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[Q=roberts693] [Q=tim755] [Q=roberts693] we own 2bd / 2 bt at aruba surf club, using it in a couple of weeks. we want to trade out for soemthing else next yr. so, is it easier to use II, or try to find another MVCI owner and trade wit them directly. If the answer is an owner directly.....ow do I find owners??????? New at this so be nice to the newbie![/Q] If you look at your resort page on Redweek.com, you can see options to rent, purchase or exchange a week at that timeshare. So, one of your options is to place your future week up for rent or offer it for exchange and ask for something in a location you would like to visit. If you are an Interval International member, you can put in a request for an exchange to the timeshare you would like to go to and the dates you would like to visit. Do not deposit your week, but request your desired location first. II will notify you when the exchange is complete and charge you for the exchange fee. If you purchased your villa from Marriott, you may have been enrolled in a 1 year membership at II. With that membership, you should have received a Resort Directory and instructions from Marriott, as well at in the II Resort Directory, for the way to use the service. By the way, I am a Marriott owner and do not work for any of the companies I have mentioned in my reply to you. Tim[/Q] Tim, many thanks! Just got off the phone with II and went over the options. I understand the best option is to request and then deposit if you get an acceptable trade. Although the II folks are encouraging me to deposit first. Is there a forum of just Marriott folks that trade among themselves? or for that matter any such fforum of owners?[/Q] First of all, it is good that you received good information from Interval International. By requesting first, you still have the option to rent or exchange or use your week if the timeshare you would like to go to is not available. In addition, if you know where you would like to go, then the Redweek representative can tell you the number of times that destination had trades available in a previous period of time. This will give you an idea of how likely you can get the exchange you are looking for. If you are looking to exchange your Marriott week with other Marriott owners, try using Redweek. I was trying to get into Marriott Newport a few months ago and went to the Newport section on Redweek and found people looking to trade a future Newport week for a destination they wanted. You could check the Redweek exchange section for the place you would like to go and see if an owner at that destination is looking for an exchange. In addition, you can go to the Redweek section for your own timeshare resort and list a request for an exchange. Check Redweek for charges for using this service. If you request first with II and try this Redweek search, you can take whatever comes up first. If a Redweek exchange is successful, then immediately contact II to cancel your request. One last thing. If you have not reserved your week for 2008 and if you have a flexible week, then reserve a week for a time that has the greatest demand. You can get an idea of the level of demand by looking in the front section of the II catalog at the demand index for the location of your timeshare. The demand for Aruba may be like Florida with the hottest demand from the end of December to about April. Tim