# A one-week vacation for $209? It's NOT too good to be true!



## ronandjoan (Jul 2, 2014)

RCI latest "sale"

"As an RCI Weeks Subscribing member, your one-week exchange vacation is just $209 when you book on RCI.com.
That’s less than $30 a night,
Regardless of the amazing destination you choose!"



WOWOWOW!  I can get a vacation from RCI for just $209/week, less than $30/night. WOW!


Oops!  That's just the exchange fee....to me this is false advertising...oh yes, there's small print.  To burst my excitement ... oh, there was no small print in the email to explain this:  The "cost of the vacation" includes my maintenance fee cost prior to depositing.


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## Beefnot (Jul 2, 2014)

Hahahahahahaha.....


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## chriskre (Jul 2, 2014)

They did run a rental sale recently for $199 and then I believe it was $209 for those undesirable weeks they are trying to unload without an exchange.


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## easyrider (Jul 2, 2014)

$650 mf + $209 exchange fee = $859  Then add in the resale buy in @ $100 ?? and RCI membership fee $50 ??? $1009 / 7 = $144 per night

Thats maybe a third to half of the expedia cost for resort inventory on average.

So are you guys in Europe now ? If so, are you using Novasol ? 
http://www.novasol.us/?gclid=CjgKEA...O5vH7UBRyCZDXjOT-81zsGRRkattyRNV-dLv-7m_D_BwE

Bill


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## VegasBella (Jul 2, 2014)

chriskre said:


> They did run a rental sale recently for $199 and then I believe it was $209 for those undesirable weeks they are trying to unload without an exchange.




Yup
I picked up two weeks. Quite a deal too considering I am actually getting three 1 bedroom units over Thanksgiving week for $418.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Sugarcubesea (Jul 2, 2014)

ronandjoan said:


> RCI latest "sale"
> 
> "As an RCI Weeks Subscribing member, your one-week exchange vacation is just $209 when you book on RCI.com.
> That’s less than $30 a night,
> ...



I'm trying to decide if joining RCI would be a good value for me to join. It seems like they run a bunch of specials and I'm just trying to determine if its cheaper to join or cheeper to get the room off of expedia or a site like that?


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## Beefnot (Jul 2, 2014)

Sugarcubesea said:


> I'm trying to decide if joining RCI would be a good value for me to join. It seems like they run a bunch of specials and I'm just trying to determine if its cheaper to join or cheeper to get the room off of expedia or a site like that?


 
If you want to stay in a 2BR at the Grandview in Vegas for $200 for a full week, then it is an excellent value. Plus I plan to exchange into DVC next year. For these two reasons I've made my deal with the devil, better known as RCI.


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## ronandjoan (Jul 2, 2014)

Sugarcubesea said:


> I'm trying to decide if joining RCI would be a good value for me to join. It seems like they run a bunch of specials and I'm just trying to determine if its cheaper to join or cheeper to get the room off of expedia or a site like that?



RCI has great Extra Vacation deals as quoted above, they had some weeks for $199..if you can go last mnute with these sales, it's good.  we seldom can use them, some friends use them all the time.

it's just their shoddy rhetoric which I don;t like - like the impocation that an exchange week's total cost  is only $209.


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## ronandjoan (Jul 2, 2014)

easyrider said:


> So are you guys in Europe now ? If so, are you using Novasol ?
> http://www.novasol.us/?gclid=CjgKEA...O5vH7UBRyCZDXjOT-81zsGRRkattyRNV-dLv-7m_D_BwE
> 
> Bill



We just got back from Europe and are slowly working on our BLOG - see link below.

No,we used vrbo and booking. com...BLOG explains...


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## mdurette (Jul 2, 2014)

last extra vacation I purchased from them almost knocked me on my butt when I saw how much the sales tax was.   I usually buy getaways from II and never experienced sales tax so high.


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## Ricci (Jul 7, 2014)

I purchased an extra Vacation from RCI for  Greensprings Resort in Williamsburg for $199 total.  It's off season, I know, but I love going for Grand Illumination at Christmas time.


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## pedro47 (Jul 7, 2014)

Any week for a good resort under $200 per week is a good deal. That is less than $30.00 per day. The unit should be a 2 bedrooms with a full kitchen.


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## ronandjoan (Jul 8, 2014)

ronandjoan said:


> RCI latest "sale"
> 
> "As an RCI Weeks Subscribing member, your one-week exchange vacation is just $209 when you book on RCI.com.
> That’s less than $30 a night,
> ...




Yes, the Extra vacations are a great deal.  However, this was for an EXCHANGE.. so the cost is much higher than $30/night.

That was my point.
 It was misleading....


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## bogey21 (Jul 8, 2014)

ronandjoan said:


> RCI has great Extra Vacation deals as quoted above, they had some weeks for $199..if you can go last mnute with these sales, it's good.



Back when I owned TimeShare Weeks I found the biggest benefit of belonging to RCI was the Extra Vacation deals.  I took advantage of many of them at fantastic prices.  

George


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## Designerd (Jul 12, 2014)

*RCI - Finding the Value??*

I am finding that using RCI is only cost effective if you use for last minute deals or extra vacations when they run the sales.  

As pointed out to use the points system you need est. 35K (quiet period) to book a week. (35k x $6/1000 avg maintenance fee = $210; $210+ $209 exchange fee = $419/week on the low side).  So if you can find a resort that is during the quiet travel time it may be a better deal.

The other concern I have is that you will find a great deal to go to DR, San Juan, Mexico and then you look at the "All Inclusive Fees", also requires 2 people per room so oh well for get away trips where you don't want to share a room with a friend.  I have also found that the lower costs resorts usually also carry the higher costs airline flights.  So you end up paying more one way or the other.
*Mexico seems to have some beautify locations with moderate all inclusive fees or no all inclusive fees required.  
*RCI needs a search function so that you can narrow resort selection by the "all inclusive fees".  This would save a lot of time also

If someone has a better way to use the RCI system, let me know:hysterical:

Thanks,
Deborah


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## mark201235 (Jul 12, 2014)

*Extra Vacations vs. Wyndham Points*

I have a unit booked at Smuggler's Notch for early March 2005 via RCI extra vacations. Total price (including tax) = $696.50

Same unit when booking through Wyndham is 224,000 points. 

Now correct me if I am missing something but that comes to $3.10/1000 points. You can't own points that cheap can you? Makes sense to me to book directly through RCI and use my points on other vacations.

Mark


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## Designerd (Jul 12, 2014)

*Best value*

Mark,
I agree.  I don't see the value in using the points to exchange either.  The only time I transferred points to RCI was because it was my first year and I purchased resale after use year started which meant that I could not pool my points with Wyndham - I would loose the points at the end of the use year.  

I will look for last minute deals and extra vacation specials - this seems to be the way to good to get a good value using RCI.


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## Sugarcubesea (Jul 12, 2014)

Designerd said:


> Mark,
> I agree.  I don't see the value in using the points to exchange either.  The only time I transferred points to RCI was because it was my first year and I purchased resale after use year started which meant that I could not pool my points with Wyndham - I would loose the points at the end of the use year.
> 
> I will look for last minute deals and extra vacation specials - this seems to be the way to good to get a good value using RCI.



So can you join RCI and not deposit your week and just use it for the weekly specials?


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## Passepartout (Jul 12, 2014)

Just a quick scan of the Last Calls will show that the cash ones are a better deal than those 9000, or even 7500 point ones that also charge the $209 exchange fee on top of the points.


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## Beefnot (Jul 12, 2014)

Sugarcubesea said:


> So can you join RCI and not deposit your week and just use it for the weekly specials?



That is correct.


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## Sugarcubesea (Jul 12, 2014)

Beefnot said:


> That is correct.




Thanks so much… That was a question that I have long since had on my list.


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## klpca (Jul 13, 2014)

Designerd said:


> *RCI needs a search function so that you can narrow resort selection by the "all inclusive fees".  This would save a lot of time also



You can do that. When you search, look at the filters on the left hand side. There's one called "all inclusive required". Click on it and choose "not required".


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