# Wyndham vs RCI



## gacastewart (Nov 11, 2012)

I am a newbie - just joined TUG today - and am looking for some advice.  We did have RCI points but the resort went under (fortunately we bought resale). *We recently attended a Wyndham timeshare presentation in hawaii and are now trying to decide whether we should buy a Wyndham timeshare or an RCI points affiliated resort.  We plan to vacation either in Hawaii or the caribbean.  Wyndham seems good (especially if you buy in hawaii) but they don't have much in the Caribbean and the "fixed" exchange points chart seems like a rip-off as the number of points you need for an RCI exchange is quite steep.  For instance, we just stayed in a 2 bedroom at the royal sea cliff in kona for 58,000 RCI points, whereas it would be 224,000 Wyndham points under their system.  From a dollar to point comparison Wyndham is far more expensive, or am I missing something.


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## ronparise (Nov 11, 2012)

dont forget every RCI exchange requires an exchange fee


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## gacastewart (Nov 11, 2012)

Thanks for the response.  I know that RCI has an exchange fee, but because Wyndham has so few carribean locations, we would be exchanging into RCI much of the time anyway (and paying the fee as I understand).  I guess that is the issue for me - if I'm needing to exchange through RCI anyway then maybe RCI is a better choice, but I know there are other reasons to buy bwyndham.......


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## stevio99 (Nov 11, 2012)

You could just not buy too and do RCI points.

You have an RCI account.  You can keep it active just by paying RCI annual membership fees. Doesnt matter that your property is no longer.

If you look around, you can find RCI points to transfer to your account for 0.7 cents a point. The theoretical minimum for RCI points is 0.5 cents a point, so your pretty darn close.

Ha, I need to do this myself


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## gacastewart (Nov 11, 2012)

Hmmm...  I never thoughtnof that but I must be missing something.  Even at .05 per point, that would be $2500 for 50,000 points which is really expensive. Am I calculating this correctly?


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## gacastewart (Nov 11, 2012)

Sorry, I just realized you said .5 cents, which would be .005 when doing the calculations


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## ronparise (Nov 11, 2012)

If Im trying to decide what to buy, Im asking myself. Where do I want to go..You have answered that by saying Hawaii or the Caribbean.  Since Wyndham doesnt work in the Caribbean, Id drop Wyndham from consideration. The best use of Wyndham points is within the Wyndham system

I might consider Worldmark. They have resorts in Hawaii and trade well in both II and RCI. But if there is a system strong in both locals that would be my first choice. Marriott comes to mind. Alternatively Id buy a week in one place and use it to trade into the other

Actually if it was me Id buy a week in Hawaii and a week in the Caribbean

Remember with RCI you are not buying RCI. You are buying at a  resort that trades in the RCI exchange system..The resort is, I think your first decision


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## Ron98GT (Nov 12, 2012)

gacastewart said:


> I am a newbie - just joined TUG today - and am looking for some advice.  We did have RCI points but the resort went under (fortunately we bought resale). *We recently attended a Wyndham timeshare presentation in hawaii and are now trying to decide whether we should buy a Wyndham timeshare or an RCI points affiliated resort.  We plan to vacation either in Hawaii or the caribbean.  Wyndham seems good (especially if you buy in hawaii) but they don't have much in the Caribbean and the "fixed" exchange points chart seems like a rip-off as the number of points you need for an RCI exchange is quite steep.  For instance, we just stayed in a 2 bedroom at the royal sea cliff in kona for 58,000 RCI points, whereas it would be 224,000 Wyndham points under their system.  From a dollar to point comparison Wyndham is far more expensive, or am I missing something.



Depends.  Depends on the class of resort/TS you want to stay at.  Depends which Islands you want to stay on and depends where on the Islands you want to stay.  Depends which Caribbean Islands you want to go to. Depends how much you want to spent to purchase the TS.  Depends how many weeks you want.  Depends how many bedrooms you want.  Depends if you want a kitchen and if so, do you want a full kitchen.  Depends if you want to stay less than a full week.  Depends how much you are will to pay for MF's.

If you want full week stays, upscale, with kitchens, and don't mind switching to II, take a look a the Marriott's.   You can get a good 2-BR lock-off (can give you 2-weeks) trader for under $100, but your MF's will be around $1,000/year.  In Hawaii, this could get you Ko'olina on Oahu, MOC on Maui, Westin on Maui, Westin on Kauai, and two other Marriott's on Kaui.  In the Caribbean, it can get the Marriott's on St Thomas and Aruba, along with the Westin in Cancun.  Additionally, it will get you Marriott's in Thailand, Paris, and Spain.  You can still trade for other TS's in II, but these are the TS exchanges of most interest to me at this time.

On the other side, you could get a good RCI Points trader.  I have a 2-BR Grandview, which gives me 80,000 RCI-Points/year, the MF's are about $685/year (under a penny/point), and you can get one of these for about $100.  These could get you anything in RCI, including HGVC block deposits each Spring.  With HGVC you can get into Waikoloa on the Big Island and Hilton Hawaiian Village on Oahu.  You could also use the points for other RCI TS's in Hawaii. It will get you into Mexico.  In the Caribbean, it will get you into Puerto Rico, St. Marteen, and other islands.

The Marriott's will usually put you in a better location and be more upscale than with RCI (HGVC is great though).  Both Marriott's and RCI Points will/can put you in better locations than Wyndham (for example: check where the Wyndham's are on Oahu compared to HHV and Ko'olina).


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## gacastewart (Nov 12, 2012)

Sounds like good advice.

With respect to just buying points from other members....  according to info on the RCI website:

11. TRANSFERRING RCI POINTS. The Member may transfer his/her RCI Points to another Member for use in the transferee Member’s Use Year subject to the Network Documents, so long as there is no compensation or other consideration between the transferor and the transferee for the transfer. 

Is this policy just not enforced or is it something new?


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## jc92869 (Nov 12, 2012)

*policy is under effect*



gacastewart said:


> Sounds like good advice.
> 
> With respect to just buying points from other members....  according to info on the RCI website:
> 
> ...



what you have here is a case of don't ask don't tell. You are not supposed to rent, sell etc. points. however people still do it because a) it makes sense to do it from a consumer point of view, and B) RCI cannot patrol and truly enforce it. If neither the seller nor the buyer admit to having an exchange of money, how can RCI prove money did exchange hands. 

in any case, it is truly a buyer beware situation. If you buy points from someone,  and RCI finds about it and cancels the points, you will be aout of money.


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