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Your Location: Timeshare Users Group Advice: Exchanging with RCI & II information |updated: 4/23/08

Exchanging with RCI & II

Both systems allow you to bank (deposit) your timeshare unit into their databank and request a COMPARABLE exchange. What does this mean... Based on several factors... quality of your resort, demand for your resort, size of unit, time frame (red, blue, white) etc. (read the back of their resort catalogs for the complete listing of factors) --- the unit you deposit is given a RANK or RATING (both systems deny the rating existence or are reluctant to admit it). They have to cater to the developers, even though they make their money from us individual owners... No developer wants its rating to be known because unless it is the highest available it would hurt their sales efforts..... would you buy a timeshare unit at a resort with only an average rating? What about one with a below or terrible rating? Now you see why no one will admit to it. It would kill sales and prices at all but the best resort.

Ever been to a presentation where all the salesman does is tell you about exchanging to all the great resorts in the world and that you don't even have to ever use the one you are buying .. you will be able to trade for anything you want!!

Well, the COLD HARD TRUTH, as many of us owners have learned , is that you can only get the quality and type of trade you are providing. The exchange systems assign a predetermined rating to your banked unit (RCI has a time factor, II does not). To get the max. rating value with RCI you need to deposit your unit at least 11.5 months in advanced (less than that gives you less rating) Your access to trades are now based on a range above and below your rating.

Hypothetical example... your unit get a rating of 7... you may be able to trade for any units the same size or smaller with a range of 5 to 8. Anything outside this range is not available to you!!!!! That is why you get answers from your questions like.. "Do you have anything next month on the West Coast of Florida".. and they tell there is nothing available... We are not DUMB.. With 1000's of units traded weekly, there are always some units available... its just your trade rating does not qualify for what they have. Don't blame the exchange companies... They do an outstanding job! If it wasn't for them we would not have timesharing as it exist today.

Look at it from their view point. Everyone wants the best resort during the highest season. They get 1000s of requests ... for lets say Disney. They may only get a very few banked units from Disney owners.. after all, Disney owners usually use them or rent them for mucho money... so there are only a hand full of Disney trades available. Who do the exchanges give them to ? The guy who trades in his winter timeframe converted motel unit on the beach, even though he deposited it 2 years ago and RCI has not had a request for it in years... or someone who has deposited another hard to get resort which has a waiting list and that RCI will be able to trade immediately to someone else who has a great resort and on and on.

Unfortunately, as you can see, it is not the exchange companies fault. They want to fill every exchange request as they get paid a fee and commission for trades, however they also have an overriding supply and demand factor to contend with. They have to walk a fine line on keeping everyone happy. Think about this... if there were a national car exchange for vacationers and you owned a BMW or Lexus, you would not be to happy with getting a 20 year old VW in exchange.. as a matter of fact if it happened too often, you would quit the exchange system. Those people who have paid for the BMW, only want like quality exchanges.... ah, now I see... a rating system is devise to make certain everyone gets what they are entitled to. (Gold Crown Rating, RID, 5 Star, etc.)

Unfortunately, nobody tells us owners this prior to buying our timeshare unit, after all the salesman ( btw.. the sales people work for the developers not the exchange systems) told us we could trade for anything!!!!!

Now we know... what do we do about it. Better educate ourselves as to how the system works...(subject of another note late) Don't get me wrong... I love timeshares, it just a matter of knowing what you can and can't do with the timeshare you have and learning how to best utilize the info available to you. I hope this help clarify some questions and problems regarding trading with the timeshare exchanges. Bill (Timeshare Users Group)

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Homepage updated Apr 23, 2008 by B. Rogers - Send email regarding this page to tug@tug2.net