The simple answer is it has to be good, but is it? Back in time of the fixed week, the product was very easy to understand and use but after a while maybe the boredom of the same resort in the same town at the same time each year sets in. If fixed week owners were lucky enough to have their ownership with a large developer then there was the possibility to “swap” within group, but for those with single developer or legacy resorts there was little to solve the problem of potential boredom.
Enter the exchange company
Way back in 1974, Christel and Jon Dehaan had a plan to develop the first timeshare exchange company, Resorts Condominium International. RCI as it has come to be known was born and opened its first office in Indianapolis. Today, RCI proudly professes to have 4,200 resorts affiliated in approximately 110 countries. RCI is now part of the Wyndham Empire.
Shortly after the creation of RCI, Interval International (II) was founded in 1976 in Miami. II is without doubt the largest competitor to RCI. In April 2018, Marriott Vacations Worldwide announced that they would purchase Interval Leisure Group for $4.7 billion.
The other significant player is the formerly named Dial an Exchange (DAE). Bearing in mind that modern timeshare could be described as an “all American concept”; it’s odd that DAE was formed in Australia in 1997. In August 2017, they were acquired by RCI, which, as stated above, is part of Wyndham Destinations. After the acquisition DAE was renamed 7Across in 2020.
The good, the bad and the ugly
Certainly the good must be that between these three key players it can be demonstrated that exchanges to virtually every timeshare resort on the planet may be accessed by timeshare owners. For modest membership fees and modest exchange fees, as they say, “the world is now your oyster”.
On the surface the development of exchange companies must be viewed as probably one of the most significant advancements in the history of timeshare, but does it work?
The answer to this question is yes and no. Given the vast number of resorts available on the exchange platforms its pretty well a given that owners will be able to book somewhere at a time that suits them, however getting where they want when they want is a different matter. Those three magical holiday related words “subject to availability” rear their ugly head.
Availability of booking popular resorts and destinations, when and where you want, is not only limited to timeshare. Any family with school age children may want to go to say Disney or other theme park prolific destinations such as Orlando normally during school holidays so accommodation becomes premium. However the exchange companies not only suffer this dilemma but also have to work with the operational methods of the developers.
So we have looked at good and bad, so what about ugly? We said above that exchange companies are beholden to the operation methods of developers and of course their availability is dependent of that of the developer. From the beginning of the switch from fixed and floating weeks to points, availability problems started to manifest themselves.
Points are just a form of digital currency for timeshare and as they have no asset backing they can be sold in as many and to as many as will buy or be sold them. Over selling of points versus actual availability is now the norm, but this isn’t the only snag. Factor in that probably most of the quoted 4,200 affiliated RCI resorts may be booked on the open market without the need to be a timeshare owners then it becomes clear how the exchange companies, not by their own doing, fail to satisfy a considerable number of booking requests.
TCA comment
There is no doubt that the exchange company concept, when invented back in the mid 70s, was a brilliantly conceived idea and it worked. Push forward to today and because of the reasons stated above it cannot work in the way it did in the past. Once again, blame cannot be laid at the feet of the exchange companies; their ability to satisfy their members is wholly beholden to the business methods of their accommodation source, the timeshare developer.
Most businesses survive on a basis of supply and demand and when kept in balance all runs smoothly. Too much supply and problems occur but the same applies in reverse, especially in timeshare where on average for peak times, desirable destinations and resorts, there is too much demand and not enough supply which is probably why this problem is responsible for the greatest number of complaints from timeshare owners.
Is there a solution? Not really, whilst developers keep selling points by the lorry load and keep allowing non members to holiday in their resorts, the exchange companies will just have to accept that despite their desire to satisfy all their members, getting where they want, when they want, ain’t gonna happen.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk