Hacked off with RCI, considering DAE

[richardabrams]

I have been using RCI for many many years with varying degress of success when exchanging.

I own in the Canaries; 3 weeks (fixed) in a resort of distinction (for rci people)

I am well aware of the RCI scamminess; taking weeks out of the system; points etc etc.

Now I like the idea of DAE as it is more as timeshare was meant to work; i.e. you deposit a week you get a week without all the nonsense RCI are guilty of.

Now my questions

1) I have 2 bedroom timeshare. Am I not in an unfair position as my week is not worth any more than a 1 bed week. Do people find they can get a 2 bed when they need one. I have 2 kids so a 1 bed isn't great

2) I had a look at some dates and the selection was ok. Not great. What are your experiences of the gold membership. Do you get a much bigger selection

3) I mainly exchange to the Spain and once the kids are a few years older, Florida, California and Mexico again. Also the UK would be nice to go to. Is availability good?

4) As a UK based timeshare owner what are my other options for exchanging and which ones would you recommend?

5) Is it worth me paying to join the site? (TUGS)

Any general thoughts on the matter would be very useful to me

 

[Jya-Ning]

DAE USA site does not ask for membership fee. So you can joint for free. Don't know if it work the same in their UK site. And you don't need to make deposit to search for inventory once you joint in, and you don't need to make deposit to ask them put you on their waiting list. You can goto www.DAElive.com to make determine yourselves. Then you may understand why some system have the so call trading power, and what some of the system that can do to make it work.

As to joint tug. The BBS is free. You will get to access the sighting and resort review. Hang around here, you can make decision later.

Jya-Ning

 

[helenbarnett1963]

DAE for UK/Europe

the website for the UK version of DAE is www.dialanexchange.com

we have done two exchanges to Spain with DAE so far. 2005 2 weeks in August to Capistrano Oasis, Nerja and Aug 2007 to Tropicana in Nerja. For Aug 2006 they offered us a week in Pueblo Evita in Benalmadena
, but we used our one-and-only-ever banked week with RCI to go to Fairways Club in Tenerife instead as the dates suited us better.

Each time I exchanged a blue/white (i.e off season) Smugglers Notch 3-bedrm week for a 2-bedrm Spanish summer week, which seemed a fair swap to me.

Each year I have paid the £30 (I think) fee for the Gold Membership. This allows you to put in a request for what you want either via the website or by phoning - I usually phone as they will note any specifics you want (and beleive me we are very specific!). They are very good at phoning and emailing with matches for a request, and will always find out further info about a resort or unit. They don't seem at all upset when you turn down a week they've found and will keep on looking for you.
The availability you see on the website is what they have leftover after filling all the ongoing requests, so if you want Spain in the summer you will need to have gold membership, and they recommend you start looking 6-12 months in advance for popular holiday weeks.
If you need 2 bedrms, put that in your request and you won't be offered smaller units. each year we have had various weeks offered to us with 2 bedrms.
They do use a number of 'trading partners' where they seem to get a number of weeks directly from the resort rather than from week owners - our week at Tropicana was one of these.

I don't think DAE will get many Marriott-type deposits, but they seem to get a fair range of Spanish resorts of a reasonable quality.

As to whether you can use DAE for Florida, Mexico etc - I think they will try to find you something from thier USA sister company, or from one of thier trading partners - there may not be the same wide choice as you would get with RCI though.

Exchanging to the UK looks to be similar to Spain - exchanges during holiday periods would need to be requested, but there is lots of off-season availability on the website.

In answer to yuor question 4) - I don't know, but you may get an answer from someone on www.timesharetalk.co.uk

hope this helps a bit!

 

[Carolinian]

They also have trading partners in Europe. The summer before last they got me summer on the French Riviera and a summer canalboat in the UK through one of their trading partners.

 

[Laurie]

we have done two exchanges to Spain with DAE so far. 2005 2 weeks in August to Capistrano Oasis, Nerja and Aug 2007 to Tropicana in Nerja.

Helen, how did you like either/both of these resorts? I've wondered about exchanging to Nerja sometime (we have been to Costa del Sol once, stopped at Nerja for a few hours and liked it) - thanks for any info.

 

[Keitht]

Trying to use the search facility on RCI Weeks is 'entertaining' at the moment. Today I did a speculative search for March 2009 to New Zealand and got 9 hits which seemed good until I looked at the details. All the resorts were in Europe, ranging from Finland to Spain and Italy. I went back to the search page and although I entered Australia/New Zealand as the region and New Zealand as the sub-region the search page showed "Europ Res Onsite/near Ski School" as the sub-region. That isn't even available as an option to Aus/NZ!! I tried reporting the problem to RCI, using the link they give on the page and it got bounced as a non-existent address.
Wonderful things these computers!!

 

[helenbarnett1963]

Nerja

Helen, how did you like either/both of these resorts? I've wondered about exchanging to Nerja sometime (we have been to Costa del Sol once, stopped at Nerja for a few hours and liked it) - thanks for any info.

Capistrano Oasis was wonderful. Beautiful gardens and pool. We were in a privately owned terraced villa near the main pool. The timeshare villas are around a smaller pool, and i believe have recently been refurbished. Many villas have little private gardens. The whole place is very well kept and peaceful. Restaurant on site is OK, but there is a lovely one at the end of the road. Not really practical to walk to the beach though - uphill all the way back! Would love to go there again. Or to any of the other Capistrano developments.

Tropicana was OK. Close to the Playazo beach which we like as it is less crowded. Villa was very similar to Oasis, typical for Spain, with a small private garden. Had new aircon units which was great. But, it was rather 'tired'. Furniture was OK but beds were very small, the bathroom was original 1970's, the appliances were old and there was vitually no cooking equipment (15 saucepans, one lid, one wooden spoon, no corkscrew). Had to go to Supersol to buy a dish to use in the oven. Pool has been redone recently and is quite nice. Our biggest dislike was that it was very 'english' - the bar seemed to be the 'local' for the english expats and was always full of the owners friends.

Nerja is a lovely town. We like having a variety of beaches to go to. All the beaches have black, gritty sand. But our kids don't seem to notice. Safe for swimming everywhere unless the waves are too big occasionally. Each beach has its own character - we've now got our favourites! Lots of lovely eating places along the beaches and in town. All kid friendly. Lots of Spanish go on holiday to Nerja - avoid the last 2 weeks of August if you can.
Nightlife in town is mostly in restaurants/bars and around the Balcon - all safe for families.
You WILL need a car though, to get into town and the various beaches. Parking can be difficult everywhere in Nerja, but not impossible if you head for the beach early.
Nerja is a very easy 40 minute drive from Malaga airport.

PM me if you want any more info, or links to Nerja websites.

Helen

 

[Simoncc]

Now my questions

1) I have 2 bedroom timeshare. Am I not in an unfair position as my week is not worth any more than a 1 bed week. Do people find they can get a 2 bed when they need one. I have 2 kids so a 1 bed isn't great

2) I had a look at some dates and the selection was ok. Not great. What are your experiences of the gold membership. Do you get a much bigger selection

I've used DAE once and deposited a summer 2bed Dona Lola week and received an August week in Scotland and a March week in Wales - both 2 beds so it's certainly possible to do this. However the 'every unit is equal' principle of DAE means that everybody else can go after the same weeks.


I didn't bother with the UK Gold membership but have asked on this site and TimeshareTalk for people's experiences. The few people who replied had found that their exchange options hadn't noticebly increased.

 

[Keitht]

I've used DAE once and deposited a summer 2bed Dona Lola week and received an August week in Scotland and a March week in Wales - both 2 beds so it's certainly possible to do this. However the 'every unit is equal' principle of DAE means that everybody else can go after the same weeks.

Simon,

Can you clarify your comment please. Did you receive 2 weeks in return for your Dona Lola week, or did you use it on 2 occasions.

 

[Simoncc]

Keith,

With DAE depositing a peak period 2 bed unit gets you 2 exchange weeks - but only one can be taken at peak times.

This is certainly an incentive for peak owners to deposit but now that my 2 children are of school age my options to go outside the peak periods are limited.