My SFX experience yesterday

[klpca]

I don't hate SFX but I don't love them either. I love to "shop" online for exchanges and with SFX you can't do that so it tends to not be my favorite. But I have to give credit where credit is due and they really came through for me this time.

In a moment of truly unfortunate timing Wednesday, just hours before the governor of Hawaii made the announcement about lifting the quarantine, I decided to pull the plug on our August vacation and move it to late Sept. I used e-plus to change a week on Kauai to a week at Ko Olina, canceled our car rentals, but put off calling SFX to change our week there. I was truly worried about being able to change that one. Now that the governor had made his announcement I didn't have a "covid" excuse to change the week, but luckily I had purchased their insurance so I could make a change but unfortunately had to pay another exchange fee. (You can't win them all). Being that it was SFX I just didn't have a lot of confidence in my ability to find another trade with them.

I spoke to a woman named Felicia and she was great to work with. I asked for something on Kauai or the Big Island for either the week before our Ko Olina week or the week after. I had choices! I couldn't get Kauai (but there were weeks available - they just weren't my dates) and on the Big Island I had a choice of a 1 bedroom at Kingsland or a 2 bedroom at Kohala Suites. They are now offering Diamond memberships on an annual basis for $99, so the exchange fee drops from $209 to $149, plus you get free upgrades. So I was able to upgrade to the two bedroom at Kohala Suites for about $50 more, plus I have the Diamond benefits for another year. I was happy with the way that this turned out. I wish that I didn't have to call, but all in all it worked out pretty well.

Based upon this experience, SFX seems to work better when you have a destination in mind and call in and ask for that. That's not really the way that my brain works, but with that in mind, I can see using them when I have a specific destination in mind for the future, especially Hawaii.

 

[buzglyd]

SFX has an inside track to HGV inventory so I’m not surprised they got that exchange for you. Do you have to pay a daily resort fee like you would if you got it in RCI?

 

[klpca]

SFX has an inside track to HGV inventory so I’m not surprised they got that exchange for you. Do you have to pay a daily resort fee like you would if you got it in RCI?

Good reminder. I meant to ask them yesterday but forgot. I did take a look at the confirmation and nothing is mentioned there, nor was it mentioned by Felicia. The "important information" section only mentions a $5.15 TOT tax. I'll reach out today and follow up with an answer. It would be good information for all of us because if there's no resort fee through SFX that is quite a savings over an RCI exchange.

Btw the Kauai week was Point at Poipu so I wonder if SFX has a relationship with Diamond too?

 

[Luanne]

SFX has an inside track to HGV inventory so I’m not surprised they got that exchange for you. Do you have to pay a daily resort fee like you would if you got it in RCI?

I don't believe there is a daily resort fee at Kohala Suites. At least there wasn't when we stayed there some years back. Maybe that's changed?

I went and checked. Yes, it has changed since we stayed there. The daily resort fee went into effect in 2018. I think that will knock both Kohala Suites and Kingsland off future trips for us.

 

[klpca]

I don't believe there is a daily resort fee at Kohala Suites. At least there wasn't when we stayed there some years back. Maybe that's changed?

I went and checked. Yes, it has changed since we stayed there. The daily resort fee went into effect in 2018. I think that will knock both Kohala Suites and Kingsland off future trips for us.

Where did you find the information? Is it somewhere on the SFX website? My confirmation does not mention any resort fee.

 

[easyrider]

Recently we had a SFX deposit that was about to expire. SFX hadn't been able to find our online requests and when I finally looked at our requests for some reason none were active. I called and did the $99 upgrade to extend the deposit. Then I had a few weeks I was planning on trading into the owner deposit at VI but VI shut down because of covid so I ended up depositing these into SFX.

Now we have four deposits and three bonus weeks to use. This might work out pretty good, imo.

Bill

 

[Luanne]

Where did you find the information? Is it somewhere on the SFX website? My confirmation does not mention any resort fee.

Sorry, I was checking RCI because that was where we got the trade and there was no fee at that time. As I came back and edited, the fee through RCI went into effect in 2018.

 

[Eric B]

SFX has an inside track to HGV inventory so I’m not surprised they got that exchange for you. Do you have to pay a daily resort fee like you would if you got it in RCI?

Besides HGV, SFX has an inside track to Vidanta, Buganvilias and a few other Mexican resorts. Not sure what other ones they work with (maybe Pueblo Bonito?), but if you're looking for Hawaii or Mexico they seem to be able to access the inventory.

 

[buzglyd]

Besides HGV, SFX has an inside track to Vidanta, Buganvilias and a few other Mexican resorts. Not sure what other ones they work with (maybe Pueblo Bonito?), but if you're looking for Hawaii or Mexico they seem to be able to access the inventory.

Yes in fact I just got an email from them promoting Cabo Azul which is a Diamond Resort and a fantastic place to stay.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Through RCI, all Hilton resorts have a daily resort fee, but that doesn't seem to be the case with SFX.

I need to see if Nathan has a choice for us on the Big Island for next summer, now that out dates are narrowed down a bit.

I hope to use my remaining 9 weeks with SFX. Nathan has promised that my weeks will not expire.

I have a Diamond membership, but it has not been my best purchase. I am glad they reduced the price on the annual fee. I pray that I can get at least a 1 bedroom at Kingsland, but a 2 bedroom would be better for taking Rick's stepmom. She turned 92 a few days ago. 92!

 

[Ken555]

Are they extending deposits as a courtesy?

 

[klpca]

Good reminder. I meant to ask them yesterday but forgot. I did take a look at the confirmation and nothing is mentioned there, nor was it mentioned by Felicia. The "important information" section only mentions a $5.15 TOT tax. I'll reach out today and follow up with an answer. It would be good information for all of us because if there's no resort fee through SFX that is quite a savings over an RCI exchange.

Btw the Kauai week was Point at Poipu so I wonder if SFX has a relationship with Diamond too?

Btw, SFX said that they are only aware and have only been notified of the TOT tax. So I think that we are still safe with resort fees on SFX exchanges. I will let everyone know the real outcome if we even get to go.