# Lowveld Lodge



## rudy351 (Nov 4, 2006)

Can my Lowveld Lodge week be converted to points?


----------



## Sue S (Nov 5, 2006)

I don't think so.  I know that a year ago I booked to go to a points seminar (it was going to give me 3 years free RCI membership as an attendance bribe) but a few weeks prior to the seminar I got a phone call to say that Lowveld wasn't a points resort.


----------



## AwayWeGo (Nov 5, 2006)

*Conversion, No.  "Points For Deposit," Yes.*




			
				rudy351 said:
			
		

> Can my Lowveld Lodge week be converted to points?


Apparently some, maybe most, ot the South African timeshare resorts affiliated with RCI operate under some kind of points system for their South African & maybe European owners, but not for their USA owners.  That is to say, as far as USA owners are concerned, Lowveld Lodge is a regular, plain-vanilla, week-for-week-trading RCI timeshare.  That means USA owners can deposit Lowveld Lodge weeks into RCI's conventional week-for-week timeshare exchange system, _or_ if they prefer they can do _Points For Deposit_ with their Lowveld Lodge weeks -- not permanently _converting_ Lowveld Lodge weeks to points, but getting RCI points for their Lowveld Lodge weeks just the same by depositing them year by year into their points-exchange account instead of their weeks-exchange account. 

I found out about that specialized non-USA points system that Lowveld Lodge apparently is part of the 1st time I did _Points For Deposit_ with a previously weeks-banked Lowveld Lodge week.  It turns out not all the RCI staff people who answer the phone understand the distinction between USA RCI Points & whatever it is that Lowveld Lodge operates on strictly within South Africa for non-USA owners.  When I called to do _Points For Deposit_, the RCI person said I can't do it because Lowveld Lodge is an RCI Points resort, & _Points For Deposit_ only works for RCI Weeks resorts.  That was news to me, so I called again later.  That time I got a staff person more up on the USA points & non-USA points distinction & my Lowveld Lodge _Points For Deposit_ transaction went right through. 

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


----------



## AwayWeGo (Nov 5, 2006)

*"Points For Deposit" Is O.K. For Lowveld Lodge.*




			
				Sue S said:
			
		

> Lowveld wasn't a points resort.


Right.  And if Lowveld Lodge _was_ an RCI Points resort, then USA owners would not be allowed to do _Points For Deposit_ with their Lowveld Lodge weeks.  However, Lowveld Lodge is _not_ part of RCI Points as far as USA owners are concerned, so it's OK to do _Points For Deposit_ with USA-owned Lowveld Lodge timeshare weeks.  

It's still confusing. 
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


----------



## Joe L (Nov 5, 2006)

How many RCI points does a Lowveld Lodge 2 bedroom red week receive?


----------



## AwayWeGo (Nov 5, 2006)

*Lowveld Lodge Points*




			
				Joe L said:
			
		

> How many RCI points does a Lowveld Lodge 2 bedroom red week receive?


39*,*500 according to an RCI points table I saved -- i.e., a recent  points table but not necessarily the newest.  

(Click here for possibly newer points grid.) 
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


----------



## rudy351 (Nov 5, 2006)

Thanks for your responses, and yes it is confusing.


----------



## Quickdraw (Nov 10, 2006)

How would one find out the association of various SA weeks to points systems?

Are you saying that even if a SA week is associated with RCI points Africa, or whatever it might be, that it's still eligible for PFD?

If so, would that mean that any SA week would be eligible?  

Thanks,

Paul

PS Alan, I grew up in Vienna.


----------



## AwayWeGo (Nov 11, 2006)

*Lowveld Lodge O.K. For P.F.D., So The Rest Should Be O.K. Also.*




			
				Quickdraw said:
			
		

> Are you saying that even if a SA week is associated with RCI points Africa, or whatever it might be, that it's still eligible for PFD?


Yes -- for USA owners anyhow.  At least, that's how my Lowveld Lodge week works, & I don't see how Lowveld Lodge is all that much different from Dikhololo & Durban Sands & Castleburn & all those others that are famous on TUG. 





			
				Quickdraw said:
			
		

> If so, would that mean that any SA week would be eligible?


I assume so -- but then again I am not any kind of authoritative timeshare answer man (that's what TUG is for).  Plus, I'm OK with the current arrangement, whatever it is, because Lowveld Lodge still works for PFD & I have strong doubts I'll be in the market for more SA timeshares.  Shucks, I'm not sure how I'm going to use up the RCI points already in my account as it is, and I have another banked Lowveld Lodge week to figure out how to use (week-for-week exchange, possibly, or maybe PFD again). 





			
				Quickdraw said:
			
		

> PS Alan, I grew up in Vienna.


Hey, after my folks moved the family here from Indiana in 1949, I grew up in Falls Church VA before the folks decided to head over to McLean in 1955.  The house The Chief Of Staff & I have lived in the past 20 years is just 3 blocks from the McLean house my family lived in, & just 5 blocks from where The Chief Of Staff lived with her mom & dad & sister.  (In our case, the nut did not fall far from the tree.)  Not only that, The Chief Of Staff's sister lives next door to us, & our older son lives just a mile or so from here with his wife & 4-year-old son.  We would love to pull up stakes and move to Florida, or someplace less affected by high taxes, bad traffic congestion, & the looming threat of terrorism.  But with so much of our extended family right near by -- specially our grandson -- we are just not able to make a move.  So it goes. 

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


----------



## beckham (Nov 18, 2006)

*Buying Lowveld*

What is the best way to buy a Lowveld unit?

--Barry


----------



## AwayWeGo (Nov 18, 2006)

*Went For Dikhololo, Wound Up With Lowveld Lodge.*




			
				beckham said:
			
		

> What is the best way to buy a Lowveld unit?


I would not hazard a guess as to the _best_ way to buy a Lowveld Lodge week, but FWIW I will reveal how we did it. 

After finding out (via TUG) that there were some advantageous timeshare trades to be had by buying a South African timeshare & using that for exchanges into nice USA timeshares, we decided to take the plunge -- thinking we'd go for Dikhololo, because that was the "tiger trader" we read about on TUG. 

I'm not sure how we made the connection -- TUG classifieds, most likely -- but we got in touch by E-Mail with a ReMax timeshare broker who advertises on TUG, said we wanted Dikhololo, were told Dikhololo was unavailable right then but that Lowveld Lodge was pretty much the same with regard to low cost & advantageous trades.  So we went for Lowveld Lodge & the rest is history. 
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


----------

