# Considering a South African timeshare



## bholzman (Jan 19, 2008)

A friend of mine who collects timeshares has offered to transfer to me one of his South African timeshares, Lowveld Lodge (RCI), 1 bedroom, week 33 (Red) at no cost. Basically, I would pay the transfer fees and some other fees all of which are nominal (e.g. total would be less than $200 US).  He has also offered to transfer his banked 2009 week for the cost of maintenance fees paid plus the transfer fee associated with it.

Obviously, I would use this to trade only.  This would be my first timeshare. It appears Lowveld has decent trading power (I live in US).

Based on what i have read in Tug2 and what I have heard from my friend, it looks like I could get some good use out of it, if I plan ahead, am persistent and a bit flexible.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether I am missing anything that I should consider?


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## Dori (Jan 20, 2008)

We own a 2-bedroom week 15 at Lowveld and we have been very pleased with it.  MF's are reasonable and , yes with persistence and flexibility, we have obtained some very nice trades.

Dori


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## thetimeshareguy (Jan 22, 2008)

bholzman, I'm very glad you raised this topic. I checked on this board this morning because I'm in the same situation as the other person. I own TWO red weeks at Lowveld and one blue week at La Lucia Sands. I've decided to give one Lowveld to anyone who wants it, and I'm going to try to get out of owning my blue La Lucia, as the maintenance fees have crept up (around $600) and it's no longer good value.

I only want to keep one of the red weeks so I can peruse the *rental* section of the weeks side, as I don't find the exchanges to be very good anymore with these South African units. Lowveld MFs are reasonable, so it's not a bad place to own, just to have access to RCI Weeks.

I no longer plan to even deposit my weeks with RCI (beyond the ones already deposited), since I can get more selection for straight rentals, for not much more than the international exchange fee they ding me. I lease points, so I might get other vacations that way, too.

Warning: It's a hassle paying your annual levies with these people, and I can't even email them most of the time because of weird filters they have in place.


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## JustPlainBill (Feb 2, 2008)

Read my post on the Hawaii board about Lawai Beach Resort foreclosures. Don't let the word "foreclosure" spook you. Lawai Beach should trade well on RCI--I do not know, because I use Hawaii Timeshare Exchange. If you are in California, you might want to access some of the best Hawaiian resorts. Also read my post, below, about Kruger Park Lodge. It is a dynamite trader--consistently pulls Pahio Shearwater, perhaps RCI's highest points resort. Dues are only about $280/year. But the units have gotten too pricey.

I don't know about Lowveld Lodge. Whatever you do, don't start out in the timeshare game with something that does not give you what you want. Pay a couple of thousand bucks and be happy.


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## AwayWeGo (Feb 2, 2008)

*Ditto.*




Dori said:


> We own a 2-bedroom week 15 at Lowveld and we have been very pleased with it.  MF's are reasonable and , yes with persistence and flexibility, we have obtained some very nice trades.
> 
> Dori


Our thinking was that if we got 3 good trades out of it, we'd be ahead of the game & anything beyond that would be gravy. 

Using our Lowveld Lodge week as trade bait, we got 3 nice week-for-week exchanges.  Then we started doing _Points For Deposit_ with it. 

When we exchanged week-for-week, we paid the levies early & deposited our Lowveld Lodge time as early as possible.  Since mainly switching over to points, we haven't needed to pay & deposit so far in advance, & by now it's been so long since we've had any contact at all from Lowveld Lodge that I'm starting to wonder whether they've forgotten us. 

I think we're paid up & used up through 2008, so possibly all is well & we'll receive a bill for 2009 levies 1 of these days, I don't know.  We'll see. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## rocketraj (Feb 15, 2008)

JustPlainBill said:


> Read my post on the Hawaii board about Lawai Beach Resort foreclosures. Don't let the word "foreclosure" spook you. Lawai Beach should trade well on RCI--I do not know, because I use Hawaii Timeshare Exchange. If you are in California, you might want to access some of the best Hawaiian resorts. Also read my post, below, about Kruger Park Lodge. It is a dynamite trader--consistently pulls Pahio Shearwater, perhaps RCI's highest points resort. Dues are only about $280/year. But the units have gotten too pricey.
> 
> I don't know about Lowveld Lodge. Whatever you do, don't start out in the timeshare game with something that does not give you what you want. Pay a couple of thousand bucks and be happy.


Bill,

what do you mean "if you are in california look at hawaiian resorts?" I live in california and just bought Winner Circle -low season week, but i am interested in your advice/explanation on the above quote.

thanks,
raju.


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## 2ManyWks (Feb 18, 2008)

*Straight rentals?*



thetimeshareguy said:


> I no longer plan to even deposit my weeks with RCI (beyond the ones already deposited), since I can get more selection for straight rentals, for not much more than the international exchange fee they ding me.



I own Lowveld Lodge and I'm not sure what you mean by 'straight rentals'.  I'm looking for options other than the standard RCI deposits route.

Dave


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## philemer (Feb 18, 2008)

rocketraj said:


> Bill,
> 
> what do you mean "if you are in california look at hawaiian resorts?" I live in california and just bought Winner Circle -low season week, but i am interested in your advice/explanation on the above quote.
> 
> ...



I think he is talking about using Hawaii TimeShare Exchange co. for Hawaii trades. The problem with that is HTSE may not take SA t/s. I asked them once and they said "NO". That was about 2 years ago.  Some of the other independents (DAE, TPI & Platinum Exc.) will take SA weeks. 

Phil


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## philemer (Feb 18, 2008)

2ManyWks said:


> I own Lowveld Lodge and I'm not sure what you mean by 'straight rentals'.  I'm looking for options other than the standard RCI deposits route.
> 
> Dave



See my post above about options for depositing SA weeks. Rentals can be obtained from RCI, their affiliates, and many others places online.

Phil


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