Does anyone own a non-Disney timeshare?

[Jeafl]

I am SO frustrated with Interval International. We inherited a timeshare from my MIL (in other words, she could no longer pay the fees and gave it to us to take over). It is at a gorgeous place in Branson, but honestly, how many times can you go to Branson? It is actually 205,000 points a year, which is quite a lot of points.

The problem is exchanging through Interval. We banked out points this year, so we actually have 410,000 points for next year which should get us in just about anywhere. I went to the website and put in to exchange all the points anywhere in the country, at any time between June 12 and August 12, 2011. Nothing came up. No availabilty anywhere! Not even a year in advance. I called Interval, and they came up with a couple of places near Disney, but we did Disney last year and want to go someplace new. Is it always this difficult???

 

[HM]

You may just be asking too early. Many people may not have banked their units yet for that time of year. You also might want to try calling and talking with a representative at II instead of doing this all online. Ask for specific places using your wide range of date instead of being so vague in your request.

I'm not familiar with banking Points, as we own with Marriott and we'd Bank a "week" if we were to try for an exchange.

I hope you find something. Good luck.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Maybe the problem is that you re looking for an odd number of points and the query can't read things you qualify for outside of a specific range. Can you just do a search for the week and then figure out the points?

PS, we just went to Aruba with my in-laws and stayed at their timeshare during the first week of June and it was lovely. I would totally recommend the Island for that time of year. It's odd, Aruba is a desert island with the same low humidity and warm temps year round yet June is the off season. I have no idea why, it was perfect in June and we will definitely be going back, it was a hundred times more comfortable than Florida the same time of year. I can only do humid places when it's cool out.

 

[Jeafl]

You may just be asking too early. Many people may not have banked their units yet for that time of year. You also might want to try calling and talking with a representative at II instead of doing this all online. Ask for specific places using your wide range of date instead of being so vague in your request.

I'm not familiar with banking Points, as we own with Marriott and we'd Bank a "week" if we were to try for an exchange.

I hope you find something. Good luck.

I did call II and the guy I talked to is the one who said all he could come up was the Orlando area for that time frame. He then gave me kind of a high pressure sell on some Vegas vacations that had nothing to do with exchanges. He seemed more interested in that than he did in helping me.

It could very well be that we are trying too early though, I never thought of that. I guess I figured the earlier the better, but maybe not.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Maybe try calling the place for with whom you can exchange your points. Ours is RCI. Do you have the original contract and all paper work and books, that may explain how it works? Other wise try calling back and get a different person, or speak to a supervisor. Jo

 

[minniecarousel]

We own a Hyatt Timeshare and can exchange within Hyatt easily.

Do you have access to II, which shows where it's even posssilbe to exchange? I'd start at that angle first. I agree, we haven't had to claim "our week" with Hyatt for 2011 yet
(it's in June every year). You may be looking too soon. Too bad someone can't guide you through how to use your points.

 

[jbthi]

I own about 10 timeshares and belong to II and RCI. I own Disney Vacation Club, but other then that my time is all weeks and not points, so I am not an expert on points. Is the week you own II only or is it dually affiated with RCI?
I would call the exchange company and put in an ongoing request for any area that you want. It's not too early to do this.

 

[jel0511]

We own a Starwood timeshare in addition to our DVC. With our Starwood timeshare as owners, we can't book our unit until a year in advance and then Starwood holds if for us until 10 months out. After the 10 months, if we have not reserved it it is then first offered to other Starwood timeshare owners before Starwood would deposit it into II(usually around 6 months out), even if we had traded it for a II vacation. Most of these larger timeshare companies, deposit less desirable weeks and hold the more desirable locations for their own owners. I know we own at St. John, USVI and it's ALMOST never available outside of the Starwood network. You are truly looking too early, as most people probably haven't even been able to book their weeks for that time period yet. Have II set up a search for you, which will automatically match as things are released. I think 6-8 months out, you'll see more availability.