Well, how do YOU best work the system?

[magwai12]

Hello All,

I read the 'working the system' thread with considerable interest.

I would be greatly interested in hearing how the rest of you work the The Former Company system (by this i tend to mean Club The Former Company in Europe, but would also be interested to read the views of those who are part of a different system).

We are a family of 3 (myself, my husband and my school age son).  We need to use our 8000 points to our very best advantage to get the best hols from our The Former Company points.  As we are restricted to school hols, and generally would wish to use 2 bed appts, I need to be very organised in booking our The Former Company hols so that we can maximise our points and get the most hols we can out of them (we also own a time-share week which is affiliated to II and I exchange this carefully too).

So, other The Former Company members, whilst not wishing to denigrate the concerns of those who worry about this system, I'd love to hear from those of you who have learned how to 'work it' so that you enjoy maximum hols for your spend, and can help us all to achieve the maximum potential from what we have all bought!

Hx

[krazykats]

Helen
I tend to use exchanges. I own 80 old points .And unfortunately now we need to use school hols. Last year we booked a 2 bed at CRomer in Summer hols for 55 points instead of 80 (I think) by booking through II. Ok it cost a fee but aved our points.
We are fortunate that having been a weeks owner we have retained our RCI membership . We book a blue week at Pine Lake for 35 points & put it in the RCI bank. Exchanges aren't as good but we have managed to swap for a August school week also at PL worth 70 points.
Kathy

[Mavo]

Hi Helen.
 Different personal circumstances can mean that a different approach to working the system is required so why not sub-divide the topic into different methods of using the system. So you finish up with, for example.
 Best using the system for School Holidays.
 Best use of Interval International.
 Best use of the 59 day half points.
 Best use outside School Holidays.
 (There are probably more but off hand I cannot think of any)
By doing it that way people logging in can look within the specific thread best suited to their needs and also after a while possibly add their experiences into the correct thread.
 We know that putting together a comprehensive free database of advise is going to take time but providing site visitors can see that we have the building blocks in place and topics can be easily accessed, they will be encouraged to return.

[magwai12]

Hi Tom,

Ok, what I thought I'd do is to make this topic sticky, so that anyone visiting can se it right away.  if there is alot of response I wil divide it as you have suggested.

Cheers. Helenx

[Jeff]

I only look to use late avaliability (retirement has some benefits) and although I don't own as many points as any of you I expect to get at least 3 and possibly 4 weeks or either a long weekend or a midweek break for my 50 points.
There is no secret to getting those,knowing how to work the system is I suppose the hard part.

[krazykats]

Originally posted by magwai12

Hi Tom,

Ok, what I thought I'd do is to make this topic sticky}

Help someone please direct me to definitions of "sticky" etc.
I obviously don't know how to use these forums properly.
Kathy[B)]

[Jeff]

Hi Kathy
to make a thread sticky just means that the moderators of the forum have the power to see that the thread stays at the top of the forum instead of moving down when other postings are made. I hope this makes sense because the duty free Gin is flowing freely tonight

[]

Jeff.