Travel Tools: Interval Getaway Alerts - A must have travel tool

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.

Interval International App

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.

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