What do you do with all those bonus weeks?

[molly2004]

Hi, there. I've got a pretty general question here.

I'm very new to timesharing. In fact, I'm in the process of closing on my very first contract. I'm very excited about it all and have been doing tons of research, most recently into the alternative exchange companies.

My biggest question is this: with all the bonus weeks they promise you, how do you ever find the time to actually take them? Are they banking on the fact that you won't be able to take the bonus weeks? Or am I missing something, like bonus weeks are harder to get than it seems?

Please enlighten me! Thanks in advance!

 

[Dave M]

A lot depends on what "bonus weeks" you are referring to. For example, if you are buying from a developer, you might have been promised extra off-season weeks at the resort. Or no matter how you are buying, you might be looking forward to an extra week once a year for depositing a prime week with II, if II is offering an Accommodation Certificate for that deposit. And there are other possibilities.

In some cases you'll have extra weeks each year, in others you'll have one (or none) extra weeks each year.

No matter what the answer, retired people and those who can travel in off-seasons can often make more use of such weeks than those tied to a limited number of vacation weeks or to peak vacation times (such as when school is out). We read often on these boards about TUGgers who let their extra weeks go unused.

 

[JudyS]

Hi, Molly!

If these are RCI Bonus weeks, I'd say that they are pretty much worthless. I've never been able to find a use for the ones I've been given.

 

[ausman]

Sounds like you may have been checking out SFX as an alternative exchange company.

But, you appear with a New England location, which could mean lots of travel.

It would be best if you told us what what exchange company, what you are buying and anything else that would help with an answer.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Useless As Mud Flaps On A Toboggan.

The 1st few times we took timeshare sales tours, those bonus weeks the sales staffs kept offering seemd like they'd really be something special. We'd just pay $20,000 or so for a timeshare week, plus annual fees every year, & the timeshare company would throw in free RCI membership. Then as RCI members we could get Bonus Weeks & Extra Vacations & I don't know what-all -- without buying anything else, just paying the RCI fees for the Bonus Weeks & Extra Vacations, etc., that we actually took.

In other words, they were offering us nothing -- nothing, that is, that everybody in RCI can't also get on an equal basis, subject to availability, without springing for anybody's $20,000 timeshare week.

It was all sizzle, no steak.

Even so, once we got into RCI we found Last Call reservations & Instant Exchange reservations to be big bargains, & we're apt to keep using those features of RCI as long as they remain available -- which is not guaranteed if RCI finds more profitable things to do with deposited timeshare weeks than offering them to members at bargain-basement rates on a last-minute basis.

We've not yet made an RCI regular Extra Vacation reservation -- too expensive compared with Last Call & Instant Exchange.

As I recall it from those old-time timeshare hard-sell sales pitches, they never said Bonus Weeks were free -- only that they'd be available if we bought what they were selling. Back then, it looked pretty much like what they were offering was the chance to stay at somebody else's timeshare for a week for approximately the same amount of money as the owner was paying in annual maintenance fees. It seems like the "bonus" consisted of being able to pay for it & use it 1 time without having to buy the deed to it.

However that may be & regardless of how twisted my comprehension was & is about those long-gone timeshare sales pitches, we've been able to vacation in luxury timeshare accommodations for roughly Motel 6 & Super 8 rates without once ever using a Bonus Week or Extra Vacation -- sticking with Last Call & Instant Exchange instead. So it goes.

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

 

[molly2004]

Sounds like you may have been checking out SFX as an alternative exchange company.

But, you appear with a New England location, which could mean lots of travel.

It would be best if you told us what what exchange company, what you are buying and anything else that would help with an answer.

How astute you are! I'm in the midst of buying Fairfield Governors Green which is affiliated with II. I've been looking at SFX and noticed that they have a promo going where they'll give you 3 weeks for depositing 1.

I am buying a timeshare with the intent to "guarantee" one week's vacation each year. With talk of bonus weeks and the seeming ease one may acquire them, I start wondering if they're ultimately empty promises. Seems to good to be true.....

 

[abc31]

I get a bonus week from RCI each year. They are really only good during low season & within the 45 day window. They are pretty much like last call, but you have a little more inventory to choose from. They are $129 for the week regardless of unit size. Would they be worth purchasing a week for? No. But are they worthless? Not in my opinion.

I sent my parents last year to Ocean Palms in Ft. Lauderdale. I've never seen this resort in last call inventory. It was low season (early September). But they had to be in that area at that time anyway and where else could they get a 2 bedroom ocean view suite for less than $20 per night even during low season? To me, it is just what it is called... a bonus week.


abc

 

[DaveNV]

I am buying a timeshare with the intent to "guarantee" one week's vacation each year. With talk of bonus weeks and the seeming ease one may acquire them, I start wondering if they're ultimately empty promises. Seems to good to be true.....

Molly, I'm not sure how it works in other situations, but with RCI I recently exchanged into a very nice five-star resort in Mexico and was given a bonus week RCI called "One For One." It's good for up to two years from the date of my exchange. It's supposed to be good for those less-traveled areas in the USA, and for "lots of stuff Internationally." (Those are RCI's words.) I have yet to use this free week, but it might be fun to figure out whether it's worth the exchange fee I'd have to pay. RCI says I'll receive a free week each time I exchange into one of their promotional areas. I don't know if this can be counted on as a regular thing, but figuring out whether it's useful should be interesting.

Dave

 

[molly2004]

Let me get this straight....

So first there's the exchange fee to deposit into II, RCI, SFX, whatever....

With the bonus week(s) you get, there's an additional fee to book those particular weeks too, correct? Or does it vary with the exchange company? Look like SFX is $399 to book the bonus week?

AwayWeGo, is this what you mean when you say that these bonus weeks really aren't free?

Thanks!

 

[AwayWeGo]

White Mud Flaps For My Toboggan.

AwayWeGo, is this what you mean when you say that these bonus weeks really aren't free?

Something like that -- although all our exposure to the attractions of Bonus Weeks, etc., has been of the RCI variety, not I-I, SFX, etc. In fairness to RCI, I should add that all the hype about Bonus Weeks came from the timeshare sales professionals, not anybody actually with RCI.

The Celebrity timeshare folks in Orlando FL gave us similar promotional hype over Celebrity Cruises. They kept upping & upping the number of Celebrity Cruises they said they'd throw in if we bought their timeshare for big bux -- till I worried for a minute there whether The Chief Of Staff was about to reach for her checkbook. Pretty soon she came to her senses & realized that she will come out molto dollars ahead if she buys her own cruise tickets & says no to buying anybody's full-freight timeshare.

It works about the same way with Bonus Weeks offered as an inducement to overpay for a "new" timeshare. We come out molto bux ahead if we buy a "used" (resale) timeshare & do without any Bonus Weeks -- which, as noted, are not free anyhow.

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

 

[ausman]

I'm in the midst of buying Fairfield Governors Green which is affiliated with II. I've been looking at SFX and noticed that they have a promo going where they'll give you 3 weeks for depositing 1.

.

Then you are a little more specific with regard to the type of Bonus week and we know it has nothing to do with RCI or II now.

I would suggest you start a new thread here with SFX Bonus weeks in the title and ask away. I would suggest also that you join timeshareforums.com (which has an ask SFX forum) and and ask the first question which should be does SFX accept Governors Green deposits.

 

[DeniseM]

I'm in the midst of buying Fairfield Governors Green which is affiliated with II. I've been looking at SFX and noticed that they have a promo going where they'll give you 3 weeks for depositing 1.

SFX only accepts 4 Star and Gold Crown Resorts, during high season. You should check directly with them about whether they accept your resort. You should also read the threads about SFX on the TUG Exchange Board.

 

[molly2004]

I posted my original question without knowing that different timeshare exhange companies' bonus weeks might mean different things. I was asking in the generic sense specifically about the bonus weeks offered when you deposit your weeks/points with an exchange company and whether they are more or less freebies, which I learned here that they are not.

I did ask SFX whether they accept GG and they do.

Thanks for your help. I'm still learning and you are all a great help!

 

[riverdees05]

I have used all my II ACs, but have not used all my RCI or SFX Bonus weeks. With II, you can search on the internet, with RCi and SFX, you can't. I have used some of my SFX and none of the RCI.

 

[John Cummings]

How astute you are! I'm in the midst of buying Fairfield Governors Green which is affiliated with II. I've been looking at SFX and noticed that they have a promo going where they'll give you 3 weeks for depositing 1.

I am buying a timeshare with the intent to "guarantee" one week's vacation each year. With talk of bonus weeks and the seeming ease one may acquire them, I start wondering if they're ultimately empty promises. Seems to good to be true.....

No, they are definitely not an empty promise at SFX. I have been exchanging with SFX exclusively for the past 10+ years. Their bonus weeks are indeed quite valuable as they have relatively few restrictions. In fact I have used so many bonus weeks that I now have 15 banked use weeks at SFX. When my request is confirmed, they ask me if I want to use a bonus week or do a regular exchange. The bonus week costs more than a regular exchange and you cannot get the free upgrade.