Instant Exchange is a way for timeshare owners to utilize a trading company to stretch your vacation time. This little trick could literally double your vacation time, for the price of an exchange fee! In this article we’ll be using resale WorldMark by Wyndham credits as an example, but just know this can be applied to many other points and weeks based timeshares as well. Think it’s impossible? Read on if you’ve been missing out.
How Does Instant Exchange Work?
RCI, II, and many other trading companies offer last-minute deals to help prevent units from staying empty. The fine print may vary, but the concept is the same for all clubs and exchange companies. If you book a short-notice trip (usually within 60 days of check-in), you will be able to secure the vacation at either a lower amount of points (or credits), or for weeks based ownerships, you can even find 2 for 1 deals.
For Example: Imagine you’re a WorldMark owner. Normally, it will cost you 10,000 credits to book a week in RCI’s reservation system + a trading or exchange fee ($159 domestic, $199 international). Also, you are charged $89 per year to be a member. If you choose to take a vacation within 60 days or less, you are only charged 4,000 credits + trading and membership fees.
Why Use It?
At the time of writing this article, WorldMark charges $634.02 in annual maintenance for 10,000 credits. If you utilize instant exchange twice, and travel internationally both times (paying the highest trading fee) your annual total costs would be $1,123.02. This may seem high at first glance, but think about it. That’s 2 weeks, at any of the over 6,500 resorts in RCI’s network, plus 2,000 credits leftover for a weekend trip at any of the 60 resorts in WorldMark by Wyndham.
This is a great way to extend your current ownership that doesn’t require you to commit to taking this vacation time each year. You can pay a small maintenance fee by owning a small timeshare, and when needed, extend the amount of vacation time through instand exchange trading.
