Buying a fractional home or private residence club is a great way to acquire just the right amount of vacation home that you need. But, once that sense of wanderlust sets in its nice to have an exchange program available to swap some of your time.
The largest exchange programs boast hundreds of properties in their networks. These homes can be located all over the world including South Africa, New Zealand, Italy, France, the Caribbean, Mexico, USA, and Canada.
One of the largest exchanges, The Registry Collection, just announced it has 160 properties that are either accessible for exchange or under development in its growing worldwide network of exclusive vacation accommodations. We could not be more pleased with the growth of The Registry Collection program and the quality of world class resorts that this network of luxury destinations continues to offer its members, said Geoff Ballotti, President and CEO, Group RCI, the parent company.
Going beyond traditional vacation accommodations, The Registry Collection members have access to exchange into the finest vacation product types worldwide that range from luxury hotels to estate homes and luxury yachts. In addition members have 24/7 concierge service and the opportunity to take advantage of specially negotiated travel services from some of the worlds foremost luxury travel providers, said Gregg Anderson, VP of Global Product Marketing for The Registry Collection program.
Another large exchange, Resort to Resort, has 177 properties in 45 resorts locations, and there are several smaller exchanges and exchange groups run by certain hospitality brands.
Research from Ragatz Associates shows about 66% of shared ownership homes are in an exchange program. Membership in one of the exchange networks is established by the property manager. When youre looking into a fractional ask if the property is part of an exchange network and find out about how the exchanges work and what the fees are. In some cases the fees for the first few years of membership are paid for by the property manager or developer so these early years can be a great time to give the exchanges a try.
The major luxury hospitality brands such as Ritz-Carlton, Fairmont and Four Seasons run their own exchange programs for their residence club owners. Timbers Resorts which has a network of residence clubs announced its own exchange program a few months ago, and in a slight twist the Folio Collection of residence clubs is partnering with destination club Ultimate Escapes to exchange time between the two groups respective members.