Private Exchange versus RCI

[vkhome]

I let my membership in RCI expire over 3 years ago. I recently got an offer to rejoin. My question is this. What advantage is there in being an RCI member for exchange purposes? Isn't it just as easy to do private exchanges through the internet? I'll swamp my TS for yours....

 

[rickandcindy23]

Try www.htse.net or the other alternatives. www.dae-live.com is another good one. Some have membership fees, others do not. There was a very good article in Timesharing Today this month on alternative companies.

Trading Places and Trading Places Maui are other good ones.

 

[Karen G]

Isn't it just as easy to do private exchanges through the internet? I'll swamp my TS for yours....

It all depends on what you have and what you want. Here's a page here on TUG for people who are interested in doing private exchanges. You could list your resort and see what happens.

 

[gmarine]

You also have to consider the fraud factor. How comfortable are you in giving another person your week and then going to their resort at a later date knowing that they could cancel your reservation at any time ?

The exchange companies provide a level of comfort and some protection that you do indeed have a reservation.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The key to doing private (direct) exchanges is to have a resort that is extremely desirable. If you have such a resort, you stand a good chance of finiding people who have resorts in places you want to visit who are willing to trade with you.

If you're week is not a top drawer week, it's a lot harder to find people who want to trade. For those weeks, you really need to work through an exchange company.

For example, I receive probably about 20 inquiries per year from people wanting to do a direct exchange for our Kaua`i week. (Most of them are offering weeks that are not too attractive.) I've had our Winners Circle week listed as available for direct exchange for just as long, and I've never received an inquiry about direct exchange. But, depositing our Winners Circle Week with an exchange company, we've been able to obtain very fine exchanges - higher quality than what is in most of the offers we get for our Kaua`i week.

 

[gmarine]

The key to doing private (direct) exchanges is to have a resort that is extremely desirable. If you have such a resort, you stand a good chance of finiding people who have resorts in places you want to visit who are willing to trade with you.

If you're week is not a top drawer week, it's a lot harder to find people who want to trade. For those weeks, you really need to work through an exchange company.

For example, I receive probably about 20 inquiries per year from people wanting to do a direct exchange for our Kaua`i week. (Most of them are offering weeks that are not too attractive.) I've had our Winners Circle week listed as available for direct exchange for just as long, and I've never received an inquiry about direct exchange. But, depositing our Winners Circle Week with an exchange company, we've been able to obtain very fine exchanges - higher quality than what is in most of the offers we get for our Kaua`i week.

This is a very good point as well. I had my St James Club, Antigua week on the direct exchange board. This is a week that the resort rents for $6000 a week and I had someone offer to give me an October week at Westgate Lakes in Orlando. LOL

 

[vkhome]

I have a float week in Hilton Head. I usually reserve it for spring vacation week that coincides with the PGA golf tournament there. (actually I've been renting it for the past five years and it's booked again for 2007).
How hard would it be to exchange that for a week in Florida during the winter, say February or March?