Post reply

Re: WARNING - RE TIMESHARE EXCHANGES (by Mike N.):

karenp242 wrote:

marty8084 wrote:

margaret915 wrote:

marty8084 wrote:

tesora wrote:

I'm new to this so please bear with me. If you have more than one week (same or different resorts) can you combine them and get more exchange power? Thanks.

Yes, that's correct. You are assigned a point value for each week that's deposited. The total number of points you accumulate can be used to exchange for a higher valued week.

If you have at least 50% of the points required, you can simply pay the difference - currently just $1 per point. All options available to you will be shown on the exchange week page.

On the other hand, if you have more points than you need, just keep those to use toward a later exchange within the three year timeframe. This unique feature means you will always get a fair trade.

Thanks, Marty

Do you have to pay a separate Redweek fee for each property that is deposited?

There isn't a fee for each deposit but there is a $125 fee for each exchange.

Thanks, Marty

I am also new to this. What would you say are the advantages to depositing with redweek over other exchange companies (other than RCI and II)?

Is there a deadline to deposit such as 60 days or such before points expire?

Karen

Keep in mind this is a new program and I think RedWeek has to “get some of the bugs out”. So, let me give you what I see are the benefits of a RedWeek exchange. The exchange fee is a bit cheaper and you have three years in which to use you points. Also, there is no extra fee for a guest certificate and you can rent a RedWeek exchange to a third party.

Now for downside… While the Redweek website touts that it has access to ALL resorts, in fact there are currently just over 400 resorts actually available for exchange at this time (inventory changes daily). Hundreds more are provisional exchanges which will be deposited by owners ONLY if a suitable exchange is found (sort of like Interval International’s request first program). To view the possibilities yourself, go the Timeshare Exchange link; under ‘Find Your Exchange’ select all regions, and click GO. You will see almost 50 pages of Provisional and Exchange weeks. Now select ‘Exchange Weeks Only’ and you will see less than 20 pages of listings. You can deposit your week as a Provisional week and hope to get what you want. Be forewarned, if your request comes through, the initial value of your resort will no longer be applicable AND I can almost guarantee that upon re-valuation, it will be reduced.

The inconsistency in their Timeshare Valuation Process is my biggest issue with the Redweek exchange program and this opinion is based on my own experience. RedWeek gave me a valuation for my Williamsburg timeshare (Fourth of July week) which I thought was somewhat fair (approx 1500 pts), but I felt it was a bit low since it approximated the exchange value for a similar Williamsburg unit during a week in early May. I did not see any exchange possibilities that I liked, so I decided to wait a bit. A few weeks later, I asked for a re-valuation and Redweek reduced the value by OVER 25% to approx 1150pts. As a result, I wouldn’t even have enough points for an exchange into summer week in the same region from which I deposited. Nor would I’ve been able to exchange into an oversaturated Florida (except for maybe a one bedroom in the off-season). I understand that the closer it gets to check-in, fewer points are allotted, however, it was still over 6 months prior to the check-in date and it was only a few weeks between evaluations. This seems to be a double standard by RedWeek. The closer it is to check-in, the fewer points I get for my deposit, BUT, the points required for an exchange never seem to change until just a few weeks before the check-in date. For example, since my initial Valuation, that early May Williamsburg week (previously mentioned) still requires 1500 points for an exchange, but my unit was devalued after just a few weeks.

For the RedWeek program to succeed they need to get more deposits and reduce the provisional exchanges. But in this case, the drastic reduction in point value turned me off. I wasn’t asking to be able to exchange my VA week for a Hawaiian week, but please “give me a fighting chance”.

Has anyone else fallen into this re-valuation "pit". Again I apologize for the length of this post. Mike