RCI to acquire DAE....

[csxjohn]

" DAE, which has established a strong loyal consumer base, will continue to run as an independent brand and be marketed separately from RCI. However, the similarities among these exchange-oriented businesses will allow for greater collaboration between the companies to foster growth."

This part is good news. I'm one of those loyal consumers and I often promote their use. I just hope what I like stays. They are free to join, you can set up a search without paying ahead, you have 3 yrs to use your exchange and it's cheaper all around than RCI. I love the personal service we get from them.

 

[primes]

Any news about units that you have already banked with DAE? Will RCI honor them?

 

[bellacyn]

Ditto & Ditto. I can remember paying $39 & $49 for a week to make an exchange thru RCI.

so TRUE! we were members from the beginning now we have to pay so much more plus the rate to belong! I have very low maintenance fee since I bought odd years on a 3 bedroom right near Disney and always push my points around since I am platinum member which is another hoax. Just got the Donotello in San Fransisco which took me almost 2 years in search. & they tell me Im lucky I got it. Very tired of Rci thinking of selling and just renting from now on

 

[JeffC]

Based on the press release DAE will continue to function as an independent exchange. Any weeks you have on deposit can be used as in the past. What remains to be seen is how the new ownership will influence pricing and policies. I have used DAE for my surplus/expiring points. I book a discounted week and deposit it during their 2 for 1 promotion. Whether these promotions will continue is one of the questions we'll have to wait to find out. I use RCI, DAE and TPI; each has its pros and cons. Exchanging in general is in a slow death spiral; the combination of increasing maintenance fees, increasing exchange fees, decreasing deposits and the increase in rental inventory make it harder for the TS owner to justify. Why deposit your week to exchange somewhere else when you can rent that unit easily and cheaper. As the older TS owners who know how to work the exchange systems age out the need for exchanges will dwindle.

Jeff C

 

[vacationhopeful]

And I remember when gasoline cost me 29 cents a gallon from 27 cents a gallon ... and I was upset at the price increase.

 

[silentg]

This is only good news for the exchange companies. I'm trying to use my own timeshares or make trades with other TUG members

 

[Coach Boon]

Great points by everyone. I'm one of those RCI refugees although I still have a membership until the end of this year. I hate all those fees RCI charge. There is no reason for some of those charges. I've tried DAE and am still waiting for a resort. So far nothing. In one case, I know RCI has spots but it's coming up blank on DAE even though they have the same resorts in this area. So for me...DA has been a bust even though their service is good (calls/questions etc).
With all the RCI fees we're now considering just sticking to our home resort whether we use it or not. In many cases you can rent cheaper than going through RCI.

 

[Rpeterson]

Wyndham kills off another competitor... They are buying Dial-an-Exchange...

I've been a member of DAE for a few years now, and had good success with them. I hate to see them eaten up by RCI.

 

[jpegan]

Nobody has mention what has happened to World Mark since Wyndham took over management of same. In the takeover process, Wyndham acquired thousands of World Mark shares which they use to put non-owners into the most popular resorts. Try to get a schedule in Vegas on Friday and Saturday less than 8 months in advance. Mid week is easy to schedule anytime. Wyndham is treating World Mark resorts as if they are one of their Hotels. Since they own RCI they can even use the banked shares from World Mark owners as their own and book them for cash.

 

[Born2Travel]

Nobody has mention what has happened to World Mark since Wyndham took over management of same. In the takeover process, Wyndham acquired thousands of World Mark shares which they use to put non-owners into the most popular resorts. Try to get a schedule in Vegas on Friday and Saturday less than 8 months in advance. Mid week is easy to schedule anytime. Wyndham is treating World Mark resorts as if they are one of their Hotels. Since they own RCI they can even use the banked shares from World Mark owners as their own and book them for cash.

I agree. Worldmark was great before Wyndham came on the scene. I still love my Worldmark but wish I'd never heard of Wyndham!

 

[silentg]

When will this take effect?

 

[Larry M]

I've never been that hot on DAE. Their only search is based on the assumption that you know the exact city you want to go to, not the amenity you wish to have. If you want to golf or hike or ride horseback and don't care where or when, you must do dozens of searches.

This is a multi-dimensional problem (where, when, amenities) and DAE never bothered to support more than the "where" dimension. Maybe when they get sucked up by RCI/Wyndham, someone will come along and do some REAL Web2.0 programming.

 

[Larry M]

I've never been that hot on DAE. Their only search is based on the assumption that you know the exact city you want to go to, not the amenity you wish to have. If you want to golf or hike or ride horseback and don't care where or when, you must do dozens of searches.

This is a multi-dimensional problem (where, when, amenities) and DAE never bothered to support more than the "where" dimension. Maybe when they get sucked up by RCI/Wyndham, someone will come along and do some REAL Web2.0 programming.

 

[bigeyes1]

I've been a DAE member for quite a while now and had pretty good success with it. I'm not sure how I feel about RCI acquiring DAE. I used DAE as another exchange option instead of having to use the ever-increasing, money-grubbing RCI. If DAE remains a separate company, this might give DAE the access they need to have more weeks available for their exchangers. Then again, it could be a bad thing. DAE could raise their fees and change their simple exchange process. Only time will tell, I guess.

 

[theo]

I find it difficult to believe that DAE will continue to operate unchanged as a separate and independent entity after being swallowed whole by Wyndham / RCI.
If that was truly the Wyndham / RCI plan or intent, then why even bother to acquire DAE at all in the first place?
Surely DAE was not / is not a RCI "competitor"of any real significance in the grand scheme of things. Color me dubious --- very dubious.

 

[bluehende]

It is very telling that no one has asked if RCI will adopt DAE's free membership policy.

 

[tc]

Mammoth Wyndham Worldwide buying out the competition. Will it stop with DAE? Will they buy out other competitors? We are members of Club Wyndham and have had so- so luck with exchanges thru DAE, so we are familiar with both companies. It is never good for the consumer when there is less competition in the free market place. I am making an inquiry with the FTC to see if any antitrust laws are being violated. Maybe other TUGGERs can do the same: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws

 

[bogey21]

" DAE, which has established a strong loyal consumer base, will continue to run as an independent brand and be marketed separately from RCI. However, the similarities among these exchange-oriented businesses will allow for greater collaboration between the companies to foster growth."

I for one don't believe it. I think they are planning to eliminate a competitor.

George

 

[JohnPaul]

Looking for a positive note.

If the speculation is that Wyndham bought them to get some good IT skills is accurate. And if Wyndham manages to utilize those skills (rather than just annoy the skilled workers until they leave) then maybe the Wyndham IT department will start doing some things right.

That won't help RCI exchangers (well maybe if the skilled folks are deployed to RCI systems) but would certainly be a boon for the Wyndham/Worldmark/Shell folks that need a reservation system/website that works properly.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Competent computer staff will WALK after dealing with "weasel-like" management ... Wyndham is a 'good old boys' outfit with upper management being all from the sales ranks... where puff & smoke & mirrors is normal for a business plan.

Usually upper management in most companies is from accounting, finance, chemistry, development of products, legal and engineering. Very hard to find anyone NOT from the sales/marketing department in Wyndham's executive offices.

 

[Jimster]

RCI is now the poster child for corporate greed.

 

[jkb]

Too bad... I have used DAE for many years - in fact when I started using them, it was Donita's. Then it became DAE. I started using them because RCI's exchange fee became unreasonable and I rarely got the exchanges I requested. I have had very good exchanges through DAE and although their exchange fee has increased over the years (now up to $179 which you don't pay until an exchange has been confirmed), they are still cheaper than RCI (now $289 which you have to pay when requesting a search). I hardly think RCI/Wyndham will let procedures favorable to the TS user continue.

 

[Carolinian]

I think it has less to do with DAE being a competitor (because, really, they weren't even in the same ballpark,) and more to do with the software company. Read the presser carefully---as we know, WYN just showed the world how piss-poor their software development department is. The "@Work" company develops not just exchange software, but *inventory management software.* And if there is one thing that's been a thorn in the side of WYN lately is technology-based inventory management. It's pretty clever, really. Have RCI purchase a "competitor," and no one will even mention that maybe WYN went looking for a technology solution to cover their colossal shortcomings in that area.

Just my two cents...

On its original home turf, Australia, DAE is a competitor of RCI. There used to be two sizable independents in Australia, the other being Interchange but some years ago DAE bought Interchange. The only place RCI will have to deal with competition authorities will be in Australia.

These consolidations will have the same negative impact on consumers that the airline consolidations did.

 

[Carolinian]

I wonder what will happen with DAE Europe. DAE corporate is Australian owned, and its US branch is a subsidiary of the Australian company, but the European branch, headquartered in the UK is a franchise. I wonder if they are buying the franchise, too? Hopefully DAE Europe will change its name and go its own way. The RCI press release does not mention DAE Europe or DAE South Africa joining RCI (perhaps SA is a franchise, too?)

 

[dmm9]

Former DAE USA employee here. DAE Europe is a franchise. The other DAEs are subsidiaries owned by corporate. All the IT and back end coding for all DAE is done in Australia and the only control the local offices have is cosmetic changes to the website (images and verbiage). The entire exchange platform and website infrastructure is all run out of Australia, which made things interested if we had to discuss something. Lots of email exchanges and late afternoon local calls to speak to people in Australia just getting in to work.

One thing DAE is doing is running the exchanges for smaller timeshare groups. This started with redweek.com as the DAE exchange platform was always the engine behind the exchange. I don't know the number now, but DAE had a few resorts and was negotiating with a few more to white brand the exchange platform, and allow a resort group to brand it with all exchanges actually being run out of the "local" DAE office. Might be a reason why RCI isn't taking over and shutting down DAE instantly, as those contracts state, I believe, that DAE will be the behind-the-scenes company for a set number of years.

Another reason why RCI may hold off on dissolving the DAE brand is DAE is the largest exchange company in Australia/New Zealand. I believe RCI is going to want to move slowly as to not alienate exchanger in the region. Short term, this is where RCI will find their quickest return on investment. Not to mention, keeping the Australia office open with former DAE founder F. Taylor in charge means less likely to have turnover in the IT Department.

Eventually, I don't see DAE surviving as a separate brand long term. Once RCI gets the IT and coding it needs from DAE, feels comfortable rebranding in Australia, and let the white brand contracts run out, there will be no reason to keep DAE around. My guess, and this is just a guess with no inside info, is DAE will cease to be in the next 3-5 years.