Let me just add a note about the smaller exchange companies which no one seems to have mentioned much on this thread. With the High Fees of II and RCI ( plus the annual membership fees) it doesn’t make sense to limit yourself just to those companies. They may have a larger inventory than the smaller companies but it is still sometimes difficult to get an exchange in a certain area you might want in RCI or II. Also, On-Going Searches are not always correctly matched: I have found the exact week I wanted in the online inventory which means my search request was ignored somehow by the computer.
That has never happened with the following companies: Platinum Interchange and DAE. PLUS, a most important element is you have a personal contact with these companies!
Platinum Interchange has been the one we use the most and we just spent two weeks at Laguna Beach with them (done it the last two years also) and have a summer week coming up on the Oregon Coast ( also three times there with PI in past years.)
Right now Peacock Suites in Anaheim is available for a mid-December week — granted not a holiday week, but the Disney Christmas lights are up. These exchanges have been done with what you have been calling low value ( and older, that is “Legacy”) properties, but which we are careful to deposit at a high value time ( altho DAE and PI generally accept any time.)
In addition, Platinum Interchange gives you a bonus week and 90 days to use it at any of their inventory, thus, prorating your MF in half and using their low exchange rate of $129.
We landed a PI bonus week for a summer Wyndham Kona Hawaiian Resort week which I had already reserved with Wyn points, so I immediately cancelled the Wyn reservation and got those points back, saving then a value of $1200/week for a cost of $386/week).
Our favorite Hawaii resort ... (actually our favorite exchange property done out of over 300 timeshares stays) is Sea Mountain on the BI, which we get every year from PI. (If you don’t like being near the Black Sand Beach, they have a sister resort Sea Village, in town which we have also traded into with them.) Our favorite Mexico exchange is Los Tules in Puerto Vallarta ( 20 acres, 7 pools, oceanfront) again from PI. DAE just called offering a Whiskey Jack early August week in BC ( from an on-going request.) PI has also given us Worldmarks.
Yes, it is indeed a game. I even wrote an article in Timesharing Today m, titled “Winning the Timeshare Game.” To win with the smaller companies, check out their websites for a while and find what inventory you like that they generally have inventory for that would meet your interests and then call to request. Yes, you can request before depositing but you’ll need to be ready to deposit if you get a match. For example , now I have on-going requests for summers in WA, OR coast and North ID and then southern CA ( within one hour of Anaheim) for April-May. ( check my BLOG to see why those dates.)
I do not find many summer WA-OR coast weeks available in RCI. I already have the 2019 summer booked enough so my requests now are for 2020.
The larger exchange companies’ higher rates, impersonal VC’s , and the difficulty in exchanging have led us to successful vacationing with the smaller ones. I only suggest you might check them out as other (occasional?) options.