I first checked RCI and found the The Club at Glacier, an all inclusive spa at the gate of Glacier National Park in Montana.
The Club at Glacier Timeshare Resort
I like to drive so I Map Quested it only to find out that it would take 21 hours from my home in Scottsdale. That was out of the question so I started checking flights. I figured that I’d fly into a major hub and drive from there to save on airfare.
Flights to Salt Lake City, UT are plentiful and only about $250 round trip but that still left a 10 1/2 hour drive so I next checked flying into Spokane, WA. It looked to be a great drive and only 6 1/2 hours but the flights were at inconvenient times and cost $350. Helena, MT was about the same driving time and price but the flying time with lay overs was too long.
While looking at the map I noticed that Calgary, Alberta Canada looked fairly close and I was surprised to find it only a 3 1/2 hour drive. Now we’re talking. But I figured the international airfare would be more than I wanted to spend. Wrong again! The airfare was only $287 round trip and I could get non-stop flights on both legs of only 3 hours in length.
I’ve traveled the world but I’ve never been to Glacier Park so the trip was very intriguing to me. Here’s what I would have paid for that timeshare exchange: $525 for 7 days meals (the all inclusive fee of $75/day), $287 for the flight, about $400 for car rental and gas for a total of $1012. It’s amazing how fast you can spend $1000 these days and that didn’t include my HOA and exchange fees.
I decided to do a search in Interval International to see what I could find. I’ll talk about that in the next post.
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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.
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Tags: Glacier National Park, Interval International, RCI, timeshare, timeshare exchange
I found it very interesting that a flight to Calgary is a better deal than a domestic flight. This information was very helpful to me. I still need to know which timeshare exchange program will be better for me RCI or II. The dilema is still there. I live in Chandler AZ.
Hi Michael,
Go to each exchange company’s website and navigate their directory to see the timeshares located in the areas you’re most likely to exchange to. RCI is by far, more dominant in Japan, Asia, Africa and most of Europe, so if you plan on doing a lot of exchanging to these areas then go with RCI. Also, you may be only able to sign up with one or the other. To find out, look in the directory. If your resort is listed in RCI but not II then you don’t have a choice – it’s RCI. If it’s listed in both, and you plan on doing a lot of exchanging, I’d sign up with both. It’s an extra $89/year but I think it’s worth it.
It also depends on where you own and how powerful an exchange you have. If your base trading power is not so great then I’d go with RCI. If you own a very powerful trading timeshare you may want to go with II. You need to do some research. Regardless of where you own you need to get The Timeshare Exchange Bible or you’ll never know how to maximize your exchange and request power.
Jeff – The Timeshare Expert