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Re: Interval International (by Mary D.):
annec15 wrote:=========ken1193 wrote:I think overall II has nicer resorts to choose from too. RCI has alot of junk. We are not happy with RCI but it comes with our Fairfield membership so we are not going to pay extra to II. I would definitly prefer to stay on an II property.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.........
RCI has lots of Gold Crown and Silver Crown properties but sometimes I've been glad for the unrated resorts which happen to be exactly where I need to be! MD