Interval International Very Poor Inventory

[edmund36]

Timeshare Problem Why Not To Buy - When you desire to Exchange your week for another resort / date, with Interval International, a new host of issues will exist.

You pay fees up to $1000 (incl your resort) to give you the ability to make a reservation at Interval International. You will be turned down on your initial phone request, then made to create a “Pending Search” for Locations / Dates, you desire to reserve. Ex: If you wanted St. Kitts they will tell you there is an opening in Dominican at another date than what you desire?

You will then wait many months and then your request will be hurting. You’ll have to call them and settle on a location, and dates, you really didn’t want to do and which is inconvenient for your family.

Many availability are resorts that are out of the way, or it is off season. Resorts will only make availability to Interval World when many of their rooms are not occupied, and they are no longer obtaining cash customers.

It is easier to obtain an airfare / resort package through a travel company.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Under your scenario you best not join Interval International.











.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I've been with Interval since 2008 and have made roughly 110-120 exchanges.

From your post, you appear to be looking for an instant exchange and/or not getting your requests. The inventory for the instant exchanges is essentially what is LEFT OVER after they take care of the those exchangers who put in an on-going request. When ii calls you with potential match, it means that the dates, unit size, location or something does not satisfy your request and they are trying to see if it is "good enough". If the request did a perfect match, you get a confirmation and don't get a phone call.

What works for me is the following:
1. Reserve my home unit a year or more in advance and select a check in date that has the highest trading power. If your unit/res has low trading power, you're at a disadvantage.
2. Put in a request as far out as you can. My requests are typically a year to 1-1/2 years out. That establishes my position in the queue. Many timeshare owners deposit roughly a year out, so if you're looking for an exchange 2 or 3 months in advance, there isn't much inventory and the inventory may be resort inventory that they don't think that they can rent or is a cancelation. This is kind of like showing up for a promotional department store sale a day late.
3. When you put in a request, put in the widest group of resorts that you would accept and the widest date range. For instance, for Palm Springs I may put in a 3 month window and include every Marriott and Westin. For Hawaii, I typically put in every Marriott, Westin and Sheraton (I'm a Marriott owner so I have preference over non-Marriott owners) and I "roll the dice" when it comes to which island. If you own a "no name" timeshare, and are looking for a Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Hilton, or Hyatt, you are probably at a disadvantage.
4. Manually check inventory regularly. Sometimes a unit will show up before the on-going requests are satisfied. Sometimes I see something desirable that was not on my request and do an instant exchange.
5. Buy ePlus so that if something more desirable shows up (manual searches), I can make a swap.

 

[rickandcindy23]

You didn't say what you own. That's important. I know that Twin Rivers in Fraser, CO, doesn't pull even a 1 bedroom Orlando Marriott, let alone St. Kitt's.

 

[sponger76]

Timeshare Problem Why Not To Buy - When you desire to Exchange your week for another resort / date, with Interval International, a new host of issues will exist.

You pay fees up to $1000 (incl your resort) to give you the ability to make a reservation at Interval International. You will be turned down on your initial phone request, then made to create a “Pending Search” for Locations / Dates, you desire to reserve. Ex: If you wanted St. Kitts they will tell you there is an opening in Dominican at another date than what you desire?

You will then wait many months and then your request will be hurting. You’ll have to call them and settle on a location, and dates, you really didn’t want to do and which is inconvenient for your family.

Many availability are resorts that are out of the way, or it is off season. Resorts will only make availability to Interval World when many of their rooms are not occupied, and they are no longer obtaining cash customers.

It is easier to obtain an airfare / resort package through a travel company.

It's all about what exactly you own to exchange in and how well you maximize it in the II system. Yes, what you describe does happen. But not all the time to all people the way you make it out to be. And no, II inventory is not only the leftovers that the resorts can't fill. While some resorts/systems decide what specifically gets deposited, a good amount of II inventory is there because owners deposit specific inventory into the II system. Your statements show a very poor understanding of how the system works.

Lots of people, especially those who have something good to exchange in return, do get exactly what they are looking for. I myself have gotten the exact week and unit size that I was looking for, at the specific resort I wanted.

First, I had something good to exchange (Marriott, Sheraton and Westin deeds that are enrolled in Abound and therefore incur no exchange fee when trading for other Marriott/Sheraton/Westin stays). You can't have a cheap 1-2 star resort in low season and expect to consistently get 3 star resorts, with much higher Maintenance Fees, particularly during peak season.

My successes tend to happen when I deposit and make my requests far (think a year) in advance. Pretty much every failure was when I was looking around for instantly available inventory less than a few months out from the desired check-in. And even close in, there have been a couple of lucky strikes.

 

[jp10558]

I have to say, II's inventory is ... okish. I have gotten reasonable off season or built up MVC with my Fox Run and Gaitlinburg Town Square. Branson and Orlando and Ocean Pointe and HHI. Not mid summer though. The only one I got via OGS was the HHI in October. The rest I did find for instant exchange. I failed to pull a Hawaii with Fox Run. So far I'm more OK with the II exchanges than I have been with my HGVC bookings - mostly due to locations and lower overall costs. But I certainly could get a booking in Hawaii with HGVC if I desired.

 

[andre10056]

Timeshare Problem Why Not To Buy - When you desire to Exchange your week for another resort / date, with Interval International, a new host of issues will exist.

You pay fees up to $1000 (incl your resort) to give you the ability to make a reservation at Interval International. You will be turned down on your initial phone request, then made to create a “Pending Search” for Locations / Dates, you desire to reserve. Ex: If you wanted St. Kitts they will tell you there is an opening in Dominican at another date than what you desire?

You will then wait many months and then your request will be hurting. You’ll have to call them and settle on a location, and dates, you really didn’t want to do and which is inconvenient for your family.

Many availability are resorts that are out of the way, or it is off season. Resorts will only make availability to Interval World when many of their rooms are not occupied, and they are no longer obtaining cash customers.

It is easier to obtain an airfare / resort package through a travel company.

I've actually had far better success with II than RCI. In fact, had you substituted RCI each time you made mention of II above, I would be nodding in agreement with 100% of your post.

And, to be honest, I do agree with your "easier to obtain an airfare / resort package" comment as often being true no matter what or where you own.

That being said, what might you do to improve your trade options? Stubbornly insisting upon one destination and not getting it for months on end may be a sign to supplement that search with other searches. Try some other geographic areas.

Also, after clicking on "Forums" and scrolling down, see what people like Grayfal have discovered in "Sightings/Distressed". I don't know if you also have II capability as Grayfal most often lists II opportunities, but others post about RCI opportunities. Maybe you'll have an interest in something else that you may not have considered.

Finally, I don't know if you're a veteran, or your parents were veterans, or your kids may be in the military (one generation up or down is what they say...although I think they could care less whether or not you meet those alleged qualifications), but it may be of interest to check out the Armed Forces Vacation Club.

 

[tomvc]

You didn't say what you own. That's important. I know that Twin Rivers in Fraser, CO, doesn't pull even a 1 bedroom Orlando Marriott, let alone St. Kitt's.

Found on @edmund36 profile.
Sea Watch Plantation Myrtle Beach
Royal Vista Ft Lauderdale

If you’re looking to exchange into Marriott’s, you’ll have a difficult time (outside of off season) due to Marriott priority.

 

[rickandcindy23]

This is a case of "You don't know what it is you don't know." It sounds like nonsense for me to say it but it's absolutely true. Owning a Marriott Platinum Season week or a Sheraton Desert Oasis or Sheraton Broadway Resort (these are the ones I own and know about) is preferential over any off-brand resort. Those systems get preference into resorts in those systems.

The prices are very low to acquire a week.

 

[davidvel]

Timeshare Problem Why Not To Buy - When you desire to Exchange your week for another resort / date, with Interval International, a new host of issues will exist.

You pay fees up to $1000 (incl your resort) to give you the ability to make a reservation at Interval International. You will be turned down on your initial phone request, then made to create a “Pending Search” for Locations / Dates, you desire to reserve. Ex: If you wanted St. Kitts they will tell you there is an opening in Dominican at another date than what you desire?

You will then wait many months and then your request will be hurting. You’ll have to call them and settle on a location, and dates, you really didn’t want to do and which is inconvenient for your family.

Many availability are resorts that are out of the way, or it is off season. Resorts will only make availability to Interval World when many of their rooms are not occupied, and they are no longer obtaining cash customers.

It is easier to obtain an airfare / resort package through a travel company.

As others have noted, with apologies in advance, your post tells us you really don't understand the system or have reasonable expectations. You seem to think that II is here just to serve up what you want, where you want, when you want it, despite what you have to offer up, at the expense of all other II members. Obviously that is not what II is set up to do.

That being said, we have made some really great trades, almost all of which were instant (no waitlist) exchanges:

Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages
MRD	MRD
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: ZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 26
Sat, November 19, 2016	Sun, June 26, 2016
Sat, November 26, 2016	Sun, July 03, 2016
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Timber Lodge
MRD	MML
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 46	Week: 13
Sat, November 17, 2018	Sun, April 01, 2018
Sat, November 24, 2018	Sun, April 08, 2018
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages
MRD	MRD
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 40
Sat, November 19, 2016	Fri, October 05, 2018
Sat, November 26, 2016	Fri, October 12, 2018
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Timber Lodge
MRD	MML
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 46	Week: 1
Sat, November 17, 2018	Sat, January 05, 2019
Sat, November 24, 2018	Sat, January 12, 2019
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Newport Coast Villas
MRD	NCV
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: HTOVI (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 24	Week: 1
Sun, June 16, 2019	Sat, January 04, 2020
Sun, June 23, 2019	Sat, January 11, 2020
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages
MRD	MRD
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: DZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 29
Fri, November 22, 2019	Sat, July 18, 2020
Fri, November 29, 2019	Sat, July 25, 2020
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	The Ridge Tahoe
MRD	RGT
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: 2BED (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 22	Week: 1
Sat, May 29, 2021	Sat, January 02, 2021
Sat, June 05, 2021	Sat, January 09, 2021
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's MountainSide
MRD	MOU
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: ZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 13
Sat, November 20, 2021	Fri, March 26, 2021
Sat, November 27, 2021	Fri, April 02, 2021
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Newport Coast Villas
MRD	NCV
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: TOVI (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 22	Week: 51
Sat, May 28, 2022	Sun, December 18, 2022
Sat, June 04, 2022	Sun, December 25, 2022
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's MountainSide
MRD	MOU
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: ZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 13
Sun, November 20, 2022	Sun, March 26, 2023
Sun, November 27, 2022	Sun, April 02, 2023
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Village d'Ile de France
MRD	MVF
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: DTOVI (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 26	Week: 44
Sat, June 29, 2024	Thu, November 02, 2023
Sat, July 06, 2024	Thu, November 09, 2023
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Grand Chateau
MRD	MGC
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAO (3 Bedrooms)
Week: 24	Week: 9
Sat, June 15, 2024	Sun, March 03, 2024
Sat, June 22, 2024	Sun, March 10, 2024
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Maui Ocean Club
MRD	MMO
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: HOBOV (1 Bedroom)
Week: 47	Week: 34
Sat, November 22, 2025	Fri, August 22, 2025
Sat, November 29, 2025	Fri, August 29, 2025
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's MountainSide
MRD	MOU
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 22	Week: 13
Sat, May 31, 2025	Sun, March 30, 2025
Sat, June 07, 2025	Sun, April 06, 2025

 

[pedro47]

You didn't say what you own. That's important. I know that Twin Rivers in Fraser, CO, doesn't pull even a 1 bedroom Orlando Marriott, let alone St. Kitt's.

Excellent points
We need to know the name of the resort own by the OP?
The week own by the OP?
Is the OP using points to made a timeshare exchange?
The number of bedrooms of the OP resort?
We need to know the location of the OP timeshare?
Does the OP own a low season week and trying to exchange into a prime week or season?
There are so many questions. We need to ask this OP?

 

[pedro47]

As others have noted, with apologies in advance, your post tells us you really don't understand the system or have reasonable expectations. You seem to think that II is here just to serve up what you want, where you want, when you want it, despite what you have to offer up, at the expense of all other II members. Obviously that is not what II is set up to do.

That being said, we have made some really great trades, almost all of which were instant (no waitlist) exchanges:

Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages
MRD	MRD
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: ZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 26
Sat, November 19, 2016	Sun, June 26, 2016
Sat, November 26, 2016	Sun, July 03, 2016
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Timber Lodge
MRD	MML
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 46	Week: 13
Sat, November 17, 2018	Sun, April 01, 2018
Sat, November 24, 2018	Sun, April 08, 2018
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages
MRD	MRD
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 40
Sat, November 19, 2016	Fri, October 05, 2018
Sat, November 26, 2016	Fri, October 12, 2018
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Timber Lodge
MRD	MML
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 46	Week: 1
Sat, November 17, 2018	Sat, January 05, 2019
Sat, November 24, 2018	Sat, January 12, 2019
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Newport Coast Villas
MRD	NCV
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: HTOVI (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 24	Week: 1
Sun, June 16, 2019	Sat, January 04, 2020
Sun, June 23, 2019	Sat, January 11, 2020
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages
MRD	MRD
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: DZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 29
Fri, November 22, 2019	Sat, July 18, 2020
Fri, November 29, 2019	Sat, July 25, 2020
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	The Ridge Tahoe
MRD	RGT
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: 2BED (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 22	Week: 1
Sat, May 29, 2021	Sat, January 02, 2021
Sat, June 05, 2021	Sat, January 09, 2021
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's MountainSide
MRD	MOU
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: ZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 13
Sat, November 20, 2021	Fri, March 26, 2021
Sat, November 27, 2021	Fri, April 02, 2021
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Newport Coast Villas
MRD	NCV
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: TOVI (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 22	Week: 51
Sat, May 28, 2022	Sun, December 18, 2022
Sat, June 04, 2022	Sun, December 25, 2022
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's MountainSide
MRD	MOU
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: ZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 47	Week: 13
Sun, November 20, 2022	Sun, March 26, 2023
Sun, November 27, 2022	Sun, April 02, 2023
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Village d'Ile de France
MRD	MVF
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: DTOVI (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 26	Week: 44
Sat, June 29, 2024	Thu, November 02, 2023
Sat, July 06, 2024	Thu, November 09, 2023
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Grand Chateau
MRD	MGC
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAO (3 Bedrooms)
Week: 24	Week: 9
Sat, June 15, 2024	Sun, March 03, 2024
Sat, June 22, 2024	Sun, March 10, 2024
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's Maui Ocean Club
MRD	MMO
Unit: TOGV (Studio)	Unit: HOBOV (1 Bedroom)
Week: 47	Week: 34
Sat, November 22, 2025	Fri, August 22, 2025
Sat, November 29, 2025	Fri, August 29, 2025
Marriott's Shadow Ridge Villages	Marriott's MountainSide
MRD	MOU
Unit: TOMV (1 Bedroom)	Unit: HZZAA (2 Bedrooms)
Week: 22	Week: 13
Sat, May 31, 2025	Sun, March 30, 2025
Sat, June 07, 2025	Sun, April 06, 2025

This owner own Marriott’s.

 

[rickandcindy23]

This owner own Marriott’s.

I didn't see that he owned Marriott. Where did you see that the OP owned Marriott?

 

[VacationForever]

I didn't see that he owned Marriott. Where did you see that the OP owned Marriott?

Davidvel. We all know him.

 

[pedro47]

I didn't see that he owned Marriott. Where did you see that the OP owned Marriott?

Look under resort own by Davidvel

 

[2rebecca]

As others have noted, with apologies in advance, your post tells us you really don't understand the system or have reasonable expectations. You seem to think that II is here just to serve up what you want, where you want, when you want it, despite what you have to offer up, at the expense of all other II members. Obviously that is not what II is set up to do.

In @edmund36's defense, these were probably the exact words the salesman used to describe how it works.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Look under resort own by Davidvel

But he's not the original poster.

 

[davidvel]

But he's not the original poster.

Pedro never said I was the OP, not sure why you keep referring to OP.

My guess is he was putting my trades into context of owning Marriott (enrolled btw), as opposed to whatever OP owns.

 

[jp10558]

Pedro never said I was the OP, not sure why you keep referring to OP.

My guess is he was putting my trades into context of owning Marriott (enrolled btw), as opposed to whatever OP owns.

I also think that he might be wrong - or I have lower expectations. I'm critical of II, and critical of the inventory levels they have vs RCI, but not in an absolute sense. I know I can't see all the fanciest places with my Capital Vacations locations, but I see enough that I would disagree with the OP comments. So either they have a complete dog of an independent (possible) or just haven't figured out how to use II - which is also very possible because it's quite clunky IMO.

 

[ondeadlin]

I have used both Interval and RCI, with good weeks (Grand Timber Lodge and Marriott ski weeks), medium weeks (Worldmark points, Eagle Point ski in Vail) and bad weeks (Foxrun winter season). Ongoing searches are my preferred approach, because I'm too busy with my job and personal life to be checking inventory every day, let alone more than that. Given those parameters, I prefer Interval. With Interval, I feel like I get what I deserve, i.e weeks of similar quality, or better. RCI was generally disappointing to me, but my time on TUG has led me to conclude this is mostly because I prefer ongoing searches.

With that context, I think the OP either has unrealistic expectations or a fundamental lack of understanding of how to use II. It seems like the OP has been a II member for a long time, so I'm not really sure why that might be. And it's easy to opt out of II calling you and offering you different weeks.

In the end, the fundamental advice that TUG users have been giving for decades is the best bottom line: Buy where you want to go. Any time you're trying to trade, you're at the mercy of the exchanges and luck.

 

[fontanableu]

I found this information insightful but support why i do not use this route of increasing my vacation opportunities. I do find the II and RCI to be tilted in the favor that they win on charging me and taking my money and i am not completely satisfied with my efforts of vacationing with them. So i do not use them. Thanks for the information a

 

[jp10558]

"Completely Satisfied" is such a high bar. I am rarely completely satisfied with anything lol.

For me, the value to cost ratio affects my satisfaction a lot. When I'm paying 1300 a week for a 2BR I'm still pretty forgiving because hotel rooms with way less amenities tend to be at least 150 a night per after taxes. At least without taking some risks with priceline or settling for a Motel 6. So I can forgive some limits on booking - though I find as I've learned the systems I tend to not be too limited because I can pretty easily substitute as needed.

I am so far 99 percent happy as a clam with occasional jackpots like basically picking my time for Massanutten several times for 4BR for about the same 1300 per week.