Timeshare Trading

[suekap]

If I buy a timeshare in virginia because maintenance fees are low, would I be able each year to trade through RCI to a florida resort like vistana or orange lakes? I wanted to know if it is difficult to trade?

 

[Spence]

If you buy a real RED week, a holiday week when children are out of school, you should be able to trade into Orlando if you deposit more than 1 year in advance and search early.

 

[rickandcindy23]

If you buy red time, truly red time, you should have no problems.

Orlando is such an easy trade. There are so many great resorts that I can pick up with a blue week, including OLCC and Vistana (neither is a favorite of mine) anytime of the year, unless I am trying to grab a summer week in May, which is harder, but I can often do that too.

I love Cypress Point & the Grandevillas, all of the Marriotts, Summer Bay, Westgate Lakes and Town Center, all of which are much cleaner and nicer than the OLCC and Vistana older units. All of those resorts are easy to get with any week that we own.

 

[suekap]

I am trying to get a red week floating, we do vacation in the beginning of August. I am very new to this so I don't know very much. I appreciate all the help with suggestions.

 

[Spence]

As we have insinuated all Red is not Red. If you buy a floating week you must insure that it allows you to book holiday time when the kids are out of school and that you book that as soon as you are in your 'window' and deposit it immediately.

 

[CMF]

Vistana is Huge

I found [in my short experience] that it is easier to trade into the larger resorts.

Charles

 

[sfwilshire]

Even though Orlando is overbuilt, it can still be a difficult trade at Spring break time and the week between Christmas and New Years. Most of the rest of the year is pretty readily available at some resort.

Sheila

 

[Judy]

Where in Virginia? A week on the beach in Virginia Beach will trade much differently than a week in Williamsburg, Massanutten, or elsewhere.

 

[Carolinian]

The weeks exchange system is based on supply and demand, and you are wanting to trade into an area, Orlando, with what an official RCI rep called an area with ''a large excess of supply'', which is confirmed by Tuggers own exchange experience and other unofficial RCI reps such as Bootleg. In general, it is an easy area to trade into, although there may be a few weeks here and there which are tougher than normal.

In buying something to trade you also would want to avoid other areas that are overbuilt in timeshare, and thus weak traders. In Virginia, that would be Massanutten and Williamsburg.

Now if you are buying points, that is a different ballgame and supply and demand are often stood on their head, so you will have to ask a points expert. Generally with points, overbuilt areas tend to get overpointed, especially if developers are still actively selling there.

 

[rickandcindy23]

With II there is always availability for peak times.

We own very red weeks in the Colorado mountains, not five-star but nice, but we are always able to get holidays in Orlando with II, including Spring Break and Christmas Break, the busiest times. We are offered Marriotts as well. I would consider a purchase in the Co mountains, ski season, weeks 51-52, 1-12. Our summer week is also an awesome trader, but it is a three bedroom, which is always in demand.

MF's in Colorado are generally $400 to $500, unless you get into the Crown and Star resorts.

 

[JudyS]

Orlando is usually an easy trade, except Christmas and Spring Break. Other parts of Florida vary.

I second the idea of using II instead of RCI for Florida trades. Most of the top-end Orlando resorts trade in II, not RCI.

 

[Jwerking]

Where in Virginia? A week on the beach in Virginia Beach will trade much differently than a week in Williamsburg, Massanutten, or elsewhere.

I agree with Judy, a summer Va Beach week would be an awesome trader and get you where ever your heart desires. Orlando is not a hard trade,particularly, with a great trader - of course, you still have to do this at least a year in advance . We own summer wks in Hilton Head - they are great traders.

Wmsburg is good if you own high summer weeks, and maybe Massanutten is okay with summer weeks. But for trade power, I would think non-summer weeks at both these locations would not be a wise choice. You can easily get last call Wmburg and Massanutten weeks cheap during the low season which attest to their oversupply and thus lower trade power.

While others have posted that they like II, I still like RCI and I am a member of both. Remember, you will not always be going to Orlando, probably only once or twice, so there is no reason to purchase an II resort just because they have more high-end Orlando timeshares. There are may places that RCI have resorts where II does not. For example, I don't think that II has anything in the Yellowstone Park/Jackson Hole area. It is an awesome area and a hard trade with RCI because they only have a few resorts there, but at least they have some.

Also, RCI lets you readily upgrade into a larger unit - esp with a great trader. We trade our studio and 1 br summer weeks for 2 brs most of the time. II infrequently allows this and I own lockouts with Marriott - one of the high end II resorts. Also, with II, if you put in a search and it matches anything - it is yours. With RCI, they will call you if you so request and give you the option to past on a match. This works well, for example, if you are 18 mos out and they offer you a standard Orlando resort. I would pass since you are so far out and wait for a GC (if you have the trade power, of course). But with II, it is yours!

JOyce