Tahiti Village RCI points conversion offer- good or bad?

Just got back from a weekend in Vegas. We own a week at TVV and they called offering 4 day trip with some freebies to come listen to their offer to convert to RCI points. TVV switched from II to RCI about two years ago. It was a good deal for a weekend in Vegas. They charged us $150 for 3 nights, got 2 tickets to a show (worth $250), $100 for a restaurant and tickets to Shark Exhibit.

Being a II member for the last 8 yrs, I don't know much about the RCI points program. I'm going to list the main points they said and how they countered my comments. Would be interested in what those in RCI have to say about it.

The presentation was not high pressure, more like casual conversation telling us what how much better RCI points are than II. She started by saying the reason they switched was a lot of complaints from members that they were not getting exchanges that they want from II and inventory was always poor. She said the problem with II is others members have to deposit their week before it is in inventory and a lot of people forget to do it or just don't do it. But with RCI points, the system is setup in reverse, all rooms are available in a resort until someone books them, like a hotel. So with RCI you will always have more options than ll. We talked a little about Hawaii and she said, it is very difficult to get anything in HI if you are with ll, but it is no problem with RCI. If this is true, it is positive for me. I have done recent searches on ll for any resort in the next year in HI and only 2 places came up. I know when I did it a few years ago I got many more available units. When she logged into her RCI account and showed me the "all 10,000 pt resorts" there were many HI units. ( I did notice they were all short lead time, within the next two months)
She also added that Consolidated Management was the third largest group in ll to pull out and also Disney has pulled out of ll, so they have lost a lot of members. So in the future it going to get harder to trade in ll.
So this is the first main point - it is easier to get what you want with RCI pts. True or not?
My only counter to this was, we have not had a problem exchanging and getting what we want. in fact 50% of the time we got a better unit than our home unit. ( I didn't tell her but I have noticed there seems to be less availability on ll in the last year or so)

Second point - with ll you have to use a full week and always starts on Fri or Sat. With RCI, you can pick any start day and any length of time, so gives you much greater flexibility.
We couldn't argue that one, RCI is more flexible.

Third point- There are many weeks available for 10,000 pts or less so we could get more than one week vacation per year. This is interesting if it is true. She did log into her RCI account and quickly showed us some stuff. But it was hard to see the details. For you RCI pts people, can you really log in right now and book a week in Maui in May for only 10,000 pts ?
If true, this would be a really good selling point for us, because we only own an odd yr week. If we could get a week for only half our points, that would allow us to have a week each year for the price of one.

Fourth point- you can upgrade to higher unit. For example we own a 1br in ll, we can only trade for 1 br. In RCI you can use your points to get any size unit that the pts can pay for. So if you want to go with some friends you could get a 2 br unit. Sounds great if you can really do that.

Fifth point- you can use your points to pay for car rental and airfare. She tried to tell us you could use pts to get a week and pay for airfare and car rental al on the same trip. and gee look how much you would be saving since with ll you only get the week. When we asked how many pts do you need for a ticket, she said she didn't know. Later I looked it up and found this was all BS. Ya you can use pts for airfare but only up to 50% of your total pts and it only gets you a discount on the fare. This is the typical TS agent half truth, ya you can use pts for airfare and car rental, but you don't get much for them

So their offer was it cost $7000 to convert to RCI, but since we are original owners and this was our first offer to convert they would do it for $3000. We would get 42,700 pts for our week. and RCI platinum gives us a $25 restaurant certificate every month, so that gives back their annual fee.

My counter was- the plan sounds good but the price is too high. I know that RCI only charges $400-500 to convert, the developer is profiting the difference. She said that since people can now book less than a week, they have more turnover and that means more staff to clean the rooms, more laundry, etc and that is what the fee is paying for. That is BS to me.
I also said there are a lot of people trying to sell their TS and i could probably buy one for a lot less. She said that may be true but we would be subject to a higher special assessment if their was one because they treat resales different than original owners. That doesn't sound right but I don't know.

They also tried to make us a "special offer". They had to take back a lot of units after the 2008 financial crisis. They want to sell them.(Duh!) If we bought another week, they would subtract the $7000 from the full price and convert our existing unit for free. So for the low cost of $5000 + closing cost we could have a week every year all in RCI. I knew from reading TUG I could easily buy another week for less than $500.

So my main question, if you forget the cost to convert, is everything she said about RCI true. Could i really get 2 weeks or more for 42,700 pts? and are a lot more units available on RCI than in ll?
My current MF is $380, so i don't know if that is a good ratio for 42,700 pts.

I know some people here will say, just buy a TS on ebay real cheap that already has RCI pts and sell the one I have. Well i looked and i didn't see any Tahiti Village units converted to points for sale.

First off, the slightly more expensive membership fee with II gets you SHORT STAYS.

No, NOT a good offer. You are right - you can get a better RCI point to MF ratio for just about $1-100 including closing costs on eBAY.

Stop going to sales meetings -- they will sell you a version better to FIXED all your old problems. Next time, your problem should be all the elderly and just plain old farts at the swimming pool. You are NOT enjoying your vacation -- bet she will have the PERFECT upgrade for $7,000 but since you have been suffering so, she will let you have it (ONE TIME ONLY) for $2,999 ... lowest price she has ever offered!

tikicarver69 said:

.... we would be subject to a higher special assessment if their was one because they treat resales different than original owners. That doesn't sound right but I don't know.

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This is the question I would concentrate on. It sounds wrong to me but others will know better.

If she was lying about this you have your answer, wait to find one resale.

I suspect she was lying.


She will only get paid if people pay the conversion price and I'd really like to see the documentation to show that the money is going to supplement house keeping. I suspect that's a lie also.

One other point I'd like to make.

tikicarver69 said:

...I know some people here will say, just buy a TS on ebay real cheap that already has RCI pts and sell the one I have. Well i looked and i didn't see any Tahiti Village units converted to points for sale.

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Why would you need your purchase to be at your current resort?

If they're just starting to convert I think you'll find two things, first, there won't be much availability there in points because few have converted and second, the people giving away their units won't be converting to points first.

If you really want RCI points you can buy them where they're the cheapest.

Point 1 - I havent used II, but I have had an excellent experience with RCI Points and getting pretty much everything I could ask for so far. (DVC, Hawaii, Elara)

P2 - With RCI points you can pick any day of the week as check in and stay as little as you want, but its also based on availability. Some resorts dont offer partial weeks so you would never see availability for less than 7 nights. The other part to consider is the booking fees stay the same, regardless of the length of stay. Often times it turn out to be much cheap to stay in a hotel for a short stay once you consider the amount of $ per point + RCI booking fees and membership fees.

P3- Less than 10K bookings are low season (love hurricanes?) or last minute bookings to 2nd/3rd tier resorts. RCI likely rents out prime properties instead of putting them into this <10K pool. Sometimes you find a random diamond in there, but you are also competing against a million other people for that one random booking. There are a couple of hidden gems in there too depending on where you like to visit, but those are TUG secrets :ignore:

P4- Getting into a 2 bed "upgrade" usually means you spend more points to get that extra bedroom. Coming to RCI points is like them giving you a fixed amount of money every year for your unit, and then you go shop around with that amount for another room. Yes you can leave the one bedroom Hilton (example) get a two bedroom "upgrade" at Motel 6 with your money, but you have now downgraded the quality of the place you are staying. This applies to RCI for the most part, although there are more advanced variances you throw in like cost per point and the amount of points your home resort gives you. My end point is dont trade in a Offstrip Vegas resort for your annual point allotment and expect to get an upgraded unit 2 bed in Hawaii. It would likely take you two full years worth of points to do so.

P5- Depends on how much you pay per point, but generally it is said you should spend point on the vacation properties, unless you have points expiring that would otherwise be wasted or the cost per point + booking fees is less than booking via conventional methods.

If you are paying .01 or less per point you are doing good.

A couple of observations.

And, those 10,000 point getaways exist, but not in May for Maui. They are usually second tier resorts in the off- or shoulder season. Think ski resorts in March/April or resorts that are remodeled motels outside the prime areas of resort communities. Oh, and did they mention the $209+ exchange fee for each exchange?

There are other last minute cash rentals through RCI that are a better deal that any membership gets you, but you didn't ask about those.

Don't get me wrong, I like my RCI Points, but not at that price.

I'd keep what you have as-is. And if you want another TS, buy one at Grandview (or somewhere else) resale that has already been converted. That price should buy it, pay for several years MFs and pay for several vacations.

Jim

tikicarver69 said:

So my main question, if you forget the cost to convert, is everything she said about RCI true. Could i really get 2 weeks or more for 42,700 pts? and are a lot more units available on RCI than in ll?
My current MF is $380, so i don't know if that is a good ratio for 42,700 pts..

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Snipped for brevity: Yes, 42,700 will get you 2 weeks vacation in a 1 bedroom 2nd tier TS. Don't expect beachfront Hawaii, name hotel brand, but still nice and well located.

Yes, I think RCI has more units than II.

And as others and I have said your MF/point ratio is pretty good. Is that for EOY use?

You mention a willingness to buy more, but Tahiti Village isn't available. RCI conversions are new. There will be more in time. AND maybe you might want to look elsewhere. Sedona, or S. Cal come to mind in that area, or somewhere else within driving range of you.

tikicarver69 said:

So this is the first main point - it is easier to get what you want with RCI pts. True or not?
It is true for some people. It wasn't the case for me. I get way better stuff in II than RCI.
Second point - with ll you have to use a full week and always starts on Fri or Sat. With RCI, you can pick any start day and any length of time, so gives you much greater flexibility.
This is only the case for the resorts that participate in points. Not all RCI resorts do. You also pay extra cleaning fees for being able to book short stays.

Third point- There are many weeks available for 10,000 pts or less so we could get more than one week vacation per year.
I never saw anything like that. They could be there, but just not anywhere that I would ever be interested in staying.

Fourth point- you can upgrade to higher unit. For example we own a 1br in ll, we can only trade for 1 br. In RCI you can use your points to get any size unit that the pts can pay for. So if you want to go with some friends you could get a 2 br unit. Sounds great if you can really do that.
You can do that if you can find a 2 bedroom for your amount of points. I don't understand why you can't exchange in II for a larger unit. I've exchange 2 studios for 2 bedroom in II this year.
Fifth point- you can use your points to pay for car rental and airfare.
Always a bad value (in every system), but it's there if you are just going to let your points expire anyway.

I know some people here will say, just buy a TS on ebay real cheap that already has RCI pts and sell the one I have. Well i looked and i didn't see any Tahiti Village units converted to points for sale.

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Do you need Tahiti Village for some reason? RCI points are points and all treated equally. If you really want points, you can get a very cheap contract at any resort. Make sure you want points, though. I purchased a cheap resale at a resort that I wanted and it was already converted to points. I didn't like RCI points and I had the resort convert it back to the week.

Where does the money go when you convert to points for $x.xx

After RCI takes there cut (unsure of current amount- it was originally $199, I think it may be around $500 these days) the HOA and the marketing group who sells the points split the rest in the 50/50 range although it may be as bad as 40/60. What does marketing do with their 50-60%? It pays the commission for the sales folk and commission/salary for all the managers. They may have to pay to rent the space where the presentations take place and of course it pays for all the goodies that get people in the seats in the first place.

What does the HOA do with there cut? There are additional expenses to upgrade systems to allow for check in/out 7 days a week. It doesn't pay the ongoing fees for extra housekeeping for example but there are added expenses to draft and negotiate contracts for housekeeping multiple days a week instead of just 1 or 2 days. The inventory management system may need to be upgraded, etc.

95% of points resorts will charge an additional housekeeping fee for shortstays of less than 7 or more than 7 days. This ranges from $40-$80 for the typical 1-2 BR unit. This can make short stays cost prohibitive even with the reduced point requirement.

In terms of resale, I don't think your unit has much value now (and that may be due to the current transfer fee). Having your unit in points with the points/mf that you are being offered will increase your resale value but my guess is the increase will be something like $500-$700 more than the current value.

RCI points annual points membership and exchange fees are going to be higher. That said I also like my RCI points and depending where you want to go points might make sens e. You will have a lot more options in terms of inventory but it may not be where you want to go. With enough advance planning I can get 1-2 annual summer beach weeks in MD, VA, NC and SC through RCI (both points and weeks). These would be extreme long shots through II.

tikicarver69 said:

She started by saying the reason they switched was a lot of complaints from members that they were not getting exchanges that they want from II and inventory was always poor. From what I read on TUG, I don't think that complaints are unique to II. I think that the year-over-year growth in demand since 2009 has been around 4-6% a year. While there are a few new timeshare units, the supply has lagged. She said the problem with II is others members have to deposit their week before it is in inventory and a lot of people forget to do it or just don't do it. In RCI weeks (I'm not sure about points) a member cannot do a search w/o depositing their week. So there is no ability to do a "Request First". I don't know about you, but I will only trade my week if I think that there is something better out there. But with RCI points, the system is setup in reverse, all rooms are available in a resort until someone books them, like a hotel. I don't understand this. With Consolidated, the owners still book their weeks and then if they deposit the weeks into RCI, they are changed into points. So, the RCI inventory is placed there as a bulk deposit in anticipation of some percent of owners deciding to exchange rather than use. So with RCI you will always have more options than ll. We talked a little about Hawaii and she said, it is very difficult to get anything in HI if you are with ll, but it is no problem with RCI. I'm not sure how true this is. I will agree that RCI has more TS in Hawaii than II. But many of II's Hawaii inventory is dual or multi-affiliated. I looked in RCI and didn't see any Hawaii units under Marriott, Westin, Sheraton, or Hyatt, whereas those TS's are affiliated with II. If this is true, it is positive for me. ... She also added that Consolidated Management was the third largest group in ll to pull out and also Disney has pulled out of ll, so they have lost a lot of members. As a point of accuracy, Consolidated did not "pull out" of Interval. They are dual affiliated.

...


So my main question, if you forget the cost to convert, is everything she said about RCI true. Could i really get 2 weeks or more for 42,700 pts? and are a lot more units available on RCI than in ll?
My current MF is $380, so i don't know if that is a good ratio for 42,700 pts. I'm guessing that you own a biennial? So the 42,700 points would also be biennial

FYI, RCI doesn't (with a couple of minor exceptions) handle Marriott timeshares. I think that Marriott timeshares are a real Plus for II. I'm not sure, but I would also check to see if RCI handles Westin, Starwood and Hyatt. From what others have posted, RCI has more inventory but Interval has better ones.

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My comments are in red

I have no experience with RCI but can speak to the availability with II and the exchange process.

The key is to plan early, and you will have no problem getting exactly what you want and it will likely be better than your home resort (if your home resort is something other than Marriott or Four Seasons).

With II you can "request first" and this is a huge plus. This year I put a request in for spring break in southern california. Within a couple of months I was offered 2 BR NCV (Marriott Newport Coast). I declined. I was then offered Winners Circle 2BR. I declined.

Then at the 58 day mark (flexchange) I was offered FSA (Four Seasons Aviara 2BR). I accepted. Thank you very much. I was also given an XYZ which is a bonus week with some limitations.

I used it to book Tahiti Village in a 2BR for May 2-9 and it cost a total of $189.

In addition, I have also booked 2 weeks at the Delta Grand 2BR for this summer in the Okanagan. This is one of the hardest trades to get in II IMO as it's a highly sought after area and virtually no Gold Crown Inventory. I was given two XYZs (bonus weeks) for this as well. 4 weeks a year at Gold Crown resorts for $1200 main fees + plus approx. $162 x 4 = $1,884 or $471 / week is pretty good IMO.

You can do exactly the same thing.

Last year, I booked 6 consecutive weeks in S.Cal all through II and had no problem getting the reservations I needed. Again XYZs played a role in that trip as well.

I always book very early and am patient and organized, which is the key to II at least.

My experience to date, is II inventory is quite good. My maintenance fees are about $1200 / year and with II I can book at least 2 weeks and get 2 free XYZs. If I book a week within 59 days (flexchange) I can get more weeks.

The II resorts I have stayed at include FSA (Four Seasons), MDS (Marriot), NCV (Marriot), MGC (Marriot), Lawrence Welk and Tahiti Village. I have turned down FSA, Marriot's Ko Olina and NCV many times due to scheduling.

All of the above resorts are Gold Crown.

When I stayed at MGC in January I booked a 2BR on flex and got an XYZ which I used for a studio at MGC for the same time, and I called MGC in advance and they agreed to merge them in to a 3BR.

I don't think I have been lucky. I think with some planning and diligence on anyone's part they can have similar results in II.

i just typed up a really long reply to all of the comments above, and then of coarse the system had logged me off and it all disappeared. Arrrg..

So here is the short version.
Reading Tug i came to the realization that your opinion of using a TS really depends on how you like to vacation. If you want a specific resort at a specific time of yr, you are probably not going to be happy with either exchange system pts or weeks. For us, the destination is the most important thing. If we can get a place where we want to go, the time of year and the actual resort doesn't matter much.

I found this site gives a good explanation of the differences between the two systems:
nice chart of costs
http://www.alltimeshare.com/exchange.html
nice chart of what you can do
http://www.alltimeshare.com/pointsvsweeks.html
After reading about both, I don't think you can make a good argument that a weeks program is better than the RCI pts.

If you go with that assumption, then the question is how to get into it cheaply.
Many have said, well go buy a unit on the resale market that is already in pts.
Well, then I would be paying two MFs every year. The other advantage of keeping my unit, RCI has a "Home Group" system. basically that means you see places in your Home Group before everyone else does. Tahiti Village is in Consolidadated's Home group and they have 8 resorts in HI, 3 in Vegas and 1 in Orlando.That is a real nice advantage.

i see a lot of talk about having a good MF to pts ratio. What is that?
is $1 for 100 pts good or is it 200 pts?

When I was with the agent, she got on the RCI website and pulled up about 21 resorts that were in the 10,000 pts section. all for the next 2 months. I tried that search in II and I only got 2 resorts and 3 weeks. But even if i did that with my week, I would be done til 2015, with RCI i would still have 32,700 pts to use elsewhere. is there some trick I missed when she did that?
It would be really nice if someone with an RCI account could log in and click on the 10,000 pt section and search Hawaii and see what they get.

One other thing, she said you could buy pts for .02 a pt. is that really true?
If so, pretty nice, you could buy 10,000 pts for $200 and get a week somewhere in HI. No way to do that in II.

I found no 10,000 point Hawaii weeks in May. I DID find 42 weeks on Extra Vacations for between $999 and about $2,000 cash, no points to exchange. All Islands were represented. Another detail. IF you found a 10,000 point 'Instant Exchange', there is also a $209-$219 Exchange fee plus taxes and membership.

And your other question. We consider points at 1 cent of MF each to be a good deal. In your case, I recall you are paying $380, so if you are getting 42,500, that's a good deal. Now, if the $380 is an annual MF payment for every other year use is not so good.

One other item. If you LIKE to go to Tahiti Village, and convert to points, it's an either/or deal. If you use the week at Tahiti, you don't get the points. If you use the Points, you don't get the week at Tahiti Village.
For instance, I own at Sedona. I have only seen my resort once, and I rented there that time. I take the points every year.

Jim

tikicarver69 said:

i just typed up a really long reply to all of the comments above, and then of coarse the system had logged me off and it all disappeared. Arrrg..

....

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I can help you with this problem, many of us have had it happen.

When I have a long reply or one that take me a long time to think out I type it to WordPad. I then copy it and paste it here. No more losing replies.

tikicarver69 said:

..After reading about both, I don't think you can make a good argument that a weeks program is better than the RCI pts.

If you go with that assumption, then the question is how to get into it cheaply.
Many have said, well go buy a unit on the resale market that is already in pts.
Well, then I would be paying two MFs every year. The other advantage of keeping my unit, RCI has a "Home Group" system. basically that means you see places in your Home Group before everyone else does. Tahiti Village is in Consolidadated's Home group and they have 8 resorts in HI, 3 in Vegas and 1 in Orlando.That is a real nice advantage.

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If you think that RCI points is for you then I feel your best course of action is to buy a unit converted to the number of points you need at a resort in that same Home Group. Then get rid of the unit you now have. There is no way that plan will cost anywere near $3,000.

I was looking at the alltimeshare.com site.
they are offering a plan to join RCI points without owning a week
has anyone heard of this?
if it is true, why would anyone convert a TS to RCI or for that matter why even own a TS? I'm guessing there is a catch, but it is late and I didn't see it.

http://www.alltimeshare.com/RCIPointsAccessProgram.html

tikicarver69 said:

I was looking at the alltimeshare.com site.
they are offering a plan to join RCI points without owning a week
has anyone heard of this?
if it is true, why would anyone convert a TS to RCI or for that matter why even own a TS? I'm guessing there is a catch, but it is late and I didn't see it.

http://www.alltimeshare.com/RCIPointsAccessProgram.html

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Never heard of it, but it looks to me like they are a mega points owner and they are assigning some of their credits to others each year. It says it is a vacation club (that is different than owning a timeshare) and that they process all your RCI transactions.

There used to be an outfit that did something like that. Club Trinidad in Palm Springs, as I recall. You bought in, and paid some MF fee, and got a number of RCI Points, and could get more. You could re-up every 3 years, or walk. I don't think this is still available, or if it is, the participants are mum about it.

As the OP says, if the above is some kind of renewal of a similar plan, why, indeed would one want to own an underlying deeded property? If it actually includes a genuine RCI Points account, with points at 1.5 cents, and access to Last Calls, Extra Vacays, and the full catalog of Points resorts, why not?

Somehow, I think there is more here (or less) than meet the eye. Some sort of catch. Limited access, or just access to Last Call inventory, but at higher price. Something. It does bear looking into, though.

Jim

First off, thank you for sitting through the presentation and bringing back the claims. This is how the rest of learn what's being presented.

I have a Soliel Mgmt (formerly Consolidated) week at Gardens at W.Maui and they are making the RCI push on all the properties they manage & control. I never enrolled in II as we use our Gardens week (EOY), & have a week we purchased that was already in RCI points for about $1000 several years back.

It generates 62,200 pts each year and lets us book whatever we can find in RCI. We've not had problems booking there and have had some nice exchanges BUT it's important to know that inventory is only availalbe depending on what is deposited and by whom. Consolidated inventory appeared as they took weeks they controled, deposited them into RCI and then pounced on those exchangers to make presentations to. The 10,000 point week stays are usually distressed inventory availalbe at the last minute and often not top tier resorts. Also our points week resort was taken over by Orange Lake who now operates as Holiday Inn Vacation Club and the ability for us to see those last minute 10,000 point inventories disappeared from our RCI screen. That was done by Orange Lake & I've never understood why. I do miss seeing them there.

I will say that until Soleil deposited into RCI, I rarely saw much appear for Maui . There are lots of complaints on TUG about how RCI operates, their fee's and procedures but if you take it for what it is and work within it's parameters it can be a good option.

$3K for conversion I think is around the going rate these days, but as I did you can purchase an already converted week and save $$.

The one thing I noted from your post is you've had no problem getting what you want in II. If that's the case I wouldn't spend $3K to get access to RCI.

...BUT it's important to know that inventory is only available depending on what is deposited and by whom....

That is an interesting point. The sales agent was trying to make the point that is the problem with II. Until people deposit their weeks you don't see any inventory. But with RCI, all the inventory is put in the system automatically on Jan 1. Kind of like a hotel, you log on to their website and pick your days and see what rooms they have. If you did the same thing in II, you only see the room if people have deposited. That hit home with me because on our last vacation I saw that behavior on II. I was trying to get a specific week at a resort. I would log into II every day for 2 weeks and each day I saw different weeks available at that resort. Finally got what I wanted, but I'm guessing the weeks available kept changing as people deposited. In theory, with RCI all the available time should show when you log in, but as many have said they think RCI manipulates the available inventory.

We have gotten what we were looking for in II. But we are interested in going to Hawaii more. I have checked several times in II and not many weeks come up. that is why the Home Group concept sounds good to me. With Soliel having 8 resorts in HI, and getting a look at weeks before the mass RCI group, I would thin it would be much easier to get something.

tikicarver69 said:

...BUT it's important to know that inventory is only available depending on what is deposited and by whom....

That is an interesting point. The sales agent was trying to make the point that is the problem with II. Until people deposit their weeks you don't see any inventory. But with RCI, all the inventory is put in the system automatically on Jan 1. Kind of like a hotel, you log on to their website and pick your days and see what rooms they have. If you did the same thing in II, you only see the room if people have deposited. That hit home with me because on our last vacation I saw that behavior on II. I was trying to get a specific week at a resort. I would log into II every day for 2 weeks and each day I saw different weeks available at that resort. Finally got what I wanted, but I'm guessing the weeks available kept changing as people deposited. In theory, with RCI all the available time should show when you log in, but as many have said they think RCI manipulates the available inventory.

We have gotten what we were looking for in II. But we are interested in going to Hawaii more. I have checked several times in II and not many weeks come up. that is why the Home Group concept sounds good to me. With Soliel having 8 resorts in HI, and getting a look at weeks before the mass RCI group, I would thin it would be much easier to get something.

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I still have trouble with the sales person's logic here. I own at a different CRM resort. I suspect that they all follow the same rules. If they do, then there are a few things that are the same whether a person is in RCI or II:
1. In Hawaii (specifically the Sands), roughly 80 percent of the owners actually use their week.
2. Whether you are in RCI or II, you still need to call up CRM reservations 365 days in advance and reserve your unit (at least if you are intending to actually use it). See #4 for owners who want to exchange.
3. Consolidated periodically bulk deposits that should reflect the quantity that the owners will either be depositing within II or RCI.
4. When an owner wants to make a deposit, CRM will choose a week (typically out of the periodic bulk) for accounting purposes to be officially transferred.

So...the inventory that goes into RCI or II is deposited in proportion to the percentage of people who will not be using their weeks and also proportional to those who are in RCI versus II. So I have trouble understanding how the reservations are like a hotel if a large percentage (like 80% for SOK) are reserved very close to a year in advance. Am I missing something here?

3. Consolidated periodically bulk deposits that should reflect the quantity that the owners will either be depositing within II or RCI.
4. When an owner wants to make a deposit, CRM will choose a week (typically out of the periodic bulk) for accounting purposes to be officially transferred.


I think #3 is not correct. From what I have seen CRM does not deposit my week into II until I reserve a week and then tell them I want to despot it in II. Since TVV is a 1-50 week float, they assume I will stay at TVV. When I reserve a week they hold that week until I deposit it in II.
Last year I called TVV to reserve a week. The next day I deposited it on the CRM website. Then I went to the II website to pick a week, it did not show I had a deposit. I called II and they said, Your resort has to notify us that you deposited a week. I called CRM to see what happen. They said,"Well it takes a few days for the exchange dept to process them." I tried again a few days later, still did not show in II. I called again, this time the lady told me, "they are backed up in processing the exchanges, should get to yours in a day or two". 2 days later the II website finally showed I had a deposit.
This fits with what the agent told me, the weeks are not available in the II system until the owners deposit them. She also mentioned that CRM has about 100,000 owners. So say 25% of them don't deposit their week until April of their year. That means 25,000 weeks are not available in the II system.
With RCI she said you don't deposit anything, your account automatically will be credited with your points on Jan 1. If you want to stay at your home resort you call them and make a reservation and your use all your yearly allotment. or you use them at and other resort for the amount of pts that one needs and still have the remainder left.
So lets say half your resort is in II and half in RCI. On Jan 1, 80% of each group reserves a week at the home resort. Now none of the remaining II members remember to deposit their week until March. In this case, then you will see the 20% of the weeks in the RCI system available, but in the II system you not see any weeks available because they have not been deposited.

"We have gotten what we were looking for in II. But we are interested in going to Hawaii more. I have checked several times in II and not many weeks come up. that is why the Home Group concept sounds good to me. With Soliel having 8 resorts in HI, and getting a look at weeks before the mass RCI group, I would thin it would be much easier to get something."

You will get your reservations through II but it won't be by checking all the time.

When you check all you see is the leftovers because anything worth having never makes it to the website inventory, and this is because it gets taken by "ongoing requests"

What you need to do is figure out your dates in advance and make an "ongoing request" early and you will get your reservation. I have matched everything I have ever put in there, and includes Four Season (FSA) and multiple Marriott's.

You're better off figuring out how to better utilize II than spending $3k plus and having to deal with another deeded timeshare just to use RCI.

Also, I don't understand how RCI could operate like a hotel when all the inventory comes from timeshares that need to be deposited. I always understood the timeshare system be exactly the opposite of a hotel. Where everything is booked until people relinquish their week.

There is some interesting speculation as we try to figure out what is really going on behind the scenes here with the management company and RCI. While Soliel (CRM) do make bulk deposits, I don't belive all their inventory deposits exactly on Jan 1.

I had been looking for a week to appear to mate with my GWM week in Maui with an on-going search and SOK didn't appear until sometime mid-year, and then I didn't know until someone noted it here on TUG. (THANKS TUG!!!!!)

It also goes to question what inventory CRM has to deposit. I assumed it was largely that which they control, ie: weeks returned, foreclosures and such. When you are in RCI points there is an anniversary date (mine is in August) and you are in for a three year committment. The previous commentator is correct that your inventory automatically gets deposited and you book your home week (if you choose) with those same points and there is usually a window ahead of masses to book it, often at a discount. We've never actually booked our home week so I'm not up on the precise in's and out's.

Also when you book a week the booking fee is now $219. You can purchase insurance in the event your trip is cancelled for whatever reason & it covers your points, but to rebook them you pay another $219. (Been there, done that). There is also a gottcha in that you need to use the points for the period they are issued. Right now I have 20,000 points left for this year which are good through August, but I'm not slated for any more vacation until November which means those points are likely going to expire unused.

This is not unusual in many point systems but the RCI accounting gets a little confusing as the website isn't always clear as to what points have actually been used in a given year and leads to more potential loss. Important to note you can borrow from the points allotted for next year and as such some adopt a strategy of being in a points deficit each year, borrowing from the year ahead to avoid the scenario.

Bottom line is you have to factor in all the costs, how they apply to you and if they system will be of value to you in the end.

HiDef said:

"
Also, I don't understand how RCI could operate like a hotel when all the inventory comes from timeshares that need to be deposited. I always understood the timeshare system be exactly the opposite of a hotel. Where everything is booked until people relinquish their week.

Click to expand...

I think what is confusing is the fact that there are different types of timeshares.
For example, many people own a particular week or a week in a short time period like between weeks 15-23. But there is the other type, the float week, like we have in TVV. If you are not familiar the float works like this: I own a week in the odd years, so for 2015 I have the right to a week and any time in the year at TVV, but I must call them an reserve what week i want. They can not release my week to II because they don't know if i plan to use it or exchange it until I call and tell them. So I believe the agent was correct when she said that the inventory in II depends on how and when owners deposit their weeks. But in the RCI system, TVV does not have to hold on to my week in 2015, because I get my points awarded to my account on Jan 1 and it is up to me to "spend them". there is no reserved week for owners.
of course the monkey wrench in all this is, we don't really know how the resorts send weeks to II. You said that Soliel deposits bulk weeks into II. I've never heard of this, where did you find out about it. it wouldn't surprise me if they do, but they would have to have a pretty good statistical model of how many they can give to II without running out of available weeks to owners. Think of it this way, say in one year no owners wanted to exchange their week with II, they all wanted to stay in their unit in Vegas. If Soleil gave a block of weeks to II in Jan, they would not have enough left for all the owners.
Even if we believe they do deposit bulk weeks, they can't deposit all their weeks into II. They have to wait til owners tell them they want to deposit their week. So in jan, not all the inventory is available in II. So if you compare that to the RCI system were everyone automatically gets their points on Jan 1, and then they start booking their time wherever they want in the system, that is how RCI pts works like a hotel.

RE: The second point below about your RCI points are only good in the year you get them. Well maybe each resort has a different deal with RCI, but in the contract I saw it said your points were good for your year and they automatically carry over to the next year. So they are good for 2 yrs. Plus you have the option to pay a small fee and extend them more. (II has a similar deal, if you have an expiring week you can pay a fee and extend it , I think up to 6 months)