Sometimes life happens, and owners find themselves unable to use their timeshare stay. Sometimes this unfortunately happens last minute due to needing to cancel an upcoming. It could also be that plans do not allow you to take a trip, or you simply forget to secure a home resort reservation on time.
What are some of the options available to owners to ensure they don’t lose the use for which they paid maintenance fees? In this article, we will be offering tips for maximizing ownership options to ensure that you don’t lose the usage. In order to do so, we will consider a few core scenarios below.
I Didn’t Book My Home Resort Week on Time
If you did not book your home resort ownership in advance, there may still be options. First, call the resort and see what is left available to book; even if you do not intend to travel.
Renting / Depositing Your Reservation
Once you have a reservation booked, you could still either rent out your timeshare or deposit your home resort week in RCI or II for an exchange at a later date.
Submit Request for Exchange Deposit
Sometimes, even if nothing is available to book in your season, developers may offer you an exchange deposit upon submitting a request. For example, Marriott offers owners an Interval International deposit to replace a week in the case that nothing else is left available to book within the owner’s deeded season.
You then have an extended timeframe to use the week by exchanging it with Interval International, which typically extends the useful life of your deposit for two years.
I Booked My Home Resort Week, but I have to Cancel My Stay
In case you need to cancel a booked stay, don’t worry, there are a few options at your disposal.
Cancel & Re-Book
Depending on the cancellation window and how close your are to the check-in date of your reservation, the resort may still allow you cancel and rebook another stay at a later time. It never hurts to ask!
Renting Your Reservation
If they do not, you may still be able to list your stay for rent. Should expected rental proceeds not be attractive, you can also consider an internal exchange if available within your home resort brand.
Explore Internal Exchange Options
For example certain developers like the Vistana Signature Experiences will allow owners who are part of the mandatory star options system to bank their points for use in future years. Some conditions will need to be met – in this example, cancellations must occur 61 days or more in advance and meet the deadline for banking points.
Deposit Reservation with RCI or II
Another option is to not cancel the reservation, but deposit your week for exchange with RCI and Interval International. The closer to check in date you deposit your week, the weaker the exchange power of the week will be, and some restrictions will kick in. For example, Interval international will accept a deposit up to 14 days prior to check in, but your week will be labeled “late deposit” and you can only exchange it for instant confirmations for arrivals within 59 days of travel. However, if you have the flexibility to travel within 59 days of booking, there is often very attractive inventory available to book using this exchange option.
Explore Internal Rental Programs
Last but not least, some developers offer internal rental programs. Owners could turn their week over to a rental pool, or put their time in a “bonus time” pool and receive proceeds when someone rents their time through the resort.
I Booked an External Exchange but I Have to Cancel My Stay
Perhaps you deposited your stay with RCI or Interval International, and need to cancel the stay. Different options are available depending on the exchange company, and you will need to strategize accordingly.
Cancellation Protection Insurance with RCI
With RCI, you could add cancellation protection insurance, and then cancel your exchange. Currently RCI will not refund the exchange fee, but you will get your week deposit or points back to reuse at a later time.
Interval International’s E-Plus
With Interval International, you could add E-plus to your exchange at the time of booking (or within 14 days of booking the exchange), which will allow you to re-exchange your stay up to three times without having to repay the exchange fee, as long as you re-trade at least 14 days in advance of the check in date.
Should you be within 14 days of your check-in date, or not have purchased E-plus, you can still cancel an exchange, as long as you cancel at least seven days in advance of check-in. The exchange fee will be lost, but you will receive a replacement week, which will be good for a year, to book another exchange by repaying the exchange fee.
Extend Deposits With RCI & II
You can also extend points or deposits with RCI and Interval, by paying a fee to do so. This allows to extend the life of the deposit for exchange so you can travel at a later time.
I Have a Point-Based Timeshare, and Missed My Banking Deadline
If you own a point-based timeshare and missed the deadline to bank your points to save them for next year, there are still options available to get some value from your points.
Convert Timeshare Points to Hotel Rewards Points
Firstly, you can explore the possibility of converting your points into hotel reward points. Some timeshare companies allow owners to convert their timeshare points into points that can be used for hotel stays. For example, with Hilton timeshares, owners can convert their timeshare points into Hilton Honors points, which can be used at a vast network of Hilton hotels around the world.
Use Points for Other Vacation Experiences
Another strategy is to use your points for other vacation experiences. Some timeshare companies offer options to use your points towards hotel stays, car rentals, cruises, or even flights. This way, even if you missed your banking deadline, you can still get value from your unused points.
Renting / Depositing A Reservation
Lastly, consider making a reservation with your points, then either renting or depositing that reservation with an exchange company to preserve some value from the usage that is at risk of expiring.
To sum up, here is a list of tips to maximize your ownership usage:
- Book early!
- Book the week you intend to use or the best week in your season for rental or exchange potential!
- Consider renting, whether externally or internally with the resort if they offer a rental pool.
- Consider depositing for internal exchange within your own brand / resort network if available.
- Consider an external exchange – RCI or Interval International are the major options.
- Consider adding features to your exchange such as cancellation protection or E-plus to ensure you can reuse your cancelled stay.
Wrapping Up
Timeshare ownership offers a world of vacation opportunities. However, there may be times when you can’t use your timeshare as planned. By considering strategies like renting out your timeshare, banking your points, depositing your week for exchange, or utilizing internal exchanges, you can prevent losing usage and maximize the value of your investment.
Remember, each timeshare resort or brand can have very different rules for booking your vacations, so always review the rules and limitations of your particular timeshare to know what options you have for saving your timeshare usage.
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