PerryM
TUG Member
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- Jun 6, 2005
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Well, I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that RW will have an ongoing search capability.
If I had my way, this would be a search-first feature, not deposit-first, so my week never goes into the inventory pool. I simply make it available for exchange on the condition that I get what I want. I give them 2 months to make it happen. Beyond that, I haven't lost anything as all of my usage options are still alive (just like my real-estate agent has 2 months to find a buyer, beyond that I'm free to switch listing agents).
Say owner A has Captiva but wants Park City. Owner B has Park City but wants Breckenridge. Owner C has Oahu but wants Captiva. Owner D has Breckenridge but wants Oahu. RW arranges the 4-way exchange, collects $500, and everybody gets what they want (in theory). Assuming the point values are not identical, each owner either adds points/cash or gets back change to balance the transaction. Now, if any one of these owners is absent, this deal could not occur. Thus, I think it is critical to minimize the owner's risk (with search-first).
This is not mutually exclusive with a deposit-first scenario. Some owners may prefer to deposit, bank their points, and go shopping for the next three years. But, those owners will never see my week in this example, because it never goes into the inventory pool. It's either taken directly in a 3-way, 4-way, ..., n-way exchange, or I get it back. No hocus pocus or added uncertainty. I believe most owners would prefer a low risk approach when using a new exchange system (or any system for that matter).
It’s hard for a company to thrive and dominate an industry if their customers are all fence sitters.
I’d bet that RW is busy at work running a parallel system that has all kinds of goodies to make exchanging timeshares a lot of fun. I'm hoping for all kinds of gadgets to make this enjoyable.
I tried to help my brother-in-law last weekend change the new desired check-in days he now has on an II ongoing search. We screwed around for 20 minutes on the II web site and I stumbled into the same error I remember seeing more than 1 year ago on the same page. II could care less about it’s customers. He had to call in and have the II rep do it - two grown ups with 20+ years of computer experience each could not do it.
If RW has watched II and RCI bully the owners around and the other exchanges languishing around hoping for scraps, then RW is going to introduce an internet site that rivals eBay’s in terms of goodies that folks want in an on-line exchange system.
Will RW do this or have they raided the RCI Points folks and snatched the blockheads over there? I can only guess, and I don’t see anyone here with more insight than just guessing – which is all we can do at the moment.
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