# Worldmark Trades with II and/ RCI



## longboarder39 (Jan 16, 2010)

I’ve been bouncing back and forth from buying a S*wood resale trader or a Worldmark Credits based TS.  Would anyone mind giving me their 2 cents on how well I would be able to trade into higher end resorts with WM credits…here’s what I’m looking to do.

I live on the west coast, so mainly Palm Springs, HI, AZ, Mexico and some Ski Vacations.  We’re very flexible with when we can travel and would mostly need 1br but would some times like to have a 2br in order to invite friends or family.  Staying in the nicer resorts, Marriott, Starwood, Hilton and Hyatt is a priority.  I’d use flexchange sometimes but definitely want to be able to book units 6-10 months out as well.

Is this doable with WM credits?

How many credits would you suggest to get started?

How well can I really expect to get into the higher-end properties 6-10 months out? (Not during peak season, but not the desert in summer time either)
1)	Palm Springs
2)	HI
3)	AZ
4)	Ski Weeks
5)	Mex


Many Many thanks to all of the Tuggers on this site!!!!  You guys are awesome!! :whoopie:  

Scott


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## ada903 (Jan 16, 2010)

I am a *wood owner and use II to trade, but I have just opened an II account for my sister in law who owns Worldmark, it takes about a week they said to verify her membership, then I will be able to login online and will be able to hopefully search with her points and compare to what I see with my *wood week.  As a *wood member, there used to be a priority in exchanging for *wood owners, but lately that was messed up with all the changes they made recently.  However, I can still see generous availability for resorts such as Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas, whereas my weak is a "cheap" Sheraton Vistana week.  I was able to get wonderful trades (low season at Atlantis with plenty of notice; high season at Westin Ka'anapali with short notice and plenty of notice; etc), so I am pretty happy with the trades.  The best deal these days is also to join II for the perk of getaways, you can get amazing deals at gold crown resorts especially when you are willing to travel short notice.


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## LLW (Jan 16, 2010)

longboarder39 said:


> I’ve been bouncing back and forth from buying a S*wood resale trader or a Worldmark Credits based TS.  Would anyone mind giving me their 2 cents on how well I would be able to trade into higher end resorts with WM credits…here’s what I’m looking to do.
> 
> I live on the west coast, so mainly Palm Springs, HI, AZ, Mexico and some Ski Vacations.  We’re very flexible with when we can travel and would mostly need 1br but would some times like to have a 2br in order to invite friends or family.  Staying in the nicer resorts, Marriott, Starwood, Hilton and Hyatt is a priority.  I’d use flexchange sometimes but definitely want to be able to book units 6-10 months out as well.
> 
> ...




To get a general feel of what exchanges WM can get you, read this 5-page thread on wmowners.com:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6634

Also, reading the rest of the 15 stickies in that Vacation Exchange Info forum would greatly facilitate an understanding of how and how well exchanging using WM works.

The high-end resorts that you listed, in shoulder or off season, should be very doable with WM, with the following caveats:

1. Most of the high-end systems have preference periods for system owners to trade back in. You will only see the leftovers. But shoulder and off-season availabilities are plentiful, especially in 1BRs. 2BRs are a little harder - meaning you would have to be more diligent. But I basically just take 2BRs and have had no problem getting about 3 or 4 every year.  

2. Ski weeks - I assume you would want peak, when there is snow, and not in the spring or fall? Peak ski weeks are _very_ hard to get especially in the high-end systems. But there have also been reports of people getting high-end Marriott ski weeks, if they have the know-how (provided in the stickies that I mentioned above). Also, WM has its own ski resorts in Whistler and those are bookable 13 months in advance.

As to how many points to get, because you can rent one-time use credits easily, most owners suggest that you get a minimum account (6000 is the most common minimum account on the resale market) in the beginning, to see if the system fits you first. Personally, I like to own at least one week's worth of credits of whatever I think I will use. There are also break-points in the MF schedule that you might want to take advantage of:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21585

Welcome to the world of Worldmark.


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## longboarder39 (Jan 17, 2010)

Thanks for the great info!

It seems like the going rate for 6k points on ebay is $2,000-$2,500...can any one tell me how that compares historicly over the last few years??

All the best!
Scott


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## melschey (Jan 17, 2010)

longboarder39 said:


> Thanks for the great info!
> 
> It seems like the going rate for 6k points on ebay is $2,000-$2,500...can any one tell me how that compares historicly over the last few years??
> 
> ...



a few years ago $4800 was typical


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## LLW (Jan 17, 2010)

longboarder39 said:


> Thanks for the great info!
> 
> It seems like the going rate for 6k points on ebay is $2,000-$2,500...can any one tell me how that compares historicly over the last few years??
> 
> ...



When comparing prices, you have to compare apples to apples. See this post:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24303

See this one for a summary of the process of buying WM resale:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21176


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## melschey (Jan 19, 2010)

longboarder39 said:


> I’ve been bouncing back and forth from buying a S*wood resale trader or a Worldmark Credits based TS.  Would anyone mind giving me their 2 cents on how well I would be able to trade into higher end resorts with WM credits…here’s what I’m looking to do.
> 
> I live on the west coast, so mainly Palm Springs, HI, AZ, Mexico and some Ski Vacations.  We’re very flexible with when we can travel and would mostly need 1br but would some times like to have a 2br in order to invite friends or family.  Staying in the nicer resorts, Marriott, Starwood, Hilton and Hyatt is a priority.  I’d use flexchange sometimes but definitely want to be able to book units 6-10 months out as well.
> 
> ...



We have found Palm Springs in the fall after school starts very easy to trade into with WM. We have traded into 2-bedroom units at Marriott Desert Springs Villas both 1 and to a number of time on flexchange through II. This only uses 4000 WM credits and the II exchange fee.


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