Exchanging into Hawaii

[Judy]

Which is the best exchange company to use if you want to exchange a US mainland timeshare for a week or two in Hawaii? II? RCI? SFX? DAE? HTSE? I am looking for an exchange company that will come through for me far enough in advance of travel dates to book frequent flier awards or reasonably priced airfare from the east coast. High quality accommodations would be welcome, but certainly are not required. We want to go to the Big Island and maybe one other.

 

[MattC]

Give HTSE a try!

Judy,
Give HTSE a try.
You will have to join, pay a membership fee (1, 3, or 5 years).
If you exchange with them, they must accept you resort for exhanges and pay an exchange fee.
You can also rent from them with out joining.

I have join and used them for 2 exchanges to Kauai, HI, that I couldn't get thru II.
I have been very happy with their services.

MattC

 

[DeniseM]

You can log into HTSE's website as a guest by putting

9999 in the top box
and
htse in the bottom box

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Trading Places is also good for Hawaii exchanges.

 

[regatta333]

Judy,
Fairfield resorts frequently does bulk spacebanks of Kona Hawaiian Village through RCI (I believe there are a number of weeks currently available for Sept through Dec of 2007).

We went there in May, 2005 through an RCI exchange and had three 2BD units.

Eve

 

[SherryS]

I have used HTSE, Trading Places, and Trading Places Maui with success....all early enough to book FF tickets for our flights.

 

[Judy]

You can log into HTSE's website as a guest by putting

9999 in the top box
and
htse in the bottom box

Now I can see availability before paying my membership fee. Thank you

 

[Dani]

Judy,

I would think that an independent exchange company that specializes in Hawaii would be good. However, if you have a good week, RCI has many, many weeks available in Hawaii. They key is to time your request with the bulk space-bankings. If you have 1 year out to plan and a pretty good trader, RCI will likely come through. If this is the case for you, you should be able to pull the Pahios and Bay Club 1 year out.

 

[Judy]

Good suggestion Dani. I found several bulk bankings for the Bay Club on the sightings board, but didn't see any history of Pahios bulk bankings. Did you mean that they usually bank about one year out?

 

[SherryS]

Check out my post of this past week for the Pahio resorts in sightings/distressed!!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

You can log into HTSE's website as a guest by putting

9999 in the top box
and
htse in the bottom box

Thanks for the tip!!!

I did this and found a 2-bdrm at Ke Nani Kai for August - the exact week and location we were looking for!!

So I joined HTSE and made the exchange!!! So now I can lock in our travel arrangements as well.

 

[chris1gill]

What or who is HTSE?

We used II this morning to trade into a 1 bedroom at the Westin Kaanapali for early December... we were very flexible, so that helped, and it was in time for us to use our frequent flyer awards...

 

[Carol C]

You own some good weeks that should get you Hawaii exchanges via RCI. Did you see and try for the bulkspacebanking of 2007 weeks at Kona Hawaiian Village Resort? Check online even now, there may still be some weeks left in that banking that was a Sighting just a few weeks ago. Have fun planning!

 

[Carolinian]

HTSE is Hawaii Timeshare Exchange - www.htse.net

 

[Judy]

You own some good weeks that should get you Hawaii exchanges via RCI. Did you see and try for the bulkspacebanking of 2007 weeks at Kona Hawaiian Village Resort? Check online even now, there may still be some weeks left in that banking that was a Sighting just a few weeks ago. Have fun planning!

Thanks for the suggestion. At the moment I don't have anything banked with RCI and my membership expires at the end of June, so I can't search. I'll renew my membership if RCI is the only or the best choice for going to Hawaii. But I have some serious issues with RCI

 

[glenn1000]

RCI has the most options for Hawaii, especially on Kauai, but II has the nicest resorts. You can exchange into the Maui Westin or one of the Marriotts with II if you have strong traders. Our favorite RCI properties are on Kauai (Embassy Poipu) and the Big Island (Bay Club).

 

[Carolinian]

HTSE takes deposits from BOTH RCI and II properties, as do other independent exchange companies. The independents also have cheaper exchange fees, free or cheaper membership, and often a request first system where you do not have to deposit a week or prepay an exchange fee until they can confirm an exchange for you.

Not only are the independents cheaper to use, by using them you help break the oligopoly strangle hold of the big boys.

 

[Dani]

Good suggestion Dani. I found several bulk bankings for the Bay Club on the sightings board, but didn't see any history of Pahios bulk bankings. Did you mean that they usually bank about one year out?

Yes...they usually bank exactly one year out and bank all of a particular month's weeks in one shot. Occasionally you will find a few stray weeks down the road, but you should time your request with the bulk-banking and get have an on-going search in place.