Complete newbie, a bit overwhelmed.

[squierjosh]

So, my wife and I got suckered into buying a small timeshare through RCI. We get 33,000 points every other year. Two of the main selling points were the "last minute deals" for 9000 points for a week somewhere and when the saleman said he loved how he could just call RCI and easily get a hotel room using points. When I called RCI about booking a hotel using points, they said they don't do that, but they offer up to a 20% discount. Well whoopdy-doo, 20%.

I feel like we got scammed, because he made it sound like we could take several weeks of vacation per year, taking into consideration the last minute deals and hotel stays. Most of the resorts I'm looking at are 25-30,000 for a week. So, we'd get a vacation every other year with a few useless points leftover.

So can I use points in exchange for a couple nights at a basic hotel?

Is it possible to ever stay less than a week somewhere? The salesman also said they prorate, but when I look on the website, it's always a week minimum.

Finally, are they running out of resorts. When I looked at the website in December, there were over 6,000 resorts. Now there's under 2,500. I'm scared I'm throwing money away every month.

Argghh! Someone tell me everything is gonna be ok.

 

[siesta]

When did you buy, can you still rescind?

 

[squierjosh]

I doubt it. It was mid-november.

When did you buy, can you still rescind?

 

[Passepartout]

I actually think you have too few points to be usable. I have around 50k a year and am just able to get one 'good' in-season week and a shoulder season week from my points. I have also seen an erosion of the Last Calls inventory. What used to be 6K at 45 days before move-in is now 9K at 30 days. It's much more just leftovers. Hardly worth counting on.

I don't have experience with short-stays using points so someone else will have to address that.

As far as advice, I'd ask your resort if they will accept a deed-back and give it back. And/or buy another points TS so you can add a usable amount of points to your account.

Good luck.

Jim

 

[squierjosh]

Ugh, that's discouraging. I guess at worst we get a week vacation every other year, with some leftover points.

I actually think you have too few points to be usable. I have around 50k a year and am just able to get one 'good' in-season week and a shoulder season week from my points. I have also seen an erosion of the Last Calls inventory. What used to be 6K at 45 days before move-in is now 9K at 30 days. It's much more just leftovers. Hardly worth counting on.

I don't have experience with short-stays using points so someone else will have to address that.

As far as advice, I'd ask your resort if they will accept a deed-back and give it back. And/or buy another points TS so you can add a usable amount of points to your account.

Good luck.

Jim

 

[ronparise]

As long as you are flexible you can do what the salesman said and get those 7500-9000 point reservations....I bought into the rci points system for exactly that reason...I paid a dollar for my purchase of 24000 points a year, and the account came with 74000 points in the bank.....

After a year I found I didnt use the account at all..so Im giving the points away and letting the points account expire..I still own the underlying week and I can deposit it into RCI weeks system and use tpu instead of points...it looks to me like there are more exchange opportunities there

You probably have the same option

 

[Egret1986]

Not a lot of Points for sure, but there is a long-time TUG member that has owned ....

Ugh, that's discouraging. I guess at worst we get a week vacation every other year, with some leftover points.

...some dinky points timeshares.

Few resorts will take deedbacks. If you bought from the developer; yes, you probably got scammed and you still may owe money on it. At this point, your best option would be to try and make the most of it.

The last minute exchanges have dwindled. The inventory is sparse in selection. Previously, you could find lots of availability and many in prime locations and prime seasons. I used to run out of Points because of all the availability and I had well over 200,000 annual points.

You can rent additional Points through RCI or purchase additional points from other owners to have transferred to your account. You'll have to be diligent in searching RCI for the reduced point inventories, plus be flexible with your choices and ability to travel on short notice.

It is possible to make a glass of lemonade with your "lemon".

Don't be discouraged. Hang out on TUG. Many of these folks know how to work the "system" to get the most out of their timeshares. It will take some work to get the most out of what you've got. Some of us enjoy that "work". We like the challenge and fruits of our labor.

Best wishes for a fruitful experience! Welcome to TUG! Research and ask questions. Lots of experience and opinions here.

 

[hajjah]

As both a points and weeks owner, let me just tell you that I am extremely disappointed with the new points system. I've been a member with RCI since 1998. Things changed toward the end of last year. I used to be able to get around 3-4 vacations out of my one timeshare of 62,000 points yearly. You could travel almost anywhere in the world using 9,000 within a 45 day window. I've stayed in some great places using 7,500 or 9,000 points for weekly vacations. That is gone! Now, many of the resorts require 3,000 and up points for just one night. Every now and then you might find a resort at 9,000 points on a special. I am so unhappy that I plan to sell my timeshare in Las Vegas.

Btw, you can use points for airfare and car rentals as well. I have used points for both.

 

[squierjosh]

I'm not even sure what system I'm in. We bought a week every other year at a resort near us in MN. But when I log into RCI, it shows we have our points, as if we've already traded in our timeshare for the points. So I assume we only have the Points membership.

How do you buy/sell points from other members? I assume there's something on this forum where people are selling points. I see that you can transfer them by calling a phone number. I guess that could be an option for us. Quite frankly, having a week long vacation every other year is fine with me, since we'd be using it to visit my inlaws in FL.

 

[AwayWeGo]

I Resemble That Remark.

Not a lot of Points for sure, but there is a long-time TUG member that has owned ....

...some dinky points timeshares.

Our current points timeshare is less dinky than our prior points timeshares.

The 1 we have now gets us 30,833 points each year.

The 1 before that was good for 24,667 points annually.

Before that, we had 1 that got us 18,500 points per year.

The 1 we started out with generated only 15,000 annual RCI points.

They are all dinky, but some are dinkier than others.

And in acquiring & then disposing of'm, we have been moving in the direction of less dinky with each replacement acquisition.

Oddly, the dinkiest of the 4 had the highest annual fees -- & that's why we deeded it back to the timeshare (with the timeshare's permission & cooperation).

The other 3 are all at the same timeshare, & all of those have the same annual fee irrespective of the number of points they bring -- & that's why we gave away the 2 dinkier & kept the least dinky of the bunch.

Our aim is just to have a minimal toe-hold into RCI Points so that we can do Instant Exchange when the opportunity presents itself -- 9,000 points (maximum) + exchange fee for a full week in a non-points timeshare when the reservation is made within 30 days of check-in (formerly, within 45 days of check in, but now 30 days -- so it goes).

When we can't get Instant Exchanges (& getting'm is becoming rarer), we go with Last Call. In order to get Last Call reservations, we need to belong to RCI (Weeks or Points mox nix), so we went with a dinky points membership. (Points membership includes a side-by-side Weeks membership at no added cost.)

It is possible to use RCI Points for hotel stays & other stuff, but far as we can tell doing that is no bargain. In our experience, the most practical thing RCI Points are good for is timeshare exchange reservations.

Partial-week timeshare reservations are possible via points, but (by us) they are a bad deal -- too many points required for the time we get. If we need just a few days, it's more economical to take a full Instant Exchange week & simply waste the unneeded time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[ampaholic]

The window for last minute reservations on the points side closed quite a bit when RCI introduced the newly revamped Weeks side last fall.

With the new Weeks search and TPU system now a lot more weeks get scooped up before they can rot on the vine and be lowered to 6000 - 9000 points.

Another good use of points is reserving high demand weeks at exactly 1 year out (to 11 months) for your home resort and at 11 months to 10 months out for your home group.

I have snagged 4th of July and Labor Day weeks this way.

 

[Egret1986]

If you don't reserve your home week every other year (13 mths before check-in?), ....

I'm not even sure what system I'm in. We bought a week every other year at a resort near us in MN. But when I log into RCI, it shows we have our points, as if we've already traded in our timeshare for the points. So I assume we only have the Points membership.

How do you buy/sell points from other members? I assume there's something on this forum where people are selling points. I see that you can transfer them by calling a phone number. I guess that could be an option for us. Quite frankly, having a week long vacation every other year is fine with me, since we'd be using it to visit my inlaws in FL.

.... then you are automatically given the points value.

Depending on the area of FL, there are usually great "Extra Vacations" available through RCI for little cost. That way you could use your Points for a second vacation somewhere else.

 

[Egret1986]

Yes, you do "resemble that remark."

Our current points timeshare is less dinky than our prior points timeshares.

Our aim is just to have a minimal toe-hold into RCI Points so that we can do Instant Exchange when the opportunity presents itself -- 9,000 points (maximum) + exchange fee for a full week in a non-points timeshare when the reservation is made within 30 days of check-in (formerly, within 45 days of check in, but now 30 days -- so it goes).

When we can't get Instant Exchanges (& getting'm is becoming rarer), we go with Last Call. In order to get Last Call reservations, we need to belong to RCI (Weeks or Points mox nix), so we went with a dinky points membership. (Points membership includes a side-by-side Weeks membership at no added cost.)

It is possible to use RCI Points for hotel stays & other stuff, but far as we can tell doing that is no bargain. In our experience, the most practical thing RCI Points are good for is timeshare exchange reservations.

Partial-week timeshare reservations are possible via points, but (by us) they are a bad deal -- too many points required for the time we get. If we need just a few days, it's more economical to take a full Instant Exchange week & simply waste the unneeded time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

I thought the OP could learn a thing or two from your experience with dinky points ownerships.

 

[chriskre]

I too resemble that dinky ownership remark.

Just an FYI to the OP, you can get some really good deals in RCI points without having to use the last minute gig that the salesperson sold you on. For example 28K RCI points will get you a studio in Disney Vacation Club in the off season. For 41K you can get a 1 bedroom off season in DVC. That's of course assuming that you did not buy your RCI points in Orlando but there are other places where RCI points shine.

I'm a happy points owner with my dinky membership. I have two now. One at Vacation Village at parkway, triennial 24K a year and a Grandview Triennial with 14K points a year. I've yet to be disappointed with the value that I get here in FL for RCI points. Of course it may be different in other states but using them in FL, you will get good mileage out of them IMO.

 

[squierjosh]

So you have multiple smaller timeshares? Do all your points show up in the same account on rci.com, or do you have to remmeber to use one account for one trip, another account for another trip, and so on?

Also, we all know I was taken by paying full price for a TS. Now I'm seeing auctions like this on ebay and wondering where I went wrong:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40K-RCI-POI...10828786582?pt=Timeshares&hash=item19cde91396

So could I buy something like this for the points and and just pay the maintenance fee every year?

I too resemble that dinky ownership remark.

Just an FYI to the OP, you can get some really good deals in RCI points without having to use the last minute gig that the salesperson sold you on. For example 28K RCI points will get you a studio in Disney Vacation Club in the off season. For 41K you can get a 1 bedroom off season in DVC. That's of course assuming that you did not buy your RCI points in Orlando but there are other places where RCI points shine.

I'm a happy points owner with my dinky membership. I have two now. One at Vacation Village at parkway, triennial 24K a year and a Grandview Triennial with 14K points a year. I've yet to be disappointed with the value that I get here in FL for RCI points. Of course it may be different in other states but using them in FL, you will get good mileage out of them IMO.

 

[Passepartout]

Multiple RCI points resorts all get combined in to one account. They may get credited at different times by the resorts, but you don't have to keep track of 'em.

One rule-of-thumb when shopping for RCI points giveaway resorts is $.01 a point MF. Some folks here have even bought them with lower prices, but penny a point's considered a pretty good average price/point ratio.

Jim

 

[squierjosh]

I've heard of the penny per point average, but how does that relate to these auctions for deeded timeshares for a dollar? Is it better to just buy points and not get another deed?

Multiple RCI points resorts all get combined in to one account. They may get credited at different times by the resorts, but you don't have to keep track of 'em.

One rule-of-thumb when shopping for RCI points giveaway resorts is $.01 a point MF. Some folks here have even bought them with lower prices, but penny a point's considered a pretty good average price/point ratio.

Jim

 

[AwayWeGo]

You Catch On Quick.

I'm seeing auctions like this on ebay and wondering where I went wrong:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40K-RCI-POI...10828786582?pt=Timeshares&hash=item19cde91396

So could I buy something like this for the points and and just pay the maintenance fee every year?

You pay the maintenance fee to the timeshare resort every year and you pay your RCI Points dues every year. You also pay exchange fees for each RCI Points exchange reservation that you make -- i.e., they get you coming & going.

That's if you want to be in the points system (for straight-points exchanges & Instant Exchange, etc.).

If you don't care about RCI Points, then you can let your membership lapse (or don't even join up in the 1st place) & simply pay maintenance fees to the timeshare & use your own deeded time at that resort.

If you do want to be in RCI Points, keep in mind that the DVC folks won't let you exchange in using your points if any of your points-timeshare deeds are in & around Orlando FL. So if DVC is on your want-to-go list, you'll need to shop for eBay timeshares in other locales (e.g., Las Vegas).

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[squierjosh]

Oh boy, this is getting way too complicated. I thought we bought a Weeks account with our timeshare, but I could only log in as a Points member, so I have no frickin idea what we have. They never mentioned anything about RCI Points dues at the sales presentation, only the maintenance fees. What are the dues?

I really REALLY want to go wring the neck of the d-bag that sold us this timeshare.

You pay the maintenance fee to the timeshare resort every year and you pay your RCI Points dues every year. You also pay exchange fees for each RCI Points exchange reservation that you make -- i.e., they get you coming & going.

That's if you want to be in the points system (for straight-points exchanges & Instant Exchange, etc.).

If you don't care about RCI Points, then you can let your membership lapse (or don't even join up in the 1st place) & simply pay maintenance fees to the timeshare & use your own deeded time at that resort.

If you do want to be in RCI Points, keep in mind that the DVC folks won't let you exchange in using your points if any of your points-timeshare deeds are in & around Orlando FL. So if DVC is on your want-to-go list, you'll need to shop for eBay timeshares in other locales (e.g., Las Vegas).

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

$124 Per Year For RCI Points Membership.

What are the dues?

RCI throws in a side-by-side RCI Weeks membership at no additional cost.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Passepartout]

I've heard of the penny per point average, but how does that relate to these auctions for deeded timeshares for a dollar? Is it better to just buy points and not get another deed?

I was referring to the annual maintenance fee. These days darn near all of 'em can be had for a buck initially. I can't think of any that you can get into without a deed. There used to be an outfit that would lease the unit and qualify you for the RCI points account. If you liked it, re-up after 3 years, if not, let it lapse and move on. I don't think this is still going on any more.

If you shop some, you'll see some TSs with a couple years of carried-over points that will be thrown in with the purchase. Nice deal if you like the place anyway. 'Course many of us have bought points TSs that we will never see. We just exchange the points like currency.

Jim

 

[squierjosh]

What does that mean?

And sorry for all the questions. I feel like such an idiot for buying into this thing and feeling so misled by the sales rep.

RCI throws in a side-by-side RCI Weeks membership at no additional cost.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

What Do You Mean, 'What Does That Mean?' ?

What does that mean?

It means that when you pay your $124 per year to belong to RCI Points, you also get (at no added cost) a membership in RCI Weeks right along with your RCI Points membership.

In RCI Points, you do straight-points timeshare exchanges, also nice Instant Exchange deals if you can find'm.

In RCI Weeks, you do old-fashioned week-for-week timeshare exchanges using your straight-weeks timeshares (i.e., your conventional, non-points timeshares, same as in the old days before any of the points systems were ever dreamed up).

Your membership in RCI Points pays automatically for membership also in RCI Weeks.

If you already paid money to belong to RCI Weeks & then you join RCI Points, you can get a refund from RCI for the unused portion of what you paid for RCI Weeks membership.

The 2 separate RCI memberships -- RCI Points & RCI Weeks -- run side by side at the same time, even though you pay only for your RCI Points membership.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[squierjosh]

Ok thanks for explaining. Yeah, they never mentioned a fee to use the points at the sale.

It means that when you pay your $124 per year to belong to RCI Points, you also get (at no added cost) a membership in RCI Weeks right along with your RCI Points membership.

In RCI Points, you do straight-points timeshare exchanges, also nice Instant Exchange deals if you can find'm.

In RCI Weeks, you do old-fashioned week-for-week timeshare exchanges using your straight-weeks timeshares (i.e., your conventional, non-points timeshares, same as in the old days before any of the points systems were ever dreamed up).

Your membership in RCI Points pays automatically for membership also in RCI Weeks.

If you already paid money to belong to RCI Weeks & then you join RCI Points, you can get a refund from RCI for the unused portion of what you paid for RCI Weeks membership.

The 2 separate RCI memberships -- RCI Points & RCI Weeks -- run side by side at the same time, even though you pay only for your RCI Points membership.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​