# We want to trade our timeshare to go to the London Olympics?



## Lorraine (Feb 18, 2011)

We are looking for a timeshare near London. Any tips on Olympic tickets airlines to use with Marriott points? We own in Kauai and Palm Desert. Thank you.


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## Carolinian (Feb 18, 2011)

London is the toughest place to trade into on the planet, although owners there are shortchanged by RCI on their deposits valuation under Points Lite, as are many UK resorts that are very hard to trade into.

Suggest that you join SFX.  They handle exchanges for a London resort that dumped RCI a few years ago and now trades primarily through SFX.

II trades into London virtually evaporated when DRI sold its Carlton Court resort.  That transaction put a lot of money into the coffers of DRI but left DRI members, and largely II, without a London resort to trade into.  From what I have been told, DRI's predecessor, Sunterra, bought the building at Carlton Court with corporate funds but then used milliions of pounds from member m/f's to renovate it.  So DRI ripped off its members when it sold the resort and pocketed the money.

Hapimag has a timeshare resort in London, and they do exchanges through DAE and DRI, but they are very selective on which Hapimag resorts they will give inventory in, and I have never heard of them giving Hapimag London inventory to either DAE or DRI.  Hapimag does not trade through either RCI or II.


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## hobyhaus (Feb 18, 2011)

*[advertising deleted]*

[Advertising is not permitted in the discussion forums. -DeniseM Moderator]


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## CapriciousC (Feb 18, 2011)

Have you checked ticket prices for the various events yet?  My husband and I were talking about going to the 2012 games, and the ticket prices alone scared us off.  (For reference, hubby has attended the games in Los Angeles and Atlanta, and thought the prices for London were exorbitant).  That's just our opinion, though.

If you decide to go, I wish you the best of luck in finding a trade!


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## Lorraine (Feb 18, 2011)

*Olympic ticket prices and house trade*

We are curious on Olympic ticket prices and may consider a house trade.


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## Judy (Feb 19, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> Suggest that you join SFX.  They handle exchanges for a London resort that dumped RCI a few years ago and now trades primarily through SFX.


Does the SFX free membership still require a deposit before a request can be placed?  How likely is it that SFX would actually come through with an exchange confirmation to London?
I'm looking for an exchange to London too, as you might remember from my previous posts.  But I'd hate to pay for an SFX Platinum or Diamond membership and/or deposit a valuable week if the chances of getting a confirmation to a London resort for my one desired week are slim to none.
(Other SFX availability doesn't suit my travel preferences)


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## Carolinian (Feb 19, 2011)

Judy said:


> Does the SFX free membership still require a deposit before a request can be placed?  How likely is it that SFX would actually come through with an exchange confirmation to London?
> I'm looking for an exchange to London too, as you might remember from my previous posts.  But I'd hate to pay for an SFX Platinum or Diamond membership and/or deposit a valuable week if the chances of getting a confirmation to a London resort for my one desired week are slim to none.
> (Other SFX availability doesn't suit my travel preferences)



There is an Ask SFX board at www.timeshareforums.com . You might want to ask that question there.  I would suspect with a request like London, the more range of dates you gave them, the better the chances would be.


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## eal (Feb 19, 2011)

I don't think London exchanges are that hard to get with SFX - they often appear on the sell-off list and I have booked one in the past without too much trouble or wait.  

Now getting one during the 2012 Olympics might be a different story.  We live in British Columbia and own at Whister, and for the winter Olympics in 2010 all the owners I ever knew or heard about rented instead of depositing during those two Olympics weeks.


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## 3kids4me (Feb 20, 2011)

I've been looking for a late June 2012 exchange (not during the Olympics, but one month before) with no luck.  I'm willing to rent a flat and will probably go in that direction, but the rental prices I have been quoted so far are 50% higher than they are for a typical summer, even for one month before the Olympics start.  (I'm thinking that they may not get those prices and don't realize it yet...stars in their eyes...and prices may go lower later.)  It will be interesting to see what hotel prices are like for late June (just my daughter and me so no issue staying in a hotel either if necessary).

Keep us posted on your search.  I don't think SFX will be of help as I don't know of anyone who has gotten a summer week in London from them even in a typical year.  (They seem to be good for winter in London though!)

Sharon


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## Pompey Family (Feb 20, 2011)

The 2012 Olympics looks set to be nothing more than a monumental rip off with anyone and everyone out to hike their prices.  

Even though I live only an hour's drive from London I'm not prepared to pay the exorbitant prices for a ticket.  There's talk of £20 tickets being available however these are going to be small in number and will be snatched up.  Most tickets are going to be around the £70 figure which is simply a rip off.

Taking a holiday in London during the Olympics will be very expensive.


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## Jimster (Feb 20, 2011)

*honestly*

Honestly, I think you need a reality check if you think you will be able to trade your timeshare for a timeshare during the Olympics.  MAYBE just MAYBE you might be able to use some hotel points for a free night.  Carolinian is right about the dearth of TS units in London.  While I have made the exchange before, it was not during the Olympics.  Frankly, since the rental value of such a unit would be in the thousands of dollars (even for a small unit- which is probably all you could ever get), a person would have to crazy to deposit it into an exchange company.  Then you'd have to be a lottery winner type to get it.  The only other thing i can think of is maybe you do a private trade and offer several years worth of your TS properties in an exchange.


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## Lorraine (Feb 21, 2011)

*Thank you for your tips....*

We are now looking into a house trade and have a connection through a relative of a friend. They live in the Wimbleton area. My cousins live in London so maybe they can get cheaper event tickets. We went to the Olympics in Spain and stayed in a timeshare six hours away from the events. We stayed the week at the resort timeshare and got cheaper hotel tickets for two nights in Barcelona waiting two weeks before the start of the Olympics. We got then the event tickets from a bank in the USA at a sensible price....but that was then. Thanks again the tips.


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## Luanne (Feb 21, 2011)

Lorraine said:


> My cousins live in London so maybe they can get cheaper event tickets.



Good luck on that.   I've heard ticket prices for these Olympics are the highest ever.  Unless they don't sell tickets I wouldn't think anyone would be getting them cheaper.


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## welshhope (Feb 24, 2011)

*ticket prices link*

http://www.tickets.london2012.com/olyschedule_p1.html

you may find this link handy it has all the ticket prices - yes some of them are high but I hope this will go some way to ensure the already overstretched tax payers of this financially crippled country do not end up paying for the olympics ........ we have children living in poverty here same as most countries so we need to egt our prioirities right - just MHO  enjoy


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## Kagehitokiri2 (Feb 27, 2011)

welshhope said:


> http://www.tickets.london2012.com/olyschedule_p1.html


base prices are only £20 > £95


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## Pompey Family (Mar 8, 2011)

Kagehitokiri2 said:


> base prices are only £20 > £95



THe number of £20 tickets are going to be very low and most of these will be offered to school children.  The average price of a ticket is being estimated at £75.  £300 for a family of 4 to watch a sport that generally they're not really that interested in is not much of a temptation.


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## ocdb8r (Mar 9, 2011)

Pompey Family said:


> The number of £20 tickets are going to be very low and most of these will be offered to school children.  The average price of a ticket is being estimated at £75.



This is simply not true.  90% of tickets will be £100 or less, 66% less than £50 and about 25% costing £20 or less. The majority of £20 tickets are for the general public.  "School Children" are actually being being offered a "pay your age" or promotion at 200 non-premium events.  Every preliminary round offers £20 tickets and the vast majority of finals offer tickets starting at £35 (many finals also offer £20 tickets with a few finals having ticket prices starting at £65). Also, parts of some events such as the marathon, road cycling and the triathlon will be free.

Yes, if you need to be in the first 20% of the seats or if you'll only go and watch Gold Medal finals, you're going to pay a pretty penny. But please don't think there aren't reasonably priced tickets.

Admittedly, if you wanted to go to a cheap summer games you should have gone to China in 2008.  Ticket prices were heavily subsidized and China really wanted to make an impression to the world.


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