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Timeshare Consumers Association

The exchange system is regarded as the "lifeblood" of timeshare - providing an increase in the choice of places to visit and times to take a holiday.

The principle is that you deposit the week that you own, just for one year, into a "bank" with the exchange company and take out of that bank another week, in another resort, worldwide. There is potentially a great degree of flexibility in the system - you can bank a June week in a resort in England and take out of the bank a March week in a resort in another part of the world, in another year.

There are 4 exchange companies currently serving the UK:

The "big" two: Resorts Condominiums International "RCI" and Interval International "II" with two smaller companies: Dial an Exchange "DaE" and United Kingdom Resort Exchange "UKRE" . More details

Buying a timeshare with the main purpose of mainly using it for exchange purposes - seeing the world in quality accommodation

Both RCI and II operate their systems on the basis of "Trading Power". This means that they measure the qualities of the week offered by you against the qualities of the week you are looking for.

To make this comparison they use various criteria to grade the relative trading power of the week you own and the weeks that you will be offered for exchange - essentially a comparison of supply and demand. The key factors in assessing the supply/demand are:

Region. This is a major factor. It is a measure of the level of demand for exchanges into a region in comparison to the availability of accommodation in that region. If a holiday area has few resorts, and a great many owners wanting to visit, then the region has a high rating. For example, the UK and Ireland are high demand/low supply areas. On the other hand areas such as the Canaries, with numerous resorts, have a low rating because of the ready availability of accommodation for exchange.

Resort Quality. Three basic grades: ·

• The top grade: Gold Crown (RCI) or Five Star (Interval) ·
• Medium Grade: Resort of International Distinction - RID (RCI) ·
• Lower grade: Affiliate

Apartment size. Apartments are generally measured by their sleeping capacity ·

• Studio (sleeping 2 or perhaps 4) ·
• 1 Bedroom (sleeping 2 or 4) ·
• 2 Bedroom (sleeping 4 or 6) ·
• 3 Bedroom (sleeping 6 or 8)

The "Colour" of Your Week. The Timeshare year is divided into three seasonal bands: ·

• High Season: Red ·
• Medium Season: White (RCI) or Yellow (Interval) ·
• Low Season: Blue (RCI) or Green (Interval)

Unfortunately this seasonal banding system does not provide the buyer with much help to the trading power of a week - with only three bands the grading is too coarse to identify actual demand for weeks. For example, all weeks in the Canaries are High season, including January and November, whereas the main holiday demand for exchanges in the Canaries is during the summer months and demand during the winter is much lower.

So, a buyer of timeshare looking to get the best choice of exchange should look for: ·

• A larger apartment (most important if a school holiday period, less important if outside this peak period) ·
• In a resort of high quality grade ·
• In a region/month combination which has a high ratio of demand to supply

The exchange system is not perfect - exchange companies cannot guarantee that the ownership of a peak week, in a top quality resort in the high demand region will get the exact exchange that you want. But the greater your "Trading Power", the better chance of getting the exchange you really want.

The exchange companies operating in Europe

Address details are here

RCI is the largest exchange company in the world, with a UK base in Kettering, Northants.
RCI require members to deposit a week in their bank before offering an exchange and generally only offer a week/resort of similar or lesser trading power than that banked. They charge an annual membership fees (with discounts for longer periods) plus an exchange fee. RCI has been increasingly criticised for their failure to provide a good choice of exchanges or even, in some cases, any choice whatsoever.
To become a member of RCI you must own a week in one of its affiliated resorts.
RCI also has two “Points” systems notionally independent of their “weeks” system as well as numerous sister companies offering rental of holiday accommodation
RCI website: www.rci.com

Interval International “II” is the second largest exchange company - with a UK office in South London - but has been gaining on RCI in recent years.
II works in a similar way to RCI but allows members to select the week/resort they want to exchange into before banking their own week. To join II you must own in resort affiliated to II, but as many resorts are dual affiliated with both RCI and II switching to from RCI to II is relatively easy. II receives very few complaints about lack of availability. Annual fees and exchange fees are marginally lower than those of RCI.
II website: www.intervalworld.com

Dial an Exchange “DaE” is the largest and most internationally established of the independent exchange companies, with offices in the UK (Yorkshire) , Australia, New Zealand, the US, South Africa, and China. DaE offers free membership, or a (cheap) premium membership with a few extra perks. Any timeshare owner can became a member of DaE because it does not affiliate resorts.
In the DAE system ''a week is a week'' regardless of season or size, so there is no calculation of trading power.
DaE website: www.dialanexchange.com

United Kingdom Resort Exchange “UKRE“ is an independent exchange company - based in Scotland - that handles exchanges between resorts in the British Isles.
Any timeshare owner can become a member of UKRE as it does not operate an affiliation system. Membership fees are lower than those of RCI and II and UKRE operate a “like for like” exchange policy but offers the opportunity to upgrade for payment of a modest fee.
UKRE webite: www.ukre.co.uk