# Interval International...points?



## brianfox (May 1, 2011)

I just got the little "go" mailer from Interval, and in several sections, they keep mentioning points.  I'm not talking about some sort of Interval points thing, but rather they talk about "exchanging your weeks or points" for a vacation.

Do these points have to do with Marriott's new point system?


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## tschwa2 (May 1, 2011)

Marriott, BlueGreen, Wyndham, Worldmark, Diamond, Festiva... all can or are required to deposit points instead of an actual week and the developer balances out the trades behind the scenes.


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## timeos2 (May 1, 2011)

II has also rolled out it's own points system but so far it is low on the radar. They talk about it in areas on line like you saw but very little sales promotion so far. (Yes, you have to pay to get in).


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## bobpark56 (May 2, 2011)

tschwa2 said:


> Marriott, BlueGreen, Wyndham, Worldmark, Diamond, Festiva... all can or are required to deposit points instead of an actual week and the developer balances out the trades behind the scenes.



Not true. My wife & I are Festiva points members. When we call Festiva to get a unit for deposit, that unit gets deposited...and our searches on II are based on that unit. All works just as if we had deposited a unit we get from Marriott (we own a floating Marriott week and are not Marriott points members).


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## tschwa2 (May 2, 2011)

sorry, my bad.  I assumed members with Festiva points exchanged the same way as many of the other points members.  Apparently not but some of the others once deposited as you describe until the developers decided they wanted to control what got deposited.  In terms of trading power it sometimes works out better for the member but it usually means less prime weeks are deposited in II to exchange into.


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## tashamen (May 3, 2011)

tschwa2 said:


> sorry, my bad.  I assumed members with Festiva points exchanged the same way as many of the other points members.  Apparently not but some of the others once deposited as you describe until the developers decided they wanted to control what got deposited.  In terms of trading power it sometimes works out better for the member but it usually means less prime weeks are deposited in II to exchange into.



Club Intrawest points members also get to reserve the week we want to deposit into II, and then directly deposit it.  All this can happen online, so CI could not interfere with the process even if they wanted to.


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## dougp26364 (May 3, 2011)

tschwa2 said:


> sorry, my bad.  I assumed members with Festiva points exchanged the same way as many of the other points members.  Apparently not but some of the others once deposited as you describe until the developers decided they wanted to control what got deposited.  In terms of trading power it sometimes works out better for the member but it usually means less prime weeks are deposited in II to exchange into.



There are benefits to both developer and owner, not just developer control. With DRI and Hilton, I can see go availability at resorts during higher demand times. Holiday's aren't as big of a problem and higher demand areas can generally be had for many dates. This vs deposit, request, hope and pray. It elinimates owners from reserving, only to deposit, the highest demand weeks in the false belief that they MUST have the highest exchange power to get the "rare" exchange they want. By eliminating owners reserving/depositing the highest value weeks, actual owners in the system get to use those weeks.

It also evens out the exchange value. Points are points. My points with HGVC or DRI trade exactly with the same value as everyone else's points. There's no waking up at the crack of dawn in an attempt to reserve a high value week just to use it for exchange. There's no worry about if I can get that high value week or waiting for that week to roll around in an attempt to reserve it just to exchange. Points are points and can be exchanged anytime.

So it's not just a developer grab for control. There are advantages for owners as well.

And you're correct, there are fewer prime weeks deposited with Interval or RCI. The developer gets an edge in sales because you'll need to own with them if you want a good chance at prime weeks in their system.

Personally, I like well desinged internal points exchange systems. I'm not sure how I'll feel about big exchange company points based exchange systems. I'll wait to see what/if interval offers me. My problem is that I've become pretty adept at the trading up game and, one of my weeks is what I consider a low value week. Fortunately, the original intent of purchasing that low value week was to use it. We've only exchaned it because we were getting such darn good value in the exchange game.


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## colamedia (May 3, 2011)

I'm a Worldmark Asia Pacific member. we were changed over to variable points compared to the fixed points required to exchange through II (eg 3000 WMAP credits for any size Flexcange) without any notice from II whatsoever about 2 years ago I think. 
Now Flexchanges are just 50% or the normal II point value, which means most of them require more credits now unless you're after a studio or 1bedroom, but for larger units outside Flexchange most of the values are now a little bit lower than the old fixed value ones (was 10000 for a 2 bed?)

I prefer the old fixed credit value system, you knew what something was going to be and it was easier to roughly keep track of things, now there are exchanges for 2650 credits and 8700 I need to write things down!


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## dougp26364 (May 4, 2011)

colamedia said:


> I'm a Worldmark Asia Pacific member. we were changed over to variable points compared to the fixed points required to exchange through II (eg 3000 WMAP credits for any size Flexcange) without any notice from II whatsoever about 2 years ago I think.
> Now Flexchanges are just 50% or the normal II point value, which means most of them require more credits now unless you're after a studio or 1bedroom, but for larger units outside Flexchange most of the values are now a little bit lower than the old fixed value ones (was 10000 for a 2 bed?)
> 
> I prefer the old fixed credit value system, you knew what something was going to be and it was easier to roughly keep track of things, now there are exchanges for 2650 credits and 8700 I need to write things down!



DRI and I.I. made changes a couple of years ago as well as far as point value for exchange. They added seasons based on I.I's trade demand index and increased points required for 3 bedroom and larger units. In the past, it was just a straight point total no matter what the season (if I recall correctly) and the maximum number of points for an exchange was whatever a 2 bedroom unit was going for.

I wasn't overly happy about the changes but, I can't say that there were unfair. The changes more acurately reflect the value of the units being aquired using DRI points. Let's face it, higher demand times should require higher trade power or, more points. The old system was probably applied back when it was rare for developers to sell anything larger than a 2 bedroom unit.


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