How Interval International Describes Themselves

I received a PR piece today which I found significant because of its wording. It leaves no doubt who it considers its clients. I am sure RCI is the same; but I only saw this from II. Emphasis is mine...

Interval International is a leading provider of exchange, travel, and leisure services to resort developers and vacationers worldwide. Based in Miami, Florida, the company has been a pioneer and innovator in serving the vacation ownership market for more than 30 years. Today, Interval has a network of more than 2,200 resorts in 79 countries and offers its clients and nearly 2 million member families high-quality products and programs through its 30 offices in 19 countries. Interval is part of IAC, which is an interactive conglomerate operating more than 60 diversified brands in sectors being transformed by the Internet, online and offline. Other IAC companies include Ask.com, HSN, LendingTree, Match.com, and Ticketmaster.

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So as we've often guessed, they consider the resorts to be their clients, and the exchangers to have a status as members, but not clients.

Fern

I believe every exchange company refers to the individual owners as members. I know that my RCI membership cards say member and not owner or client.. Since my I.I. card has a membership # rather than an owner #, I've always assumed the I.I. considers me a member as well.

What is different is the powers that be at I.I. haven't made the newspapers or trade magazines telling people that they're trying to tap into the rental market to the average public rather than to it's members...........yet. At this point, IMO at least, with I.I. membership still has it's privledges. With RCI it appears that you're better off not being an owner/member and just part of the general public renting timeshares for less or maybe just a little more than what the oweners of that timeshare pay in MF's on a yearly basis.

I'm sure the developers feed into this thinkink that they're getting prospects into their sales galleries but, in the long run, they're creating a market with a built in hard to comat answer of "Why buy when I can rent this unit for about the same as I can rent for without laying out $20,000 cash?

dougp26364 said:

What is different is the powers that be at I.I. haven't made the newspapers or trade magazines telling people that they're trying to tap into the rental market to the average public rather than to it's members...........yet. At this point, IMO at least, with I.I. membership still has it's privledges. With RCI it appears that you're better off not being an owner/member and just part of the general public renting timeshares for less or maybe just a little more than what the oweners of that timeshare pay in MF's on a yearly basis.

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Yet, it's interesting that IAC, the owner of II, scooped up some of the ResortQuest operations when ResortQuest went on the market earlier this year.

April 19, 2007

Interval Acquisition Corp. to Acquire RQI Holdings, Ltd. From Gaylord Entertainment Company

MIAMI, FL, April 19, 2007 - Interval Acquisition Corp., an affiliated company of Interval International - a leading provider of vacation services and an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), today announced that it has agreed to acquire RQI Holdings, Ltd., owner of ResortQuest Hawaii, LLC. ResortQuest Hawaii is a prominent management and rental distribution services organization for resort properties in Oahu, the Big Island of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gaylord Entertainment Company (NYSE: GET).

“This purchase is a natural extension of our business, which is to provide value to resort owners and quality vacations to customers worldwide,” commented Craig M. Nash, chairman and chief executive officer of Interval International. “We look forward to working with ResortQuest Hawaii’s talented management team to leverage our collective strengths in a premier leisure destination.”

“We are pleased with the value generated by ResortQuest Hawaii, which is a testament to the hard work our team has put into this business,” said Colin V. Reed, chairman and chief executive officer of Gaylord Entertainment. “ResortQuest Hawaii has been a success story, and we believe that Interval will bring even greater synergies and expertise to take these operations to the next level. We continue to explore strategic opportunities for the ResortQuest mainland business and will endeavor to maximize the value of the remaining ResortQuest assets for our shareholders.”

As part of this transaction, Gaylord Entertainment will retain its 18.1 percent equity interest in the joint venture of the ResortQuest Kauai Beach at its Makaiwa property, as well as its 19.9 percent ownership stake in the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel.

The closing is expected to take place during the second or third quarter of 2007, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions, including expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. Terms of the transaction are set forth in a current report on Form 8-K filed by Gaylord Entertainment today.

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I like this part:

“ResortQuest Hawaii has been a success story, and we believe that Interval will bring even greater synergies and expertise to take these operations to the next level. We continue to explore strategic opportunities for the ResortQuest mainland business and will endeavor to maximize the value of the remaining ResortQuest assets for our shareholders.”​

"Synergies" between a timeshare exchange company and the largest vacation rental company. What might that entail, hmmmmm????

T_R_Oglodyte said:

Yet, it's interesting that IAC, the owner of II, scooped up some of the ResortQuest operations when ResortQuest went on the market earlier this year.



I like this part:

“ResortQuest Hawaii has been a success story, and we believe that Interval will bring even greater synergies and expertise to take these operations to the next level. We continue to explore strategic opportunities for the ResortQuest mainland business and will endeavor to maximize the value of the remaining ResortQuest assets for our shareholders.”​

"Synergies" between a timeshare exchange company and the largest vacation rental company. What might that entail, hmmmmm????

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Then it appears that I.I. is walking down the same path that RCI has already gone so far down.

For the near future I believe it may be more important than ever to belong a a decent mini-system such as those offered by Bluegreen, Wyndham, Hilton, Sunterra or any of the other system out there that might offer reasonable internal exchanges and, to some greater extent, bypassing the larger exchange companies that would rather rent out owners deposits than honor any sort of implied agreement that owners might expect reasonable accomadations in exchange for their deposits.

It is my belief that this sort of thinking by exchange companies might be of short term benefit, but in the end will spell their ruin should they not see or learn that the inventory they covet is not owned by them, but by those of us who have bought and paid for the units they now propose to rent out for their own profit. Eventually a majority of timeshare owners will get tired of their hands being bitten by the companies we've been feeding all these years, and they will cease to feed them all together, opting instead for developers who offer the benefit of internal exchanges without the benefit of a large independant exchange company.

RCI buys II?

How long before RCI buys II – its just one conglomerate acquiring another conglomerate?

Think we have problems now?

I am amazed that II has not introduced a Point Based system to allow for the integration of hotel units, condo-hotels, whole ownership condos, and folks on VRBO.

I’ll take a WAG and predict that II and Marriott will jointly introduce a Point system when Marriott offers their owners an internal exchange system – it will just be II’s Point system. I have NO proof at all to support this prediction.

I don't mean to be contrary, but do you think the italicised sentence could be ambiguous and may be referring to its nearly 2 million member families as clients also?

It provides "exchange, travel, and leisure services to resort developers and vacationers worldwide", meaning the big hotel chains (developers) and II members?

Sydney said:

I don't mean to be contrary, but do you think the italicised sentence could be ambiguous and may be referring to its nearly 2 million member families as clients also?

It provides "exchange, travel, and leisure services to resort developers and vacationers worldwide", meaning the big hotel chains (developers) and II members?

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It could be but, it seems to me that was how RCI was wording things before they became so bold as to just make public announcements and issue press releases about how they intend to exploit the timeshare rental market.

So long as I.I. provides reasonable exchanges for reasonable deposits, unlike what RCI weeks has apparently gone to, I'll continue to use I.I. for our exchange needs. At this point I have no real or valid complaints.

On the other hand, considering the direction that RCI has moved, I see no reason not to protect myself with the security of good internal exchange systems that have the ability to bypass the exchange companies all together.

It seems to me that the last survey I read, the ability to exchange was a big motivator in the publics reason to purchase from developers. Should the major exchange companies make it to difficult to get equatable exchanges in the opinion of their members, inventory will remain in the owners hands or in the mini-systems that developers are coming out with. Independant timeshares in active sales will start to become affiliatesof other mini-systems to protect new sales but, they'll have a tough time fending off the arguement "I can rent this same unit cheaper than I can own it." if the exchange companies go to far into the rental market.

The only way both members and developers can protect themselves is to stop giving exchange companies that violate the basic tenent of exchanging by witholding inventory. That basic tenent of course being able to exchange easily like for like units. I realize that the membership agreement states they may do as they please with your unit once you give it to them. However, that does not make it the right thing to do nor will it make good business sense if you tick of those that hold the inventory to the point they no longer give their weeks to you for exchange purposes.

Perry:

I believe other points based systems already have such an agreement as what you suggest in place with I.I. So your prediction is really just the reality that is the mini-system as it stands now. By going to a points based system for reservations, the developer holds the inventory that is released to the timeshare exchange company. The developer or mini-system then holds some degree of leverage over the exchange company. Systems like Wyndham, Bluegreen, Hyatt, Hilton, Sunterra and even Westgate (as I now understand it) control what week, good or bad, is deposited for exchange with the exchange company. Some systems even decide what resort the week comes from rather than automatically assigning the home resort of the owner. In points based systems it has been said that points are points, at least from the owners perspective.

I do have to give you credit in that you have been touting the advantages of points based reservation systems for some time now. In that regard you have been ahead of the rest of us.

IIp

dougp26364 said:

<snip>
Perry:

I believe other points based systems already have such an agreement as what you suggest in place with I.I. So your prediction is really just the reality that is the mini-system as it stands now. By going to a points based system for reservations, the developer holds the inventory that is released to the timeshare exchange company. The developer or mini-system then holds some degree of leverage over the exchange company. Systems like Wyndham, Bluegreen, Hyatt, Hilton, Sunterra and even Westgate (as I now understand it) control what week, good or bad, is deposited for exchange with the exchange company. Some systems even decide what resort the week comes from rather than automatically assigning the home resort of the owner. In points based systems it has been said that points are points, at least from the owners perspective.
<snip>

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The II Point System I envision is vastly different than any in existence. II did not jump on the RCI Points bandwagon and I believe II and Marriott are jointly working on something that could be truly revolutionary – I’ll briefly describe it:

Proposed II Point Based Exchange/Rental System (IIp):

Basically the new Points system is a rental system – folks here who don’t like what’s going on with timeshare rentals may have a meltdown – but let me explain how this is good.

The new IIp is totally internet driven – few employees are involved. It is COMPLETELY rental driven – IIp Points (Points) are interchangeable with US dollars. All Points are based upon a rental rate that a 3rd party is willing to pay – the renter.

Just like RedWeek, IIp requires you to submit your unit for an appraisal – you do and find it is worth 3,000 Points. You deposit and now have 3,000 Points in your account. IIp does NOT have to take your unit!

Your unit appears in the inventory and ongoing searches may instantly find a match. Your unit is ONLY available for exchanging for 7 days and at that time the rental folks get to rent it for $3,000.

You get filled on an ongoing search and it costs you 2,000 Points. You get 2 round trip airline tickets for 250 Points each and thus have 500 Points which can carry forward for 1 year.

You see that a Friday and Saturday night at a Red Roof Inn is available for the in-laws and you snap it up for 200 Points leaving you 300 Points.

You decide to apply those 300 Points apply towards your maintenance fees.


Notice how rentals fuel this entire system – and the rentals don’t impact on-going searches and everyone has a shot at it as an exchange FIRST for 7 days (could be 14 or 21, etc).

RV’s, hotels, condo-hotels, rental cars, you name it can be incorporated into this system. That simple change of allowing exchanges BEFORE rentals is all that is needed to take RCI Points on and make II Points dominant. IIp would form alliances with many vacation related companies and if they can get discounts that goes into IIp’s pocket.


I think IIp may license this system to ANY developer who wants it's capability and marketing power.

This is just my latest guess of what II may be doing for the future.

PerryM said:

The II Point System I envision is vastly different than any in existence. II did not jump on the RCI Points bandwagon and I believe II and Marriott are jointly working on something that could be truly revolutionary – I’ll briefly describe it:

Proposed II Point Based Exchange/Rental System (IIp):

Basically the new Points system is a rental system – folks here who don’t like what’s going on with timeshare rentals may have a meltdown – but let me explain how this is good.

The new IIp is totally internet driven – few employees are involved. It is COMPLETELY rental driven – IIp Points (Points) are interchangeable with US dollars. All Points are based upon a rental rate that a 3rd party is willing to pay – the renter.

Just like RedWeek, IIp requires you to submit your unit for an appraisal – you do and find it is worth 3,000 Points. You deposit and now have 3,000 Points in your account. IIp does NOT have to take your unit!

Your unit appears in the inventory and ongoing searches may instantly find a match. Your unit is ONLY available for exchanging for 7 days and at that time the rental folks get to rent it for $3,000.

You get filled on an ongoing search and it costs you 2,000 Points. You get 2 round trip airline tickets for 250 Points each and thus have 500 Points which can carry forward for 1 year.

You see that a Friday and Saturday night at a Red Roof Inn is available for the in-laws and you snap it up for 200 Points leaving you 300 Points.

You decide to apply those 300 Points apply towards your maintenance fees.


Notice how rentals fuel this entire system – and the rentals don’t impact on-going searches and everyone has a shot at it as an exchange FIRST for 7 days (could be 14 or 21, etc).

RV’s, hotels, condo-hotels, rental cars, you name it can be incorporated into this system. That simple change of allowing exchanges BEFORE rentals is all that is needed to take RCI Points on and make II Points dominant. IIp would form alliances with many vacation related companies and if they can get discounts that goes into IIp’s pocket.


I think IIp may license this system to ANY developer who wants it's capability and marketing power.

This is just my latest guess of what II may be doing for the future.

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I see what your getting at but you're making my head hurt.

All of this is taking the simplicity out of timesharing. Every few years it seems that one has to evolve how they can best use their timeshare ownership in order to maximize benefit.

Having said that I do realize that it would be a relatively simple system to use once owners get accustomed to the change. It's just that since 1998 I've had to rethink how the best way to maximize our ownership enough times that it's making me weary of the entire process. I dread to think what would happen if my wife or kids had to take over planning and reserving vacations. The simplicity of deposit and exchange, while more restrictive, seemed so much more straight forward and easy to think about.

Of course all those really super cheap weeks that have been garnering good exchanges could be out the window once a dollar value is placed on them. Flexchange could become the option that many more people have to employ to get similar value from those units.

Major changes are making it harder to determine where to best spend you money right now and how to set up your vacation usage in the future. As an example, under the current system I purchased a 3 bedroom Marriott with the express desire to use the 2 bedroom side and exchange the 1 bedroom LO week as a Marriott exchange into Marriott resorts that offer only 2 bedroom units. So far I've been successful on my one and only attempt to do that. Once a dollar value is assigned to that unit then that plan most likely goes out the window.

Oh well, it's an ever changing landscape and you either keep on top of it and make the most of it or you don't. But it is getting tougher to make the most of timeshare ownership vs just renting when/where you want to go. After nearly 10 years in timesharing renting is once again looking to be the more attractive option to owning and dealing with the changing landscape. I wonder how many other prospects may come to the same conclusion before purchasing multiple units like we've done?

The mini's are the new players

dougp26364 said:

Then it appears that I.I. is walking down the same path that RCI has already gone so far down.

For the near future I believe it may be more important than ever to belong a a decent mini-system such as those offered by Bluegreen, Wyndham, Hilton, Sunterra or any of the other system out there that might offer reasonable internal exchanges and, to some greater extent, bypassing the larger exchange companies that would rather rent out owners deposits than honor any sort of implied agreement that owners might expect reasonable accomadations in exchange for their deposits.

It is my belief that this sort of thinking by exchange companies might be of short term benefit, but in the end will spell their ruin should they not see or learn that the inventory they covet is not owned by them, but by those of us who have bought and paid for the units they now propose to rent out for their own profit. Eventually a majority of timeshare owners will get tired of their hands being bitten by the companies we've been feeding all these years, and they will cease to feed them all together, opting instead for developers who offer the benefit of internal exchanges without the benefit of a large independant exchange company.

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Way back in 1996 when we first got introduced to the (then) Fairfield Fairshare Plus points system we knew that was the way timeshare should work. I was looking mostly at the points part but now I see the large (that is a key word) resort groups such as Wyndham, Sunterra, Worldmark, etc that have created an inviting way to visit many areas/resorts without having to involve the outside (and ever more costly) exchange groups. Add in that most of those systems also have priority access to RCI/II or others and they are practically unbeatable.

The downside is the fragmentation of the groups from each other. RCI was the great uniter but they took a turn toward self-interest at the expense of what should be their clients that doomed them for owners and the developers. Thats why it's important that the system be large. You don't want to spend most of your time trading out into RCI/II, even though that works much better then it does as a mere member of those companies, as that adds cost and isn't the big jump in predictable usability offered by a well rounded mini-system with plenty of internal resorts to choose from.

I pity the buyer who believes that some 5 or 10 resort group is worth paying money to buy into. Those are simply jumping on the bandwagon far too late and with too few choices - DVC being the exception as they are a destination unto themselves that doesn't even work well away from the theme park areas.

RCI saw the potential of the mini's but botched the attempt to equal or better them with RCI Points. That is still an option for the independent resorts that can't/won't join in with the big mini's but it will never be the powerhouse RCI Weeks once was.

II seems to be thrashing with the mess they got into by cutting deals with every name brand system they could lure in. Now they have a nightmare of priorities that favor those groups (good for the groups/owners) over the individual members (bad for those who pay the fees) and no clear way out. If they move to points (and even f they don't) the mini's are likely to cut them out of the picture while the old model of week for week by individuals has been slowly dying for 10 years.That s likely to accelerate in the next 10.

For now the best choices seem to be buying to use (always the first choice) either at a specific resort or in a mini-system that has many resorts you want to visit. While you can virtually steal non-system based weeks they aren't much good for trade anymore and will likely just get worse.

dougp26364 said:

...After nearly 10 years in timesharing renting is once again looking to be the more attractive option to owning and dealing with the changing landscape. I wonder how many other prospects may come to the same conclusion before purchasing multiple units like we've done?

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Believe it or not, one of the best pieces of advice that I got with regard to timesharing came not from TUG, but from the person who sold me my unit. She told me to set the resale price of my unit at $0. (She was insistent upon this. Everytime I said something about "Well, in a worst case scenario, I could sell the unit ..." "No, set the price at $0") In any case, she told me that I should determine if I could get back the price of my unit and come out ahead on my vacations within 10 years. If not, she told me not to buy. Why 10 years? She said that neither of us would have any idea what the market would look like after that amount of time. If you can't make it within 10 years, you are taking too much of a risk.

Well, your ''guess'' for II is remarkably similar to your ''guess'' for Redweek, and again based apparently on no real information/

PerryM said:

The II Point System I envision is vastly different than any in existence. II did not jump on the RCI Points bandwagon and I believe II and Marriott are jointly working on something that could be truly revolutionary – I’ll briefly describe it:

Proposed II Point Based Exchange/Rental System (IIp):

Basically the new Points system is a rental system – folks here who don’t like what’s going on with timeshare rentals may have a meltdown – but let me explain how this is good.

The new IIp is totally internet driven – few employees are involved. It is COMPLETELY rental driven – IIp Points (Points) are interchangeable with US dollars. All Points are based upon a rental rate that a 3rd party is willing to pay – the renter.

Just like RedWeek, IIp requires you to submit your unit for an appraisal – you do and find it is worth 3,000 Points. You deposit and now have 3,000 Points in your account. IIp does NOT have to take your unit!

Your unit appears in the inventory and ongoing searches may instantly find a match. Your unit is ONLY available for exchanging for 7 days and at that time the rental folks get to rent it for $3,000.

You get filled on an ongoing search and it costs you 2,000 Points. You get 2 round trip airline tickets for 250 Points each and thus have 500 Points which can carry forward for 1 year.

You see that a Friday and Saturday night at a Red Roof Inn is available for the in-laws and you snap it up for 200 Points leaving you 300 Points.

You decide to apply those 300 Points apply towards your maintenance fees.


Notice how rentals fuel this entire system – and the rentals don’t impact on-going searches and everyone has a shot at it as an exchange FIRST for 7 days (could be 14 or 21, etc).

RV’s, hotels, condo-hotels, rental cars, you name it can be incorporated into this system. That simple change of allowing exchanges BEFORE rentals is all that is needed to take RCI Points on and make II Points dominant. IIp would form alliances with many vacation related companies and if they can get discounts that goes into IIp’s pocket.


I think IIp may license this system to ANY developer who wants it's capability and marketing power.

This is just my latest guess of what II may be doing for the future.

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timeos2 said:

.......For now the best choices seem to be buying to use (always the first choice) either at a specific resort or in a mini-system that has many resorts you want to visit. While you can virtually steal non-system based weeks they aren't much good for trade anymore and will likely just get worse.

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My problem is that the first two timeshare we ever purchased, one in '98 and the other in '99, were purchased to use but have been relegated to the trade only bin. We found timeshares we liked better and purchased them. So far we're very happy with the other two timeshares, one Marriott and the other Hilton, and hope it stays that way.

It when what was once a great resort to stay at becomes a resort you'd just as soon exchange that life gets complicated and exchange companies take advantage. While we've never actually purchased a timeshare soley for the purpose of exchange, life happened and I've got two that have become just that.

I guess we're fortunate that DRI purchased Sunterra and we now have the option to become a part of a larger mini-system. Unfortunately, while I might be glad to become a part of a mini-system I can't say I've been overly pleased with how DRI managed their resort or allowed it to get to the point of needing a big SA to update the rooms to something a little more modern and less dated.

Oh well, things don't stand still in timesharing and one has to learn to be flexible and adaptable to the new system and scheme's that the exchange compaines and developers come out with.

"Roger" said:

Believe it or not, one of the best pieces of advice that I got with regard to timesharing came not from TUG, but from the person who sold me my unit. She told me to set the resale price of my unit at $0. (She was insistent upon this. Everytime I said something about "Well, in a worst case scenario, I could sell the unit ..." "No, set the price at $0") In any case, she told me that I should determine if I could get back the price of my unit and come out ahead on my vacations within 10 years. If not, she told me not to buy. Why 10 years? She said that neither of us would have any idea what the market would look like after that amount of time. If you can't make it within 10 years, you are taking too much of a risk.

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I've found that this is the best way of of looking at a timeshare's value and the cost of vacations. Since you base it on 10 years use, just divide the purchase price by 10 then add MF and exchange company membership and fees. Many people are confused about what their vacations actually cost them since they often ignore the initial purchase in the calculations. If you own and use it longer than 10 years, you get really cheap trips. I don't think most people keep their timeshares that long though. I suspect a very large number buy one they can't afford, use it a year or two (or not) and then sell it at a loss.

spatenfloot said:

I've found that this is the best way of of looking at a timeshare's value and the cost of vacations. Since you base it on 10 years use, just divide the purchase price by 10 then add MF and exchange company membership and fees. Many people are confused about what their vacations actually cost them since they often ignore the initial purchase in the calculations. If you own and use it longer than 10 years, you get really cheap trips. I don't think most people keep their timeshares that long though. I suspect a very large number buy one they can't afford, use it a year or two (or not) and then sell it at a loss.

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That's a rather simplistic way of looking at it and doesn't take into effect many of the other factors that would affect the true cost of timeshare vacations.

Items like the lost time value of money, interest on any financing, deductions for any premiums given for the purchase, value of mult. exchanges usnig a lO unit, exchange fee's and cost analysis VS cost of renting a similar unit (additional cost vs savings).

Of course, cash purchases on resale units are much easier, and less expensive, to calculate.

Still, it's a decent ball park figure to start with.

Carolinian said:

Well, your ''guess'' for II is remarkably similar to your ''guess'' for Redweek, and again based apparently on no real information/

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Oh good grief... I can't believe I am doing this, but I am actually feeling the need to "defend" Perry - what is the world coming too?!

First of all, you drive me nuts with your drive-by posting over the years - do you ever ANSWER a question Steve? I know I have asked you many over the years.

Second, the former President of Worldmark, Gene Hensley, said this was the thrust of their future operations years ago (at least 4-5 years ago now). What all the large companies have done is formed "synergies" with a gazillion travel related products either by buying them out or partnering with them and selling prospects on the ideology that timeshare points are in actuality "currency". When you factor in the clues Gene gave us, with the clues within the Marriott system and II, I do not necessarily view Perry's hypothesis as "based on no real information".

RCI has taken this perspective and given it to us in terms of "use it at our excessive cost, or we will find other buyers." And find other buyers is exactly what they have done...

I believe there are signs of the things that Perry mentions regarding an II currency. One sign is the fact that they have finally fixed the Ongoing Request matching so that it does not show this inventory while the requests are being matched. They are moving to a system that is more automated and more fool proof - this is good for them and bad for those of us who have perpetually exploited these loop holes (of which there have been many). Finally working the bugs out of their system allows them to recapture opportunities (and potential profit) which have been slipping through the cracks. Bringing Marriott on board with this gives both companies a good position, and still allows Marriott to focus on development of resorts vs. "club management" and is a very marketable and feasible idea for smaller companies when not employed with the disregard and profitiering exhibited by RCI when their points system was introduced.

Perry has ALWAYS stated his belief that II would introduce a points system that "get's it right".

My issue with all of this is that points + cash in ANY system takes away the rights of those that paid the cash upfront and yearly via maint fees. They are no longer insured a "similar" exchange because someone else with money can rent the weeks that were normally "protected" by trade filters. Not that the old system was foolproof, but at least there was a system in place. By allowing the pooling of points to aquire these nicer properties and/or the purchase of these weeks with cash, you create a system where higher end property owners suffer from lack of availability and the system is filled with things people don't want that still go unrented/unused. Allowing certain resorts to have access to all premium inventory for a set period of time (like the 21 day window) helps the Marriott/Westin/Hyatt people, but leaves the rest of us out in the cold. Trade filters then help to add some needed "gray" area for the resorts inbetween... it's not foolproof, but at least it throws the middle/lower owners a bone. I think Perry gets it right when he states there will be a period for exchanging and a period for rentals - allowing for the influx of non-timeshare inventory into the system and it's usage via a points currency.

How to set up the pricing (amount of points necessary for usage) is the most important factor. I can see they need the capital via rentals to purchase blocks of non-timeshare inventory (or even additional developer inventory), but traditionally the points required have been so high when you price them against your maint fees... how do they create a system where there is value - or is the value JUST supposed to be the utility of booking via one system? I have a hard time pricing this in when I can still Priceline nice rooms (Marriott, Hyatt, et al) for $29-59 cash.


Kim

Fern Modena said:

I received a PR piece today which I found significant because of its wording. It leaves no doubt who it considers its clients. I am sure RCI is the same; but I only saw this from II. Emphasis is mine...



So as we've often guessed, they consider the resorts to be their clients, and the exchangers to have a status as members, but not clients.

Fern

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Fern,

I honestly remember seeing this same PR thrust from II as far back as 10 years ago... I never found it offensive because what they do is to facilitate utility of timeshare ownership which is a selling point offered by their "clients" the timeshare developer.

Kim

Connect the dots….connect the dots....

Thanks Kim.

Remember after 9/11 and how all the talking heads were talking about we never “Connected the dots”, well if an event hasn’t happened yet one must use the few bread crumbs that a company, like II, RCI, Marriott, RedWeek, you name it, give us and “Connect the dots….”.

It’s not an exact science, it’s more like an art where the more one practices it the better one gets.