Timeshare FAQ
Exchange companies
1. What are RCI and II?
2. Why should I affiliate with an exchange company?
3. How do I make an exchange?
4. What does it cost to make an exchange?
5. What are Gold Crown and Silver Crown resorts?
6. What is the best place to own for exchanging?
1. What are RCI and II?
RCI (Resort Condominiums International) and II (Interval International) are the two largest exchange companies in the world. Each allows timeshare owners to trade, or exchange, their timeshare weeks with other timeshare owners. Each company offers exchanges at thousands of timeshare resorts around the world.
2. Why should I affiliate with an exchange company?
One of the main advantages exchange company membership is the ability to visit destinations not offered by your timeshare company. In addition, exchange companies often offer last-minute getaways and vacation packages that you can take advantage of without having to deposit a week or lose any week(s) you may have deposited.
3. How do I make an exchange?
The process may vary slightly between companies, but you typically deposit your timeshare week with your exchange company and make a request for the resort you wish to visit. If you own points, you must first convert your points to week-long reservation at one of your timeshare company's resorts, then deposit that week with your exchange company.
You must trade like-for-like. That means you must trade high demand vacation time for high demand vacation time, although you can also trade down (high demand for middle or low).
4. What does it cost to make an exchange?
There is a fee each time you confirm an exchange. This is known as a domestic fee if you are exchanging to a resort within your home country, or an international fee if you are exchanging to a resort outside of your home county. Check with your exchange company for rates and further details.
5. What are Gold Crown and Silver Crown resorts?
A Gold Crown resort is considered by the RCI exchange company to be in the top 5% of all the timeshare resorts within their system. A Silver Crown resort is in the top 15%.
6. What is the best place to own for exchanging timeshare weeks?
The exchange companies recognize a number of different criteria in determining what are the best places to own for exchanging timeshare weeks and no one set of rules applies in every situation. In general, the higher demand for your location the better your chances based on the availability of where you wish to go. Owning red weeks in locations like Florida, Hilton Head, and regional destinations like Gatlinburg and Myrtle Beach will always improve your chances.
