Using SFX Preferred Resorts

I've been with II since becoming a TS owner some 15 years ago. With increasing exchange costs and less available inventory I'm looking at other exchange companies. The two I have in mind are DAE and SFX.
I can find plenty of reviews / comments about DAE but very little on SFX.

Anybody able to share information or even better experience of dealing with SFX?

Full title; The San Francisco Exchange Company | SFX Preferred Resorts. Address on website is; 1900 North Loop Rd, Alameda, CA 94502.

Regards & thanks

Way less inventory than II but it only really matters if they have inventory where you want to go.

Where are you looking to exchange to? You can't really browse and see what suits your fancy because they have or at least show very little online availability ever.

I've exchanged through them for a number of years. They seem to have a lot of inventory in Mexico, Hawaii, and San Francisco. They are picky about which resorts they will take in for exchange. Because they are a "boutique" exchange company, they have no where near as much inventory as the two big exchange companies.

You can join for free but with that gold membership, you won't have as many benefits. They changed their policy with regard to renewing deposits already in "the bank" about a year ago and I've had to scramble to get exchanges for my deposited weeks.

The method that I've used is that I put in requests for a lot of different locations and I usually have broad time frames. To me, getting to the location I want is more important than resort amenities. Others on this forum are more selective and so their satisfaction with SFX is lower. I've been to New York City twice, Scotland once, Hawaii twice, San Francisco once, and a host of other places.

I realize that you aren't in the US, but if you can call them, they have very good personnel staffing the phones so you can call and see if they might be a good option for you.

Good luck.

Here is a link to a recent thread: http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242076

You can probably find more info by looking through the Exchanging forum here.

I gave them a pretty decent fall week in the Wisconsin Dells, which was scooped up from their site very quickly (I believe by a TUGger).

I put in a request for Riviera Maya Mexico for spring break. Essentially the same deposit in RCI got me a 2 bedroom Grand Mayan. SFX called and said they could get me in to Mayan Palace, but there was no chance of my deposit getting me a Grand Mayan unit.

My deposit will likely expire next year unused.

I agree with the other replies, if you like working with someone by phone finding you an exchange then you will like SFX. If you prefer searching inventory yourself on the web site, you will be frustrated, as I was.

I won't be depositing with them, let my membership and last deposit expire this year, I'm down to gold membership with no credits. I can book their last call specials but the prices are higher than RCI or Interval AC.

The other reason I won't be using them is because I own premier HGVC units and now they cant accept club points deposits, only home resort bookings. That was a recent development, I deposited gold season one bedroom units before, no way am I depositing platinum prime season premier units; everything would be a downtrade.


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I hope they add the extend-an-old-deposit benefit again. I have way too many weeks that are expiring next year, and no way to use them because SFX is not finding me things I request. I will have to call and find out what I need to do.

I would have no problem finding something, if only they had a deposit and exchagne model like II or RCI. Put something in, grab something back, but the deposits available for exchange that I can see are exchanges I am not interested in taking.

rickandcindy23 said:

but the deposits available for exchange that I can see are exchanges I am not interested in taking.

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It's my understanding that a lot of their inventory is not put on the website. For instance, in my example the Mayan Palace unit that they matched me to did not show up searching the site.

You pretty much have to set up a search.

Many thanks

Very helpful info and shared experiences. Thanks folks.

scootr5 said:

It's my understanding that a lot of their inventory is not put on the website. For instance, in my example the Mayan Palace unit that they matched me to did not show up searching the site.

You pretty much have to set up a search.

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Yes, but as you said earlier, they are not the best at finding exactly what you want. What a waste of deposits. I am so annoyed.

rickandcindy23 said:

Yes, but as you said earlier, they are not the best at finding exactly what you want. What a waste of deposits. I am so annoyed.

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I'm pretty sure they had exactly what I wanted. One of the reasons I looked to them was because they supposedly get a lot of Vidanta inventory, but told me my deposit couldn't pull a Grand Mayan unit (even though it did in RCI and does in II).

A similar deposit also was exchanged in II for 2 bedroom units in the summer at Marriott Harbour Lakes, Marriott Sabal Palms, and a 2 bedroom ocean front at Simpson Bay in St. Maarten.

scootr5 said:

I'm pretty sure they had exactly what I wanted. One of the reasons I looked to them was because they supposedly get a lot of Vidanta inventory, but told me my deposit couldn't pull a Grand Mayan unit (even though it did in RCI and does in II).

A similar deposit also was exchanged in II for 2 bedroom units in the summer at Marriott Harbour Lakes, Marriott Sabal Palms, and a 2 bedroom ocean front at Simpson Bay in St. Maarten.

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I am pretty sure Vidanta "helps"determine available units and brands.

Vidanta builds (and staffs) in pesos for peak winter/snowbird MF $$ dollars from owners . As a result they have lots of shoulder season availability .

They deposit some of it into RCI as developer week deposits .

They currently "give" new owners of many contracts VIDA-SFX weeks that can only be used for exchange purposes and are MF on use only ..So these are essentially developer controlled when given to SFX because the week owner paid to use for an exchange.

SFX needs your week and determines its value ( maybe with Vidanta's input )
but Vidanta also wants fresh exchangers to sell .

*****

PS - Vidanta is working towards filling more of their summer weeks through sales to the Mexican National market and its growing middle class . They have a separate sales force for these contracts. These are often multi- generational family purchases and use can be by 6-12 family members ( grandparents <under age 60>, grown children & spouses and grandchildren) I believe the Mexican National contracts are also MF in $ USD .
.
In June 2016 they changed the rules for RCI exchanges. Summer in this change is classified as high season .

.

In late July 2016, Vidant changed the rules for II exchanges. Now they charge a resort fee from $75 for the week to $11 per person over 12 per day= $77 per person for the week for all categories (Sea Gardens up to Grand Luxxe) of Vida II exchanges.

Grand Luxxe is with ll

tschwa2 said:

In late July 2016, Vidant changed the rules for II exchanges. Now they charge a resort fee from $75 for the week to $11 per person over 12 per day= $77 per person for the week for all categories (Sea Gardens up to Grand Luxxe) of Vida II exchanges.

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Intervals International is the portal to Grand Luxxe exchanges and GL is not available through RCI .

For readers looking to avoid the higher ll resort charge . RCI has Grand Bliss
Grand Mayan as well as Bliss , MP & SG .

exception
<GM Puerto Penasco is ll >

I'm quite sure I've seen Grand Mayan on their "sell-off" list. Keep looking and you may find it, but perhaps not when you want to go.

falmouth3 said:

I'm quite sure I've seen Grand Mayan on their "sell-off" list. Keep looking and you may find it, but perhaps not when you want to go.

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Oh, I'm sure. I made the exchange through RCI, a 2 bedroom for the last week in march for 21 TPUs.

RCI limits your exchanges into Vida, II didn't. None the less, I wouldn't be surprised if the resort fees rise maybe even to II's level through RCI so if you want to use RCI and would make those exchanges sooner rather than later.

SFX exchange request unsuccessful to date

We have been trying for three years to get an exchange for a two bedroom May S California's beach location we deposited. We have tried for a couple years Oregon in the summer, a couple times for Hawaii, and now Hilton Head for next April. I have been dealing with one of the employees and he ahs tried to assist and has extended for free my request dates a couple times. He has been responsive to telephone calls and Emails. I would normally give a company a poor rating for failing to match but the company has tried to be responsive. I am hopeful they soon will find us a good Hilton Head unit for next April.

rickandcindy23 said:

I hope they add the extend-an-old-deposit benefit again. I have way too many weeks that are expiring next year, and no way to use them because SFX is not finding me things I request. I will have to call and find out what I need to do.

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I just received an offer for my 2017 deposit. It appears that they are again extending all deposits. I think the poor folks who work on the phones were getting a lot of complaints about the change in policy in 2016.

If fact, my 2017 deposit might have been my last deposit with them if they didn't change the policy back. We are taking 4 Timeshare vacations this year just because of the change. I actually had 7 weeks expiring, but got that worked through. Not necessarily a bad thing to take so much vacation, but when vacation time is limited, it's stressful to have to take a vacation or lose your deposited week. Not to mention the expense when flights and rental cars are added in, as well as dog sitting costs.

SmithOp said:

I agree with the other replies, if you like working with someone by phone finding you an exchange then you will like SFX. If you prefer searching inventory yourself on the web site, you will be frustrated, as I was.

I won't be depositing with them, let my membership and last deposit expire this year, I'm down to gold membership with no credits. I can book their last call specials but the prices are higher than RCI or Interval AC.

The other reason I won't be using them is because I own premier HGVC units and now they cant accept club points deposits, only home resort bookings. That was a recent development, I deposited gold season one bedroom units before, no way am I depositing platinum prime season premier units; everything would be a downtrade.


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Hmm, not sure where you got that info, but SFX has and still does accept non-home week deposits from HGVC. You have to specifically tell them though otherwise they'll assume home week and then call HGVC and HGVC will deny it.

There was a discussion about this on the HGVC forums.

There is an SFX forum (may take a day or two to get a response from SFX directly) that is usually actively monitored by Mark @ SFX. It's on the timeshareforums.com site. The sub-forum is: Ask SFX

Good luck!

--Kevin

hurnik said:

Hmm, not sure where you got that info, but SFX has and still does accept non-home week deposits from HGVC. You have to specifically tell them though otherwise they'll assume home week and then call HGVC and HGVC will deny it.

There was a discussion about this on the HGVC forums.

There is an SFX forum (may take a day or two to get a response from SFX directly) that is usually actively monitored by Mark @ SFX. It's on the timeshareforums.com site. The sub-forum is: Ask SFX

Good luck!

--Kevin

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Thats funny, it was over there that I first read it and Mark replied with a private message so no way to tell what the outcome was. Still no longer a fan of SFX.

I have used SFX exclusively for 20 years. I am a Diamond member. We have always received what we requested and some were pretty tough trades like Scottsdale AZ in March ( MLB spring training month ). We have exchanged into Hawaii ( multiple times ), New York City ( multiple times ), Grand Mayans ( many times ) in both Nuevo Vallarta and Riviera Maya, Las Vegas, Sedona AZ, Branson, etc. We almost always request specific resorts all during prime time.

As a Diamond member, the exchange fee is $149 with free upgrades. I also get other perks and 2 bonus weeks for my Gaslamp Plaza Suites.

Prior to SFX I belonged to both RCI and II. I quit RCI because they lied to me and got very rude when I caught them. I didn't renew II as they couldn't get what I wanted. With SFX you can exchange into both RCI and II affiliated resorts.

They don't rely just on deposits but proactively try to find what you want which sometimes involves them making a trade with RCI, etc. to get your week.

I see this thread has not been touched in a long time.... I have the Grandview Las Vegas 122000 points through RCI.... is it worth keeping it there or would it make sense to move it to SFX..... has SFX gotten better after these postings or do people still have trouble using them.... and would I get as good a trading value if I give up the 122000 points by leaving RCI? can I even go to SFX thanks..... I like RCI but I also like to know my options..... Dave