Interval International - Question

[havertown]

Sorry if I missed this somewhere. My family and I have owned DVC over the years (previously owned SSR and VGF and OKW-E, now own 2 separate OKW-E and a HHI contract - presuming we pass ROFR on the 2nd OKW-E contract this week). We've rented points to other individuals when we couldn't use them personally. I never looked in to RCI, and now I understand II is the new trade partner. I can't for the life of me figure this out.. I imagine I'll have 3 different account numbers (HHI-Oct 150 pt) (OKW-E Jun 120 pt) and (OKW-E-Dec 25 pt). Here are my questions.

1) Can I combine all 3 contracts and deposit in one II account?

2) How do I find out how many points a hotel might be through II (say a week in London for the summer)? Looking at Code NOH (Notting Hill by BridgeStreet). Would be my wife, my 13yo daughter, and myself. Potentially MIL and FIL too if the room is large enough (over 20 years ago I stayed in London at Bed and Breakfasts and I know the rooms were smaller in Europe). We have stayed at WDW 5 times as a family (lucky daughter!) and I want to expand daughter's horizons in a year or two hopefully thinking COVID will be more manageable in 12-24 months. We are planning on HHI for 2023 for now, but that could change and just wanted to explore all options.

3) Or is II too much of a hassle, and I am better renting DVC points, and using cash for a stay in Europe?

I am hesitant to deposit points and then have it irreversible if the reservation doesn't come through. Am I overthinking this or do I just need to be a little more flexible? I am a CPA doing income taxes, and wife is a school administrator, we are only able to travel in high season (2nd week of June through 3rd week of August) and I know I always pay through the roof for travel.

Thanks for anyone who can put this into more simpler terms. I appreciate learning more about this and thanks in advance for the help!

 

[limace]

I’d always suggest renting your points out and then using cash-probably for an Airbnb with a family group, especially for a week. Way more flexibility.

 

[Brian Noble]

1: I don't think so, but you'd need to call MS to be sure.

2: Just because something is listed, doesn't mean it will be available for exchange. Most European timeshares are well outside the cities. There are a handful of exceptions, but they are exceptions. In particular, the code you are looking at says the following:

NOTE: The accommodations listed under this resort code are available for purchase through the Getaway program and generally will not be available for exchange.

Sometimes the getaways are very good deals. Sometimes you can do better going to the resort directly. Either way, you are booking with cash, which leads me to #3...

3: If you are willing to spend the time to do it, you are probably better off renting out your points and using the cash to stay where you want. You've done this before, so you have an idea for what it will take.

I am hesitant to deposit points and then have it irreversible if the reservation doesn't come through.

This is wise. You will probably want to do "request first" rather than "deposit first" searches. For "request first" searches, you can place an ongoing request without irrevocably committing your points.

Am I overthinking this or do I just need to be a little more flexible?

In general, exchange is more of a game of opportunity than a means to go to one specific place. Most of my exchanges are made by putting in a search for several different regions or at least broad lists of resorts. Then I wait to see what happens and as things come up decide if that sounds like a good trip. In the meantime, I also search "by hand" to see if something really neat comes up. Honestly, the latter is more of a hobby for me than a way of getting exchanges.

 

[havertown]

Thank you both! I will just rent! Have a great week everyone!