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Use Wyndham Points or Make RCI Exchange?

Arb

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Hello fellow Tuggers,
I appreciate so much the help I've received here over many years. I hope some of you may help me decide which to do: use some points to make a reservation or use an RCI deposit to make an exchange. The RCI deposit has nothing to do with Wyndham.
I'm interested in going to Wyndham Flagstaff in October, 2016.
The cost in points is 49K
The cost in TPUs is 11
I have no shortage of points or TPUs -- but which is the better value?
Please give me your input.
Thanks,
Carole
 

ronparise

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Two questions

Whats yore maintenance fee rate for the Wyndham points?

Whats you cost per TPU ?

and dont forget the exchange fee RCI charges


Im my case my average wyndham maintenance fee rate is $5.50/1000 so the 49000 point reservation is costing me $269

the week I have in RCI got me 40 TPU and my mf is $750 for that week so 11 TPU is costing me $206 add the exchange fee and Im spending over $400


So for me the choice would be clear... Use the points

Your numbers will be different... do the math and decide
 

Ty1on

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Do you have other uses for the 49K this use year?
 

am1

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What are the cancellation fees is important as well.
 

traveldaddy

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I think Ron has it right.

You can do the math, but it will extremely likely work out that you should use the points - this is because the exchange fee dominates the math (low point and TPU cost overwhelmed by $200 exchange fee, probably does not matter what your MF/pt or cost/TPU is).

The only reason to do the other is that you need the points for something else or the TPU you have will expire and go unused (i.e. some reason outside of the math).

my 2 cents CAD, which ain't worth as much as it used to be. YMMV.
 

Arb

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Thanks. I often use Wyndham points for short stays or for places I couldn't get in through RCI.
The only thing I'm thinking of conserving points for is a big October trip in 2017, when we celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.
That's far off and I don't have any definite plans, so using 49K points for an inexpensive week through Wyndham makes sense.
Thanks again.
Carole Arb
 

uscav8r

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If you are VIP, you could probably get the discount and upgrade on that October Flagstaff unit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Lisa P

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You are using TPUs when you exchange so the math is as mentioned. For someone who is using Wyndham points to either exchange or reserve directly within Wyndham, it's different.

We find that if we "save" 45K-50K in points by doing the exchange, it's a break-even in cost, to pay the RCI exchange fee. If the RCI exchange requires even fewer points, saving more than 50K, the exchange is a cheaper option and allows us to retain current use year points for other uses. This cheaper RCI option appears when we want to vacation at high-points Wyndham resorts. The exchange, based on the exchange chart, may save a lot of points. At low-points legacy Wyndham resorts, occasionally a Last Call or special sale Extra Vacations rental week is a great deal, no points required.

However, for short stays and off-season stays, it's almost always a better deal to reserve directly through Wyndham. Sometimes, an RCI exchange actually costs more Wyndham points than the direct reservation. Often, RCI doesn't have inventory that we want, especially for high season travel.

As mentioned by someone else above, the easy cancellation policy on Wyndham reservations makes our Wyndham points reservations more flexible and more valuable to us. If I have any doubt about our schedule, I prefer the Wyndham reservation.
 
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ronparise

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You are using TPUs when you exchange so the math is as mentioned. For someone who is using Wyndham points to either exchange or reserve directly within Wyndham, it's different.

We find that if we "save" 45K-50K in points by doing the exchange, it's a break-even in cost, to pay the RCI exchange fee. If the RCI exchange requires even fewer points, saving more than 50K, the exchange is a cheaper option and allows us to retain current use year points for other uses. This cheaper RCI option appears when we want to vacation at high-points Wyndham resorts. The exchange, based on the exchange chart, may save a lot of points. At low-points legacy Wyndham resorts, occasionally a Last Call or special sale Extra Vacations rental week is a great deal, no points required.

However, for short stays and off-season stays, it's almost always a better deal to reserve directly through Wyndham. Sometimes, an RCI exchange actually costs more Wyndham points than the direct reservation. Often, RCI doesn't have inventory that we want, especially for high season travel.

As mentioned by someone else above, the easy cancellation policy on Wyndham reservations makes our Wyndham points reservations more flexible and more valuable to us. If I have any doubt about our schedule, I prefer the Wyndham reservation.

Lisa brings up an important point and that is availability. It may just beme but I find that when I go looking for something in particular I seldom have a choice, only one or the other of the possibilities is available,
 
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