# SFX Online Availability is Now Active‏



## yumdrey (Feb 15, 2011)

They activated the online search site, but you MUST have a depositted week to use that.
I don't have any week deposit, so couldn't search online inventory.
Does any other tugger who has depositted week check it already?
How are their inventory?


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## fillde (Feb 15, 2011)

I just checked with my Marriott deposited week. Coming up with many Mexican Resort locations. The system works very well. My bonus weeks show also.


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## fillde (Feb 15, 2011)

Just to add. I've thrown in various weeks looking to see something other than Mexico. I have seen HGVC on the Strip Las Vegas. Peacock Suites, Powell Place and the Donatello in California. Those were seen for the month of November. 
The system is very user friendly.


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## jnjn (Feb 15, 2011)

I keep getting an error message!  Its still working for you?


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## fillde (Feb 15, 2011)

Yes. It is working.


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## falmouth3 (Feb 15, 2011)

It's got problems.  My newly refreshed 5 year platinum membership is now a gold membership and my $500 credit is missing.  I'm sure they'll get it fixed tomorrow.  But I really wanted to do an online search.   

Sue


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## falmouth3 (Feb 15, 2011)

Wow, I sent an email and it was fixed right away.  Thanks, SFX.


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## DeniseM (Feb 15, 2011)

I would be great if someone would post some sightings on the Sightings Forum.  For example:  Hawaii, Caribbean, California, and other prime locations.


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Feb 15, 2011)

Not seeing San Francisco still in November. Is it my week? (Gaslamp 2013 one bedroom)
Liz


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## yumdrey (Feb 15, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> I would be great if someone would post some sightings on the Sightings Forum.  For example:  Hawaii, Caribbean, California, and other prime locations.



That's a great idea!


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## falmouth3 (Feb 15, 2011)

I only saw 1 Hawaii in my scans.  No San Frans.  Almost all Mexico.  Although I did see Grand Mayan weeks and some Palace resorts.


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## falmouth3 (Feb 15, 2011)

Liz Wolf-Spada said:


> Not seeing San Francisco still in November. Is it my week? (Gaslamp 2013 one bedroom)
> Liz



Did you deposit your 2013 week already?  If that's not a typo, you really plan ahead.


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## pammex (Feb 15, 2011)

I was very excited to check out the online site but much to my chagrin you can't even browse if you do not have a week deposited....ugh.


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## fillde (Feb 15, 2011)

Most of the weeks I see with my trader, I can see with my 2 bonus weeks.


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## DeniseM (Feb 15, 2011)

Please post any SFX Sightings on the TUG Sightings Forum - thanks!


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## mandolin (Feb 15, 2011)

I have bonus weeks, but no week on deposit - I cannot access the online inventory either.

I called SFX and they said that you must have a deposit in order to access online inventory. Hope this will change soon.


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## Dreamer2010 (Feb 15, 2011)

Is SFX similar to II in that the 'online' inventory is just the 'left overs' from the on-going requests??


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## learnalot (Feb 15, 2011)

Dreamer2010 said:


> Is SFX similar to II in that the 'online' inventory is just the 'left overs' from the on-going requests??



Yes.  They fill ongoing requests first.  Online inventory is inventory unmatched to outstanding requests.


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## PeelBoy (Feb 16, 2011)

Is trade power a major consideration?


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## Bourne (Feb 16, 2011)

I may be in the minority but I have gotten used to the new RCI weeks system. 

I *NEED* to know what is available even when I cannot book it....otherwise it is always a shot in the dark. 

RCI and a few independents do it. I hople II/SFX see the light too and move in that direction. I am not saying I need the combine/split flexibility, but let me know I am at 70/100 and I could not get that summer Hawaii week because it was 80/100.


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Feb 16, 2011)

No, my account shows Gaslamp expires 2013 or Gaslamp expires 2015. Those are expiration dates, not use dates.
Liz


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## travelguy (Feb 16, 2011)

PeelBoy said:


> Is trade power a major consideration?



Good question.  

I've always assumed that all SFX deposits traded equally since they "filter" the deposits to better quality resorts although admittedly not all are EQUAL quality.

This hasn't been an issue since we've never seen what was/was not available.

I will say that most, if not all, of the trades I've received from SFX in the past are better than what I now see online.  This is similar to the ongoing search "leftovers" that you see on the RCI site.


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## John Cummings (Feb 16, 2011)

Dreamer2010 said:


> Is SFX similar to II in that the 'online' inventory is just the 'left overs' from the on-going requests??



The short answer is yes. What you will see are the left overs that nobody has submitted requests for. That is the way it has to work and is the reason why I have never been excited about on-line searching.


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## John Cummings (Feb 16, 2011)

PeelBoy said:


> Is trade power a major consideration?



Absolutely. I did a search with 2 different prime summer weeks of the same resort and got different results. Mark of SFX has posted a detailed explanation of how it works on the other time sharing site with the "Ask SFX' forum.


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## hsintang (Feb 17, 2011)

I had a HGVC Flamingo 1 bedroom week 50 (or 51) week deposited a year ago and have not found a match.  When I checked on line today, I can see many weeks in Hawaii and Mexico for March- May time frame but the inventory is significantly decreased in summer prime time...


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## John Cummings (Feb 17, 2011)

hsintang said:


> I had a HGVC Flamingo 1 bedroom week 50 (or 51) week deposited a year ago and have not found a match.  When I checked on line today, I can see many weeks in Hawaii and Mexico for March- May time frame but the inventory is significantly decreased in summer prime time...



That is to be expected as the prime weeks have probably gone to the people that have requests for them.


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## dude-luv (Feb 17, 2011)

*Trading Power*

I have done independent searches with completely different weeks (that theoretically should have far different trading power) and have come up with identical results.  The best way to see what is available in a given time period is to do a search with Show all Areas.  

Also, as has been mentioned, this is left over inventory (capable of being sell-off material) from what I can see.  In many cases, you can either purchase (e.g., rent) the week or use a deposited week to obtain the exchange.  There is nothing really revolutionary here.  It is nice to have the ability to make on-line searches but the real exchanges will be made behind the scenes by telephone or email.  After testing the system out, I will continue to do business with SFX the 'old-fashioned' way.  The real exchange inventory is not being published.


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## John Cummings (Feb 17, 2011)

dude-luv said:


> Also, as has been mentioned, this is left over inventory (capable of being sell-off material) from what I can see.  In many cases, you can either purchase (e.g., rent) the week or use a deposited week to obtain the exchange.  There is nothing really revolutionary here.  It is nice to have the ability to make on-line searches but the real exchanges will be made behind the scenes by telephone or email.  After testing the system out, I will continue to do business with SFX the 'old-fashioned' way.  The real exchange inventory is not being published.



We are in complete agreement.


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## Imretiredarmy (Feb 19, 2011)

I deposited a Summer Bay Orlando 1 bedroom with a June reservation date into SFX.  Yesterday I got a call from SFX, I got a Marriott Hilton Head 2 bedroom in June.  I am very happy with SFX.


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## John Cummings (Feb 19, 2011)

Imretiredarmy said:


> I deposited a Summer Bay Orlando 1 bedroom with a June reservation date into SFX.  Yesterday I got a call from SFX, I got a Marriott Hilton Head 2 bedroom in June.  I am very happy with SFX.



Congratulations. That is a great exchange.


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## durrod (Feb 20, 2011)

I have always gotten excellent exchanges depositing Summer Bay Orlando with SFX. Don't know how many TPU a june or july week will get with RCI.


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## Imretiredarmy (Feb 20, 2011)

This was my first experience with SFX. Needless to say I will be depositing more with SFX and less with RCI.  Especially if RCI doesn't give me my 30 TPUs back.

The deposit was deeded as a week 4 (only 10 or 11 TPUs in RCI) but floated during Summer Bays silver season.  So I made a reservation for the week of June 4.  I deposited that reservation into SFX.  I am a Platinum member of SFX so I received the upgrade to a 2 bedroom for free.


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## RickSpencer (Feb 20, 2011)

*sfx lifetime diamond membership*

Is it worth upgrading to the lifetime diamond membership with sfx exchange?


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## tschwa2 (Feb 20, 2011)

RickSpencer said:


> Is it worth upgrading to the lifetime diamond membership with sfx exchange?



Probably not.  How much are they charging for lifetime diamond membership?


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## John Cummings (Feb 20, 2011)

RickSpencer said:


> Is it worth upgrading to the lifetime diamond membership with sfx exchange?



It depends what you want. You can go to the SFX website and compare the different memberships. We have been Platinum Plus members for many years. The Diamond is not worth it for us but it could be for some people.


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## Imretiredarmy (Feb 20, 2011)

Platinum Plus is all I want or need.  If you are into cruises then Diamond might be worth it to you.


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## falmouth3 (Feb 22, 2011)

Also consider how long you might need the "lifetime" membership.  It may be 10 - 20 years.  I don't think it's worth paying so much for a lifetime of anything unless you are young.  And if you're young, you may not be able to pay that much money.   

I just did another search of the online exchanges.  There are so many fewer potential exchanges than there were when they were first posted.  I wonder if people have really snapped up all those weeks.


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## RickSpencer (Feb 23, 2011)

*sfx lifetime diamond membership*

They want $1500 for a diamond lifetime membership.  Do you like sfx exchange.  Do you recommend a lifetime membership?  Has anyone traded their timeshare for a cruise through sfx?


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## falmouth3 (Feb 23, 2011)

Interesting.  That's about 1/2 of what they wanted before.


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## catvag (Feb 28, 2011)

*What is SFX?*

Sorry, I'm a relatively new Tugger but love it.  We're II members (2 accounts) with 3 Marriotts, one Renaissance, one Royal, and 1 independent.  Is SFX another trading company?  I noticed one post said they had their Marriott unit on deposit.  I thought Marriott only used II.  Thanks in advance for the help.


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## brigechols (Feb 28, 2011)

catvag said:


> Sorry, I'm a relatively new Tugger but love it.  We're II members (2 accounts) with 3 Marriotts, one Renaissance, one Royal, and 1 independent.  Is SFX another trading company?  I noticed one post said they had their Marriott unit on deposit.  I thought Marriott only used II.  Thanks in advance for the help.



It is an independent exchange company that accepts deposits from select resorts/destinations during select times.  Generally, you need to deposit at least a one bedroom. SFX will accept studio units for urban locations e.g., NYC and San Francisco, and I believe they will also accept studio units for ski season at select resorts.


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## learnalot (Feb 28, 2011)

catvag said:


> Sorry, I'm a relatively new Tugger but love it.  We're II members (2 accounts) with 3 Marriotts, one Renaissance, one Royal, and 1 independent.  Is SFX another trading company?  I noticed one post said they had their Marriott unit on deposit.  I thought Marriott only used II.  Thanks in advance for the help.



Marriott's exchange company is II but you can join an independent company and use them on your own.  In the exchanging forum here on the message boards you will find a lot of information about some of the independent exchange options.


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## AnnaO (Feb 28, 2011)

yumdrey said:


> They activated the online search site, but you MUST have a depositted week to use that.
> I don't have any week deposit, so couldn't search online inventory.
> Does any other tugger who has depositted week check it already?
> How are their inventory?



I have a couple of weeks in deposit but it won't let me search online, saying I need to upgrade my membership. I am reluctant to spend money on the premium membership because I only need ski weeks and so far SFX did not come up with any availability in CO or Utah.


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## garyk01 (Feb 28, 2011)

*SFX Online*

I have been upgraded to Diamond status ( for 2 years) as i purchased a lifetime Platiumn plan. the new sfx online works well, if anyone want me to check a status , let me know as i have a deposited week and can use the search function.

Gary


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## travelguy (Feb 28, 2011)

AnnaO said:


> I am reluctant to spend money on the premium membership because I only need ski weeks and so far SFX did not come up with any availability in CO or Utah.



SFX has gotten me ski resorts in Summit & Eagle counties (CO) in the past and offered me exchanges in Utah and Telluride.  I have 2012 SFX exchanges for Marriott CO (Presidents Day, 1bd) and the new Grand Lodge CO (MLK day, 2bd).  These were all obtained by depositing and adding an ongoing search with wide parameters.


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## John Cummings (Mar 1, 2011)

AnnaO said:


> I have a couple of weeks in deposit but it won't let me search online, saying I need to upgrade my membership. I am reluctant to spend money on the premium membership because I only need ski weeks and so far SFX did not come up with any availability in CO or Utah.



If you were searching on-line I would be very surprised if it showed any weeks. Like any exchange company, the only weeks that show up on-line are the leftover weeks that nobody has requested.


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## beach_bumz (Mar 1, 2011)

*SFX just came through again*

I just got a Hilton Club New York August week that I requested two weeks ago. That was fast! So within the past two months, I've received two cabo weeks and now the New York week for summer 2011. Obviously the New York week was not sitting online as I've been searching daily. 

I love SFX, but I wouldn't depend on their online search function when planning a vacation. I have multiple ongoing searches most of the time, and sometimes I get a match and sometimes I don't.


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## John Cummings (Mar 1, 2011)

beach_bumz said:


> I just got a Hilton Club New York August week that I requested two weeks ago. That was fast! So within the past two months, I've received two cabo weeks and now the New York week for summer 2011. Obviously the New York week was not sitting online as I've been searching daily.
> 
> I love SFX, but I wouldn't depend on their online search function when planning a vacation. I have multiple ongoing searches most of the time, and sometimes I get a match and sometimes I don't.



We will be at the same T/S in NYC in late June.


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