I'm BEGGGGGING someone to help me book a Disney resort through II? I'm lost!

[Dean]

Does that mean I SHOULD be getting a DVC? Is there anyway for me to check and not have to guess if it's a trade power issue? I am kind of sick of wondering, knowing I may have zero chance.

One last question: If I take a Marriott now - can I still be requesting an exchange for a DVC and then switch over if I get one?

You can check if you have other potential deposits in the II account even if not yet deposited. But you're limited to what resorts and weeks you have. You could also buddy up with someone who you know has the trade power. Make sure you have an ongoing search but to look online, do so between 6 and 6:45 AM.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

dont II resorts have ratings like RCI, gold crown and silver crown? That may help also if you know the rating of your resort??

 

[SleepyatDVC]

To compare searches, you really have to be searching at the same time. Even an hour is a long time---these units tend to get snapped up fast.

If you see a 1BR in July, my guess is you'll be able to see most things as they come up.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

dont II resorts have ratings like RCI, gold crown and silver crown? That may help also if you know the rating of your resort??

I know that they use to have the ratings in the OLD resort directories (10 years +) but they did away with that. I still have my old one "for reference" although all those resorts are now much older, of course.

I suspect II did this because having the ratings so readily available, made the lower rated resorts harder to move out of inventory.

There may be other places to find the ratings out.

 

[Dean]

dont II resorts have ratings like RCI, gold crown and silver crown? That may help also if you know the rating of your resort??

Actually II has at least 3 seperate rating systems. One is standard or 5 star similar to RCI's that includes Gold Crown. They are changing this one to have 3 ratings levels instead of 2. They also use a QRS (Quality Rating System) that is based on 100%. There is also an ABC system. The QRS seems to be the one II uses to determine your trade power, it definitely is not the 5*/standard option. They use the demand of the week for that resort to determine trade power. Both resort quality and trade power are important and II will not let you trade up or down too much in either area are they seem to interpret them independently.

 

[Dean]

I know that they use to have the ratings in the OLD resort directories (10 years +) but they did away with that. I still have my old one "for reference" although all those resorts are now much older, of course.

I suspect II did this because having the ratings so readily available, made the lower rated resorts harder to move out of inventory.

There may be other places to find the ratings out.

They still list the resorts that are 5* or not on the website and in the book. But they only do so for those who own 5* resorts, if you own a standard resort they don't want you to know which is which. It's generally your first resort you registered with that determines what your account is rated.

 

[bwvBound]

moopdog - there were a couple of suitable weeks this morning on II: 1BR units at OKW for arrival on 9/12 and 9/20. Did your ongoing search lock in a week for you?

 

[SleepyatDVC]

moopdog - there were a couple of suitable weeks this morning on II: 1BR units at OKW for arrival on 9/12 and 9/20. Did your ongoing search lock in a week for you?

WOW!!! There sure are quite a few weeks in inventory during August when I will be going.

I was soooooo tempted by the BWV studio for a whole week. Wouldn't have to use my points for the weekend! But I wanted a 1 bedroom at OKW that week instead. Will be staying in a BWV studio the previous week already.

Oh well, have the points, will use them... but there were studios available at all the DVC resorts except AKV.

Now I know why, I hadn't seen as many openings in the past - I NEVER checked this early before!

 

[tomandrobin]

Those units will be gone by noon, except for maybe a studio or two.

I wanted to grab one this morning, but just can't squeeze another week into our schedule.

 

[bwvBound]

WOW!!! There sure are quite a few weeks in inventory during August when I will be going.

There were indeed some nice August weeks (1BR at VWL!) ... but oh ... the heat! <seeking emoticon of smiley fanning itself ...>

 

[Starr W.]

I pulled a SSR studio for Thanksgiving week, with my late season ski week in CO.

Pulled a bunch of 2br's at Marriott's Cypress Harbor for October, but they looked like they got snapped up.

 

[chris1gill]

Do you know how to log in through II? If not, learn how, you can search on your own every morning. I'm quite certain there was an OKW 1 bedroom for September sitting out on II this morning, there was also a BW 1 bedroom for August 23rd.... your unit may not have as much trade power as you thought however, and maybe that is why you're not picking anything up....

I am intrigued that it seems like some of you were able to just book a disney resort with II fairly easily because I am so clueless to how this stuff works & am having a tough time. My uncle has a 2 bedroom in Ft Lauderdale that he "gave up" so that we can go and book a Disney resort for our fall vacation. He feels his home condo has a lot of trading power.

Well, NONE show up as available so I called II and they told me I needed to make a request, which I did over the phone with them. I had to pay the transfer fee plus the 39 for me to be added to the ressie. They suggested I that I'd be willing to take a 1 bedroom instead of a 2 in order to get a place quicker, so I did.

But...it's been a month and still nothing has come along. I have flexible dates between the beginning of Sept and the end of November and we would take ANY of the Disney resorts...so why can't we get one? My Uncle feels like we should have been able to call up and get one right away but admits he doesn't use his timeshare enough to really understand it either.

Can someone please help me out?? If I can't book within a couple more weeks then we can't go at all...DH has to schedule his vacation days very soon through his job. I'm desperate!!!!!!!

 

[spiceycat]

don't think the week I use for II has a level. but it will get DVC resorts. II doesn't have enough Panhandle timeshares on the gulf itself for demand. RCI does.

so it trades much better with II than RCI.

got a studio at the BCV this summer and in Sept a 1-bedroom at SSR.

you just have to be willing to kept looking.

excepting AKV next year - when DVC puts alot of villa on the system at once.

 

[chris1gill]

excepting AKV next year - when DVC puts alot of villa on the system at once.

They haven't put AKV out there yet have they?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

They haven't put AKV out there yet have they?

There's not even an II code for AKV yet. AKV is not in II's online directory, and the II phone agents don't have it listed yet.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

 

[chris1gill]

There's not even an II code for AKV yet. AKV is not in II's online directory, and the II phone agents don't have it listed yet.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

That's what I thought, but then I thought perhaps I missed something! I'm sure II won't receive anything until the new units in the new building come online for reservations....

 

[Dean]

WOW!!! There sure are quite a few weeks in inventory during August when I will be going.

I was soooooo tempted by the BWV studio for a whole week. Wouldn't have to use my points for the weekend! But I wanted a 1 bedroom at OKW that week instead. Will be staying in a BWV studio the previous week already.

Oh well, have the points, will use them... but there were studios available at all the DVC resorts except AKV.

Now I know why, I hadn't seen as many openings in the past - I NEVER checked this early before!

Unless one is using a bonus week, the studios don't make as much sense for most situaitons as you're giving up your deposit you paid dues on, and still have to pay the exchange fee and $95 resort services fee. Using the bonus week (AC) it becomes $199 plus tax and the $95 fee in total. I'd wait for the 1 BR for an exchange.

 

[Dean]

don't think the week I use for II has a level. but it will get DVC resorts. II doesn't have enough Panhandle timeshares on the gulf itself for demand. RCI does.

so it trades much better with II than RCI.

got a studio at the BCV this summer and in Sept a 1-bedroom at SSR.

you just have to be willing to kept looking.

excepting AKV next year - when DVC puts alot of villa on the system at once.

Every resort has multiple ratings with II, they don't even use the 5* as a usable entity but do use other ratings to segregate the members in all sorts of ways. You can in effect look at II as about 10 different exchange companies, they just don't tell you which group you fit into.

 

[Dean]

There's not even an II code for AKV yet. AKV is not in II's online directory, and the II phone agents don't have it listed yet.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Yes and no. They've already listed AKV in their legal language. I suspect they won't actually list it for excange until after the full resort is open, likely about 6-12 months after.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Unless one is using a bonus week, the studios don't make as much sense for most situaitons as you're giving up your deposit you paid dues on, and still have to pay the exchange fee and $95 resort services fee. Using the bonus week (AC) it becomes $199 plus tax and the $95 fee in total. I'd wait for the 1 BR for an exchange.

Very true. However, depending on the dates and circumstances, we have taken studios before. We gotta use them up.

My family gets 2 timeshare weeks a year. My parents bought it in 1987. We can only accumulate up to 2 years at a time. So, they have 4 weeks currently available at their timeshare.

At the end of every year, we get 2 additional weeks so we deposit 2 weeks in II so that 2 weeks don't automatically expire since the timeshare will only allow us to accumulate 4 weeks total.

In the past, we use to give extra II weeks away to friends because we couldn't use them all. Then when I was old enough, I was able to use it with my family - until we bought into DVC because I preferred to stay on-site. I was use to timeshare condos, so I could never bring myself to stay in a hotel, so DVC was perfect for me. When the kids were little, we use spend one week at DVC and then move off site to an II exchange. But now our travel time is limited so my parents are the only ones using the II weeks now.

Right now we have 3 weeks deposited in II with an additional AC. My parents use up approximately 2 weeks a year, which works out because that always leaves one week still on deposit that allows us to do searches.
We seem to have let previous ACs expire without using them. The blackouts seem restrictive and we weren't able to find or travel when or where we wanted before they expired.

Also, we would have to pay additional out of pocket to use the AC. Yes, we have to pay maintenance on the timeshare weeks themselves, but when you have 3-7 weeks waiting to be used and the deposited weeks expire in the next 2-3 years, and you can't find anyplace you want to travel to at a time convenient to you, paying extra for that AC doesn't seem as good a deal.

So, if I can save some DVC points and exchange back into DVC, even into a studio, although it's not the best deal for the timeshare, it's not too bad, considering some years we struggle to find time to use the weeks up.