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Hoping for London Or Paris exchange spring summer 2023

dr.debs

dr.debs

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
238
Reaction score
11
Location
Portland Oregon
Hi all- I just put in a request first through II with SDO 1bedrooms lock off and master hoping to take the daughter on a graduation from HS trip next year. I would love input/ advice on trading into these areas. I noticed that II would only let me request one property in the Paris region. Is that due to a property type I am exchanging or are the remainders reserved for getaway bookings? Thanks for your help. Love Tuggers!
 
I think you have a decent chance of getting the Marriott outside Paris (near Eurodisney). I think it's very unlikely you will get anything in London.
 
Both London and Paris are extremely difficult asks.

I have scored a Getaway in Paris that was an excellent value. But it was Paris for Christmas -- not high summer season.

As long as you're reasonably fit, any place near a Metro station is fine. Doesn't matter which arrondissement you pick. Last time I was there, I was all the way out in the 19th. No big deal. It was GREAT staying far away from the tourist crush. And then taking the Metro to whatever we wanted to see that day.

The shopkeepers around the 19th were particularly friendly, especially considering how badly I mangle the French language.

If staying near "the sights" is a big deal (and I don't think it should be), I'd go with something in the 7th (spendy), 8th (more spendy) or 15th (much less spendy).

I'm easy in Paris -- just point me in the direction of Les Halles, the Bouillon Chartier restaurant or Rue Cler. And then get me to Epernay because I much prefer time in wine country.

As for London, I spend a day or two there and then get out -- anyplace easier on my wallet. Don't get me wrong, London is one of the great cities. But you cannot possibly see it all in one trip, or twenty. Just assume you're going to return, pick a few things to see, and go find a smaller city (I like Salisbury and Glastonbury).
 
dr.debs said:
Hi all- I just put in a request first through II with SDO 1bedrooms lock off and master hoping to take the daughter on a graduation from HS trip next year. I would love input/ advice on trading into these areas. I noticed that II would only let me request one property in the Paris region. Is that due to a property type I am exchanging or are the remainders reserved for getaway bookings? Thanks for your help. Love Tuggers!
Click to expand...

Each of the London resorts in the II Directory (link) have the same note at the bottom (see RED Font below).
I didn’t take a look at Paris but you can check the TUG Sightings Forum to get a generally idea of past sightings over the years.

NOTE: The accommodations listed under this resort code are available for purchase through the Getaway program and generally will not be available for exchange.​

For London https://www.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=1502&areaCode=88&areaName=England,+London

F53B78C0-5128-4294-8BEA-51A784557C9B.jpeg

FD5E0FE1-C252-4EA3-A241-E4BE63C9E56B.jpeg
 
Marriott Ile de France trades via II. It can be tough for summer, but you’ve got M preference. We have stayed 2x and loved it. It’s by Disney Paris, and you can train into Paris and take some great (under 2 hr) day trips. It’s not a great base for Paris every day, but fine for 2 days into Paris on the train. We have never gotten a trade for London. Residence inn Kensington is very reasonable and nice.
 
Check into London through SFX. They often have a lovely place at Sloane Gardens.
 
skimeup said:
Check into London through SFX. They often have a lovely place at Sloane Gardens.
Click to expand...
It was wonderful when you could get Sloane Gardens through SFX, but I think that it's no longer available through SFX or anywhere else as a timeshare exchange. I thought that it was dissolved as a timeshare?
 
Sadly, Sloane Gardens is no longer a timeshare. The 30 years was up in Dec 0f 2019. We spent many a lovely trip to London staying at this lovely resort. The building was sold and the place is being turned into luxury condos
 
We have stayed at the Royal Regency in Vincennes. It is about a 10 minute walk to the Underground's final stop. It was a great location. It is a DRI resort. I would go out early and get our bread for the day.
 
mav said:
Sadly, Sloane Gardens is no longer a timeshare. The 30 years was up in Dec 0f 2019. We spent many a lovely trip to London staying at this lovely resort. The building was sold and the place is being turned into luxury condos
Click to expand...

I did one trade there through SFX and got offered it on two other occasions. Great resort and great location in London. It started as an RCI resort, but after RCI went to points, they ditched RCI and traded only through SFX. The resort manager told me that after RCI went to points, almost all RCI inbounds became renters instead of exchangers and did not take care of the property like exchangers did.
 
mav said:
Sadly, Sloane Gardens is no longer a timeshare. The 30 years was up in Dec 0f 2019. We spent many a lovely trip to London staying at this lovely resort. The building was sold and the place is being turned into luxury condos
Click to expand...
Oh no! It was a wonderful place to stay!
 
geist1223 said:
We have stayed at the Royal Regency in Vincennes. It is about a 10 minute walk to the Underground's final stop. It was a great location. It is a DRI resort. I would go out early and get our bread for the day.
Click to expand...
I've wondered about that. When I go to Paris I like to go to concerts at night and I wondered what it would be like to walk home from the underground at 12:00pm
 
There are two different Routes. One through the Woods (probably avoid in the middle of the night) and one on the City Streets.
 
If you really want to timeshare in European cities, the world's oldest timeshare company, Hapimag has the resorts. They invented points and did it in a way more honest than RCI. You have to buy in to Hapimag to use their system, and it is not cheap for resales, because the company has a buy back policy that prevents cheap resales. They do offer some rentals, though. They have never traded through RCI or II, but they briefly did give some inventory to DAE, although even then only to a limited number of therir resorts. Swiss-based Hapimag also has lots of rural timeshare options, and they have a few resorts outside of Europe. On one of my trips to Budapest, I ran across a Hapimag resort bang on Castle Hill, and asked to look around. It seemed like a very nice resort. In Hapimag, what you buy is shares of stock in the company and that entitles the owner to a certain number of vacation points. Among the European cities they offer are London and Paris, but also Vienna, Salzburg, Prague,, Lisbon, Budapest, Athens, Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg

https://www.hapimag.com/en/
 
How does a person look at a list of their locations? What is the average price per share? What are the yearly Fees per share? How many Vacation Points per share?
 
geist1223 said:
How does a person look at a list of their locations? What is the average price per share? What are the yearly Fees per share? How many Vacation Points per share?
Click to expand...

I would explore the website Hapimag.com for a complete list of resorts. I have always been pleased with the location, condition of the units and especially the on-site staff.

I own one share and receive 60 points per year with a five-year use period. Annual fees are approximately 350 CHF. The business model is that owners pay local charges directly to the resort booked. The charges vary per location, size of unit, time of year, etc.

Feel free to PM me if you’d like more specific information.
 
mpizza said:
I own one share and receive 60 points per year with a five-year use period. Annual fees are approximately 350 CHF. The business model is that owners pay local charges directly to the resort booked. The charges vary per location, size of unit, time of year, etc.
Click to expand...

I looked into this seriously years back. There's nothing I don't like about the system. It's basically what a timeshare company would be like if it were run like mutual insurance.

The only reason I didn't pull the trigger is that we've had good luck with Interval in Europe. Naturally, they don't have NEARLY as much in the Germanophone countries. But I can live with that.

Anyone who visits Europe regularly should look into it.
 
Thank you all for the replies and thoughts. Still no hits on my requests in II.
 
dr.debs said:
Thank you all for the replies and thoughts. Still no hits on my requests in II.
Click to expand...

I believe I said it way upthread -- London and Paris are hard asks. Since this is a graduation trip, I assume you're stuck with a summer trip -- which is the hardest of hard asks.

Just for fun, I looked at exchanges (nothing) and getaways. There was a week in Canterbury at what I consider a very good price. That resort is too far from a train station to appeal to me. But if the goal is "bring your daughter to England," that fills the bill.

Also found a bunch of stuff in Ireland.

If this was my project, I would search for the entirety of Europe -- and then see if anything appeals to your daughter. Maybe she'd be just as happy with a week in Tuscany or Spain.

Narrowing the search down to three months, less than a year out, in two of the hardest cities to grab is going to be tough.
 
mpizza said:
I own in Hapimag and would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Click to expand...
I noticed on their website you can actually try their resorts out up to 3 times by paying cash. But when I tried to register (selecting US as my country) it kept giving me an error saying there was a problem with my postal code. I tried both the 5 and 9 digit versions, same thing. Did you have similar issues getting registered as an owner?
 
sponger76 said:
I noticed on their website you can actually try their resorts out up to 3 times by paying cash. But when I tried to register (selecting US as my country) it kept giving me an error saying there was a problem with my postal code. I tried both the 5 and 9 digit versions, same thing. Did you have similar issues getting registered as an owner?
Click to expand...
Probably looking for a UK Postal Code and not a US Zip Code
 
sponger76 said:
I noticed on their website you can actually try their resorts out up to 3 times by paying cash. But when I tried to register (selecting US as my country) it kept giving me an error saying there was a problem with my postal code. I tried both the 5 and 9 digit versions, same thing. Did you have similar issues getting registered as an owner?
Click to expand...

I did not experience any issues registering and have been booking on-line successfully.

The corporate staff is very responsive, e-mail works best due to time difference.

Info@hapimag.com

LMK if you’d like any additional assistance.
 
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