The Secrets to Timeshare Exchange

Hosted from the Seattle company's headquarters by Holiday's reservation specialist, Maria Martinez. "She makes more timeshare exchanges in a week than most people do in a lifetime." said Gail Bennett, Director of Sales for Holiday.

Listen to The Secrets to Timeshare Exchange Webcast

  Webinar Transcript

• Introduction
• Understanding Timeshare Exchange
• Joining an Exchange Company
• Depositing
• Placing an Exchange Request
• Followup

Good evening. My name is Maria Martinez and I am the reservations specialist here at Holiday Resales. Over the years I have gained a lot of experience with timeshare. Since we have a lot of different types of resorts and seasons in our inventory, I’ve been able to gain a better perspective for timeshare exchanging. I’ve successfully confirmed over a thousand exchanges during my 5 year term in reservations. Now I want to be able to share my knowledge with our customers to ensure that you have the best possible experience with your timeshare.

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Before you can exchange a timeshare you must own one!

Timeshare Exchange Companies afford you the freedom to chose!

That's what really makes timeshare exchange vacations so fabulous. At times just owning a timeshare may not be enough. Life happens. You may not be able to go on vacation one year, or maybe you are tired of going to visit Mickey every year and want to stay away from that highly traveled Orlando area. Or possibly you want to be able to travel to another country, exchange companies allow you to have that flexibility.

Basically what you are doing when you exchange is giving up your usage in exchange for some else’s.

Vacations mean that you have choices about where you go and what you do. Timeshare owners that do quite a bit of exchanging understand freedom. They know they can choose to vacation anytime of the year, at thousands of exciting vacation destinations around the globe. And timeshare exchange companies are the perfect solution to make vacations easier to plan and even easier to enjoy.

You can pick your new destination by shopping the catalogue or online timeshare listings of potentially thousands of desirable vacation venues that are part of your timeshare exchange company's current inventory. When you create your wish list, be sure you include several different resorts and/or different weeks in which you are available to enjoy your timeshare vacation holiday. The more flexible you make your requests, the more you'll increase your chances of quickly making a timeshare exchange.

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A Timeshare Exchange Company can be defined as any company that we can make a reservation, or "trade", to use the deeded timeshare ownership that YOU have at one property to vacation at a different resort property. There are a couple of different types of exchange companies; The different types of exchange companies are:

• External Exchange Program: These are worlwide companies that are becoming common houshold names
  • Resort Condominims International - R.C.I. - www.rci.com 3 out of 4 exchange requests are confirmed. The largest exchnage comaopny with over 3800 resorts worlwide
  • Interval International - I.I. - www.intervalworld.com smaller but still very large with over 220 resorts worlwide
• Other Smaller external Exchange Companies: normally you can find them at timesahre bloggers site. Before you get involved you want to check out their reputation in successfully getting folks their exchanges.
  • Trading Places
  • Holiday Systems
  • Hawaii Timeshare to name a few

Internal Exchange Programs
Many major resort developers' build resorts in many different locations, and then offer their owners the opportunity to vacation at any of the developers' resorts. These programs are called Internal Exchange Programs. Internal Exchange Programs offer members exchange flexibility in addition to the external exchange membership opportunities. These programs are great for those who want to travel within the home resort group and those who are fond of a particular brand of timeshares. Note to potential purchasers of these programs on the resale market: Most of these programs vary as to which or all of the benefits that were originally included with the ownership program transfer on the resale. Make sure to know the details of the program you are purchasing before you buy!

Some of the major developers currently offering/participating in internal exchange programs are:

• Fairfield Resorts - www.fairfieldresorts.com - RCI Weeks which is now a part of the Wydham Family
• TrendWest / Worlmark Resorts - www.trendwestresorts.com - RCI Weeks which is now a part of the Wnydham Family
• Sunterra Resorts - www.sunterraresorts.com - RCI Weeks
• Hilton Grand Vacations Club - www.hgvc.com - RCI Weeks
• Marriott Grand Vacations Club - www.vacationclub.com - Interval International
• Disney Vacation Club - www.DisneyVacationClub.com - Interval International
• Monarch Grand Resorts Vacation Club - www.monarchgrandvacations.com
• Bluegreen Resorts - www.bluegreencorp.com
• Vacation Internationale

And many others to numerous to mention. A lot of them offer the internal exchange without the exchange fee most external exchange companies charge.

There are several exchange companies to choose from. Be sure to contact your resort or if you are purchasing from a third party inquire prior to buying to find out which exchange company they may be affiliated with. Most of these companies carry the same rules and procedures, but fees and deadlines can vary. You will want to be sure to research these companies to find out which of them would be more suitable for your trading. Depending on how you vacation make sure you find out the sister resort locations that a particular resort offers to ensure compatibility with your vacation lifestyle.

How Can I become a member of a timeshare exchange company?
To become a member of a timeshare exchange company, first you must purchase a timeshare ownership unit at a resort that participates in the exchange program. After you have purchased a timeshare that is part of the exchange company, then you may become a member of the affiliated exchange company. The specific rquirements to set up your, the time it takes to register, and benefits of your specific exchange membership vary by resort and exchange company, but typically require a simple registration form.

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Depositing is one of the most important steps to exchanging your week. The sooner the exchange company is aware you are giving up your week, the better chances they will be able to find someone to use it.

The best way to understand Priority in the Exchange is to realize that you are giving up your timeshare for someone elses. So like for like is an important Rule of Thumb. For example if you owned a Mercedes and paid xx amount of dollars for it you wouldn’t want to give it up for a Yugo would you? And other exchangers in the network would want a Yugo owner to get their chance at a Mercedes now would they? Most exchange companies do have their checks and balances to ensure this doesn’t happen. Trading power is basically about supply & demand.

There are 5 elements that determine Trading Power:

• Quality
• Seasonality
• Unit Size
• Location
• Time of Deposit.

The more popular the area or travel date, the better trading value the week will have.

The more popular the resort due to quality plus unit size; the better the trading power. Depending on what you are TRADING will determine what you get!. You will be in competition with others to get this exchange booked. You need to be sure the timeshare you purchase, will reflect your traveling values and incorporate your vacation lifestyle now and in the future. . If you love traveling to Hawaii for most of your vacations, purchase a timeshare in that area. If you only want to travel to a 5 star resort, you should own one. Although there are instances of low season deposits pulling high season weeks, this is very unusual and as more and more folks particiapte in the exchange program the less and less likely these sort of exchanges will take place.

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Just like your deposits, you want to start your search early. Around a year in advance is always good. The sooner you look the more likely you are to be first to check into what is available. At your request RCI will place an ongoing search on your account. This will confirm availability based on what gets deposited by other owners in the area you are requesting. This is done first come first serve, along with your trading power so the early bird is more likely to get the worm.

You want to be flexible when creating your search. This will provide you with more options to choose from. The more specific your request is, the less resorts or units that there will be to match your request. Try to narrow your search to a certain area or give a few weeks to work from. You need to remember that the exchange company is a pool with availability based on what other owners are depositing. Not every resort will have availability for every week in the year. Also, be patient. Although it is best to deposit early, some owners don’t get around to depositing their use until 2 wks prior. If you have a search going it may take some time before a week gets put into the system.

If you have a search going for quite some time and have not gotten an exchange confirmed, contact your exchange company. At times reps will contact you to revise these requests. It’s always best to take the matters into your own hands to get your vacation scheduled. There may be a few things you can change to help maximize your options. If you have other deposits in your account, try using another one to see if the trading power is different. If you have asking for a 2bdrm unit but only have 4 people attending, try requesting your search starting with any unit that will accomadate the people traveling with you. Maybe you can add a few more weeks to your search. It is still your choice which options would be best to add more odds to your exchange.

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