One of the great benefits of having a timeshare is that you have the choice to exchange your usual timeshare resort for someone else’s. Most of the time, a timeshare holiday exchange is entirely possible, and – when you go down the right route – can be very straightforward.
So, What Is A Timeshare Holiday Exchange?
The premise of a holiday exchange programme is that you deposit your week(s) into the holiday bank, and can choose a like-for-like holiday from the other holidays already deposited. Back in the glory days of timeshare, the like-for-like exchange was a considered a straightforward ‘swap’, so people were still restricted to particular dates or to a particular price band. Holiday exchange programmes have come a long way since then, and savvy timeshare owners are making the most of the system and getting real value for their deposited timeshare.
Taking the exchange programme run by RCI Holidays as an example, the time of year that you go away and the resort in which your timeshare is situated are given a points value, based on the popularity of the resort, time of year and so on. A top-class resort in a popular area, at a popular time of year (in the school holidays, for example), is perceived as having a higher value than a small resort off-season.
Making the Most of Your Points Value for Timeshare Holiday Exchange
Once you know what your points value is, you can deposit your holiday into the exchange bank and look around to see where you can ‘spend’ your points.
With many timeshare holiday points programmes, you can save your points from one year to the next, enabling you to take a higher value holiday every two year, for example. This is great if you can’t really arrange a holiday one year, and means that those with a lower points value can, once in a while, visit a more exclusive resort than they may otherwise have been able to afford. The trick is to deposit your week(s) into the bank as early as possible, as this gives you the greatest choice of exchange holidays from which to choose.