar! :whoopie:

I've been happy with deposit first. I know that some folks here think you get better trade power with request first, but I'm happy with my trades and I like getting an AC.

You can trade your AC for anything during "Flexchange" (Flexchange means anything with check-in 59 days or less away) subject to some relaxed quality restrictions. In other words, II will not let you trade for anything that is too different in quality from what you own. This restriction is relaxed but not eliminated during Flexchange.

If you want to exchange 60 days or more out, you can only exchange to certain times & places where II has lots of availability. II provides a chart of these places when they email you your AC; this is the "grid" people talk about. You can also access this grid on your account, once you have received your AC. Select your AC to search with, put dates in that are more than 60 days out, try to exchange for something that is NOT on the grid (Hawaii is a good choice), and the grid will come up.

marshmans said:

I have owned my TS at Fairmont Resort - Riverview, Fairmont,B.C. for 2 years. We have used our resort twice for ski vacations and exchanged into the Marriot Cypress Harbour and Marriot Horizons in Orlando. I absolutely love our TS so far.

We just received in the mail a request from II to deposit our week for 2009 and in return we will get an A/C. (We have the week of June 21, 2009 booked) Have read through the threads regarding this but am still unsure what 'the grid' is.

Does anyone have any idea what I might get for an A/C, where I could go, restrictions, etc?

When we exchanged to Orlando, I did a deposit first as I thought that was the best way to get 'trading power', I did this 1 year in advance. Then I read that I should have done a 'request first'. Originally we wanted to be on Cocoa Beach but couldn't get into the resort I wanted, although as it worked out I was very glad to be in Orlando for the full 2 weeks.

Now I am leary to deposit first, although if the A/C is really good than of course I would like the bonus week!

Any help would be greatly appreciated - I love to stretch my weeks and get the best value for my vacation dollar! :whoopie:

Click to expand...

I always get an AC when I deposit my week with II. The trick is not all resorts are available for that certificate. But if you are wanting to go to Orlando then the AC will generally work fine. On the back of the AC there is a list of resort locations and months where you can go. In addition, you get the exchange week that you would have gotten at another resort in an exchange. The key so far for me in exchanging, is working with someone at II you know and like, and despositing early. The earlier you make a request the better and higher the trading power it seems.

So far I have managed to get into St Martin in Winter and then, later in Spring; Marbella, Spain for Holy Week; Fairmont Hot Springs THIS SUMMER; and for that trouble I have managed to get two AC's one of which was for Sedona in Winter, which was great for a snow vacation in a place that was not too cold...we are from down south and not use to really cold weather. (Snowed 24 inches two days in a row in Flagstaff, just 30 miles to the north of Sedona, while we were there). Up & coming exchanges include Marriott Grande Vista for Christmas week and Villas on the Green in Escondido, next May, 1st week the kids are out of school.

Hope that helps!
RIMike

I'm kind of new to II, and have not figured out as yet how you search first...how do you do that?

Thank you for your help! I think I might lock off and deposit my one bedroom unit and see what I get. Then deposit the other 1 bedroom if it looks good! Does anyone out there know what is generally offered as an ac for my home resort of Fairmont HOt springs?

pammex said:

I'm kind of new to II, and have not figured out as yet how you search first...how do you do that?

Click to expand...

It's easy. Just click on Exchange and put in your dates & locations that you want to search for. II should ask you want unit you want to search with; you can choose either a deposited week at this point, or an undeposited week. If you search with an undeposited week, that's search first.