Interval International during School Vacations

[islandtimect]

Has anyone been able to book a trip at Interval Int'l resorts during school vacations (Dec, Feb, Easter or April)? How difficult was it? From the materials received, it sounds almost impossible. We would be interested in staying at a Caribbean or Florida property.

 

[spiceycat]

done it at spring break - no problems!

 

[beachblanket]

There are many variables in your question.

As example, the "spring break" element (what you labeled "Easter/April"). If Easter falls in early to mid April, spring breaks from all over the nation tend to be crammed together vs. if it falls in March they are more spread out. If you're looking to book in the latter, they'll be more inventory available than in the former. Don't worry about the impact of college Spring Breaks - most undergraduates are budget-driven (don't have the $$ to book upscale time shares) so you're generally not competing with them.

"February" vacation sounds like code for President's Day week. That is not a nationwide vacation period (primarily northeast and some midwest). So inventory is not impacted quite as much as in other nationwide holidays.

Christmas to New Year's is obviously ultra high demand anywhere desireable. Thanksgiving used to be quieter but is becoming almost as bad. And that is "polluting" early December - with the increasing willingness of families to yank kids out of school for gratification-oriented trips , it's a lot busier than it used to be.

October is a month when some southeastern systems have breaks, so that can briefly have "spot" impact on available inventory in certain sunny locales.

You also omitted summer, which in many areas is high season. We just did a trip last month employing an exchange into a Marriott resort in Williamsburg, VA, so these are possible.

Bottom line: unless you're fixated on Christmas, don't worry about seasons. Just pick a range of your preferred acceptable weeks (at least a year out) and resorts and put in an exchange search with MS. The more options you give them, the more likely they are to come up with a match. And you may be surprised - DVC has stronger Interval trading power than many members realize.

 

[travelbug]

I got the Grand Caymanian for Easter week this year. It came up within 2 weeks after I put in the request (the August before). By the way, it was gorgeous and I'd go there again in a minute.

 

[Dean]

Actually for the Caribbean and MX; president's week is the highest demand of all, even above Xmas to NY. It will vary with you expectations and needs. If you're flexible, can take less than a 2 BR and plan at least a year or more in advance, one can do OK. But remember that most owners who own top resorts during peak times don't trade them through II. And for Marriott and Westin resorts esp, there are a lot of people in line ahead of you due to the internal trading preferences. FL will not be as tough for late April but will be for Xmas and Easter. My experience is that DVC members as a group don't plan far enough ahead and are not flexible enough to make this a viable option. Those that plan ahead a year or more, can accept a smaller unit and are very flexible, say 10-20 resorts over at least 6-8 weeks, will do OK.

 

[Kathi OD]

We've done Easter week a couple of times with no problem. Once to the Caribbean and once to Arizona (Sedona). Check it out, all they can tell you is there is nothing available.