Let's help one another out and start posting more II and RCI sightings!

[malyons]

where do i find the sightings board? sorry, i'm clearly a newbie but think this would certainly help me and I'd love to contribute once i figure it out (just joined II about 3 weeks ago) TIA!

 

[rickandcindy23]

where do i find the sightings board? sorry, i'm clearly a newbie but think this would certainly help me and I'd love to contribute once i figure it out (just joined II about 3 weeks ago) TIA!

Hi! Welcome to TUG! The Sightings/ Distressed part of the BBS is toward the bottom of the different forums.

If you go to BBS Home, you will see it toward the bottom.

I have been in the habit of going to New Posts several times a day, and that can be another way of getting there. If a New Post says Sightings/ Distressed to the right of the post, click on the link there.

 

[Carol C]

We've done 4 or 5 week-for-week exchanges & 1 straight-points exchange. Other than that, all our vacations in other people's timeshares have been Last Call & Instant Exchange.

It's not that I've never looked at Sightings -- just that I haven't figured out how it works or what I'm spozed to do with something that somebody has Sighted.

I could be the only doofus on TUG-BBS -- but somehow I doubt it. (There are more of us doofuses out there then 1 might expect.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Heya Alan...looking at the weeks you own, you are the perfect person to be looking at Sightings postings. For example...when I owned South Africa weeks, like you do, I could grab an exchange, say, at Manhattan Club, when a generous person like Dani or Cindy or whomever posted a bulk-spacebanking of MC weeks on deposit. Because supply and demand is one of the big equations with RCI, the trade power becomes a bit different when there is an unusually big "supply" due to a bulk-spacebanking by a resort into RCI's inventory. So when there are, say, 30 Manhattan Club weeks available on any given day, a "lesser trader" like a South Africa week (with cheaper maint fee usually) might snag a coveted vacation exchange. Sightings provide a kind of early notice to TUG members that a coveted exchange is available, so folks start to snap them up quickly (and hopefully also post if they got one...and what they still see in inventory a few days later.) I find it very educational, even if I don't want to go to that destination at that time period.

That's just one example of how Sightings are helpful. I also think a newbie can learn alot about her/his timeshare's trading power by studying Sightings bbs.

TUG is the place where the Sightings idea was first launched; I know the history. Along with the Distressed postings to the bbs, it has been an invaluable aid to countless timeshare exchangers. TUG Sightings have made many dreams come true!

 

[ronandjoan]

Carol, Cindy
I did the same thing last year when there was a bulk spacebank of Fairfield Kona Hawaiian last December - it was a year out and several poeple had already grabbed them successfully, but there were so many spacebanked, that I was able to get one too. I just called RCI and asked for it and got it with a blue studio exchange.

The Sightings are great and I really appreciate those that post! THANKS

 

[middleoforchid]

Thank you for sharing that info Carol and Joan,now I understand what "bulk" spacebanking means.

 

[icydog]

My two cents

I like to post sightings first thing in the morning. It seems that many resort chains do the deposits overnight. For example Disney posts more listings on Monday morning in the early AM than on other days of the week. Often by 7 AM the best ones are gone. So if you want to get into DVC resorts, get up early, and preferrably do it on Monday. Other resort chains like Marriott are sporatic in their deposits. They, too, deposit overnight for the most part but they could do it anytime during the day as well. Some resorts deposit directly into II and some have to be input manually by II reps.

As far as copying sightings, I will not dwell on this, but suffice to say some folks (not Tuggers) feel they have proprietary ownership over II an RCI sightings. Sightings are not even ours. The information posted on sightings boards actually belongs to RCI and II and the copying of that information could be thought of as proprietary to them alone not a timeshare board somewhere. It is their, RCI and II's, information we are copying. If they don't care, and one can assume they don't since sightings have been going on for years, then that information should be viewed as public domaine and therefore doesn't belong to anyone. The fact is, with so little involved with posting a sighting, or giving it a title, that someone can be accused of stealing a sighting--- is ridiculous, and a vain attempt to claim something that is not theirs in the first place. We at Tug are more generous with our time and efforts. I love that I can help someone as I am sure the other posters like Cindy are. That's all I have to say on this topic.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Marylyn, RCI posts new stuff at 11:00 p.m. my time, which is 1:00 a.m. Eastern. Lots of good inventory shows up, but it is hard to stay awake that late.

I agree completely about the RCI and II information. The companies own it, not any timeshare owners' group. It is very logical that identical sightings would appear on other forums. I hope RCI and II never get technical and stop us from posting information here. This would require a "super secret" spot for sightings.

 

[PeelBoy]

I would like to see the distressed postings to have a separate thread, because they "sink" really fast.

 

[icydog]

Marylyn, RCI posts new stuff at 11:00 p.m. my time, which is 1:00 a.m. Eastern. Lots of good inventory shows up, but it is hard to stay awake that late.

I agree completely about the RCI and II information. The companies own it, not any timeshare owners' group. It is very logical that identical sightings would appear on other forums. I hope RCI and II never get technical and stop us from posting information here. This would require a "super secret" spot for sightings.

I agree with you wholehearty. I. Don't have any weeks I can exchange since I am selling my two Manor Clubs bit I can still search as if I would want to exchange them. I will do this whenever I can to help other Tug members.
I just wish my RCI traders were good enough to see anything of value. I hope others will join us in the cause to make Tug the end all, be all of sightings forums!

 

[Mom Poppins]

I found out that my 2 bedroom can now be split and get the 1 bedroom (with a bonus ac) and a studio..so 3 weeks! I went straight to II to try it out by using the view units way without depositing.

I can see my studio will pull Disney's studio's and 1 bedrooms. My 1 bedroom will pull of course their 1 bedrooms. Now I need to know if either will pull a Disney 2 bedroom! I can see 2 and 3 bedrooms in Orlando but at the time I don't see any 2 bedrooms at DVC to try it out with.

I tried to even put in my 2 bedroom and could not see any 2 bedrooms so i am now waiting on a confirmed sighting of a Disney 2 bedroom to see what I can pull.

Thanks for all of you whom post on the sightings board!!!

 

[philemer]

I would like to see the distressed postings to have a separate thread, because they "sink" really fast.

There's no rule against 'bumping' the post to the top every day if you want. I don't feel there are enough distressed posts to warrant their own forum or sub-forum. JMHO.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Bumping Instructions Needed.

There's no rule against 'bumping' the post to the top every day if you want.

How is that done ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[DeniseM]

How is that done ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

All you do is add a post to the thread like "still available," and it will go to the top of the board.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Post a reply that and say, "Still have this week................." and voila! You have bumped it back to the top, but you knew that.

 

[Toughbeat]

Please forgive my ignorance, but I'm having trouble finding the SIGHTINGS/DISTRESSED board. I looked toward the bottom of the BBS Home page but didn't see anything. Can someone maybe post a link or send me a TUG FOR DUMMIES book? thanks

 

[rickandcindy23]

Please forgive my ignorance, but I'm having trouble finding the SIGHTINGS/DISTRESSED board. I looked toward the bottom of the BBS Home page but didn't see anything. Can someone maybe post a link or send me a TUG FOR DUMMIES book? thanks

You have to be a member, which costs $15 for a year, to see the sightings and read the resort reviews. Believe me, this site is worth $15, plus you will never have to pay for membership again because you can get free months by writing resort reviews. This is something TUGBrian just started about a year ago; he gives free months of membership for every single review you write, and the better reviews get more months. I don't remember exactly what they get, but I should never have to pay again because I write lots of them.

Also, you get free months for getting another person to subscribe. If you get ten people to subscribe, you get a TUG Lifetime Membership, and I am trying to get that!

Pulling one exchange that you discover on the sightings board is worth the membership alone.

 

[Toughbeat]

I should have mentioned that I am logged in and became a member just yesterday. I've been able to access the members only areas, such as Placing an Ad, but still can't find SIGHTINGS.

 

[Dave M]

Scroll down the list of forums. You'll find it under "Private Forums" near the bottom of the list. The title is "Sightings/Distressed".

 

[rickandcindy23]

Mystery solved. You weren't showing as a Member when I posted my response.

Welcome to TUG as a brand new member!