More Interval International Tips

Two Years to Complete an Exchange

Once you deposit your week with Interval International, you then have 2 years from the end of the week you deposited, to complete an exchange.  For example, if you deposit week "December 19-26 of 2014", you must complete a stay (on an exchange from THAT week) by December 26, 2016.

Extending this Two Year Exchange Period

If you make an exchange request, and do not receive confirmation in two years, you can pay more to extend beyond the Two Year period.  There are 6 month and 12 month options, and you call Interval International to do so.  HOWEVER, there is a big CAVEAT here.  Your extension will only be for available inventory only.  What that means, is you must request a resort that is available in inventory. You no longer can have a request in their computer, searching all the time for your requested resort to be deposited. Essentially, the high demand, very requested, or high season weeks won't be available to you. Before the extension period, you can still place a vacation request, even if an instant confirmation is unavailable.

 

Benefits of Exchanging Online vs. Over the Phone

Lower fees from Interval International.  However, once you get your exchange request in online, you can call and change dates. For example, online will look at an exchange starting on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  You can call and tell the Interval International person on the phone, if you only can start your week on a Saturday, for example.  They have more control.

However, if you restrict the check-in day you will accept, you will limit the number of deposits that match your request.

Have your Confirmation EMAILED

If Interval International has to mail you your packet, once they make a match and have a confirmation for you, you will not get the 24-hour grace period. This applies to "Deposit First Confirmations".  "Request First Confirmations" are final. More on this, next week.

Deposit First exchange confirmations have a 24-hour grace period where you can cancel the confirmation with no penalty.

Cancellations outside the initial 24 hours following confirmations are in accordance with II’s Exchange Cancellation Policy.

Dates and helpful tools...

If your goal is to trade or exchange your week at your home resort, you should research what the highest demand week is at your home resort. 

If you are a member of Interval International, you can do this by accessing their website, pulling up your resort, and clicking on the "Travel Demand Index" link.

Once you decide which week is the highest demand, make a plan to reserve this week exactly one year in advance.  This is the earliest (in most cases) that you can make a reservation (1 year). Set a reminder, put it on your calendar in bold, but make sure YOU DO NOT MISS THIS DATE.

If you are a Marriott Vacation Club owner, a tool you can use to help compute this date is on their website, and is called the Inventory Release Calendar. It will let you select the date you want to check in, and it will tell you the first day you can reserve. You can also call them and ask.

The next post will be more about dates to be concerned about within Interval International, once you deposit your week.

Here are a few more helpful websites

Travel Math contains several different types of "calculators" for travel purposes, and is quite powerful. Another is Cost to Drive and they have a mobile application as well.

My Crystal Shores Failed Exchange Request

For 2 years I tried to trade my Orlando week for a week at Crystal Shores on Marco Island Florida.  I made the mistake of only requesting one property (Crystal Shores).

I never received a confirmation, and ended up having to eventually stay at the Marriott Beach Resort on Marco Island instead.  Now this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, because the Marriott Resort was beautiful and we were very happy with our stay.  However, we really wanted to use our week and stay at a timeshare property, and could not. 

I think part of this was because I only requested one property.  However, I have heard many things about why Crystal Shores is so hard to exchange into. These are the two biggest reasons, I believe:

1. Some of the people who own at Crystal Shores only want to stay at their home resort, and thus do not a need to belong to Interval International. Therefore, their weeks don't often get added to Interval International inventory.

2. The introduction of the Destinations points program through Marriott Vacation Club has taken away much of the Crystal Shores inventory.  Basically people in the Destinations program are not depositing their Crystal Shores week with Interval International, but instead using their week for points in the Destinations program.

So, in summary, it is not a good idea to try to exchange your week for just one resort.  Being flexible and open minded will help your success rate. 

Backup Plans

Another strategy if you really want to go someplace in particular, and nowhere else, is to have a backup plan.  For example... reserve a hotel near the timeshare resort you have requested.  If you get a confirmation on the timeshare resort, cancel the hotel reservation.  Even better, use rewards points for the hotel.  I have done this two Spring Breaks (Easter Breaks) in a row. This is high season, mind you.

I have a Marriott credit card, and have points that I have been able to use as part of my back up plan.  The first year I was unsuccessful getting into Crystal Shores, I used points to stay on the beach for a whole week.  The second year I used points to stay at the Marriott Resort on Marco Island for 5 nights.  I still had my week that I had deposited with Interval International to use at a different time.

The back up plan of using points and reserving (or even not using points) works because there is no penalty to cancel.  Please be careful here and read the cancellation policy before you reserve. Some resorts/hotels require a deposit up front, and there are rules on when you must cancel to receive a refund on their deposit. There are also certain times of the year that a hotel will require an up front deposit (for example: Christmas week).

If you are thinking of buying a timeshare...

There are many different ways to buy a timeshare. I remember that day when my husband and I decided to buy our timeshare.  This post if for those of you who do not currently own, but are considering buying a timeshare.  I want to share some things to consider...

1. The Maintenance Fee

This can change every year. More than likely it will increase.  Our maintenance fee when we purchased our timeshare in Orlando was $675. It is now $1197. Nearly an 80% increase.

2. Staying at Home Resort vs. Trading

If you really want to stay at your home resort every year, you do not have to pay for membership in an exchange company like RCI or II.  However, if you plan to repeatedly trade your week, you should realize your success with this will vary from year to year.  There is a lot of uncertainty when you make a trade request, and if you are accustomed to making plans well in advance of your travel dates, this might not work. 

That being said, if we get confirmed on a trade with only a few months notice, we tend to use our Capital One miles for flights, because usually flights cost more, the closer to the date of travel you buy them.

3. Housekeeping

This will be different than when you stay at a hotel.  There will not be housekeeping service everyday.  There may be an option to have daily housekeeping service, but for a fee. This was a surprise to us, as we were not told at the time of purchase.

4. Changes

The timeshare company can change the way they do business, and affect your ability to trade and exchange weeks. Recently Marriott Vacation Club stopped selling deeded weeks, and has gone to a points system (called Destinations Ownership Program). This is a radically different way of doing things, and will change the inventory available to those who do not convert or buy into the Destinations program.  We had no idea the company we bought our timeshare property from could make such a change.  We have decided to continue as a deeded weeks owner, but have concerns of how this will change our ability to successfully exchange through Interval International.

In summary...

If someone were to ask me if we are happy we became timeshare owners, or if we regret it, I would probably say we are split 50/50.  There are advantages and disadvantages.  Once we became accustomed to reserving, depositing, and exchanging our week, we have been pretty happy with our vacations.

Timeshare Trading Tips

I have traded my week every year through Interval International. I own in Orlando, and have traded for a better (in my opinion) property every time.  When I say better, I mean that the properties have a greater demand than the one I own.

 

For example, I own in Orlando, and have traded for beach properties and other highly desirable locations (Custom House in Boston, during peak summer season, for example).

Tips for trading:

1. Reserve the highest demand week at your home resort.  Research which week sells out and it the most popular week at your resort. This is the week you want to reserve.

2. As soon as you reserve, deposit your week (for example, if you are a member of Interval International, deposit your week as soon as you reserve it). 

3. Research and request as many properties that you would be comfortable staying at.  I made the mistake once of only requesting one resort and one week.  I will explain in a future post (this week) what happened with this strategy.

4. As soon as you are confirmed at a resort, research airfare/travel options. If affordable, then do nothing (and keep your week). But if you decide you do not want the resort/week you have been given, you have 24 hours to give it back, and your original request remains intact.

I recommend that you frequently check your mail at the email address you have provided to the trading organization (ex. Interval International).  You don’t want to miss a confirmation. 

Research

I recommend researching properties online, reading reviews, for example on a website such as Tripadvisor. Be careful though, because this can become very time consuming. Look for trends. A random negative review shouldn’t be a concern.  You can also ask questions of reviewers, if you don’t find the information you are looking for. And you can see actual photographs of the properties, taken by travelers and not professional photographers, which can sometimes be very informative.

“Trading Power”

I have heard this phrase from different people in reference to your ability to trade your week successfully.  Trading Power can be increased by depositing your week earlier, as well as depositing a more desirable week (for example, Christmas week in Orlando). People who own ocean front in Hawaii are going to have very good “Trading Power”. If you do not own somewhere like Hawaii, do everything you can to increase your “Trading Power” (deposit early, and reserve that highest demand week at your home resort).