II exchange with a studio unit - problems - need help!

hi,
i've been working with II and Rci for a few years now. However, i am trying to do a search with a studio unit for which i've never used to exchange before. we have only exchanged with our 1bd unit. i am coming up against a wall with II - my studio that i own sleeps 4; however, when II puts it in their system for exchanging, it will only put it in that it sleeps 2. therefore, it's searching for a min of a studio unit sleeping 2. that is not what i want; i want at least a 1bdr that sleeps 4. i know i can do this in rci; is there a way around this with II? i've initially started the search over the phone. the operator was able to put in for a 1bdr min at the time; but when i try to change my search parameters or want to add or change resorts to search for, i get the error that i have to correct the amount of people traveling to a maximum of 2! i called a rep again and they told me they cannot make any changes to my request; that it will revert back to a min. studio unit. the rep says he doesn't know how the previous rep was able to put in a search for the 1bdr min 4 people unit. i just want to add resorts to my search list which i originally gave to the 1st rep, but for some reason it only shows 4 out of about 12 resort codes i had given him. the new rep says he can't add/change the resorts without going back down to a min. studio/sleep 2 unit.

HELLP! any suggestions?

I always deposit studio and 1BR into II, and were able to get 3BR even on President's week. The trick is only to put in 2 adults when search. It may come up with larger units if there is inventory. It won't work if you tell them you need to sleep 4.

Put in a search - must have a kitchen.

With II, you can only place an ongoing request for the same size unit you have deposited although you may get confirmed for a larger unit if available. When searching yourself online, you can take whatever you're able to see available, regardless of the unit size.

The only way around it with an ongoing search is to request only resorts that have 1BR or larger units.

I have often seen cases where II only credits a deposit with 2 people per room. Thus a studio will only be sleep 2, and a 1-bdrm will only be sleep 4. I have seen this with both 5 star and lower ranked resorts. It seems to be the exception where II credits more than 2 people per room. I'm not sure what criteria II uses to make this decision.

As previous posters have indicated, II will not allow you to put in an ongoing request for a unit that sleeps more than the unit you deposited. One way around this is to only include resorts that don't have studio units. Another way is to frequently look online with a manual search. If you see a larger unit online, you may exchange for it. However, in many cases there may be larger units available, but they aren't shown when searching with a studio.

I don't think the sugguestion to "Put in a search - must have a kitchen." will work for all resorts as some studios have kitchens.

II uses the private sleeping capacity of a unit to determine how many people a unit will trade for.
A studio will only trade for 2
A 1 bedroom for 4 as long as there is seperate access to the bathroom from both the bedroom and the area where the pullout is.
A 2 bedroom for 6 also as long as there is seperate access to the bathroom from both the bedroom and the area where the pullout is.

This doesnt mean you cant get a larger unit, it just means you cant put in an ongoing request for a larger amount of people than your unit will sleep privately. In order to get a larger unit it must be available for instant confirmation.

If your looking to upgrade the size of your unit you will need both the availabilty of a larger unit and enough trade power to get the larger unit.

Sleeps privately.

II only lists sleeps privately. If I recall correctly sleeps privately is determined by whether one has to walk through another persons sleeping area while visiting the bathroom at night.

By that definition, a studio or hotel room will never sleep 4 privately because all 4 people(2 on the bed and 2 on the pull out couch or other bed) would be walking through the sleeping area.

Some(not all) 1 bedrooms have two doors into the one bathroom so the folks sleeping in the living room do not have to walk through the bedroom to get to the bathroom. Some 1 bedrooms have 2 bathrooms also. This configuration would sleep 4 privately.

A one bedroom that required someone sleeping in the livingroom to walk through the bedroom to get to the bathroom would be sleeps 2 privately.

If you are traveling with little kids sleeps privately might not be a problem.

If you are traveling with 2 adult couples then the sleeps privately might be an issue.

II in its attempt to keep like for like will only let you request 2 sleeps private for 2 sleeps private.

Hope that helps

short

yes, this is very frustrating! somehow the 1st rep has it in the system searching for a 1bdr sleep 4 with kitchen. i was just trying to add more resorts to my search, but apparently if i do it won't let me or the rep over the phone keep the 1bdr search. so i guess i'll just leave it for now. i was hoping to add the additional resorts to the search

it just doesn't make sense when compared to rci - in rci i can put in a request for a min. 1bdr even if i have a studio. they put a unit on hold before confirming you into it. with II, you're stuck with what they confirm you into if it fits your perameters. so if i changed anything on my search now, it apparently would revert to a min. studio search, and i might get a studio - which wouldn't work for us!

thanks for your help.
gayle

socalgirl said:

yes, this is very frustrating! somehow the 1st rep has it in the system searching for a 1bdr sleep 4 with kitchen. i was just trying to add more resorts to my search, but apparently if i do it won't let me or the rep over the phone keep the 1bdr search. so i guess i'll just leave it for now. i was hoping to add the additional resorts to the search

it just doesn't make sense when compared to rci - in rci i can put in a request for a min. 1bdr even if i have a studio. they put a unit on hold before confirming you into it. with II, you're stuck with what they confirm you into if it fits your perameters. so if i changed anything on my search now, it apparently would revert to a min. studio search, and i might get a studio - which wouldn't work for us!

thanks for your help.
gayle

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In order to better understand the way II works you should read the Exchange Procedures listed in the back of the II resort directory. II works on a comparative exchange basis. What your trying to do is exchange a smaller unit into a larger unit. If you are trying to exchange a smaller unit for a larger unit at high quality properties and/or in high season you are going to have a very tough time doing so.

What property and season is your studio at and where and when are you tryng to go?

You have 24 hours from time of confirmation to cancel an II exchange.

gmarine said:

II uses the private sleeping capacity of a unit to determine how many people a unit will trade for.

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I don't think this is accurate. I have 3 bdrm units at two different resorts that sleep 8 max, 6 privately. II will let me search for a sleep 8 with both.

short said:

II only lists sleeps privately. If I recall correctly sleeps privately is determined by whether one has to walk through another persons sleeping area while visiting the bathroom at night.

Click to expand...

In my experience this is not accurate either. Both of my 3 bdrm units have separate entrances for the living area (sofa bed) to the bathroom such that no one has to walk through another sleeping area. It is my impression (not having confirmed this with II) that a completely separate bathroom is required.

If you use Interval's search feature to see what's available you can often find something bigger than what you exchanged. Out of 6 exchanges that I've done, only one has been for the same size unit.

Now by doing this, you're getting exchanges that some may consider less desirable in that they've made it to the search feature after getting by any "requests" that II has in place; I've been happy with all of my exchanges. Some of them may have been during a low season, but I've never "settled" on an exchange.

Dave_H said:

I don't think this is accurate. I have 3 bdrm units at two different resorts that sleep 8 max, 6 privately. II will let me search for a sleep 8 with both.


In my experience this is not accurate either. Both of my 3 bdrm units have separate entrances for the living area (sofa bed) to the bathroom such that no one has to walk through another sleeping area. It is my impression (not having confirmed this with II) that a completely separate bathroom is required.

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What I said is correct.

Your 3 bedroom unit is a sleep 8 privately if it is as you described with a seperate entrance to the bathroom from the living area where there is a pullout sofa. This is why you can search for a sleep 8.

Almost all two bedroom units are sleep 6 privately and three bedroom units are typically sleep 8 privately.

II considers the living room with sofa bed a private sleeping area as long as you can get to the bathroom by not walking through the bedroom and vice versa. II does not require a sperate bathroom for each sleeping area.

This is why most one bedroom units trade as a sleep 4.

gmarine said:

Your 3 bedroom unit is a sleep 8 privately if it is as you described with a seperate entrance to the bathroom from the living area where there is a pullout sofa. This is why you can search for a sleep 8.

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My 3 bdrm units are as described. The living area with sleeper sofa and one of the bedrooms share a bathroom, but there are two doors to the bathroom so that both the living area and the bedroom can get to the bathroom without going through the other area. However, II lists both units as sleep 6 privately, sleep 8 max.

- Does this mean II has my unit listed incorrectly and that it should be sleep 8 privately, sleep 8 max?

- Since II lists both units as sleep 6 privately, why am I allowed to set up an ongoing search for a sleep 8?

Dave_H said:

My 3 bdrm units are as described. The living area with sleeper sofa and one of the bedrooms share a bathroom, but there are two doors to the bathroom so that both the living area and the bedroom can get to the bathroom without going through the other area. However, II lists both units as sleep 6 privately, sleep 8 max.

- Does this mean II has my unit listed incorrectly and that it should be sleep 8 privately, sleep 8 max?

- Since II lists both units as sleep 6 privately, why am I allowed to set up an ongoing search for a sleep 8?

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Your unit should be listed as a sleep 8. Since you are able to search for a sleep 8 exchange it may just be an error in the display of the unit on the website.

If you put the cursor over your the symbol for the sleeping capacity for your unit listed on your II account it should say the trade out capacity.

My guess is that it is a display error because you are still able to search for a sleep 8.

If I go to "Exchange" > "View Your Units" and put my cursor over the sleeping capacity icon, I see:

Trade Out Capacity of 8 - 3 Bedroom(s)

If I look up my resort in the online directory and put my cursor of the icon representing my unit, I see:

3 Bedroom(s): sleeps 6 people privately. 8 people total.

II allows me to put in an ongoing request for 8 people. This is true of both of my 3 bdrm units which are at entirely different resorts. Had it been just one, I would have suspected a problem with the way the resort is listed in II. Since both units have the same bathroom/bedroom access configuration, this led me to believe that II ongoing requests are based on max capacity, not private capacity.

Sleeps privately is only one criteria.

I have a 2 bedroom sleeps 4 privately and 6 total. When I put in traveling party I can only put in 4 but I can request a 2 bedroom and full kitchen as that is what I am trading. If I request a 2 bedroom only they will not put me into a 1 bedroom but I may get a 2 bed sleeps 4 or larger.

I usually put in the max sleeps private even though I have no idea if I will have that many.

Short

Dave_H said:

If I go to "Exchange" > "View Your Units" and put my cursor over the sleeping capacity icon, I see:

Trade Out Capacity of 8 - 3 Bedroom(s)

If I look up my resort in the online directory and put my cursor of the icon representing my unit, I see:

3 Bedroom(s): sleeps 6 people privately. 8 people total.

II allows me to put in an ongoing request for 8 people. This is true of both of my 3 bdrm units which are at entirely different resorts. Had it been just one, I would have suspected a problem with the way the resort is listed in II. Since both units have the same bathroom/bedroom access configuration, this led me to believe that II ongoing requests are based on max capacity, not private capacity.

Click to expand...

I cant explain why your resorts are listed like that, other than an error. One of my resorts has the same error in the resort directory.Your trade out capacity is correct.

If you call II they will confirm that trade out capacity is based on private sleeping capacity, not total capacity.

For example, if you had a one bedroom unit that slept 4, but did not have seperate assess to the bathroom, it would only allow a trade out capacity of 2. However, if calling II, you could still specify that you want no smaller than a 1 bedroom unit.

I have this issue with one of my weeks. It is a two bedroom unit sleeps 6. The pullout sofa is upstairs and both bedrooms and bathrooms downstairs. . To get to the bathroom guests in one of the bedrooms must open the bedroom door and walk down the hall. The guests in the sofa area must walk just down the stairs to the bathroom. Because the guests using the sofa bed have to walk in the same hallway as the guests in one of the bedrooms to get to the bathroom, it is not considered private by II standards

So this unit, even though a two bedroom, will only trade for a sleep 4. However, as in the case of the one bedroom example above, I can still request to be given no smaller than a two bedroom unit.