Exchange that week!

Near Hilo, HI February, 2009
Maui, February, 2009


We begin planning each year's timeshare stay about a year in advance. That gives us plenty of time to go where we want. Last February's trip planning for Hawaii started in February, 2008. If you are more flexible on your timing and destination, then short term exchanges can work well. We're not as flexible because of our work schedules.

This time we are trying to exchange to a resort we don't own - just one more way to maximize your timeshare enjoyment. Our target destination is Marriott Surf Watch resort at Hilton Head. It is fairly new, and has a beautiful setting along the beach with a lake and lots of amenities. Our daughter and her family are staying at Marriott Harbour Club, also in Hilton Head. They own a platinum week (summer prime time). Their reservation is in mid-June, 2010. Our mission is to exchange our gold week (spring/fall)at Harbour Point for a platinum week before or after their Harbour Club week. That way we can stay for up to 2 weeks and enjoy a week at a resort we've not visited before.

The challenge here is to exchange a lesser value gold timeshare week for a platinum week. Can it be done? The answer is an unequivocal maybe. We have done it several times before with other resorts. It should work if we are patient. Where to start? We are members of Interval International (II) exchange firm. Dave goes to their web site and log in. Hit the exchange tab. Key in the desired destination, dates, and the week that we are offering in trade. The result of the search is that nothing is available now. Not surprising. That is a prime week in a prime destination (Hilton Head). Also, we have been very restrictive in our selection - only 1 resort and for just two particular weeks. The greater the flexibility the greater the chance of finding a match.

Now what. We will enter a request. That way, II continues to search for available weeks as owners offer their weeks in exchange. So, I key in the information. But...a glitch occurs. After going through process at least 6 times and burning up 20 minutes, the request is not accepted. The "continue" button is grayed out. Dang. Not sure why. Such things happen; patience is a requirement. Today for some reason my patience quotient is unusually high. So, I called II, placed the request by phone, and found out why the web process did not work.

We'll wait and watch for several weeks. If the request does not fill, we can broaden our search by adding other resorts and/or travel times. For example, the II system says the week we want is available at Harbour Club - the same resort where my daughter's reservation is. If we ultimately have stay somewhere else, we could try to trade in to Surf Watch at a different time when demand is lower - like May or October. Hilton Head is great at those times, except our family could not joint us because their kids are in school. There are always trade-offs.

It's all part of the great timeshare adventure. Invest your time wisely and creatively and you'll continue to build wonderful memories as you maximize use of your timeshare week(s).