Alternatives to II

[hellolani]

I recently let my membership lapse due to having cleared out my timeshare portfolio earlier last year. It expired in October. Now I have two new resorts that have finally completed transfer into my name and I called to start up my membership again.

Turns out you have to keep your old account - if I pay fees today my membership is still only valid for the year ending in October.

Has anyone ever been able to beat the system? I hung up with the agent and went online and even though I used a different address, email and phone number but they matched by my first and last name.

What would happen if I just used my first initial - would they still allow me to register my resorts which are in my full name?

Alternatively, should I just do this year with SFX? Never used them. Open to suggestions.

My resorts are SDO EEY 2 BR and Williamsburg Plantation 4BR Triennial with usage in 2016. The unfortunate bit is that both of them have their usage in this year and I should decide quick where to get them deposited. Especially Williamsburg, it's fixed week 14, April 1-8.

Thanks for any comments or advice!

 

[DeniseM]

There are no independent exchange companies that have the volume of inventory that II and RCI have.

The independent exchange companies, are not affiliated with the top resort systems like Starwood, Marriott, Hilton, Disney, and Hyatt, so they don't get bulk deposits from them.

Also, with II, you get the Starwood to Starwood priority for other Starwood resorts - meaning that Starwood owners get first dibs on any Starwood deposits, before non-Starwood owners. You won't get that with any other exchange company.

*Before you open an Acct. with SFX, be sure you talk to them. They only accept certain resorts, and certain seasons.

 

[tschwa2]

Contact the Tug Interval Rep and see if there is a way to open or start an account without retro-ing back to the cancellation of your old account. It may be that you have to be outside of 90 days since your last one expired. If that is the case, you would be able to start a new one later this month. You have until the end of December to deposit the SDO. Maybe he can find a 2 years for 1 promo if the account has to be retroed. Otherwise you may want to deposit the Williamsburg elsewhere. If you would be happy going to Williamsburg in 2016-18, it is one of the few locations beside Orlando that you can find summer availability with the most of the alternatives like DAE, SFX, and others.

 

[dioxide45]

Based on this thread, renewing Platinum inside of 120 days from expiration will revert your renewal date back to when it intially expired. If renewing base membership works the same, you could wait until 121 days after it expired and see if it will again revert the date back. This will work if you are not in a hurry to place a request or deposit a unit.

 

[hellolani]

Managed to start new

I had cleared out my portfolio and let my membership lapse and was pretty pissed at having to pay retro when I had no resorts and no use for my membership last year.

I got around this by calling the new membership line and just asking for a new membership, not mentioning my old one. Luckily I had a change of address and 2 new resorts, so I was not matched up with my old membership profile. And the lady gave me 2 yrs for $89.

Worth the effort!