# Where are the weeks?



## Vacalulu (Mar 27, 2018)

We used to have great luck with trading our prime week with DAE, and had hoped that RCI's acquisition of DAE would translate into an even greater selection of exchange weeks. Quite the contrary! We're Gold Advantage members with a banked prime week, and have been trying for months to get an exchange. Months. And we included a huge range of locations (including all the ones DAE reps have previously told us are generally in good supply) and a wide range of weeks. Nothing! We have to had to call DAE multiple times to even speak with someone, and even then, they offer us nothing. We always end up talking with Ken Haberman, who contradicts himself at every turn, claims that no one is trading their weeks, and gives us an extremely hard sell on Mexican All Inclusives, even though we keep telling him that these do not fit our needs. (In several cases, the resorts Ken at DAE is pushing are less expensive through Booking.com, and with no trade required!) Really disappointing. We were so impressed with DAE before this. We now have a banked week that seems to be worthless. Seems like we can't really get any straight answers from anyone at DAE. We'll be looking into other options for trading our summer 2018 week.


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## bluehende (Mar 29, 2018)

I just checked and there are zero units in the whole of the USA from May21 to Oct 26.  Not one unless you are a gold member.  I exchanged with them a couple times and had a hard time finding anything.  Ongoing searches did not help.  Why would anyone use them now?


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## Vacalulu (Mar 29, 2018)

You got that right, bluehende. We read that a lot exchange company weeks come from excess inventory at older resorts. We've actually had good luck with that in the past. Some of these older resorts are quite nice! So even if "no one is trading" - (which I seriously doubt, based on what I see reported on RedWeek and other online sources, and what I hear from friends), there should still be weeks available. Rep at DAE completely denies that any of their inventory comes from this excess inventory. Fishy. I really don't think DAE even cares a whit - when I told them we'd not be banking an additional week with them, the rep couldn't have been less concerned. Efforts to reach others in their organization were flatly ignored. So much for their great customer service. Suspect RCI is just winding them down/killing them off.


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## JeffDH (Mar 30, 2018)

bluehende said:


> I just checked and there are zero units in the whole of the USA from May21 to Oct 26.  Not one unless you are a gold member.  I exchanged with them a couple times and had a hard time finding anything.  Ongoing searches did not help.  Why would anyone use them now?



Hmmm, I just ran a search and I see a few (3) weeks in that time frame which are not Gold Advantage... and only 9 that are Gold.  If I understand correctly, Gold gives a 14-day advance window on reserving so you might try checking back daily trying to catch something as soon as it clears that 14 day window.  Good luck!

My interest in DAE is more with regard to the Bonus weeks which are all short notice, but the pricing looks interesting.


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## bluehende (Mar 30, 2018)

JeffDH said:


> Hmmm, I just ran a search and I see a few (3) weeks in that time frame which are not Gold Advantage... and only 9 that are Gold.  If I understand correctly, Gold gives a 14-day advance window on reserving so you might try checking back daily trying to catch something as soon as it clears that 14 day window.  Good luck!
> 
> My interest in DAE is more with regard to the Bonus weeks which are all short notice, but the pricing looks interesting.



I would not jump for joy over 3 weeks available over a 5 month window in the whole country.  As of now only 2 both in the non prime part of my time frame.  Most of my transactions have also been in the last minute window.  If no one deposits I have little hope that they will be of any value in the future.


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## Vacalulu (Apr 10, 2018)

bluehende said:


> I would not jump for joy over 3 weeks available over a 5 month window in the whole country.  As of now only 2 both in the non prime part of my time frame.  Most of my transactions have also been in the last minute window.  If no one deposits I have little hope that they will be of any value in the future.


_Even if no one at all deposits a week, there should still be a significant supply of weeks available, due to excess inventory in older resorts._ *To quote RedWeek, December 2017: "The constant search for new inventory (to fulfill exchange requests) has also led both companies (RCI and DAE) to build relationships with legacy resorts that have unused inventory and suffer from double-digit delinquencies. RCI offers a long laundry list of services (including rentals, marketing and member management) to help older resorts move inventory and put heads-in-beds. It's a smart business move, observers say, because legacy resorts in good locations are dependent on third-party exchange companies to generate visitors who may become potential buyers. To date, RCI has forged exchange relationships with 780 legacy resorts."*

*Bottom line: DAE/RCI is holding out on us! *


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## Vacalulu (Apr 10, 2018)

BTW, everyone should note that although the purported purpose of this forum is for DAE to answer questions, this thread has been continuing on for quite some time now, without anyone from DAE ever weighing in to address the issues this community has raised.


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## T-Dot-Traveller (Apr 10, 2018)

Vacalulu said:


> _Even if no one at all deposits a week, there should still be a significant supply of weeks available, due to excess inventory in older resorts._ *To quote RedWeek...... To date, RCI has forged exchange relationships with 780 legacy resorts."*
> 
> *Bottom line: DAE/RCI is holding out on us! *



TUG members on the Wyndham forum think all their resorts “loved & unloved “weeks are all going into 
Extra Vacations . The “conspiracy theorists” think Extra Vacationa is already the biggest mega renter of all time .

Who owns RCI & DAE -


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## Vacalulu (Apr 10, 2018)

All we know is that the offerings seemed to disappear overnight without explanation, and this paucity of options seems to have precisely followed the merger. And that we now have limited access to only one rep (Ken Haberman), who tells us a different story every day, and outright denies that legacy resorts play any part in the offerings. Perhaps it is also an algorithm - how many weeks we own and when we purchased them.


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## tschwa2 (Apr 10, 2018)

Vacalulu said:


> All we know is that the offerings seemed to disappear overnight without explanation, and this paucity of options seems to have precisely followed the merger. And that we now have limited access to only one rep (Ken Haberman), who tells us a different story every day, and outright denies that legacy resorts play any part in the offerings. Perhaps it is also an algorithm - how many weeks we own and when we purchased them.


RCI is known for making deals with resorts to perhaps give a bump in trading power in exchange the resort has to promise a certain number of developer owned inventory.  I don't think DAE has the clout to demand or ask for excess inventory to be used in anything other than straight out rental property. The only resort family that I know of that is so big they spread excess inventory around is Vidana and I don't know if they give any to DAE.


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## Vacalulu (Apr 10, 2018)

Our relationship with DAE has changed significantly since their acquisition by RCI. We are now looking into Interval International for trading one of our prime weeks. Since we own beautiful, well-managed prime weeks with low maintenance fees at resorts we like (just want to trade now that kids are grown and gone) we aren't that affected, except by the fact that DAE's rep is very deceptive. 

Having exhausted all apparent options with Ken at DAE, " They don't have that kind of option in other countries!" We recently booked a very lovely vacation at Booking.com. Everything we wanted.


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## eschjw (Apr 14, 2018)

Just deposited my 2018 Las Vegas New Years Eve week with them. It is a larger one bedroom deluxe with a 12/30/18 check-in at HICV Desert Club. They let me book a 2019 Las Vegas October week prior to my deposit clearing. A lot of 2019 weeks appeared recently in what looked like a bulk banking and I was alerted by text that these weeks were available. If you have not signed up for the text alerts, I would recommend doing so.

The high demand weeks are usually filled by prior requests. My son's mother in-law recently returned from Hawaii on a DAE exchange. I requested the exchange last fall and have noticed that at least 20 requests for Hawaii have been filled this year. Requests work on FIFO basis and do not require a prior deposit.

I have used DAE for over 10 years and realize that they are a much smaller but cheaper alterative to RCI and II. I remain hopeful that the RCI acquisition will result in a better selection of weeks that are available, but the bottom line is that the core membership does need to deposit more weeks.


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## Tank (Jun 21, 2018)

DAE is Not getting any better, it's like a ghost town on line. 

Dave


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## eschjw (Jul 31, 2018)

If you are looking for Orlando 2019 weeks, a large bulk banking of Magic Tree weeks are now available for all members. Many of them were first taken by Gold Advantage members but there are still a lot left. If you have a deposit credit with DAE that you need to use, here is a good opportunity. DAE exchange weeks can be used by friends and family without having to purchase a guest certificate.


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