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Re: How to get rid of a timeshare you no longer want .... (by Marie M.):

cynthia281 wrote:

Some of our best exchanges have been through RCI. As a matter of fact, we are sitting on the lanai in Hawaii (Kauai at the Shearwater) as I write this, an exchange made through RCI. I think you just need to have a resort that is a great trader, then everything falls into place. I check every evening at midnight Eastern Time and find great exchanges about 10 months out. It takes patience. I don't put in a request because I don't want to be offered something less than I want. Last minute exchanges into Hawaii are plentiful as well.

If someone can take advantage of last minute weeks in Hawaii, this can be easily obtained through RCI's "Last Call", Interval International's "Getaway weeks", the San Francisco Exchange Company's "Sell-off list", Trading Places Int'l excess inventory, www.skyauction.com, snap travel.com, and numerous other outlets.

I wouldn't waste a tiger trader week to obtain such an exchange.

I agree that frequent, even daily on-line searches of RCI begun a year or more in advance increases the chances of receiving a desirable exchange, if the week you own has great trading power. I own 15 timeshare weeks and have received fabulous trades through the years--Paris, London, Copenhagen, east and west Germany, Sweden, Assisi, Venice, Mougins (south of France), Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, Merida, Nassau and Freeport Bahamas, Aruba, St. Maarten, dozens of weeks in Florida in February, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Sedona, Williamsburg, the Berkshire and Pocono Mountains, Alexandria and Williamsburg, Virginia, and Maui, Kaui, the Big Island, and Oahu several times. This is just some of the exchanges received since we began buying timeshares (ALWAYS via resale) since 1995.

That being said, the exchange availability has declined steadily since Cendant acquired RCI. There is a major class action lawsuit against Cendant and RCI alleging that they are not making deposited weeks approriately available to their members. So many RCI weeks appear regularly on a variety of web sites, accessible to the general, non-timeshare owning public at prices below what the owner of the week pays in maintenance fee. Also, the proliferation of Points-based systems such as Marriott, Fairfield/Wyndham, Hilton Grand, Disney, Starwood, Sunterra, Trendwest, Sunterra, Equivest, Royal Holiday, and of course, RCI Points, decreases the availability of "fixed" deeded weeks.

So I no longer deposit any of my primo weeks with RCI. I have a couple of low-value weeks with poor rental potential. That's all RCI gets from me nowadays. Since Redweek.com grew into a great resource for renting weeks, I rent out all of the top value weeks we do not want to use in a particular year, and use the rental money to rent what we want directly from another owner who has placed an ad on Redweek. As more and more people do this, there will be a further decrease in what RCI has available for exchange. RCI is losing tens of thousands of members each year due to the frustration experienced trying to get desired trades.

That's why many of us who were thrilled with RCI exchanges in the "good 'ole days" have reluctantly accepted the fact that it no longer works that way anymore. I blame it on corporate greed. Timeshare ownership began in the 1970's as fixed week ownership and functioned well that way for many years. It appears the wheel has come full circle. In today's corporate-driven world, I consider owning a week you would not mind using yourself every year to be the safest, least frustrating and least time-consuming way to enjoy the benefits of timeshare ownership. That week should be very rentable in the years you choose to vacation elsewhere (or not at all). The mediocre or worse weeks RCI is likely to offer you can be picked up through the numerous web sites mentioned above anytime you want that type of vacation. Or rented from an owner. The Internet is a great resource for timeshare owners who learn to use it effectively.