Exchange ? for Dean and Doc

[dianeschlicht]

The tread about availability of BWV and OKW for exchanges at TUG made me wonder if one can check on what is available through II through that group. I am a TUG member, but must confess I am not savy about using the site. We have friends who are trying to exchange an RCI property for Hawaii. They have been waiting to hear for more than a year now. The trip is planned for next spring. Is there some way of checking availablility on TUG so they can be wise when calling RCI?

 

[RobDoc]

I'll certainly defer to Dean if he has other information to offer, but TUG does not have availability for either II or RCI.

TUG has great reviews of the various resorts and is a good source for a direct exchange, purchase or rental thru another TUG member, but the availability is monitored by the exchange companies themselves and can change from day-to-day- just like DVC availability thru MS.

RCI availability (I assume II is handled in a similar fashion) is dictated by when you banked your week, when you requested the exchange week and the relative strength of your own timeshare/week. RCI divides it's weeks into Red, White and Blue- with Red being the most desirable. However some weeks may be considered to be "pink"- in other words a red week which is not as desirable as most- but still stronger than a white week.

The other intangible is whether or not a week where you want to go has been banked by it's owner. If you have asked for week 7 for Hawaii, but no owners of week 7 have banked - you are out of luck. There are many weeks at these resorts which even go unused, merely because the owner neglected to bank the week even though he won't use it himself.

I'm sure Dean will add to (or correct) my comments. TUG is a great resource, but doesn't have access to the availability of the exchange companies.

Good Luck!

 

[Dean]

TUG does not have access to what's available at RCI or II directly but many times you can get info as to what other people are pulling online using their strong trading weeks. If someone posts that they saw so in so, just call RCI immediately and request it, they may or may not give it to you. Both exchange companies stratify owners. That means that if they rank resorts based on various factors and end up with a score of 10-100, they may only let owners have a unit that ranks between 90-100 if their deposit also ranks in that range. Much like Seniors don't go out with freshman.

I'm curious as to what your friends deposited, how far in advance of their week was it given to RCI and how far out they were looking. Since there are several units there that bulk space bank around a year out, I would have to assume that your friends do not have enough trading power and/or were not looking a full year out. And before you ask, NO RCI or II will not usually tell you that you have no chance. Bulk Spacebanking means that the resort gives the exchange company a chunk of units periodically rather than depositing when the owners tell them to. That makes it pretty easy to get certain resorts at certain times.

Remember that the units sitting in the bank at RCI and II are, at least in theory, the units that no one had an exchange request for OR did not have enough trade power to grab. So the idea is to start an ongoing search as broad as possible as early as possible. With RCI, it can also help to search online as they seem to let more of their top units through to the online database than II. As for searching what's online with II at any time, I'd be happy to check myself from time to time to help a fellow DVC member look for ideas.

As Doc noted, make sure they are depositing a full year ahead of their week and searching at least a year (better 2) ahead of when they want to travel. I would suspect that if they are going to get anything now, it will be in the 30-90 days timeframe before their travel. Good luck and I hope that at least partly answers your questions.

 

[Lisa P.]

Diane, since you are a TUG member, you would have access to the "Sightings" bulletin board (at the end of the bulltin board menu). This bulletin board is where people post interesting or difficult trades they've found online, that they themselves cannot use and they hope another TUG member will take advantage. To log in, you need to register with the bulletin boards. When you try to open that Sightings board, you'll need to enter your online name and personal password, as registered, plus the 3-digit TUG password you were sent from TUG confirming your TUG membership.

Post a message there for a "Requested Sighting" for the particular location or resort for your friends dates and unit size needed. Ask for an email if someone sees it online. Usually, with a popular destination like Hawaii, people do post their interesting sightings on that board so check regularly.

 

[dianeschlicht]

THANKS ALL! I knew I could count on some real answers here! Our friends have reserved an RCI rental for Maui the week before our trade and will cancel that if their trade comes through. It was all any of us could think to do at the time.

 

[Diznut84]

I don't see much availability for Maui this upcoming spring. That changes on a daily basis, however. Most resorts in Maui and Kauai "bulk spacebank". For example, Embassy Resorts in Kauai spacebanked for March, May, and July 2002 early this morning. These units will go fairly quickly, and after that availability will be much more difficult.

Perhaps your friends want to see if they can "see" the Kauai units that were deposited this morning. That will give you an indication if they have the strength to pull the trade. If they can't pull them, then they might want to look at a rental or other option for your upcoming Maui trip.

Good luck!