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.