Please share exchange success stories

[disneycrazed139]

I have read a lot of the difficulties members have encountered regarding exchanges. I really would like to hear about any success stories, as I think I may like to use this feature of my membership in the future, even if it presents with some uncertainties and difficulties at first.

Can anyone share a past trip or successful story of an upcoming/past reservation through Interval International? Where did you go? What day of the week did the week start? How long did the it take for the exchange to come request to come through? Did you get your 1st choice? Second choice? Third choice? (of time of stay and/or resort)

Did you use "deposit first" or "request first"?

What were the accomodations like?

Would you do it again?

 

[dvc_john]

Well, I've never traded my DVC, but I have made quite a few I.I. trades using other timeshare weeks that I would consider to be inferior to DVC. I've always gotten what I wanted, and usually pretty easily. However, only one of my requests would I consider to be a tough one. I usually request for a fairly large resort, for an off season time (but when the weather is still good).
I only request I.I. 5-star resorts (but that's all DVC will allow anyway).
I've used both deposit first (when I couldn't use my week, but didn't yet know what I wanted to do), and request first when I didn't want to give up my week unless I got what I wanted.
Some of my exchanges:
Royal Mayan (Cancun in May)
Marriott Manor Club (Williamsburg in June)
Marriott BeachPlace Towers (Ft Lauderdale in October)
Marriott Cypress Harbour (Orlando in October)
Marriott Horizons (Orlando in October)
Ridge Tahoe (Lake Tahoe in September)
Seawatch on the Beach (Ft Myers Beach in December)
Sanibel Cottages (Sanibel in May)

Also, once at Hyatt Sunset Harbor in Key West (while on a Hyatt internal exchange), I chatted with a DVC member who exchanged there into a 2-br using an off season DVC 1-br at HH)

 

[disneycrazed139]

Thanks for that information. This sounds promising. I am sure that the resorts are not nicer than DVC, but I would still very much like to exchange occasionally--maybe once every few yeras or so. BTW-how would you review the Hyatt in Key West?

Any more II exchanges?

 

[dvc_john]

The Hyatt Sunset Harbor was great. I only had a 1-br, and the set-up was a little odd. The studio lock-off was the main bedroom, and the remaining bedroom was not a suite. The main advantage of this resort is the location - right next door to the Key West Hilton, and only a short stroll to Duval Street or Mallory Square.
I've also stayed at the Hyatt Windward Point and loved this resort. A great 2-br unit overlooking the ocean (but not on a beach). It had one of those infinity pools where the pool water appears to blend in with the ocean water. This resort is not downtown though, (it's near the airport), so you need to drive to get almost anywhere.