Archive for October, 2009

Exchanging Your Timeshare: Do the Best Weeks Even Get Deposited into RCI and Interval International?

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

It’s rumored that getting prime season weeks in RCI or Interval International’s best resorts, designated as Gold Crown and Premier respectively, are impossible because the owners are either using them or renting them out for a large profit.  If the premise were true, then it would follow that we wouldn’t have access to these prime weeks since they would never make it into RCI or Interval International’s exchange pool.  But it isn’t.

The reason this rumor exists is because so many timeshare owners don’t know how the exchange process works and aren’t using it correctly.  These prime weeks are there, they’re just hard to get.  I’ve been exchanging my 1 Bedroom summer week in a non-ranked resort in Whistler British Columbia for Gold Crown resorts for 20 years now.

One of the top 3 reasons people buy a timeshare in the first place is to exchange it. Certainly the owners of the very best RCI or Interval International affiliated timeshare resorts are less likely to bank them for exchange, especially prime weeks, but we’re only talking about 1-3% of the nearly 8000 resorts out there.

As for timeshare owners renting out their weeks, in the more than 20 years I’ve been in the timeshare business I’ve only worked for one company that had a rental program for their owners-Lawrence Welk Resorts.

None of these very high quality properties I’ve worked for in the past, Four Seasons Scottsdale, Westin Cabo San Lucas, Fairmont Heritage Club Ghirardelli Square, Sol Mar and Sheraton Hacienda del Mar, had a rental program. Renting a timeshare out on your own is difficult and not very profitable so few people are successful at it. Try it yourself sometime.

I just used RCI’s Enhanced Search feature to pull a bunch of Gold Crown, prime red weeks with my least powerful exchange week. It also pulled August 2010 weeks in Hyannis, South Yarmouth. While none of the resorts in the Cape Cod area are Gold Crown, they’re too old, getting a summer week there is extremely difficult. My exchange week did not pull Key West for August of 2010 but it did pull every other high demand beach area in Florida except Sanibel and Captiva Islands. Because my exchange week did not pull Key West, Sanibel or Captiva Islands, one might naturally interpret it to mean that none of those weeks ever get deposited into the exchange pool.

In reality it really means that the owners in those resorts haven’t gotten around to depositing their 2010 weeks yet. I know from past experience that if I’ve maximized both my exchange and request power, and started a pending search now, I would get it.  Certainly there are far fewer weeks coming out of these areas than out of Orlando, but the availability is only going to increase from now until March of next year when many timeshare owners will start depositing their August 2010 weeks. Timeshare owners will continually to want to exchange their timeshares and experience new places.

Also, you can forget the “like for like” basis on exchanging timeshares-that you must own a Gold Crown resort to exchange to a Gold Crown resort. It rarely pertains as evidenced by all of the great exchanges I’ve gotten in the last 20 years. My one bedroom week just pulled a Gold Crown 3 bedroom at the Club Velas Vallarta in March of 2010. And it also pulled plenty of other Gold Crown, 2 bedroom units in Florida, including the Hilton Grand Vacation Club, Cancun, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas in March as well-all this with a 1 bedroom in a non-ranked RCI Resort.

Don’t believe the rumors and give up on trying to exchange into the best resorts during prime season.  There are many steps to learn on how to get good exchanges so learn what it takes to do it right and you’ll enjoy your timeshare much more.

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Jeff Pierce The Timeshare Expert, has taught thousands of timeshare owners the secrets to getting the best exchanges with both RCI and Interval International for over 21 years.

His two books, The Timeshare Exchange Bible – RCI Weeks Edition, and The Timeshare Exchange Bible – Interval International, are the only books of their kind in the timeshare industry and designed to help you  master at the very complicated art of getting good exchanges.

I would love to have you share your opinions and personal insights on this blog.

For 10 FREE videos,  $97 value, on getting a better exchange in RCI and II, go to TheTimeshareExpert.com.

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Posted in How Timeshare Works, How To Do A Timeshare Exchange | 4 Comments »

The Timeshare Exchange Bible Comes Highly Recommended

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Please excuse me but here’s a bit of shameless self promotion.  I received the email below about my Timeshare Exchange Bible – Interval International Edition from Wendy and Manabu Tokunaga of Half Moon Bay, CA and couldn’t resist putting it on my blog.  It’s very rare to receive an unsolicited testimonial these days and Wendy and Manabu were kind enough to let me post it.

If you own a timeshare and you want to become an expert on exchanging it, you really need The Timeshare Exchange Bible.  Click Here to get the RCI Edition and Click Here to get the Interval International Edition.

Here’s what Wendy and Manabu had to say.

Hi Jeff,

We bought Newport Beach resort to go there twice a year and even though we have a membership with II, we thought we never have to use and just keep going back to our own resort. But, then, after the second year of ownership we thought we give it a shot.

My wife went to the Webinar from II and she thought it would require a Ph.D from Princeton to understand this, then I looked at the II web site and there is nothing on “how to.” By now we could not even locate a book or brochure that were handed to us…

We searched a while on the Internet on this subject and any information there either were from people already seem to know what they are doing, like “I have a RED week.” or “Placed a request.”
Then we stumbled upon your web site. While we were watching your video on your web site, we were laughing out loud because we had exactly the same confusing experiences you mentioned, so we ordered it immediately and pretty much read the whole thing in one afternoon.
We have reserved our next September at our home property in Newport Beach and put the first “Request” to properties in Maui immediately after we got the reservation number. It was a great comfort to get all these transactions knowing exactly what we were doing… since we are just two of us, we are willing to trade down in capacity and even a quality of resort.
Now we will wait to see what happens, and your book told us that by Requesting, we don’t completely lose out the chance to visit Newport just in case everything fall through. We will be applying and refining our skills learned from the book.
Thank you. Your book gave us a whole lot of confidence in working with II.
Wendy and Manabu Tokunaga
Half Moon Bay, CA

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Jeff Pierce, The Timeshare Expert, has taught thousands of timeshare owners the secrets to getting the best exchanges with both RCI and Interval International for over 21 years.

His two books, The Timeshare Exchange Bible – RCI Weeks Edition, and The Timeshare Exchange Bible – Interval International, are the only books of their kind in the timeshare industry and designed to help you  master at the very complicated art of getting good exchanges.

I would love to have you share your opinions and personal insights on this blog.

For 10 FREE videos on getting better timeshare exchanges in RCI and II, go to TheTimeshareExpert.com.

Join me on:

Twitter Facebook My Space

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Posted in How To Do A Timeshare Exchange | No Comments »

My Timeshare Exchange To Pagosa Springs, Colorado: Day Trip to Mesa Verde

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde

I had done a timeshare exchange to Pagosa Springs, Colorado and was very excited to learn that America’s premier archeological park, Mesa Verde, was only a 2 1/2 hour drive.  National Geographic Traveler had named it as one of the fifty “must see” places of a lifetime.

Mesa Verde is also our first World Heritage Site and it’s easy to see why.  The 700 year old homes, villages and kivas where the religious ceremonies were held speak eloquently of the people who built them.  And whatever you do, don’t call them Anasazi.  In today’s politically correct world they are now called Ancestral Puebloans.

Cliff Dwelling Mesa Verde

Cliff Dwelling Mesa Verde

There are over 4700 archeological sites within the 52,000 acre park and more than 600 of them are cliff dwellings – the most spectacular to see.  Mesa Verde was inhabited from about A.D. 550-1300.  It was discovered much later on a snowy December day in 1888, while ranchers Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason searched Mesa Verde’s canyons for stray cattle. They unexpectedly came upon the cliff dwelling now know as “Cliff Palace” for the first time.

After paying only $15 to enter the park I drove the 15 miles to the Park Headquarters along the top of the mesa.  Once there I paid $6 for two ranger guided tours of the cliff dwellings of Cliff Palace and Balcony House -  definitely the best $6 I’ve ever spent.

The first tour was led by a sixty something, pony tailed Navajo by the name of Clyde – big disconnect – who added personal insights into the Native American culture.  He said the Ancient Puebloans ate while sitting on the ground to be closer to “Mother”.  Earth was Mother and rain Father. He said that he remembered as a kid the long conversation his whole family had about buying a kitchen table and chairs to sit at for their meals.  Those of his family that objected did so because it was distancing them from “Mother”.

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwelling

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwelling

The second tour was led by a very informed and experienced Caucasian ranger but lacked Clyde’s color commentary.  I highly recommend asking for a Native American guide if you’re ever touring the park.

It was a long day but worth it.  All in all, Pagosa Springs was a great place to to take a timeshare vacation and  I look forward returning to it again.  The next time I exchange my timeshare there I’ll be checking out The Million Dollar Highway that loops from Durango to Ouray – the “Switzerland of America” – to Telluride and back.

***************************************************

Jeff Pierce, The Timeshare Expert, has taught thousands of timeshare owners the secrets to getting the best exchanges with both RCI and Interval International for over 21 years.

His two books, The Timeshare Exchange Bible – RCI Weeks Edition, and The Timeshare Exchange Bible – Interval International, are the only books of their kind in the timeshare industry and designed to help you  master at the very complicated art of getting good exchanges.

I would love to have you share your opinions and personal insights on this blog.

For 10 FREE videos on getting better timeshare exchanges in RCI and II, go to TheTimeshareExpert.com.

Join me on:

Twitter Facebook My Space

Posted in My Timeshare Exchange Vacations, Travel Destinations | 1 Comment »