New Exchange possibilities

[jjpenguin]

Saw this on AllEars.net Hopefully it will give us a few more non-US exchanges!

It does!!! Check out this link: http://www.rci.com/RCI/RCIW/RCIW_index?body=RCIW_rdMain Almost 1300 in Europe, Egypt, Dubai, South Africa, India....

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Group RCI and Disney Vacation Club Members to Receive Benefit of New Multi-Year Relationship
PARSIPPANY, N.J. AND LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA., (December 2, 2008) – Group RCI, the global leader in vacation exchange, and Disney Vacation Club, one of the world’s most innovative and fastest-growing brands in the vacation-ownership industry, announced today a new multi-year affiliation relationship. This new agreement allows subscribing members access to a broad array of exciting vacation opportunities.

Effective January 1, 2009, RCI will become the exclusive third-party exchange provider for Disney Vacation Club, enrolling Disney Vacation Club’s more than 135,000 member families into RCI’s global exchange network. RCI has one of the most expansive portfolios of high-end affiliated vacation resorts, as well as more choices in more countries than any other exchange network.

Disney Vacation Club Members will be able to enjoy vacations at a variety of destinations across six continents and 25 countries and will have access to a significantly broader range of resort experiences, including more all-inclusive options, more nightly exchanges than ever before and even a selection of luxurious, high-end fractional properties.

Similarly, RCI’s more than 3.6 million members will now also enjoy the opportunity to exchange into Disney Vacation Club resorts and may rent at Disney Vacation Club resorts throughout the year.

About Group RCI
Group RCI, part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies, (NYSE: WYN) is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the European leader in vacation rentals, with exclusive access for specified periods to more than 67,000 vacation properties in approximately 100 countries. The company is comprised of vacation exchange, including RCI®, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and provider of travel services to businesses and consumers and The Registry CollectionÒ, the world’s largest luxury exchange program; vacation rentals, including Endless Vacation RentalsSM , Landal GreenParks®, Novasol®, English Country Cottages, French Life®, Cuendet®, and more than 30 other vacation rental brands, through which vacationers can rent a variety of property types, from city apartments to villas; and NorthCourse® Leisure Real Estate Solutions, an international leader in providing a full spectrum of advisory, research, and asset management services. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies with leading brands in lodging franchising, vacation ownership, vacation rentals and vacation exchange. For additional information visit www.grouprci.com or the media center of www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

 

[oceanscape]

The consensus on the main DVC board is that this is absolutely NOT a good thing!

 

[Mr Stoat]

I can see problems in the future with making short term reservations! (Is there a sardine can smilie?)

 

[paulh]

well at least we will soon get a new book to explain it all to us
Paulh

 

[jjpenguin]

The consensus on the main DVC board is that this is absolutely NOT a good thing!

True, but the consensus on the main board is also that any use of points not going to WDW is NOT a good thing.

Although we love going to WDW, we also want to use our points to go other places, it may not be the best use of points, but if that's how I want to use them I would love to be able to use them at more places.

 

[Graeme]

I'm looking at this from the other side. I'm a timeshare owner in Interval International who has exchanged for DVC properties. (I've got a request in now for SS or WL).
RCI resorts aren't generally at the high end of the market and I bet getting DVC to defect, (If that's what happened), is quite a coup for them. I expect RCI and affiliated resorts will make quite a big thing of Disney's membership in the future as a way of selling timeshare with them.
There are more resorts in RCI, but when I bought my timeshare I went for one with II membership because at that time many of the top hotel chains were exclusively with them, ie Marriott, Hyatt, Sheraton. I think this is still the case.
RCI also allow non members to rent their properties, and I've done this myself through a scheme at work. This means that you get people there who have no stake in the property and seem less bothered about behaving. A work colleague of mine went to a resort in Marbella with his wife and two young daughters, to find that it was half full of eastern European, male asylum seekers put there by the local authorities.

I'm not saying all RCI resorts are bad, or that all II ones are good. I do think though that you will have to do your homework and read sites like Tripadvisor carefully before exchanging. Disney is a loss for II IMO, but I'm still happy that with the quality hotels in II I've still got a better choice.