How to Exchange One Timeshare to Get Three Luxury vacations.

Exchanging your timeshare can be one of the best methods to maximize its ownership.  Today, I wanted to explain how I am able to use one low demand week to create three luxury vacations in prime seasons.  

The Hyatt Vacation Club is one of my favorite programs since they have very nice resorts, their hotel reward program is one of the best and the point value associated with their weeks are very beneficial to trade outside of their program. 

In another post, I explained Mountain Season and showed how you can turn one week into over a month of stays.  This is definitely one of the sweet spots of the program but you are traveling during very low season. 

In contrast to this, I want to explain how to take one 2 bedroom Hyatt unit and convert that one week into three weeks at luxury resorts.  I have done this many times before and it a great way to maximize and leverage timeshare ownership to get multiple weeks of vacation at a cost of less than one week in a hotel. 

As explained in the complete guide to Hyatt Vacation Club, Hyatt is a hybrid system where you own one specific week. You can use that specific week or convert that week into a certain amount of points.  Depending on the size of the unit, resort, week owned and demand for that week will determine the amount of points allocated. 

In my example, I own a 2 bedroom unit that is located in Bronze season.  Bronze season is fairly low season with only copper and mountain season below.  A 2 bedroom unit during bronze season is allocated 1300 points.  

1300 points is not a lot of Hyatt points and you will be significantly restricted if you exchange your points in the Hyatt internal system.  For example, you will never be able to exchange your points for ski weeks at Hyatt High Sierra Lodge or summer weeks at Hyatt Siesta Key Beach.  

In contrast, if you use those allocated points and exchange the points through Interval International, you can use 1300 weeks to get three prime weeks in a studio units!
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 As you can see in this chart, the left column explains the TDI index which is the travel demand index.  The highest TDI correlates to top row and the amount of points required for travel in prime season is listed on top. 

As you can see, you can exchange 1300 points for one week in a 2 bedroom or you can exchange 430 points for one week in a studio during the highest demand weeks.  

You can exchange 1290 points (430 x 3) for three prime weeks in a studio! 

You could even obtain more weeks are lower demand weeks!  For example, you could exchange 1300 points to obtain 5 weeks in a studio during low season!

Studio units are generally the size of a hotel room but can be slightly bigger.  They usually have some a small kitchenette or at least a fridge. A 1 bedroom or larger unit generally comes with a full kitchen.  In comparing timeshares to hotels, I would view a studio unit as a direct comparison. 

For a couple, studio units are more than sufficient and are generally even nicer than standard hotel rooms.  

The economics of using a 2 bedroom low season week and converting it to three studio weeks during prime season can be absolutely tremendous.  

As stated else, the ongoing maintenance fees for the 1300 points costs approximately $1200 per year.  In order to exchange with Interval International, it costs $179 per trade.

Therefore, the aggregate amount spent to receive three weeks of prime vacation is $1737 or $579 per week!

$579 per week can be a decent value but can really be a tremendous value depending on the weeks you exchange into. 

Additionally, if you exchange your 1300 points for low demand studio weeks, you would obtain 5 weeks of vacation.  The aggregate amount spent to receive five weeks of vacation is about $2100 or $419 per week!  

In the past, I have used this exact strategy to reserve a studio unit in Park City, Utah during January, reserved a studio unit in Kauai, Hawaii during the summer and a studio unit in Aruba during Thanksgiving break.  

These units were reserved at the Westgate Park City, Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club and the Marriott Ocean Club.  

All three of these properties are extremely nice and are comparable to the top tier hotels in these locations!  You can literally exchange one week into three weeks at very luxurious properties for a total cost of $579 per week. 

If we simply reviewed similar weeks, we can see that retail cost of these vacations are many times this cost. 

One Week in a Studio in Park City

As you can see above, one week in a studio at the Westgate Park City during ski season is $437 per night, almost the cost of the entire week.  This week costs over $3,000.
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One week in a Studio in Aruba

As you can see above, one week in a studio at the Aruba Marriott Resort in Aruba during Thanksgiving is $300 per night. This week costs about $2100.
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One Week in a Studio in Kauai Hawaii

As you can see above, one week in a studio at the Kauai Marriott Resort in Kauai Hawaii during the summer is $329 per night. This week costs about $2300.

If you take all these weeks together, you would have spent $7400.  I fully understand that there are deals to be had and you could likely whittle down these weeks to something lower than $7400.  Even so, I do not foresee how any of these types of weeks can be had at 4 or 5 star hotels for less than $579 per week.

Most nice accommodations generally run at least $200 per night ($1400 per week) and they will tack on taxes, resort fees, and other expenses.

I love to travel but would never be able to travel as much as I do if it was not for these types of opportunities through timeshares.  

Timeshares are not for everyone as they require a lot of diligence and planning but I think that the rewards more than justify the time spent to learn the systems and plan far in advance. 

This is just one mechanism that can be done to get multiple weeks out one timeshare! Getaways, Accommodation Certificates, Bonus Weeks and other items are also available to get even more weeks for the same maintenance fees.  

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