As mentioned in other posts found here, one way to get tremendous value out of your timeshare ownership is through Interval Getaways.
Interval Getaways are weeks made available to members of Interval International with a cash price instead of using your points or deposited week. These weeks tend to be highly discounted. Interval Getaways can save you a tremendous amount of money if they can work with your vacation schedule. As recently posted, there are weeks available at Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort for as low of $157 for a seven night stay in a studio unit. These types of deals can make sense to use even if you are only using a few nights out of the seven-day reservation. For example, a one night stay at the Westin Lagunamar for the night of September 9th is $182.29 as quoted via Priceline. Room Cost $154.17 Room Subtotal $154.17 Taxes & Fees $28.12 Total Charges $182.29 You can reserve an entire week for less than it costs to rent one night! Interval Getaways inventory is constantly changing so it requires multiple searches per day to look for a desired week. This quickly becomes aggravating and prime weeks that appear in Interval Getaway’s do not last long. Prime weeks that become available can only last seconds so if it is the desired resort and week, you need to book it immediately. Interval International has offered an app for download through Apple’s App Store.
The app was not a very useful tool in the past but they have upgraded its capabilities and now offer Getaway Alerts.
Getaway Alerts allow you to enter in specific dates, resorts and/or locations and the app will alert you when a match is found. The app will notify you on your phone or tablet that a specific week has become available for purchase. Once notified, you can continue on to purchase the specific week for cash instead of having to use your points or deposited week. Depending on the price of the Interval Getaway, purchasing a week with cash may be a better option that using the deposited week or your points. For example, as discussed here, one of my maintenance fees for a 2-bedroom unit costs $1207.46. If I wanted to exchange the 2-bedroom unit for an alternative 2-bedrooom unit, my total cost for the week would be $1386.46. Instead of using this week as an exchange, I could elect to pay cash for a week for an available Interval Getaway. As I write this post, I see a fantastic getaway available for the Marriott’s Frenchman’s Cove in St. Thomas for the week of September 9, 2016 in a 2-bedroom unit. The cost for this week is $547.00 for a Basic Interval Member, $522 for a Gold Interval Member or $497.00 for a Platinum Interval Member. Assuming that I am just a Basic Interval Member, I would pay $547 for this week and still have my 2-bedroom unit available for trade. In comparison, if I used my 2-bedroom unit to trade into this Marriott’s Frenchman’s Cove week in September, my out of pocket cost is essentially $1386.46 since I used my week. In this example, booking the Interval Getaway saved me 60% and I still have more opportunities to use my week and points. While I still have to cash for the week, it can make economic sense to use cash and save the points or deposited week for other better opportunities that can offer more savings. One important item to consider when booking Interval Getaways are that these are completely non-refundable and non-cancellable reservations. Interval is very strict in this respect. In exchange for these tremendous values, you are not able to make any adjustments. However, Interval Getaways can be used for friends or family by issuing a guest certificate. There is a fee of $59 for the issuance of a guest certificate or you can become an Interval Platinum member and receive free guest certificates. Interval Getaways offer great opportunities to bring friends or family on vacation or to introduce friends and families to timeshare vacations. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for up-to-date information and travel deals! Make sure to subscribe below as well! Exchanging your timeshare can be done through multiple methods. Internal exchanges occur when you own a specific week or points with one particular company and you would like to exchange that week or points for other units at other resorts. Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and others are all timeshares that allow owners to exchange their own deeded week or points for other weeks at other resorts within their own system.
Alternatively, all major timeshares are usually affiliated with one of the two major exchange companies. RCI and Interval International (II) are the two most popular exchange companies. RCI was the original exchange company and currently has approximately 8,000 resorts throughout the world. Their resort directory can be found here: http://www.rci.com/resort-directory/landing. Interval International is the other large exchange company. Interval has approximately 2,500 resorts in their program. Two other exchange companies are Trading Places International and SFX Preferred Resorts. These are two smaller companies which we will further discuss in later posts. I have just completed the Complete Guide to Interval International found here: Interval International We will go over specific functions in more detail but this is a good start to get to understand exchanging through II.
An accommodations certificate is basically an extra week that is given to Internal International members. These certificates generally randomly appear in you account at various times. It appears that some members get them and others do not. I anticipate that Interval International awards members for depositing high demand weeks or high demand resorts. If you are lucky to get one of the accommodations certificate, they generally entitle you to exchange into a week at various locations and times. These certificates tend to come with a lot of restrictions and the inventory allocated to these certificates can be quite limited. High demand locations and high demand weeks will almost never be included. However, there can be certain gems located in this inventory that provides tremendous value.
I was recently given an accommodations certificate that is valid until February 5, 2017 and up to a three bedroom unit which would accommodate up to 8 people. In order to use the certificate, Interval provides a grid with available times and locations. While the grids can change, they mostly include the same locations over and over again. Here is the current list:
As you can see from the above list, there are some good destinations. You need to search daily as availability differs. Interval does charge an exchange fee for using the accommodations certificate. The current fee is $274 plus taxes.
In reviewing the current offerings, there are a few sweet spots: I currently see the Marriott Grande Vista Resort in Orlando for October 30 through November 6. This is for a 2 bedroom unit. Using the certificate, the total cost for the week is $308.25! While not exactly free, just over $300 for week in a 2 bedroom unit is quite a deal. For comparison purposes, if I chose to book directly with Marriott for the same week, the total cost is just of $1500. 1 room(s) for 7 night(s) Prices in USD Sunday, October 30, 2016
Total taxes and fees 169.12 Total for stay in hotel's currency
This is just one example of how these accommodations certificate can provide tremendous value. While there is no telling when or how to receive them, they are valuable if you can use them. I am not positive if I can use my certificate this time around so contact me through Facebook if you could use it. I do not mind doing some searches and finding some gems for your use! Make sure to sign up to our mailing list for further details! One fantastic perk of owning a timeshare is the ability to reserve additional weeks through the various exchange programs. RCI and Interval International both have programs where you can reserve a week with cash instead of exchanging your timeshare. You have to be a member of RCI or Interval International to be able to reserve a week but it is well worth it. Today, I want to review the Interval Getaways. Interval Getaways allows you to reserve a week in a studio, 1, 2, 3 or more bedroom units at timeshare resorts throughout the world. The inventory that they make available is different that if you exchanged your timeshare. The pricing for these getaways can be absolutely fantastic. They have some weeks that you can reserve for as little as $277 a week. Yes, $277 PER WEEK, ONLY $40 PER NIGHT. I challenge anyone to find a better deal that this for a hotel room. Interval Getaways have recently changed so that you can reserve a week up to 18 months in advance. Inventory constantly changes so it pays to constantly check. In order to be able to reserve a getaway week, you need to be a member but it does not take any points from your account. Here are some current deals that I can locate at the moment. Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino Apr 07 2017 - Apr 14 2017 0 2 2 $399.00 $374.00 $349.00 Marriott Grand Chateux in Las Vegas Mar 25 2017 - Apr 01 2017 1 4 4 $857.00 $832.00 $807.00 The Grand Bliss in Riveria Maya, Mexico Aug 28 2016 - Sep 04 2016 0 2 2 $329.00 $304.00 $279.00 There are tons of other opportunities available at 5 star resorts throughout the world. Many times a week vacation will cost as much as one night in a 5 star hotel. Interval Getaways offer fantastic opportunities to stay in great resorts around the world and could offer better opportunities than exchanging your timeshare. It is definitely worth it to check out Getaway options before exchanging your unit to see if you can save money by using a Getaway instead of exchange options. |
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