What are your most recent SA trades?

[JACKC]

Posts have been sparse on this board lately. I'm wondering how tuggers are doing with their SA trades these days.

Pickings seem slimmer than in the past, but good things do show up using our Sudwala. We see HGVC's and Sheraton Vistana's in Orlando and Sheraton Broadway in Myrtle Beach; not a whole lot at prime time, though. The 1-in-4 rule blocks us from exchanging to these as often as we'd like.

We recently pulled a June, 2006 trade to Foxrun at Lake Lure with a white 1br Sudwala, and we have some other searches going.

Love to hear how others are faring.

Jack

 

[michelle]

Interesting question.

In the past, we came to the conclusion that it was best not to boast about SA trades. It seemed too may people were concerned about a) the low price we paid for these resorts, b) the low price we paid for maintenance fees, and c) the fact that white standard studio weeks could pull "nice" 2 bedroom resorts, even places like Manhattan Club.

But what is the feeling now? And what could the repercussions for naming our trades be?

With the rand/dollar exchange rate now, these resorts aren't as cheap as they used to be, and maintenance required by top resorts are getting to be comparable with fees paid for a US resort.

Plus we all know what happened on "Black Sunday", and how those same white standard studios aren't trading as well as they used to.

So, will it be safe to talk about trades, or not?

 

[vincenton]

Use my for PFD into my RCI points account.

Vincent.

 

[arfie]

You said it Michelle!

Loose lips sink ships..or something. Anyway, you put very succinctly and tactfully and thank you for that!

 

[TravelOrDie]

2 recent trades (this summer...)

Traded my 1 bedroom Silversands into a 1 bedroom @ the Grandview @ Las Vegas and traded my 2 bedroom Castleburn into a 2 bedroom HGV Club @ the Las Vegas Hilton... both very nice!

 

[JoeMid]

I had a late SA deposit that wouldn't get full PFD, used it for TMC.

 

[myip]

Traded last week with Durban Sands 1 bedroom to 2 bedroom Sheraton Vistana Village for July 2006.

 

[Gramma5]

I'm Happy....

I trade mine 18-20+ months out and am able to get mostly what I want and have been very happy over the 3 years that I have traded. the trades are not Ritz-Carlton quality but certainly very nice.......Takes planning and abit of looking.........
Sherry

 

[byeloe]

reply

This week snagged Royal Mayan for Mar 2007

 

[Avery]

Loose lips sink ships..or something. Anyway, you put very succinctly and tactfully and thank you for that!

Also known as the TUG Kiss of Death.

 

[KHolleger]

We just spent Thanksgiving using a South African trade. Not a high powered trade, since I traded a red week for a blue week, but it was what we wanted. We spent Thanksgiving at Ocean Time in Ocean City, Maryland, as we do most years. After a few years of trying to find trades into 3-bedroom units, we decided to buy one in Ocean City, so beginning next year, no more trades for Thanksgiving. We'll go back as owners!

 

[DianeH]

I personally do not understand why we SA owners have to keep our great trades in the closet. Just because we read, and acted on a wonderful opportunity to buy cheap and trade cheap and someone else didn't? What about the folks who buy at resorts for highly inflated prices? Is the person who bought at the same resort for 70% less not allowed to boast of their fab trade?

We do as Sherry said. It does take careful planning well in advance. We are a single income family and I must save for our vacations very carefully.

Our latest trade has been for Mazatlan (still waiting for another exchange to go with it). I've pulled Paniolo Greens, and a few others in Hawaii for 2007. I didn't take them but its still good to see.

I hope I haven't upset anyone with my comments.

Diane

 

[JeffV]

Just keep right on bragging and trust me, you won't like the result. But this is a free country and you can do what you want.

 

[jbrunson]

SA trading power

When I was in Kauai, I asked HTSE what kind of deposits they accepted. The answer was "any thing red except South Africa." I'm not too sure the problem is that SA weeks are undesireable. My guess is that a number of exchangers have bragged about getting the trade with their $200 grass shack and owners of costly weeks have made it known they don't appreciate having their face rubbed in it. Developers, HOA's and individual owners have a stake in the perception their property is worth considerably more than a cheap SA week. Most of us probably enjoy sharing information with others, particularly good deals. But there are probably good ways and bad ways of doing it.

 

[Laurie]

Exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it

Earlier this year I confirmed a week in the Italian Alps for early June of next year, in my #1 pick of locations within the region. This isn't prime season in a high-demand area, but it was just exactly what I wanted and needed, to fit between 2 already-booked weeks in Italy, at 1 of my top 2 resort choices there.

This past October we went to Foxrun for leaf-peeping, and over Memorial Day weekend this year to Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge at north Lake Tahoe, where we met some RCI members from South Africa who were intrigued that we owned there. I absolutely *loved* every single thing about Red Wolf. Again, neither of these were prime season, but both were just when we wanted to go.

My SA week trades much like my average US trader (but still much lower mf's even with the rand's strength) - nothing to brag about, just information to share about the instances the trade power is adequate for exactly what we want.

 

[gravedee]

I traded into a 2 bd Kona Coast Resort for sept 07 with a Strand week and Paniolo 2 bd a week later with a Dik week. I'm happy.

 

[JEFF H]

My guess is that a number of exchangers have bragged about getting the trade with their $200 grass shack and owners of costly weeks have made it known they don't appreciate having their face rubbed in it. Developers, HOA's and individual owners have a stake in the perception their property is worth considerably more than a cheap SA week. Most of us probably enjoy sharing information with others, particularly good deals. But there are probably good ways and bad ways of doing it.

I think it a big misconception that all SA timeshare are grass shacks or less desirable in General than Timeshare resorts in North America.
I have read plenty of Posts on TUG of people who own small Studio hotel room units in North America exchanging for high demand 2-BR units in top demand vacation destinations.
Why is it when a SA owners posts about there good fortune in exchanging its called bragging but when owners of studios do it on other areas of TUG its not?
Many Studio units in North America can be picked-up cheaply on the resale market and have lower or about the same maintenance fees as many SA weeks.
The Fact is SA weeks are just like weeks from other vacation destinations and vary from Great trade power to Poor.

 

[Laurie]

When I was in Kauai, I asked HTSE what kind of deposits they accepted. The answer was "any thing red except South Africa." I'm not too sure the problem is that SA weeks are undesireable. My guess is that a number of exchangers have bragged about getting the trade with their $200 grass shack and owners of costly weeks have made it known they don't appreciate having their face rubbed in it. Developers, HOA's and individual owners have a stake in the perception their property is worth considerably more than a cheap SA week. Most of us probably enjoy sharing information with others, particularly good deals. But there are probably good ways and bad ways of doing it.

Did you ask them the reason for their qualification?

More likely IMO, they don't want to accept these SA deposits because the majority of folks who use this exchange company (North Americans?) don't want to exchange back into SA, at least not in the ratio of North Americans who wish to deposit them in exchange for a week in North America and Hawaii - so they'd be left with an imbalance of inventory.

Could be as simple as that, and have nothing to do with relative maintenance fees of the exchanged property, or the building material thereof.

 

[Carolinian]

When I spent three weeks travelling in SA, I never ran into another American but I saw plenty of European tourists. I suspect that for an exchange company to want to accept many SA weeks, they would have to have a presence in Europe, where there are a lot of people wanting to trade into there. HTSE does not. On the other hand, DAE, which accepts SA, does. In fact, in their UK office, they have an SA specialist who helps people wanting to trade into SA.

 

[beckham]

Trades

We've done well--Vegas, MC, Hilton Head, Puerto Vallarta...and I'm quite pleased. It all started with my discovering TUG several years ago.

But I'm not sure why the idea of "loose lips sink ships" doesn't seem to sink in with some TUGGERs. If the president thinks spying on private citizens is okay, then go figure.

--Barry

 

[JEFF H]

But I'm not sure why the idea of "loose lips sink ships" doesn't seem to sink in with some TUGGERs.
--Barry

If you have a secret or something to hide that you don't want others knowing about then you should keep it to yourself.

There is no big secret to keep anymore about SA.
Maybe 4-5 years ago when the first Tuggers discovered SA and the Tiger trade power it had at that time had kept silent about it then maybe it would still be the same today or maybe not.
The Bottom line is The tiger was let out of the Bag on SA several years now
and is now nothing more than a ordianary House Cat.
The currency exchange rate at that time made it a huge bargain but that is no longer true today.
very Limited deposits into RCI USA by North American owners was another imbalance that gave it great exchange value but all that has changed.

When the next great imbalance comes along Im sure many wise tuggers will keep it a secret much longer.

 

[michelle]

very Limited deposits into RCI USA by North American owners was another imbalance that gave it great exchange value but all that has changed.

Jeff H, I agree with most of what you say, but...

As an aside, I dont think the quote above is true... (However, I have no proof, of course!! Stricktly my opinion!)

I think that in the past the deposited SA t/s was given straight back to RCI SA, where the good ones were grabbed up pretty quickly, as is the case with RCI SA. I say this because we could never do an online trade to SA, and SA cannot do an online trade to USA... All had to be done over the phone with a VG, and sometimes took a while to sort out.

 

[JEFF H]

I think that in the past the deposited SA t/s was given straight back to RCI SA, where the good ones were grabbed up pretty quickly, as is the case with RCI SA. I say this because we could never do an online trade to SA, and SA cannot do an online trade to USA... All had to be done over the phone with a VG, and sometimes took a while to sort out.

Good point and I expect the same may be true still.
I have tried depositing my SA online but that does not seem to go thru untill my resort tells RCI SA to bank it first.

I think they just ignored the SA deposits going into RCI USA members accounts untill the trikle turned into a flood so to speak.
No doubt they were forced to take notice when resorts like MC screamed bloody murder after there home town newspaper stuck the SA fact in there face. Thats the kinda thing that can sink ships real quick.
I think RCI USA did the right thing by adjusting the trade power based on demand for SA week deposits. Some owners benefited by the change and others lost but atleast its based on demand as it should be.

 

[tonyg]

Over the years we have found that speaking of loopholes and advantages have been closely followed by changes to remove those loopholes and advantages. It is a natural thing for a company to want to close loopholes that give an unfair advantage to some of their customers. If you tell me that you can trade into my resort with a $ 500 low maintenance fee resale and I'm trying to sell my units for over 20k with a high MF, I will be screaming and might even go to another exchange company if my demands are not addressed. I keep my little secrets private, telling some via e-mail and refuse to post them on a public bulletin board.

 

[Sue S]

Excellent exchange (in my view)

Yesterday I managed to exchange a 2-bed red Lowveld Lodge for a 2-bed at Mountainside Restort, Stowe, Vermont for 11 Feb. This is the European school holiday week and it's a really busy ski week over here. I don't know whether or not this would be regarded as an exceptional trade (it's not President's Week) but for me it couldn't be better and I couldn't be happier - except that it's not me going it's my sister and her friends