GPX exchanges (and general advice on the GPX system)

[vmert]

Hey everyone, I am a Grand Pacific owner and I just used the GPX exchange for the first time ever. I just grabbed my home CA resort for a different week than is part of my use week time frame, so that was pretty cool. But, I still have 2 banked weeks with GPX because we were moving and were unable to use our timeshare for 2018 and 2019.
So... I am generally looking for some advice from people who know how it all works. I can search on GPX in several ways for resorts and all sorts of things come up as in the system, but it still doesn't quite make sense. It seems as though there are lots of places in the system that are actually never available. I called GPX and the woman tried to explain it to me, but it really didn't seem like she understood it either. I can't seem to make special requests, it just doesn't really do anything. I was hoping to put in requests for Italy and Hawaii, but it isn't clear to me that Italy is actually an offering, even though there are resorts there that pop up with pictures, etc. when you search. Is there a way to get a list of resorts that actually offer inventory to GPX customers? It seems like the whole thing is super confusing.

(I posted this same thing as a reply in an older post, but it was suggested that I start my own thread)

Any help/advice is appreciated.

 

[presley]

I no longer own timeshares, but when I did GPX was basically worthless as far as putting in a request. You have to log in daily and see what's available and grab what you want. I've never seen Italy there. My experience with talking to them on the phone was like yours. They didn't really know what they were doing. I got the feeling that they have a couple people who are cross trained for several different jobs and master of none.

It will be easy to get Hawaii. Just log in every day and check the online inventory. They had an older system which was very easy to use. Once they upgraded to the new online system, I couldn't stand doing online searches. Placing requests doesn't do anything, though. I think the request just checks that first day and then they never check again after that.

 

[klpca]

Hawaii is easy to get on GPX, I have never seen Italy and unless Diamond has a resort in Italy, it may be impossible. Here is a list of the properties managed by Grand Pacific: https://grandpacificresorts.com/resorts/ Any of these resorts will be fairly easy to get in an exchange. There are other properties that you can get - primarily Diamond Resorts - I don't have a list for those but frequent checking online will help you see what other properties are usually available.

As you probably saw on the other thread, I used a request and received an email notification when inventory became available. Checking manually will work just as well, maybe better. Summer months in CA (coastal) cannot be requested, those you definitely need to check for yourself. I still don't like the new website but it is what it is. Once you get used to how it works, you will get the hang of it. If you want to use your banked week and you can't go before it expires, I would extend it for $99, put in an exchange request for Hawaii for the time period when you can use the week, plus start checking daily.

 

[klpca]

Hey everyone, I am a Grand Pacific owner and I just used the GPX exchange for the first time ever. I just grabbed my home CA resort for a different week than is part of my use week time frame, so that was pretty cool. But, I still have 2 banked weeks with GPX because we were moving and were unable to use our timeshare for 2018 and 2019.
So... I am generally looking for some advice from people who know how it all works. I can search on GPX in several ways for resorts and all sorts of things come up as in the system, but it still doesn't quite make sense. It seems as though there are lots of places in the system that are actually never available. I called GPX and the woman tried to explain it to me, but it really didn't seem like she understood it either. I can't seem to make special requests, it just doesn't really do anything. I was hoping to put in requests for Italy and Hawaii, but it isn't clear to me that Italy is actually an offering, even though there are resorts there that pop up with pictures, etc. when you search. Is there a way to get a list of resorts that actually offer inventory to GPX customers? It seems like the whole thing is super confusing.

(I posted this same thing as a reply in an older post, but it was suggested that I start my own thread)

Any help/advice is appreciated.

I just realized that maybe you are confused by the website (entirely understandable because it is terrible).

To search, type Hawaii into the location, then choose "all" in the months box, and the year (at this point either 2019 or 2020). That will bring up all of the available inventory for that year - both rental and exchange. Once you see all of the inventory you can filter out the rental week by clicking on the filter box, then scrolling down through the options until you see "rental" and "exchanges". Both will be checked, so uncheck "rental" then close the black box by clicking on the "x" in the upper right hand corner. What will be left are the available exchanges. (stupid and clunky, I know)

This is one website that isn't particularly easy to use, so you will want to spend some time poking around. I still find that if I search something that seems reasonable to me, especially location, it just doesn't work like you expect. It works much better when you search for something that will always be a successful search. Hawaii for example works well, Italy does not. But typing in Europe will bring up locations (but rarely any results). And whatever you do, don't bother with the map search, lol. It's starting point is the entire world.

 

[SmithOp]

You are correct, the web site search will show you all the resorts even if there is nothing available. You have to do a lot of poking around to find anything and its slow as molasses because of all the graphics with the new software, the old site was much easier, just text lists. I think they upgraded the software and forgot to upgrade the server hardware to support it.

There are a few Italy weekly rentals, but looking at the resorts there you will end up paying a lot of extra fees for AI (all inclusive) and amenities. If I wanted Italy I would do private rentals using Homeaway to get city locations, the resorts are all remote from the major cities.

There are still some bargains on there if you can travel last minute, I check the Insider Weeks every so often, use this direct link.

https://gpxvacations.com/promotion/Insider-Weeks/

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[klpca]

You are correct, the web site search will show you all the resorts even if there is nothing available. You have to do a lot of poking around to find anything and its slow as molasses because of all the graphics with the new software, the old site was much easier, just text lists. I think they upgraded the software and forgot to upgrade the server hardware to support it.

There are a few Italy weekly rentals, but looking at the resorts there you will end up paying a lot of extra fees for AI (all inclusive) and amenities. If I wanted Italy I would do private rentals using Homeaway to get city locations, the resorts are all remote from the major cities.

There are still some bargains on there if you can travel last minute, I check the Insider Weeks every so often, use this direct link.

https://gpxvacations.com/promotion/Insider-Weeks/

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

So weird - when I typed in Italy I had no results. Zero, zippo, nada! Typing in Europe brought up (I think) Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southern Europe, but when I clicked on Southern Europe, it was all Portugal, maybe Spain, but no Italy. The website is really the worst.

 

[SmithOp]

So weird - when I typed in Italy I had no results. Zero, zippo, nada! Typing in Europe brought up (I think) Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southern Europe, but when I clicked on Southern Europe, it was all Portugal, maybe Spain, but no Italy. The website is really the worst.

Try Central Europe, thats where I found Italy categorized. Resorts search works better for me than Resort Locations.

I have the same problem when I do regional searches in RCI.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[klpca]

Try Central Europe, thats where I found Italy categorized. Resorts search works better for me than Resort Locations.

I have the same problem when I do regional searches in RCI.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Interesting. At first I felt stupid - maybe Italy isn't southern Europe? - then I remembered that RCI considers Palm Springs to be part of the Pacific Coast and immediately felt better.