How would you like to travel for free? How would you like to vacation in the best resorts around the world for free? No, this is not some phony scam. If you are one of the 7 million timeshare owners, you not only can vacation at your beautiful resort each year but you can also exchange your timeshare for another timeshare at another resort and vacation there. It’s called Timeshare Exchange.
And since you already paid for your timeshare, the timeshare exchange doesn’t cost you anymore. By exchanging your timeshare you have the ability to “leverage your timeshare” ownership to travel the world in the best spots on earth. You can participate in a timeshare exchange and trade your week with an owner of a different timeshare at a different resort. Imagine the possibilities. An exchange allows a timeshare or vacation owner to trade units for a desired time with another owner.
There are 3 ways to exchange your timeshare:
1. Within your resort or vacation club: If your resort or vacation club offers timeshare exchange, you can call them and they will handle your exchange. You hand over the right to use your week in exchange for a timeshare within their system. Sometimes resort or vacation clubs will facilitate a trade outside of the club for other resorts and vacation clubs. You don’t have to necessarily own a week either. Some vacation clubs offer points that can be redeemed for time (1 day to 2 weeks) at a resort(s).
2. Exchange clubs: Owners automatically become members of the exchange system when they buy their timeshare or vacation club interval. At most resorts, the developer typically pays for each new member’s first year of membership in the exchange club, but members pay the exchange company directly for each subsequent year after that.
I have found many timeshare owners that don’t even know of don’t care what resort they actually own at. They only bought the timeshare so that they can exchange; sometimes referred to as trade or swap. They just purchased the timeshare in order to be part of the exchange system.
The 2 largest systems today are RCI and Interval International. The services work almost identically. You pay a yearly fee of about $100 whether you exchange your timeshare or not. Then the years that you do decide to exchange, you pay another fee of $150-$200 for the exchange.Interval Exchange and Vacation Exchange are both used interchangeably with timeshare exchange since people equate “intervals” with “timeshares” as well as “vacation ownership”.
Red Week and Dial an Exchange are also timeshare exchange companies that operate predominantly offline claiming to handle your timeshare exchange with a higher level of service.
The way timeshare exchange works is that you deposit your week into a “bank”. Once deposited, the week is the property of the company, not you. They have the right to exchange it or rent it. They then tell you what properties you are eligible to trade for. If you don’t like those properties then you must wait until a property that you do like becomes available.
In a points-based exchange system, the interval is automatically put into the inventory system for a specified period when the member joins. Point values are assigned to units based on length of stay, location, unit size, and seasonality. Members who have enough points to secure the vacation accommodations they want can reserve them on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis. Members who don’t have enough points may want to investigate programs that allow banking of prior-year points, advancing points, or even “renting” extra points to make up differences.
3. The third and final way to exchange is called Direct Exchange. Timeshare owners have the right to exchange with other owners directly; called Direct Timeshare Exchange. I have done this for many years. And it’s always been a great experience. Not only do I get to travel to different resorts around the world, but it is free. That’s right, no fees. We learned to trade with other owners years ago. Now we’ve automated that timeshare exchange system. It’s called TimeshareJuice – Read more about direct timeshare exchange. There are other sites that offer the ability to have direct exchange. They use a bulletin board feature to do that.
No matter how you exchange your timeshare this year, timeshare ownership is a wonderful way to make sure you and your family vacation in wonderful resorts in the best locations around the world!
Here’s wishing that your very best vacation happens this coming year.
Enjoy!
