Interval Intenrational

[dicanio10]

Our home resort is Sarasota Springs but for the second year running, we have tried to swap for another resort and not had much luck. Last year we tried Portugal and after a few months gave up and went to SSR and Vero Beach which was lovely. For next year, we thought we'd try again and see if we could get Harborside at Atlantis in Nassau but when I rang member services, not only did they have nothing come up for this resort, but nothing for Portugal, California, Goa, Antigua or anywhere else!

There must be some tips when trying to swap resorts! Any ideas??

 

[CustardTart]

Hi - welcome to the DISboards!

Can't answer your question BUT I'd be interested in any tips too. We've been members of II for years (initially courtesy of another timeshare we own in Spain and now via DVC) and have NEVER been able to exchange/use our points for anything anywhere else. TBH I've pretty much given up now, as we can use our Macdonald Options points for long weekends at their hotels and DVC points have been used for ressies at Disney property...

I've always wondered what we were doing wrong so any advice gratefully received...

 

[dor1]

Oh no-due to imminent arrival of new baby we were hoping to exchange for maybe spain/portugal next year.Hopefully we will have better luck than yourselves-will be gutted if we cant get anywhere as was hoping to exchange a fair bit.

 

[jns]

haven't tried yet
but hope it is easy then this

 

[mark&sue]

We got an exchange the first time we tried but you can wait for something to come up.

I wanted something in the UK during half term and asked for anything and got a resort in Devon. Had a great week without having to pay plane fares etc. Thought it was extremely simple and would definately try again.

Good luck everyone


susan

 

[Graeme]

I've done this the other way round because I'm an owner at Lakeland Village in Newby Bridge and have swapped to Disney resorts a few times, as well as elsewhere quite a lot.

It generally matters where you want to go and how flexible you're prepared to be. You need to give three options, either date or location, which can be a bit of a nuisance if you're tied down to a particular week and you want to go to a specific hotel.

UK ones and mainland Europe are rarely available as an instant exchange and you would probably need to place a request. Canary Islands and Orlando have loads of availability all year round.

The website is good if you know what you're looking for, but if not you can phone them and the staff will advise you on the likelihood of getting an exchange.

I would definitely do your homework on resorts though as there are some really bad ones around these days. All the Disney ones are 5* but if you put a request in for any resort in Marbella for example, you would be stuck into the first one that becomes available, regardless of what you were depositing in return.

I bought my weeks cheaply, having a fair idea how to play the exchanges to my advantage, for the sole purpose of exchanging to good Orlando accommodation. (Our first year we got two weeks at OKW in a one bed for about £800, and we've just come back from a week at Marriott's Cypress Harbour which cost us about £200). I'm not sure you would get value for money giving up a week in Dis property for a week elsewhere.

The advisers used to be paid a commission for each exchange they organise. If you were to phone up and ask for a resort on a 'request first' basis, they would know that if they manage to find you an exchange they have an easy sale getting your surrendered week offloaded, and so double the commission.
If you place a request and leave it, They will keep checking the list until they can get you somewhere. Patience is the key, but a lot of resorts, (like the Disney ones), don't have much outside movement because people don't buy to exchange as I have.

 

[dicanio10]

Thanks everyone for your replies

Graeme, that is particularly interesting insight into the exchange system. This is the first time we've owned timeshare so I thought we were doing something wrong.

You've provided me with some very useful information!

Thanks again, I'm going to phone them back tonight and try again!

Andy

 

[Halo]

cutting and pasting from a previous thread here - this info might help you ....

.....IMHO DVC points should only be used for staying at DVC if you want best value from them. Whilst you can swap elsewhere, it is IMHO an expensive means of doing this, and opinion is divided. In a recent example (on another Board), another DVC owner held up the benefits of exchanging because of a stay at a one bedroom at Marriott's Desert Springs II resort in California, which cost them "just 124" DVC points. IMHO if you want to stay at Marriott's (or indeed at any other non-DVC resort) the best thing to do would be to buy Marriott – (I am a Marriott owner). You can then use this to exchange to other Marriott resorts through Interval International ("II"), or any other II registered timeshare resort. II - which is the world's no.1 timeshare resort exchange company and is the one which provides the DVC exchanges – is owned by Marriott.

An extra benefit of owning outside DVC is that you can become an individual member of II (indeed you have to). This enables you to book unlimited "Late Getaways".

Using Marriott's Desert Springs as an example, I could book 3 weeks there in a 2-bed apartment for £149 a week. This is without touching my purchased Marriott week. This compares to exchanging 124 points for a one bed where you have paid premium price up front, and have paid say $4 a point for maintenance.

So the maths would be do I exchange 124 DVC points worth 124 x $4 = $496 say £260 or do I get a larger apartment through II on a getaway for £149? In fact to allow for the purchase premium the 124 DVC points should be priced at their rental value - $10-$11, say $10 to keep it simple. Do I pay 124 x $10 = $1,240 (£650) or do I pay £149? It's a no brainer IMHO.

........