dianeschlicht
<font color=blue>DVC-Trivia Contest, Apr-2006: Hon
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2000
- Messages
- 36,449
We just got home from a 3 week trip to magical Hawaii!
One week was spent in Princeville, Kauai at a timeshare exchange arranged by our friends from RCI. The second week was spent at Kona Coast II resort on the Big Island of Hawaii through an exchange we did through DVC (160 points).
Both resorts were well located, but the DVC trade resort was much nicer in the room amenities. The RCI resort had much lower quality materials in the room and building itself. By this I mean, linolium floors instead of quarry or ceramic tile, lesser appliances, smaller and poorly appointed bathrooms, etc.... The Kona Coast Resort had nicer furnishings and nice tile floors etc, but the kitchen wasn't very well stocked for cooking utensils. Neither resort was on a beach, but both had golf courses. We did take the tour at both resorts. The Princeville one had 3 resorts in their group. They were stricktly RCI and you would have to pay an additional $2600 to be in the RCI point system. They had an older unit for sale, but we didn't care for the older building at all. The time had definately taken a toll on these lower quality building materials. The Kona Coast Resort is part of the Shell Vacation Club system. They use a point system very much like ours at DVC, but with a greater number of points. They trade through both RCI and II. They have (hope this is right) at least 8 Hawaii properties, and all reserve as your home resort in a 11-13 month window. The Kona Coast was older than the Princeville one, but was in much better condition because of the better materials. It really made me understand why DVC only trades out directly to specific resorts!!! I am sure it is so we can be guaranteed the quality we have come to expect at Disney.
All in all, I would consider another trade a few years down the road. I really like going to WDW, and this trade was few enough points that we were able to do both WDW and Hawaii the same year. If I ever do it again, I will do 2 weeks of DVC trade instead of 1. We got the 2 weeks this time by traveling with our RCI friends.
One week was spent in Princeville, Kauai at a timeshare exchange arranged by our friends from RCI. The second week was spent at Kona Coast II resort on the Big Island of Hawaii through an exchange we did through DVC (160 points).
Both resorts were well located, but the DVC trade resort was much nicer in the room amenities. The RCI resort had much lower quality materials in the room and building itself. By this I mean, linolium floors instead of quarry or ceramic tile, lesser appliances, smaller and poorly appointed bathrooms, etc.... The Kona Coast Resort had nicer furnishings and nice tile floors etc, but the kitchen wasn't very well stocked for cooking utensils. Neither resort was on a beach, but both had golf courses. We did take the tour at both resorts. The Princeville one had 3 resorts in their group. They were stricktly RCI and you would have to pay an additional $2600 to be in the RCI point system. They had an older unit for sale, but we didn't care for the older building at all. The time had definately taken a toll on these lower quality building materials. The Kona Coast Resort is part of the Shell Vacation Club system. They use a point system very much like ours at DVC, but with a greater number of points. They trade through both RCI and II. They have (hope this is right) at least 8 Hawaii properties, and all reserve as your home resort in a 11-13 month window. The Kona Coast was older than the Princeville one, but was in much better condition because of the better materials. It really made me understand why DVC only trades out directly to specific resorts!!! I am sure it is so we can be guaranteed the quality we have come to expect at Disney.
All in all, I would consider another trade a few years down the road. I really like going to WDW, and this trade was few enough points that we were able to do both WDW and Hawaii the same year. If I ever do it again, I will do 2 weeks of DVC trade instead of 1. We got the 2 weeks this time by traveling with our RCI friends.
.....and use our Frequent Flyer miles also
