# Using RCI Points for Hotel Stays?



## hajjah (Mar 27, 2011)

Ok, I haven't done this in a while, so I am not clear about this.  I was trying to use RCI points for a 3 night hotel stay in June to attend a graduation.  If I searched this correctly, I would have to use 25,000 points and still pay about $400-$450.00 to stay at a Courtyard Marriott?  So I would get about $280.00 off the total hotel rate?   What then would be the point of me using my points???  I cannot see where I am gaining anything by using RCI points as opposed to just booking directly with the hotel or Orbitz, Expedia, etc.


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## timeos2 (Mar 27, 2011)

hajjah said:


> Ok, I haven't done this in a while, so I am not clear about this.  I was trying to use RCI points for a 3 night hotel stay in June to attend a graduation.  If I searched this correctly, I would have to use 25,000 points and still pay about $400-$450.00 to stay at a Courtyard Marriott?  So I would get about $280.00 off the total hotel rate?   What then would be the point of me using my points???  I cannot see where I am gaining anything by using RCI points as opposed to just booking directly with the hotel or Orbitz, Expedia, etc.



That is usually the case with so called deals on cruises, rental cars, plane fares, etc with points.  When you consider the purchase cost & ongoing fees for the points these uses do not represent a value. Points are good for timeshare travel, period. You even have to work to extract that.


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## LannyPC (Mar 27, 2011)

*Salesmen's Pitch*

Sadly, that is part of a salesperson's pitch which we fell for when buying our interval from the developer at an RCI-affiliated resort.  She told us that when we buy an interval and join RCI, we could exchange our unit for cruises or other travel.

What she did not tell us (surprise, surprise) is that the trade-in value of our interval would be very minimal.  So a $750 maintenance fee would get us about a $100 discount on a cruise, etc.


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## hajjah (Mar 27, 2011)

Thanks for the feedback.  I was correct in thinking that using points for a hotel stay would not be worth it.  I may as well try to cut a deal for the hotel stay using Priceline.


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