# II, RCI or DAE



## Patri (May 2, 2010)

I have never had a paid membership to an exchange company but am now considering it. My resorts affiliate with II and RCI (one with each). Between those two, which do you recommend? (I think I know the answer but bring it on anyway LOL)

Are the offerings with DAE worth the Gold membership? I just think they won't have much availability beyond what is on the website.

I'm just into average timeshares, not the high end ones. Will appreciate any advice.


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## DeniseM (May 2, 2010)

It really depends on where you want to go:

Hawaii - II
DVC - RCI
Marriott and Starwood - II
Largest inventory - RCI
Lower exchange fees - II

If you don't have a strong trader - you may not be happy with either company.


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## e.bram (May 2, 2010)

II lets you search first BEFORE you deposit. End of story.


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## LLW (May 2, 2010)

DeniseM said:


> If you don't have a strong trader - you may not be happy with either company.



I was thinking about this yesterday. Everything else being equal, would II or RCI be better for a week that you own that has stronger or weaker trade power, assuming you put in an ongoing search with both companies?

RCI's queue is in order of the time you get into line, as long as you have enough trade power to qualify for the week you desire. II's queue is in order of trade power - the week with the highest trade power is first in line, until another week with stronger trade power jumps in and takes first place.

So does that mean that if you have average trade power, RCI would be better for you (disregarding any dislike that you might have for RCI operations  ) if you know to get into line early, like 18-24 months in advance? And if you have a week with very strong trade power, that II would be better as long as you get into line early enough to meet that deposited week, because you would become first in line, unless there is another week with stronger trade power already in line?


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## bnoble (May 2, 2010)

Interesting observation.  The only possible hitch in the giddyup is this bit:



> as long as you have enough trade power to qualify for the week you desire



With RCI, you can't trade quite as far "up" as you can with II.  So, with II, you might be later in the list, but with RCI, you might not even be on the list.  But, if you are, then planning ahead gives you the advantage.

I tend to use RCI, because (a) the account is "free" with my Wyndham points ownership, and (b) having more choices is more important to me than access to the Marriott/*wood name brand.  But, you have to decide what the tradeoffs are for you.

Patri: it would help if you told us a little more about what you are looking for.  So far, based on your "average not high end" I don't think II will do much for you.


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## Judy (May 2, 2010)

Patri said:


> Are the offerings with DAE worth the Gold membership? I just think they won't have much availability beyond what is on the website.


No one has addressed your question about DAE, so I'll take a stab at it, even though I'm not a Gold Advantage member and it's been a while since I exchanged through DAE.  
Just like other exchange companies, what you can book online are the leftovers.  It's well worth it to put in an ongoing search.  You don't have to pay for a Gold Advantage membership to use their "request first"; only to be first in line.  I too thought that request first was only a benefit of Gold Advantage members, but I've just learned otherwise on the daelive website http://www.daelive.com/articles/article.aspx?ArticleID=676
DAE's exchange fee is lower than either II or RCI.
They have less inventory than the big two, but don't use trading power or quality ratings to determine what exchanges you can get.
In general, their inventory becomes available later than RCI's does.


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## Carolinian (May 3, 2010)

I just got back from a nice pair of DAE exchanges - 2BR's at Stouts Hill in England and Knocktopher Abbey in Ireland.  The request first ability at DAE exists with free membership in DAE US, but for a membership through their UK office, you have to be gold to do request first.  I have the gold membership, and listed Knocktopher Abbey as a request.  I got a call that I could have any week in April, May, or June, all 2BR.  I chose the week following my existing confirmnation at Stouts Hill, which had been my last DAE transaction while a US-based member.

I have found that DAE does have quite a bit of inventory that is availible through trading partners in addition to what is online.  The Knocktopher Abbey week I just got back from was through their trading partner, Seasons Holidays.  I have also used DAE to trade into a seafront resort on the French Riveria in summer and a UK summer canalboat through their trading partner, Club La Costa.  A few years ago, I also got trading partner inventory from DAE in the Cayman Islands.


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## anne1125 (May 3, 2010)

I'd choose RCI only because II doesn't offer like for like.  They want you to settle for less than you've deposited.

Anne


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## tashamen (May 3, 2010)

anne1125 said:


> I'd choose RCI only because II doesn't offer like for like.  They want you to settle for less than you've deposited.



This is certainly not true in my experience.  I'm very happy with II for both my top trader and my less than top (quality) trader.


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## Mel (May 3, 2010)

If you want to be able to trade both weeks, DAE is the obvious answer, because you can pick and choose what to deposit.

If you plan to join only one of the big 2 companies, you will need to determine you needs first, as already mentioned above:

1 - how well will what you have trade with the respective companies? will it qualify for the kind of trade you will be looking for?

2 - where do you want to go?  Each company is better in certain areas, weak in others.

3 - What will you do with the other week?  If you choose to exchange week A because it is more likely to get the exchanges you want, will you be happy using week B yourself?  Or would you be happier sacrificing a bit on your exchanges so you can use week A yourself?

4 - What type of planning horizon will you use?  how early will you deposit, and how early will you make your requests?  Will your requests be specific or general - and will you need time to verify travel plans once a confimation comes through.  With RCI, if your request is more general, they will put a week on hold for you, but if it is very specific (specific resorts, specific weeks) they might confirm it for you.  I have heard it is difficult to turn a week back to II if they confirm a week based on an ongoing search, but an II member would be better able to answer that.

5 - does "request first" really make a difference for you.  If II can't come up with something you like, will you use your week in some other way?  It does allow you so search before you commit, but it also means there's less incentive for the owner of the exchange you want to deposit early too.


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## Bwolf (May 3, 2010)

tashamen said:


> This is certainly not true in my experience.  I'm very happy with II for both my top trader and my less than top (quality) trader.




Me too.  I've actually had problems with II because I don't see the resorts that are, in II's view, lessor quality than the resort I would like to trade.  Sometimes getting to where you need to be when you need to be there is more important that trading like for like.  Trading "down" should be more of an option than it is in II.

This statement (I'd choose RCI only because II doesn't offer like for like.  They want  you to settle for less than you've deposited.) is bewildering.


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## Laurie (May 3, 2010)

Carolinian said:


> I have found that DAE does have quite a bit of inventory that is availible through trading partners in addition to what is online.


It would be nice if DAE listed who their trading partners are, and which resorts they encompass. I've never understood why this info isn't available on their website. 

Carolinian, I know you have gotten many satisfactory exchanges thru DAE, but most of us have no idea who these trading partners are, and which requests are likely to ever yield something. Maybe you could post what you know, and it could become a sticky in the Ask DAE section. 

So far, my DAE requests have never yielded anything. I once nabbed a good exchange thru DAE from their online inventory, and once I accepted something less great just to avoid the 3-year expiration of a deposit. I've had a few other ongoing requests that were never filled (even when they were in areas where they get relatively frequent deposits), and I have a couple ongoing requests in with DAE right now. We'll see.

I feel very frustrated with RCI a lot, and have seen exchange availability go incredibly downhill over the last few years. Still, they have the most availability, especially for those not looking for brand-name high-end timeshares.  98% of our exchanges have been thru RCI.

We owned a dual RCI- and II-affiliated  resort for awhile, but never felt that joining II would be worth the membership fees for us. Not only that, I never liked II's policy of automatically confirming an ongoing request for an area.

Edited to add: I've just asked DAE for this list. I still would love to hear from Carolinian too.


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## Patri (May 3, 2010)

bnoble said:


> Patri: it would help if you told us a little more about what you are looking for.  So far, based on your "average not high end" I don't think II will do much for you.



We are so laid back on requests. Not looking for anything specific, but would  mostly want east coast. We don't make specific plans way in advance, maybe a year. 
That's why I wonder if last minute vacancies would appeal to us from either company, and which would have more choices.


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## Judy (May 4, 2010)

Laurie said:


> It would be nice if DAE listed who their trading partners are, and which resorts they encompass. I've never understood why this info isn't available on their website.
> 
> Carolinian, I know you have gotten many satisfactory exchanges thru DAE, but most of us have no idea who these trading partners are, and which requests are likely to ever yield something. Maybe you could post what you know, and it could become a sticky in the Ask DAE section.
> 
> ...


Ditto


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## Judy (May 4, 2010)

Patri said:


> We are so laid back on requests. Not looking for anything specific, but would  mostly want east coast. .


In the past, DAE has not been strong on the East Coast of the US. The last I heard, they were working to remedy that.
Northern and MidAtlantic East Coast Beach areas during summer are tough trades with both RCI and II.  Inland East Coast including Orlando is easier.  Check both exchange companies' websites for their resort listings to see where their affiliated resorts are.  Then comes the hard part - to determine whether your timeshare will likely have the trading power and quality rating to exchange for what you want in II and/or RCI.  You might post a "sightings request" on the TUG Sightings forum.


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