It looks like this thread is pretty old but I'm not sure where else to post and am hoping to get some input from folks. I just came back from a short vacation in the Cancun area where I ended up making an unplanned Exotic Travelers membership purchase during my stay at one of their resorts. Being fairly familiar with timeshare sales, I initially had no intention of spending time with their sales team until I was told that I could trade in timeshares as part of the purchase so I decided to sit through the presentation to learn more. My family has had 2 timeshares in FL for the last 15 years or so. We were able to get some good use out of them early on but as our circumstances shifted over the years (kids, etc.), so did our travel preferences, and we haven't gotten much use out of them for the last several years despite paying the recurring maintenance fees. I've tried listing them for sale on various sites at $1 price points with no success, and have talked to a bunch of companies that claimed to specialize in helping owners get rid of timeshares but never found one that seemed legit (most wanted money up front, shocker). So of course my ears perked up when the Exotic salesperson said that both timeshares could be traded in as part of the transaction, which would include ownership transfer (~$1000 fee for each, transfer would happen within 30 days after I provided the required docs) and a reduction of the Exotic membership price based on the equity of the timeshares. Besides that, the flexibility of the Exotic membership benefits was appealing to me -- no annual fees (though I recognize that booking any of the "home" all-inclusive resorts would cost extra), being able to use as many or as few nights from my total pool during any given year (vs. use it or lose it), and also being able to bank/exchange weeks at RCI, II, DAE simultaneously with good trading power. Regardless, the primary driver of purchasing the membership was the ability to offload the 2 timeshares.
I still have a couple of more days on my ability to rescind and want to make sure I'm not missing something important. So...a few questions:
I had never heard of Exotic Travelers until my trip a few days ago. Are there other vacation memberships that offer a similar type of deal where you can trade in timeshares towards a flexible travel model using nights/points/etc. and no annual maintenance fees? I'm wondering if there are other options I might have overlooked.
I've read the contract carefully and there were 1-2 issues that I needed clarification on. The salesperson has been responsive so far over email about them, but is it enough to have the clarification in email or should I push to have an addendum added to the contract?
Are there any red flags or potential pitfalls that I should be aware of?
I'd also love to hear from any Exotic members who went through something similar recently, whether it was a good or bad experience.