I apologize in advance if there is a recent, detailed thread covering all of this, but I haven't been able to find it.
My family and I were down in Mexico this week, and attended the Exotic Travelers vacation club presentation while staying at Azul Beach (which we really loved by the way). Never owned any type of time share or vacation club package before, and I will admit I know very little about how they work, which I'm sure is likely to get me into trouble. But the deal sounded great, and as I understand it I have 5 business days from yesterday to cancel everything, so I caved and bought.
The package was their Sapphire package. I bought 60 weeks (10 exotic weeks that are basically 50% off what one typically pays for the all-inclusive with some added bonuses like airport transfers, kids up to 6 free, upgraded rooms, etc...and 50 explorer weeks that I can use to exchange for weeks with other properties) DAE was included, as well as the choice between either RCI or II. They strongly recommended II, saying it was easier to deal with and exchange for quality weeks. There are no maintenance fees ever, and so other than paying the exchange fee (I think it was like 150$ or something) and a transfer fee of like 35-50$ if I give my week to someone else, there are no other fees as I understand them. My total price for the 60 weeks, including some free 10year yacht membership was a bit less than $5k all in.
Now to my questions (there are a bunch):
- Is this for real, or some kind of scam? It sounds almost too good to be true - 5k for 60 weeks is less than 100 per week, so even adding in an exchange fee if we ever get any properties off II/RCI/DAE, it seems like a steal.
- We ended up going with II although were told we can switch. Is RCI better? I've read something on these boards about RCI's point system and how you can deposit a bunch of the ET explorer weeks and then combine them to actually get good properties off RCI, and II doesn't seem to have that option, but that maybe II gives better value for the ET weeks to begin with. Also in calling II today, they seemed to have the Azul properties as premium 5 stars or whatever is considered high in their scale, so they implied they would give me decent options. The only negative was I understand my weeks come over as studios and not 2 or even 1-bedrooms. I'm worried this may lock us out of some good places.
- How do the ET weeks get deposited? Do these weeks always go into the exchange banks as azul sensatori off-peak time studios (assuming a sapphire membership)? I can't even understand how they would figure out peak or off-peak time. I've heard the karishma hotels are rated premium 5 star resorts on II, but do people have luck actually exchanging these weeks and getting quality destinations during good times? This is really what will determine if this program is a decent deal or a ripoff, and what I am most interested in.
- Do Mexico beach resorts like the Azul Sensatori give me good exchanges on either II or RCI? The vacation club folks seemed to imply that Hawaii or other quality destinations would not be a problem at all...
- We were told the way the exchanges work was that we would go in as a premium studio - and they would try and find us compatibles. But if a 1 or 2 bedroom came up available or if we were looking at a resort that only had bigger rooms, then we would get those. Is this really true, or is my priority going to be so low that its never going to happen?
- Finally a general exchange question - what determines the priority order of who gets a week that becomes available. Does the time your request has been out there factor in? What about what you are exchanging?
I know this was long and I really appreciate anyone taking the time to answer this, especially anyone with experience with ET and either II or RCI or any moderators. Thanks in advance!
My family and I were down in Mexico this week, and attended the Exotic Travelers vacation club presentation while staying at Azul Beach (which we really loved by the way). Never owned any type of time share or vacation club package before, and I will admit I know very little about how they work, which I'm sure is likely to get me into trouble. But the deal sounded great, and as I understand it I have 5 business days from yesterday to cancel everything, so I caved and bought.
The package was their Sapphire package. I bought 60 weeks (10 exotic weeks that are basically 50% off what one typically pays for the all-inclusive with some added bonuses like airport transfers, kids up to 6 free, upgraded rooms, etc...and 50 explorer weeks that I can use to exchange for weeks with other properties) DAE was included, as well as the choice between either RCI or II. They strongly recommended II, saying it was easier to deal with and exchange for quality weeks. There are no maintenance fees ever, and so other than paying the exchange fee (I think it was like 150$ or something) and a transfer fee of like 35-50$ if I give my week to someone else, there are no other fees as I understand them. My total price for the 60 weeks, including some free 10year yacht membership was a bit less than $5k all in.
Now to my questions (there are a bunch):
- Is this for real, or some kind of scam? It sounds almost too good to be true - 5k for 60 weeks is less than 100 per week, so even adding in an exchange fee if we ever get any properties off II/RCI/DAE, it seems like a steal.
- We ended up going with II although were told we can switch. Is RCI better? I've read something on these boards about RCI's point system and how you can deposit a bunch of the ET explorer weeks and then combine them to actually get good properties off RCI, and II doesn't seem to have that option, but that maybe II gives better value for the ET weeks to begin with. Also in calling II today, they seemed to have the Azul properties as premium 5 stars or whatever is considered high in their scale, so they implied they would give me decent options. The only negative was I understand my weeks come over as studios and not 2 or even 1-bedrooms. I'm worried this may lock us out of some good places.
- How do the ET weeks get deposited? Do these weeks always go into the exchange banks as azul sensatori off-peak time studios (assuming a sapphire membership)? I can't even understand how they would figure out peak or off-peak time. I've heard the karishma hotels are rated premium 5 star resorts on II, but do people have luck actually exchanging these weeks and getting quality destinations during good times? This is really what will determine if this program is a decent deal or a ripoff, and what I am most interested in.
- Do Mexico beach resorts like the Azul Sensatori give me good exchanges on either II or RCI? The vacation club folks seemed to imply that Hawaii or other quality destinations would not be a problem at all...
- We were told the way the exchanges work was that we would go in as a premium studio - and they would try and find us compatibles. But if a 1 or 2 bedroom came up available or if we were looking at a resort that only had bigger rooms, then we would get those. Is this really true, or is my priority going to be so low that its never going to happen?
- Finally a general exchange question - what determines the priority order of who gets a week that becomes available. Does the time your request has been out there factor in? What about what you are exchanging?
I know this was long and I really appreciate anyone taking the time to answer this, especially anyone with experience with ET and either II or RCI or any moderators. Thanks in advance!
