Hawaii in March 2007

[janette]

If I want to use DVC points to do this when would I need to start the trade process?

 

[dairyou]

From what I've heard you have to start 2 years in advance. I've had a request in for Maui, St. John, Curacao for 1 year now and still haven't heard anything. I have one more year to wait and see. We even requested a slow season such as January, February, March of 2006

I'm sure someone else will have more information for you.

Good luck!

Deb

 

[Dean]

From what I've heard you have to start 2 years in advance. I've had a request in for Maui, St. John, Curacao for 1 year now and still haven't heard anything. I have one more year to wait and see. We even requested a slow season such as January, February, March of 2006

I'm sure someone else will have more information for you.

Good luck!

Deb

LOL, Jan - March is high season for all the locations mentioned though January is a little less.

I think any exchange to HI or any similar high demand situation is best started about 30 months out. That allows you 6 months to gather information and plan then place your request or requests 2 years out. It also gives you time to start the process for independent exchange companies and private trades if you so chose. Realistically, most resort owners can't deposit until a full year out so you are mainly getting your place in line. And be prepared to wait until Jan or 6 months prior to travel to match most options, whichever is later. Since air is such as issue for a trip like HI, booking the air and then hoping for the exchange with a cancelable hotel options is the best choice for many.

Make sure you consider the specific resort and don't accept what DVC says or even tripadvisor or apple vacations as the final info. Things like, does it have AC, is there a beach, do you have to pay extra for parking or AC, etc?

 

[dairyou]

Yikes! I didn't know that was high season...Oh well...

Thanks Dean! Your wisdom is always appreciated!

Deb

 

[janette]

Is it better to just rent the points and get lodging there with the money? It will be hard for us to set a week since we'll have to scedule around school and won't have the calendar.

Is the summer easier?

 

[Dean]

Yikes! I didn't know that was high season...Oh well...

Thanks Dean! Your wisdom is always appreciated!

Deb

High Season is week 51 to 16 for the Caribbean, Key West, MX, Miami and the like. Basically Xmas to Easter. Xmas, Easter and President's week are the top ones generally. Summer, especially mid summer is pretty good as well.

I beg members to not assume things regarding timeshares based on their knowledge of DVC, it's very risky.

For HI, summer is tough as well. Janette, I can't tell yo what to do, only what I did and what I'd do again. Since I own other timeshares, that's my preference to exchange rather than DVC but for sake of this discussion I'll assume I only own DVC.

I'd search for info and decide what resorts I'd like to consider. I'd look at all II and RCI resorts for the area. Once I'd made a decision of which resorts that would work for me in general, I'd divide them into two groups minimum. The ones I'd consider exchanging DVC for rather evenly and the ones I'd take but not for the full DVC points levels. I'd place a request through DVC for the ones and unit sizes that would work for me. Try not to count on a 2 BR unless there is no other way. Consider two 1 BR units or a 1 BR plus studio separately if you can. I'd also put requests on TUG and redweeks as a minimum. I'd contact several of the smaller exchange companies including SFX, Trading Places, Donita's Dial an exchange, Platinum Interchange and Hawaii timeshare exchange. SFX gets a lot of Embassy and I think some Whaler. HTSE gets the Lawaii Beach (Kauai). TP gets One Napili often and I think the Maui Schooner and Maui Lei as well.

Your best bet might be to rent out the points and rent what you want. It also opens you up to a lot of other possibilities like condo rentals and air/hotel/car combo specials. For our 2002 trip I was able to have my units set before the 330 day window for FF miles for Delta which helped. If this had not happened, I planned to pick the weeks I wanted and get the air set while modifying my exchange options to the weeks I needed. I didn't even look for Kauai until I had at least one unit in Maui set. Once I had both set, I went back and got a second 1 BR unit at the Embassy to give up more space, it was a good choice. I ended up getting two units through SFX for Maui for the same week. I also entered into an agreement to trade 168 DVC points for a 2 BR Kauai Embassy but when the other person offered for me to rent for $900 instead, I jumped at the chance. So my trip cost me $900 in rental, $70 utility fee for Kauai, $200 in exchange fees, $200 in taxes and the like on the FF tickets, $700 in Maint fees for the 2 weeks I traded, $450 inter island plus food and the like. We saved on inter island segment by flying in to Maui and out of Honolulu. Might have even been able to save another segment by flying out of Kauai but didn't really try. So for roughly $2500 plus food and groceries, we flew to HI, stayed 2 weeks in large units with kitchens and had a blast.