RCI weeks

(to mod, if I posted this in the under wrong subforum please correct me and sorry if this is a duplicate of another thread somewhere)

I've got a question for the "pros" out there. I have 154K FF points that I deposited online into RCI. When I checked 2days later, it was credited out of FF but didn't show in my RCI points acct. So I called RCI, they said it would be under weeks (which I didn't knew I had). So I spoke with "weeks guide" who confirmed points was deposited into 2br/red week. OK so I put in my request for exchange for 2008 to TMC which she put on "ongoing search". This was 2 weeks ago.

So today I registered online. Noticed that ongoing search deposit week was listed as Wyndham Flagstaff. We have FF/W Kona not Flagstaff. So I called RCI again and guide assured me it would not be a problem coz it was "bulk" something. Status still "ongoing search".

So RCI guide proceeded to tell me our RCI weeks expires May 2008. And there's a renewal fee "special" if we pay for 5 yrs then we get a discount etc etc. I deferred any decision. It just didn't make sense for me coz:
#1 I didn't know till recently that we had RCI weeks.
#2 Only found out about RCI weeks after I deposited FF points into the RCI exchange system.
#3 we already have RCI points. Do we really need weeks too? Is it an added expense that's not necessary?
#4 if we don't plan to use the RCI exchange (after this exchange) then do we really need to renew RCI weeks?

That's all I can think of right now. What do you guys think?

I Know Only Enough To Be Dangerous.

baguiogal said:

What do you guys think?

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I think exchange-timesharing is way too confusing.

Regarding dual memberships in RCI Points side by side with RCI Weeks, the way I hear it Points membership includes an automatic Weeks membership right along with it, at no extra cost.

Who'd a-thunk?

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

AwayWeGo said:

I think exchange-timesharing is way too confusing.

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I know!!!!!! Tell me about it. Just when I think I sorta understood this timeshare thing ---> thanks to TUG.... I find out about this extra fee from the RCI guide.

Doesn't the Wyndahm FSP membership include the RCI membership? If so when you pay the next MF, won't the RCI membership be automatically extended?

When I was looking at purchasing I looked at FF Points and RCI Points. FF definitely stated the FF membership included membership in RCI. I thought I was also given a "conversion factor" somewhere along the lines that told me how many RCI points I would get if I decided to trade with RCI instead of the internal FF system.

You getting a weeks account and having your FF points deposited as weeks goes against almost everything I heard while I was considering purchasing FF points. I don't know for sure though, since I ended up purchasing RCI points.

I also heard that if you have a points account and a weeks account, the weeks account fee is included with the points account.

I would contact RCI and tell them you wanted the FF points deposited into your RCI points account.

Everybody with Fairfield/Wyndham FSP points gets a free RCI Weeks account. Only certain high-end owners also get RCI points privileges and I'll assume that's not you (it's not me either).

So first of all, make sure they know not to charge you any membership dues for RCI weeks. You're paying WynFair dues bundled with your monthly WynFair maintenance and that's sufficient.

Second, most transfers of FairWyn points into RCI Weeks go in as 'generic' deposits, meaning you get credit for a certain size and season, but no credit relating to your points being derived from your particular home resort.

Those generic deposits are sometimes called 'invisible' because you can't search online with them - - you have to phone RCI weeks. I'm surprised you saw them at all in your online RCI Weeks account.

Here's the short version:

* Any FF points owner gets an RCI Weeks account for "free" (paid for out of your FSP fees.)
* You can deposit "generic weeks" worth a specific number of points into RCI Weeks for exchange, with varying trade power. Lowest possible is 28K points for a blue studio, and highest is 254K for a red three bedroom.
* You can also ask that you get a "real" week deposited, in exchange for the corresponding point value. The pro of doing so is that you have to call RCI to work with a generic week, but can search yourself with the "real" week. The con is that the real weeks often are poor traders relative to the same-sized generics, and sometimes if you ask for a real week, you still get a generic one, and that often cannot be undone.
* If your account has Plus Partners---either through a developer purchase, or explicitly adding it for a fee---you can also use FF points for nightly stays at RCI Points resorts, but you don't do it through the usual Points mechanism. Instead, you book using a standard table that assigns an FF points value to unit size, season, and day of week; this is irrespective of the RCI Points value.

You don't get a Points account through FF, and you can't convert FF points to RCI points if you have your own RCI points account.

For the longer version, there is a lot of information in the Fairfield Yahoo group, or the new (independent) FF owners site: http://www.fairfieldowners.org/

It sounds like the OP got a "real week" rather than a generic. Wyndham gets to choose which "real week" backs the RCI deposit request---it doesn't have to be (and usually isn't) from your home resort. The RCI guide was incorrect; you do not need to pay to renew your Weeks account, it is "free" with your participation in FairShare Plus. There is a separate number to call RCI Weeks Guides who specifically understand the unique arrangement that FF/Wyn has with RCI: 1-800-572-0931

bnoble said:

There is a separate number to call RCI Weeks Guides who specifically understand the unique arrangement that FF/Wyn has with RCI: 1-800-572-0931

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wow thanks for the contact number. I just spoke to a wonderful guide (Sabrina?) and she pretty much clarified, just as posted above, the RCI weeks membership fee is already paid for by FSP. We only have to pay the exchange fee of $164. And ur right, FF points deposit can only go to RCI weeks not points which is good for another 2 yrs.

Bnoble's post made sense as to why Flagstaff showed as my deposit week instead of my home resort Kona.

Thanks wise members.

rklein001 said:

Those generic deposits are sometimes called 'invisible' because you can't search online with them - - you have to phone RCI weeks. I'm surprised you saw them at all in your online RCI Weeks account.

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my rci points shows the points and rci weeks (separate log in) shows the exchange week under my account/summary/vacation plans.

am not sure if that's what u mean. just learning the fine art of timesharing past few months. (after owning 3 ts all bought from developer )

baguiogal said:

(to mod, if I posted this in the under wrong subforum please correct me and sorry if this is a duplicate of another thread somewhere)

I've got a question for the "pros" out there. I have 154K FF points that I deposited online into RCI. When I checked 2days later, it was credited out of FF but didn't show in my RCI points acct. So I called RCI, they said it would be under weeks (which I didn't knew I had). So I spoke with "weeks guide" who confirmed points was deposited into 2br/red week. OK so I put in my request for exchange for 2008 to TMC which she put on "ongoing search". This was 2 weeks ago.

So today I registered online. Noticed that ongoing search deposit week was listed as Wyndham Flagstaff. We have FF/W Kona not Flagstaff. So I called RCI again and guide assured me it would not be a problem coz it was "bulk" something. Status still "ongoing search".

So RCI guide proceeded to tell me our RCI weeks expires May 2008. And there's a renewal fee "special" if we pay for 5 yrs then we get a discount etc etc. I deferred any decision. It just didn't make sense for me coz:
#1 I didn't know till recently that we had RCI weeks.
#2 Only found out about RCI weeks after I deposited FF points into the RCI exchange system.
#3 we already have RCI points. Do we really need weeks too? Is it an added expense that's not necessary?
#4 if we don't plan to use the RCI exchange (after this exchange) then do we really need to renew RCI weeks?

That's all I can think of right now. What do you guys think?

Click to expand...

If you own FSP points, Wyndham/Fairfield should be paying for a RCI weeks account for you. Does the RCI Weeks account number start with the RCI ID number of your Wyndham resort? This account is paid for via your FSP VOA fees; you will have it whether you use it or not.

If you can see the ongoing search as a Flagstaff deposit, it means that Wyndham apparently made the deposit as an "online" or "visible" deposit, which means that they took a specific week from their inventory of weeks that they deposited as a "bulk spacebank" and assigned it to your RCI weeks account. Most of the time FSP deposits are "offline" or "invisible" deposits of generic sets of points not connected with a specific resort. A "bulk spacebank" happens when a developer deposits a large number of weeks from a resort all at the same time, in contrast to owner deposits which routine appear in the RCI spacebank one at a time.

P.S. Please let us know if you are able to get TMC using a 154K FSP deposit in an online search. I suggest posting your success (or lack of success) on the Wyndham board. There was a report a while back of someone being unable to pull The Manhattan Club even with a large FSP points deposit. However, others have been able to get it using "enhanced" FSP points via the RCI Nightly Stay program.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43319&highlight=manhattan+fairfield

thanks for the replies guys!!!

EAM, I will definitely post any success, if any, thru FF/RCI exchange. We also just purchased a flex week at TMC last july (before we found out about resales ) points/odd yrs and week/even yrs. We're just waiting for RCI points to be added to what we have now so we can make another reservation. Already booked a couple of weekends for next yr and it was just a quick phonecall.