As a rule AI resorts are a very poor trade value. What are the AI fees for your resort and is it the same if you allow a renter to use it (this type of private exchange is a rental technically)? If you can deposit Aruba then just look at what you can get and what the TPU is. If you can get week 7, that will likely be your best bet. MX is likely to be much lower TPU. That should give you close to 60 TPU for week 7 and in the mid 40's or above for many winter weeks. Then put in a request and hope for the best.
What is TPU?
I'll try to keep this short and simple. Almost all timeshare exchange companies including the big 2, RCI & II, use s trade power formula. You must have sufficient trade power to qualify for a given trade. II won't tell you that you don't have enough trade power, their info is hidden and their formula relatively secret though the components are known. RCI used to be that way as well but they've changed and now they tell you what the trade power for a given resort and week is, it's called TPU. To get a 2 BR at DVC you're generally going to need a TPU in the mid 40's. You also need to search sufficiently ahead to have the best chance of success, for DVC that's around 10-12 months out minimum though 2 years out gives you a better chance. You need to understand this info if you plan to exchange through RCI.That just went over my head like a lead balloon.
The way it works is we pay a set maintenance fee each year (I believe it will be around $225 for next yr), then we pay the AI portion of any resort stay in MX, DR, Costa Rica, or Aruba. We can stay at any class of resort (Allegro, Grand, or Royal) - we pay an upgrade fee if the resort is above our membership category. So, for instance, we are paying $2142 for a week in the Grand in Aruba for my husband, DD6, and I. That's in June, but the price doesn't change a lot for any other time of year. And yes, our renters would pay the same. The person making the trade could choose their own week and resort. If it costs more than the week at Disney would cost us, then they'd have to pay the difference. So, in a nutshell, I have no idea what that equates to with RCI.
Just didn't know whether it would work out better as a trade but it sounds like not.
If you can deposit Aruba for the highest demand weeks it very well may be worth it but otherwise, likely not. Plus you'll have to pay to belong to RCI unless it's included with your membership. For Aruba you'd have to deposit somewhere between week 5 & 14 and at least a 1 BR to have enough trade power to be pretty certain you'd have a chance at a 2 BR, some additional weeks MIGHT get you a 1 BR but you might just miss the TPU. The hotel unit would give you a chance for a 1 or 2 BR only a very few weeks. If you can't pick both the resort and week to deposit from your system, you should not do so. If you can and you can get a top week, it's reasonable to do so. As noted, you could make multiple deposits and combine them but that's unlikely to be cost effective in this situation.Yikes. Sounds like I'll probably be better off renting my week out privately and renting DVC pts directly. We've rented our weeks out before but not often. The retail value of our week in Aruba (compared to Expedia, etc.) is about $4000, so we love the OVC and it's generally not too hard to find a renter for that kind of a deal.
That's the only applicable week that's that high, some of the rest are 52 Feb and early March. The questions are whether there are additional charges to deposit on the resort side and whether you can get and deposit that week.
RCI exchange info said:
I may want to trade for some other resort/location someday.
Educate yourself so when you get ready to do anything you'll be knowledgeable enough to do so.Wow, still very confusing to me (and I'm even a numbers person)! As PP mentioned, AI is mandatory for OVC members b/c we don't pay anything for the hotel stay itself - that's the upfront membership fee. I lucked out big time b/c I picked up my membership (lifetime w/ bonus wks and can be willed to my daughter) for $1000 on Ebay. It was a steal, needless to say. We've used it to stay in Orlando at Liki Tiki Village for $155 for a whole week (plus the annual maint. fee of course). That's an exchange privilege where we don't have to get RCI involved. I believe we are automatically members of RCI through the club, but could be wrong on that. We're also only looking for a studio at a Disney resort. And when we use our OVC, we do deluxe hotel room. That's not to say someone else couldn't upgrade I guess but again, not really sure how that transferring works since it's not a straightforward "timeshare" where we own a certain unit at a certain resort for a certain week. Royal Club is also a really good deal. Could have done that in Aruba for about $2900 (prices out to about $7000 on Expedia) - no idea what it's worth in RCI. But for the sake of simplicity and since it doesn't sound like it would wind up being greatly in my favor or anything, I guess I'll go with the renting of pts scenario instead. I appreciate all the info though!
