Direct Exchange Process

elizabeth39 wrote:

In general, it is just not good business sense to first give up something of high value, pay for it, and then sit back and hope to get something in return with a company that has no guarantee plus, gives you an expiration date for their failure to perform.

After all, what is the exchange co's incentive to make you happy once they have your week ?

Great post, Elizabeth. Although I have one question. You stated that an exchange company can cancel your membership if you rent your condo out. I have never heard of that. Where did you see or hear of this?

From RCI's Terms and Conditions:

It is a violation of RCI's Terms and Conditions of Membership (Section 8) to rent, sell, barter, or auction, a deposited week or confirmed exchange, even if a Guest Certificate is purchased. Violation of this guideline could result in the termination of your RCI membership.

You may give a vacation to a friend or family member via the RCI Guest Certificate; however, you may not receive any compensation beyond the price of the exchange and Guest Certificate fees. Compensation includes anything of value, even another exchange vacation.

Following are a few of the reasons RCI prohibits deposited weeks and exchange vacations from being sold:

1) Accurate representation of Trading Power value -- RCI has contracts with its affiliated resorts and is in a better position to influence information provided about its program.

2) Fair exchange policy - RCI's program strives to provide a vacation that is comparable to the one you own. If members buy a deposited week from a resort they've never visited, RCI has no way to gauge their expectations.

3) Support for timeshare sales and purchases -- Most people who want higher quality vacation exchanges invest in the purchase of higher quality weeks. When these weeks are deposited with RCI, they in turn provide exchange families with a better selection and quality of inventory from which to choose. Travelers would not be incented to upgrade their purchases if they could simply buy the "interest" for a fraction of the purchase price per year.

4) The demand among RCI members for certain areas and times of year is overwhelming (school breaks, holidays, etc.) This is magnified when non-members can compete for the same space.

If you can't use a confimed exchange, cancel it and make the unit available to other RCI members who may be requesting it. When members rent or swap confirmed exchanges, they undermine RCI's program to the detriment of other members. If a member is waiting for a vacation, he would indeed be upset to think that prime exchange units were being offered to the general public or traded among friends instead of being released.

RCI works hard to keep its exchange program viable and to satisfy its subscribing members. Maintaining control of our inventory is crucial to our ability to do this.

In section 6c of RCI's Terms and Conditions it says"By depositing Vacation Ownership with RCI, you relinquish all rights to use that Vacation Ownership and agree that such deposited Vacation Ownership may be used by RCI to conduct exchanges, inspection visits, promotions, rentals and for other purposes at RCI's discretion." So while RCI postulates all these reasons for their policy, basically they can do anything they wish with the deposited week. There is no ovesight of their policies, they could rent all the deposited weeks and put none in the exchange category. I am new to timeshare and RCI. So far except for the UK, I have gotten whatever I wanted, but I am free to travel anytime, and am not constrained to the summer months as vacationing families are. I have has many errors associated with my transactions, but the issues are finally resolved but it takes to long to correct errors.

marty8084 vickie247 I still find it very cumbersome, unless I'm just doing something wrong.

Quote:

Hi Vickie,

One thing you can do is sign up to be notified if any exchanges or rentals when they are added at specific resorts or areas. First browse to the specific resorts you are interested in, then select "Be notified of new postings" from the box on the top right side of the page.

This might make your search a little easier.

Thanks, Marty

Thanks to Marty.

I followed Marty's instruction, and it worked. I have an agreement with another timeshare owner to exchange our weeks in a very short time. The Exchange feature at Redweek has bring us together.

The other owner and I are new at this, and we do not know whtat we need to do because there is no procedure in place for us to follow. We simply agree to each make the reservations for the weeks, my resort week in his name, and his resort week in my name. We will send the comfirmations when we have them.

In the mean time, I pulled my exchange week off Redweek Exchange listing.

Do we need a contact? I do not know.

In comparison; I deposited one of my Gold Crown vacation week at Vacation Villege in Kissimme Fl. to RCI 4 months ago, and ask RCI to scan for any week at any resort in Hawaii for exchange. I have been calling, and RCI always said there is non for exchange.

Thanks Redweek,

Soonn

daddyd wrote:

The question by Kylie was a great one and, sadly, remains unanswered! Here it is, once again! Has anybody been successful in completeing a direct exchange and can you share your process with us? Thanks!

We traded our week at Sanibel Beachclub I in Nov, for a week at Alexandra, Virginia in Sept. After emails with owner, they contacted their resort notifying them our names and dates---they sent us written confirmation. Likewise, we contacted our resort, notifying them of the trade names and dates and they sent a written confirmation to them. It worked......There is a certain level of trust needed, however, and it would be good if there was an escrow system where the weeks were deposited........

soon, congratulations on your direct exchange. Just to be on the safe side I would download the rental agreement from www.tstoday.com (I think it's $10).

I know your exchange was a direct exchange with another Redweek member, but the agreementit can probably be used for direct exchanges if you change the wording around. That way everything is covered for both parties.

You can also use this agreement for future rentals and direct exchanges as it will be downloaded in your computer files.

soonn wrote:

Do we need a contact? I do not know.

soonn marty8084

vickie247 wrote:

I still find it very cumbersome, unless I'm just doing something wrong.

Quote:

Hi Vickie,

One thing you can do is sign up to be notified if any exchanges or rentals when they are added at specific resorts or areas. First browse to the specific resorts you are interested in, then select "Be notified of new postings" from the box on the top right side of the page.

This might make your search a little easier.

Thanks, Marty

Thanks to Marty.

I followed Marty's instruction, and it worked. I have an agreement with another timeshare owner to exchange our weeks in a very short time. The Exchange feature at Redweek has bring us together.

The other owner and I are new at this, and we do not know whtat we need to do because there is no procedure in place for us to follow. We simply agree to each make the reservations for the weeks, my resort week in his name, and his resort week in my name. We will send the comfirmations when we have them.

In the mean time, I pulled my exchange week off Redweek Exchange listing.

Do we need a contact? I do not know.

In comparison; I deposited one of my Gold Crown vacation week at Vacation Villege in Kissimme Fl. to RCI 4 months ago, and ask RCI to scan for any week at any resort in Hawaii for exchange. I have been calling, and RCI always said there is non for exchange.

Thanks Redweek,

Soonn

Hi Soon,

Our records show that you had 4 exchanges but all are now deactivated. Were you successful in exchanging all 4 or was there another reason that they were deactivated? If you have any questions or suggestions please let us know.

Thanks, Marty

kyliec wrote:

Although exchange is currently just a small part of what we do on RedWeek.com, we do offer a method for owners to exchange direct. Currently, this involves posting what you have and what you are looking for, and letting interested exchangers find you to arrange the trade.

We do not currently have a "Best Practices" suggested guideline for completing the direct exchange process posted on RedWeek.com, but we would like to.

Anyone who's completed a direct exchange, can you share your process?

Thanks, Kylie

What's the best suggestion you can give for those trying to exchange with points? Fairfield points are flexible and can be utilized toward any of their resorts. How can this best be displayed on this website? Thanks ED

phill12 wrote:

kyliec wrote:

Please also note that we are offering FREE exchanges until March 1, 2007. You can post without a membership or posting fees, and contact other exchange posters. More details here:

http://www.redweek.com/articles/free-exchange-promotion

I have yet to see one exchange listed here. Maybe I'm missing something here but the you see the rent list the sell list and then under exchange it is always zero.

Of coarse I haven't seen every timeshare listed but have seen many.

I have one there now listed under Kissimmee, FL. However it is points and can be used for any of the Fairfield Resorts. Check it out.

marty8084 soonn

marty8084 wrote:

vickie247 wrote:

I still find it very cumbersome, unless I'm just doing something wrong.

Quote:

Hi Vickie,

One thing you can do is sign up to be notified if any exchanges or rentals when they are added at specific resorts or areas. First browse to the specific resorts you are interested in, then select "Be notified of new postings" from the box on the top right side of the page.

This might make your search a little easier.

Thanks, Marty

Thanks to Marty.

I followed Marty's instruction, and it worked. I have an agreement with another timeshare owner to exchange our weeks in a very short time. The Exchange feature at Redweek has bring us together.

The other owner and I are new at this, and we do not know whtat we need to do because there is no procedure in place for us to follow. We simply agree to each make the reservations for the weeks, my resort week in his name, and his resort week in my name. We will send the comfirmations when we have them.

In the mean time, I pulled my exchange week off Redweek Exchange listing.

Do we need a contact? I do not know.

In comparison; I deposited one of my Gold Crown vacation week at Vacation Villege in Kissimme Fl. to RCI 4 months ago, and ask RCI to scan for any week at any resort in Hawaii for exchange. I have been calling, and RCI always said there is non for exchange.

Thanks Redweek,

Soonn

Hi Soon,

Our records show that you had 4 exchanges but all are now deactivated. Were you successful in exchanging all 4 or was there another reason that they were deactivated? If you have any questions or suggestions please let us know.

Thanks, Marty

Marty,

I got the exchange I needed.

Thanks,

Soonn

soonn marty8084

soonn wrote:

marty8084 wrote:

vickie247 wrote:

I still find it very cumbersome, unless I'm just doing something wrong.

Quote:

Hi Vickie,

One thing you can do is sign up to be notified if any exchanges or rentals when they are added at specific resorts or areas. First browse to the specific resorts you are interested in, then select "Be notified of new postings" from the box on the top right side of the page.

This might make your search a little easier.

Thanks, Marty

Thanks to Marty.

I followed Marty's instruction, and it worked. I have an agreement with another timeshare owner to exchange our weeks in a very short time. The Exchange feature at Redweek has bring us together.

The other owner and I are new at this, and we do not know whtat we need to do because there is no procedure in place for us to follow. We simply agree to each make the reservations for the weeks, my resort week in his name, and his resort week in my name. We will send the comfirmations when we have them.

In the mean time, I pulled my exchange week off Redweek Exchange listing.

Do we need a contact? I do not know.

In comparison; I deposited one of my Gold Crown vacation week at Vacation Villege in Kissimme Fl. to RCI 4 months ago, and ask RCI to scan for any week at any resort in Hawaii for exchange. I have been calling, and RCI always said there is non for exchange.

Thanks Redweek,

Soonn

Hi Soon,

Our records show that you had 4 exchanges but all are now deactivated. Were you successful in exchanging all 4 or was there another reason that they were deactivated? If you have any questions or suggestions please let us know.

Thanks, Marty

Marty,

I got the exchange I needed.

Thanks,

Soonn

That's great to hear, Soon!

deloresh7 wrote:

kyliec wrote:

Although exchange is currently just a small part of what we do on RedWeek.com, we do offer a method for owners to exchange direct. Currently, this involves posting what you have and what you are looking for, and letting interested exchangers find you to arrange the trade.

We do not currently have a "Best Practices" suggested guideline for completing the direct exchange process posted on RedWeek.com, but we would like to.

Anyone who's completed a direct exchange, can you share your process?

Thanks, Kylie

What's the best suggestion you can give for those trying to exchange with points? Fairfield points are flexible and can be utilized toward any of their resorts. How can this best be displayed on this website? Thanks ED

Hi ED,

It should be treated like a floating week. You can reserve a week, and then post that week for exchange. That way you have something solid to offer to the direct exchange partner, though you will be giving up some of the flexibility.

Hope that helps.

Marty

Finally! After all this b.s.! 1 person actually responds with a process that was used to complete a directe exchange! Thanks , roy128! Hard to believe that so many are so dense!

Just in case anybody actually still cares what this thread was all about, at least initially, here is what roy posted as a direct exchange process that he/she used:

"We traded our week at Sanibel Beachclub I in Nov, for a week at Alexandra, Virginia in Sept. After emails with owner, they contacted their resort notifying them our names and dates---they sent us written confirmation. Likewise, we contacted our resort, notifying them of the trade names and dates and they sent a written confirmation to them. It worked......There is a certain level of trust needed, however, and it would be good if there was an escrow system where the weeks were deposited........"

Let us know if anything else happens as you finalize your direct exchange process, would you please, roy? And again, thanks for understanding the question!

daddyd wrote:

Finally! After all this b.s.! 1 person actually responds with a process that was used to complete a directe exchange! Thanks , roy128! Hard to believe that so many are so dense!

Just in case anybody actually still cares what this thread was all about, at least initially, here is what roy posted as a direct exchange process that he/she used:

"We traded our week at Sanibel Beachclub I in Nov, for a week at Alexandra, Virginia in Sept. After emails with owner, they contacted their resort notifying them our names and dates---they sent us written confirmation. Likewise, we contacted our resort, notifying them of the trade names and dates and they sent a written confirmation to them. It worked......There is a certain level of trust needed, however, and it would be good if there was an escrow system where the weeks were deposited........"

Let us know if anything else happens as you finalize your direct exchange process, would you please, roy? And again, thanks for understanding the question!

Well, it has all happened. We had a wonerful time in Alexandria, Va in Sept. and got a note from the folks who went to Sanibel in Nov. that they had a great time, too. We now have their information and may do a future trade with them again.............

I think the free promotion for posting exchanges was a great idea! Especially for new timeshare owners who are new to this site.

Thanks Redweek!

Pamela

soonn marty8084

vickie247 wrote:

I still find it very cumbersome, unless I'm just doing something wrong.

Quote:

Hi Vickie,

One thing you can do is sign up to be notified if any exchanges or rentals when they are added at specific resorts or areas. First browse to the specific resorts you are interested in, then select "Be notified of new postings" from the box on the top right side of the page.

This might make your search a little easier.

Thanks, Marty

Thanks to Marty.

I followed Marty's instruction, and it worked. I have an agreement with another timeshare owner to exchange our weeks in a very short time. The Exchange feature at Redweek has bring us together.

The other owner and I are new at this, and we do not know whtat we need to do because there is no procedure in place for us to follow. We simply agree to each make the reservations for the weeks, my resort week in his name, and his resort week in my name. We will send the comfirmations when we have them.

In the mean time, I pulled my exchange week off Redweek Exchange listing.

Do we need a contact? I do not know.

In comparison; I deposited one of my Gold Crown vacation week at Vacation Villege in Kissimme Fl. to RCI 4 months ago, and ask RCI to scan for any week at any resort in Hawaii for exchange. I have been calling, and RCI always said there is non for exchange.

Thanks Redweek,

Soonn

We did an ongoing search for the big island of Hawaii (kona area) It took us 1 year and 4 months to come up with a gold crown resort. Other resorts would come up but they weren't even rated through rci and I wanted to stay at some place nice. When I first placed the on going search I would call every 3 mo. to check even though they are sopossed to call me. After a year I called every 2 weeks. I finally received a call this past December for a 2 bedroom unit. We used points through rci. It can be very frustrating because we had a wedding to go to there and other family members were going with us. But we were told they we shouldn't have any problem because we started with the earliest search date possible which is 2 years out. If rci wasn't able to come up with a unit in kona we were seriously thinking of selling one of our timeshare units. I wanted to see if the system really worked and it did for us but you need to go by the rules. I always call an rci counselor and ask a whole bunch of questions on how to get to certain places and doing that has really helped. With been with rci since 2001 and we are still learning but through the years beacause I have picked their brains it has become much easier.

pamelad49 wrote:

I think the free promotion for posting exchanges was a great idea! Especially for new timeshare owners who are new to this site.

Thanks Redweek!

Pamela

Hi Pamela,

Glad to hear that the free promotion was a good launch for you and hopefully for a lot of others as well.

Thanks, Marty

All,

Direct exchange does not wok out because the other party change his mind because he found other better exchange deal after he has agreed with me.

He send me the following email, telling me that he decides to exchange with someone else, after I told him that I have confirm my timeshare for him.

RedWeek.com Pono Kai Resort

Hi Soon

As long as it has a full kitchen, it's a go.

Hello Soon We just arrived home late yesterday. We were delayed in California for wife's health reasons. Today, I am committed to sort out all the inquiries for my Pono Kai, Kauai weeks available. Fortunately, we own 4 weeks and have several unused weeks. As mentioned previously, the response was overwhelming as everyone seems to want Hawaii. Some wanted 2 weeks and offering us 3 weeks as exchange, as they were mostly coming from the east. Anyway, I need to address your requests, now that I have found your e-mails in 2 files (different e-mail addresses you used). That is one reason I couldn't respond one day in February as I just couldn't find a specific e-mail you wrote. You did requested on Jan 26, the 3rd week in Oct and I confirmed that to be Oct 20 - 27, 2007. After the cruise on Feb 9, I confirmed a beautiful loft unit, top floor - sleeps 6 in best building (out of 11 bldgs) for this week. While at Pono Kai from Feb 10 to 24, you asked in e-mail of Feb 18 to change your week to May 5 - 12. This was more difficult but was done at a cost. Then on Feb 25, a week later you asked to change it back to Oct 20 - 27. I cancelled this second reservation I made for you. The original week confirmed booking was gone and not available and where they wanted to stick you was not desirable in my thinking so I waited for a supervisor I had spoken before. We were away a lot that week of Feb 26 in California visiting friends and relatives, as planned and just didn't have time for more changes. I feel I have spent too much time on your request, making a good reservation you requested, then cancelling and making a 2nd reservation. The other people's requests are much, much easier to do with times more flexible too so I am going to focus / concentrate on these first and get back to yours later. It is not what you wanted to hear BUT you should understand.

soonn wrote:

I followed Marty's instruction, and it worked. I have an agreement with another timeshare owner to exchange our weeks in a very short time. The Exchange feature at Redweek has bring us together.

The other owner and I are new at this, and we do not know whtat we need to do because there is no procedure in place for us to follow. We simply agree to each make the reservations for the weeks, my resort week in his name, and his resort week in my name. We will send the comfirmations when we have them.

In the mean time, I pulled my exchange week off Redweek Exchange listing.

Do we need a contact? I do not know.

In comparison; I deposited one of my Gold Crown vacation week at Vacation Villege in Kissimme Fl. to RCI 4 months ago, and ask RCI to scan for any week at any resort in Hawaii for exchange. I have been calling, and RCI always said there is non for exchange.

Thanks Redweek,

Soonn

This owner's scenario is one of the reasons why it's so important to have a written agreement that is set in stone and signed by BOTH parties. That way there are no changes to be made after the agreement has been signed.

I can't imagine what he went through with all the changes the direct exchanger requested, especially since so many other exchangers wanted his weeks with far less hassle involved.

Jayjay,

You did not see all the emails between us. Not once, he said the reservation is confirmed. Give me your email address, I will send you all the correspondence emails between us, and you will see that it was very frustrating to work with someone who does not reply to email in a reasonable time frame. I am the one who is stuck with an airfare tickets, not him.

For example:

Feb. 18, I said "If you have already confirmed the Oct 20 - Oct 27 week for us, and there is problem changing it, then it is okay to keep it."

And he did not reply to my email, so I asked again on Feb 25, see below.

Have not heard from you, how are you?

Sent you two email, no reply. How is my vacation in Kauai in Oct 20 - 27

He then replied on Feb 25. We have just left Pono Kai, at San Diego and then heading to Carlsbad resort later today. Will keep you posted when I can reach Bluegreen. The res office is closed on week-ends.

Then quiet, no more email from bob until Mar 04, I sent him another email, which he waited till Mar 10 to relied with "it is hard to work with me".

Were you able to contact BlueGreen, and make the reservation for us? I would like to start looking for air fare before it get too high.

Thanks

Soon

Soon Ng wrote: Thank you for your email.

Soon

Soon We have just left Pono Kai, at San Diego and then heading to Carlsbad resort later today. Will keep you posted when I can reach Bluegreen. The res office is closed on week-ends.

Sent: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 7:33 AM Subject: Swap Vacation RedWeek.com Pono Kai Resort

Hello,

Have not heard from you, how are you?

Sent you two email, no reply. How is my vacation in Kauai in Oct 20 - 27

Thanks,

Soon

Soon Ng wrote: Hello,

Keep the Oct. 20 - 27 date as before, no change.

Hope to hear from you, soon!

Thanks,

Soon

Subject: Re: RedWeek.com Pono Kai Resort

Hope this email find you well, and back from cruise and in Kauai!

I have confirmed week # 45, Nov. 10 - Nov. 17, at Vacation Village in Kissimme, Fl., and am waiting for the letter of confirmation from the resort.

We would like to move our Kauai trip to May if there is no problem for you to change the booking. We would like to confirm for May 5 through May 12, please let us know as soon as possible because there are air fares available at a good price. If you have already confirmed the Oct 20 - Oct 27 week for us, and there is problem changing it, then it is okay to keep it.

Oct. 20 - Oct. 27

Thanks very much for your help,

Soon Sae Ng

Soon

jayjay wrote:

This owner's scenario is one of the reasons why it's so important to have a written agreement that is set in stone and signed by BOTH parties. That way there are no changes to be made after the agreement has been signed.

I can't imagine what he went through with all the changes the direct exchanger requested, especially since so many other exchangers wanted his weeks with far less hassle involved.