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Re: Interval International (by Mary D.):

ken1193 wrote:

II is one of numerous "exchange companies", others of which include RCI (the biggest by far) Dial an Exchange, Trading Places International, etc. I'm an II member, but have only occasionally used their exchange services.

One VERY desirable feature of II (to me) is the fact that with II you can search for something you want to exchange into BEFORE actually depositing a week. With RCI, by direct comparison, you can only search for an exchange AFTER you deposit a week --- and then hope (often quite futilely) that you can get something decent in exchange for your deposited week. And once you deposit with RCI, you cannot "undo" that decision and retrieve the week. That's a "one way street" when you FIRST give up a week to RCI but then maybe get nothing of comparable interest or value in return....

I'm not marketing II here --- and their affiliated resorts are certainly fewer in number than RCI's, by far. I'm just pointing out one very specific and (to me, at least) a critically important "night and day" difference between II practices and RCI practices. With II, you don't have to give up anything until or unless you see something which you want to exchange your week for. Seems fair. With RCI, it's deposit a week first and then hope --- with the odds NOT necessarily in your favor.

Annual membership fees in II are comparable to RCI, exchange fees are just slightly less with II. The BIG difference is the ability to SEARCH FIRST with II.........

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Actually, if you phone RCI they WILL search for what you want before you deposit a week. If they have it, you can then deposit, pay the fee, and make an immediate exchange. However, if they do not have what you want on hand and you want them to make an "on going search" for what you are seeking, then you do have to deposit. This puts you at the head of the line should others be calling in to request the same thing.

If you are talking specifically about on line searches via the RCI website, then you do indeed need to have something on deposit which the site can use in determining what is available to you.

We are II members also, but have not used them except for a air ticket once. Maybe we'll give them a try in 2008. MD