How Timeshare Exchange Works
Vacation ownership offers unparalleled flexibility and the opportunity for affordable worldwide travel through a timeshare exchange. Through the international timeshare exchange networks, owners can trade their timeshare interval for vacation time at comparable resorts around the world.
Most resorts are affiliated with an exchange company that administers the exchange service for its members. Typically, the Exchange Company will directly solicit annual membership. Owners individually elect to become members of the affiliated Exchange Company.
To exchange, the owner places his or her timeshare into the exchange company’s pool of resorts and weeks available for exchange and, in turn, chooses an available resort and week from that pool. The exchange companies charge an exchange fee, in addition to an annual membership fee, to complete an exchange.
Timeshare exchange companies and resorts frequently offer their members the additional benefit of saving or banking vacation time in a reserve program for use in a different year.
RCI (Resort Condominiums International) and II (Interval International) are the two largest exchange companies in the world. Each allows timeshare owners to trade, or exchange, their timeshare weeks with other timeshare owners. Each company offers exchanges at thousands of timeshare resorts around the world.
Resort Condominiums International (RCI) is one of the largest timeshare vacation exchange groups in the world. RCI does not manage any timeshare properties directly but instead operates an exchange for owners of affiliated timeshare to trade their weeks for other exciting vacation opportunities. With thousands of RCI timeshare resorts located all over the globe, members can plan their dream vacation year after year.
Interval International (II) is the Quality Vacation Exchange Network, made up of nearly 1,900 resorts and over 1.5 million member families worldwide. At the forefront of the industry, II has maintained the highest standards of quality and excellence since 1976.