# tuscany timeshare search



## Teddie2 (Sep 9, 2011)

I just put in an ongoing search for Tuscany area..for next June 2nd/3rd for a week
How long is reasonable to wait and see if we get a unit -I need to give myself a drop dead date to cut it off and rent someplace and want to be reasonable yet not get stuck where we cannot get something.. not sure how quickly places book up in Tuscany at that time --if we rent we are looking to get a small house or apt.


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## Carolinian (Sep 10, 2011)

Tuscany in summer can be a rather tough trade, especially in seeking one specific week.  The resorts with AI are generally easier to get but the AI fee is a negative factor.  This is also an area where it would not surprise me at all for RCI to charge you a good bit more points lite to make an exchange than they give owners there to deposit the very same week, especially on a search.

It the past I used to suggest also making a request through DAE, as they had a nice resort in the countryside just outside Florence that they got a fair amount of inventory at, but unfortunataely that resort has gone bankrupt.


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## Margariet (Sep 10, 2011)

AI is not very usual for Italy. Sometimes pensions or hotels are half board but this is not very common with RCI. Only 3 or so. And in Italy half board can be good but can be expensive for Americans. There are always a few resorts available as extra vacations and these costs are not always that high.

We have been a few times to Italy with our TS, even in summer time, which I thought was impossible. I don't know if it's hard. Just put in an ongoing search and see what comes up.

A few nice places are indeed with high TPU's during summer time. You can check this by searching with the last variable on the right hand side of the RCI searching page. Then you know how many TPU's you need. Good luck!


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## Teddie2 (Sep 10, 2011)

Margariet said:


> A few nice places are indeed with high TPU's during summer time. You can check this by searching with the last variable on the right hand side of the RCI searching page. Then you know how many TPU's you need. Good luck!



I only have RCI not sure what AI is.. also what is a TPU?  
I was just wondering how long to wait on a trade...I would also be open to purchasing a week if the price is reasonable although it bugs me since I have several weeks and points available.  Halfboard is very pricy ..one did come up but we really did not want the halfboard for the price


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## Margariet (Sep 10, 2011)

Teddie2 said:


> I only have RCI not sure what AI is.. also what is a TPU?
> I was just wondering how long to wait on a trade...I would also be open to purchasing a week if the price is reasonable although it bugs me since I have several weeks and points available.  Halfboard is very pricy ..one did come up but we really did not want the halfboard for the price



Sorry, AI means all inclusive but that's is not common in Italy. Like I mentioned: only a few half board, which is not so bad but indeed pricy.

TPU: these are your points.


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## Carolinian (Sep 10, 2011)

AI or Half Board are two different schemes that require you to pay for food at the resort.  If either is required then the TPU (or Points Lite) required for the exchange are usually less and there is more availibility as such schemes are less popular with exchangers.  Some inventory that Europeans can see in Europe is not offered to North American members.  When my membership changed from North America RCI to European RCI, it amazed how much more inventory I could see certain places, and Italy was one of them.  Of course there are different RCI offices within Europe and I am not sure that all of them even see the same inventory.


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## Margariet (Sep 10, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> AI or Half Board are two different schemes that require you to pay for food at the resort.  If either is required then the TPU (or Points Lite) required for the exchange are usually less and there is more availibility as such schemes are less popular with exchangers.  Some inventory that Europeans can see in Europe is not offered to North American members.  When my membership changed from North America RCI to European RCI, it amazed how much more inventory I could see certain places, and Italy was one of them.  Of course there are different RCI offices within Europe and I am not sure that all of them even see the same inventory.



In another posting we did some checks lately to compare the RCI availability for Italy but there was no difference between an US, an UK and an European member. I don't know if the differences still exist. In the past it was for us European members nearly impossible to get to Hawaii because all the inventory went to US members. That has changed years ago so I don't know about Europe. It might be nice to perform some checks from time to time. What I know is that some TS resorts in 'American' places prefered US members because they used to buy more. But the times they are changing so they focus more on potential customers from other countries.


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## Teddie2 (Sep 10, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> AI or Half Board are two different schemes that require you to pay for food at the resort.  If either is required then the TPU (or Points Lite) required for the exchange are usually less and there is more availibility as such schemes are less popular with exchangers.  Some inventory that Europeans can see in Europe is not offered to North American members.  When my membership changed from North America RCI to European RCI, it amazed how much more inventory I could see certain places, and Italy was one of them.  Of course there are different RCI offices within Europe and I am not sure that all of them even see the same inventory.



Are you able to see anything Europe for that week in Tuscany (June 2 or 3)?
that would be interesting if it was there -- I don't see why they do that (RCI) I think it should be for whomever gets it first.. they play too many games with the TS.... I also wonder if they hold back inventory just so people will do searches and they can charge an extra 199--it kind of bothers me that I have to do that.. with the search fee and the exchange fee that is almost 400dollars... for a week I already paid maintenance for... 
I may just book another place just to be on the safe side.


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## Carolinian (Sep 11, 2011)

Teddie2 said:


> Are you able to see anything Europe for that week in Tuscany (June 2 or 3)?
> that would be interesting if it was there -- I don't see why they do that (RCI) I think it should be for whomever gets it first.. they play too many games with the TS.... I also wonder if they hold back inventory just so people will do searches and they can charge an extra 199--it kind of bothers me that I have to do that.. with the search fee and the exchange fee that is almost 400dollars... for a week I already paid maintenance for...
> I may just book another place just to be on the safe side.



Unfortunately, RCI is down for weekly maintenance right now.  I will try to check for you when it comes back up.

The reason RCI has held back some better inventory for European members is that with the demand for Europe, if they did not do so, it would be difficult for their European members to trade into some countries in their own region at desirable times.  Similarly, there was a time in the past that a European member was given 2 for 1 exchange credits if they were depositing a European week but trading into North America.

Right after the Points Lite system came in, some trade tests seemed to indicate that the hold back for Europeans was still in place, but with RCI that could, of course, have since changed.  More recently, however, one situation shows that they still do offer different inventory to Americans and Europeans. I had posted on another timeshare site about the glut of private vacation cottages in the UK in RCI exchange inventory for November and early December and predicted lots of cheap rentals of them was in the offing for anyone wanting to go to the UK in the off season.  It turned out that US based members could not see any of them online.  That is far from prime inventory but it still shows that RCI is showing different inventory to Europeans and Americans.  This is one that is hard to figure out as they will be hard pressed to get rid of that glut at that time of year, so they ought to be showing it to everyone to try to move some of it.


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## Margariet (Sep 11, 2011)

Teddie2 said:


> Are you able to see anything Europe for that week in Tuscany (June 2 or 3)?
> that would be interesting if it was there -- I don't see why they do that (RCI) I think it should be for whomever gets it first.. they play too many games with the TS.... I also wonder if they hold back inventory just so people will do searches and they can charge an extra 199--it kind of bothers me that I have to do that.. with the search fee and the exchange fee that is almost 400dollars... for a week I already paid maintenance for...
> I may just book another place just to be on the safe side.



Don't worry. these stories have always been around but there has been no proof. On the contrary, I only see differences the other way around! The only difference I have seen lately was that it was harder for European members to see HGVC bulk trades. We saw them later and for a shorter while or even didn't see them at all. Reason: Hilton is more interested in potential clients from the US. Try to get a stay with included TS presentation in NY. You won't be able to got there as a continental European member! Some resorts in Mexico as well: they don't sell to Europeans so they don't offer big TS incentives or are harder to trade into.

And beware that European members pay much more for everything with RCI, even with a higher Euro value! 

Read my earlier post in this section:

"In another posting we did some checks lately to compare the RCI availability for Italy but there was no difference between an US, an UK and an European member. I don't know if the differences still exist. In the past it was for us European members nearly impossible to get to Hawaii because all the inventory went to US members. That has changed years ago so I don't know about Europe. It might be nice to perform some checks from time to time. What I know is that some TS resorts in 'American' places prefered US members because they used to buy more. But the times they are changing so they focus more on potential customers from other countries."

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Update: checked RCI Europe inventory for you: La Ferreira HB which you've already seen, I guess, and Carpe Diem Assisi which I wouldn't choose because of not very good reviews, but I guess you've seen that one as well.


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## Carolinian (Sep 11, 2011)

We had a Tugger also from the Netherlands who used to post responses on the availibility she saw in Europe, and North American Tuggers could never find all of them.  The inventory in Europe that was ring fenced for European members was, of course, the answer, and Tugger Bootleg, who was an RCI employee confirmed that this special pool of inventory existed.

After Points Lite came in, I did some checking and the special pool seemed to at least initially still to be intact.

An interesting test would be to look at what RCI currently shows under ''all availibility'' for an online search.  I just looked and the numbers that came back were:
British Isles (UK and Ireland) - 1907
Italy - 1494
I wonder what a North American member sees?





Margariet said:


> Don't worry. these stories have always been around but there has been no proof. On the contrary, I only see differences the other way around! The only difference I have seen lately was that it was harder for European members to see HGVC bulk trades. We saw them later and for a shorter while or even didn't see them at all. Reason: Hilton is more interested in potential clients from the US. Try to get a stay with included TS presentation in NY. You won't be able to got there as a continental European member! Some resorts in Mexico as well: they don't sell to Europeans so they don't offer big TS incentives or are harder to trade into.
> 
> And beware that European members pay much more for everything with RCI, even with a higher Euro value!
> 
> ...


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## Teddie2 (Sep 11, 2011)

well I would have to use the same dates as you did --let me know and i will check


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## Margariet (Sep 11, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> We had a Tugger also from the Netherlands who used to post responses on the availibility she saw in Europe, and North American Tuggers could never find all of them.  The inventory in Europe that was ring fenced for European members was, of course, the answer, and Tugger Bootleg, who was an RCI employee confirmed that this special pool of inventory existed.
> 
> After Points Lite came in, I did some checking and the special pool seemed to at least initially still to be intact.
> 
> ...



It would be interesting to check it from time to time. I have found other differences like the Hilton bulks. And I have clearly noticed a huge difference with the past when it comes to Hawaii as I mentioned before. Years ago that inventory was solely aimed at the US market. Now that's all changed luckily. I understood that there were differences in inventories because the resorts aimed at specific potential buyers.

In 'my' RCI at the moment: UK & Ireland 1901
Italy: only 1463


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## Teddie2 (Sep 11, 2011)

Margariet said:


> It would be interesting to check it from time to time. I have found other differences like the Hilton bulks. And I have clearly noticed a huge difference with the past when it comes to Hawaii as I mentioned before. Years ago that inventory was solely aimed at the US market. Now that's all changed luckily. I understood that there were differences in inventories because the resorts aimed at specific potential buyers.
> 
> In 'my' RCI at the moment: UK & Ireland 1901
> Italy: only 1463



Don't you have to put specific dates in when you search..what are you referring to by at the moment


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## Carolinian (Sep 12, 2011)

Teddie2 said:


> Don't you have to put specific dates in when you search..what are you referring to by at the moment



There is a function to search for all RCI weeks availible.  You have to click on the icon to change the search and then select ''all RCI weeks availible''.  That will then pull up all RCI availibilities on any date at any resort in the country you are looking at, regardless of whether you have the trading power for it or not.

I really wish someone with a US account would post the numbers they see for all availibilities on the British Isles and on Italy, so we could get a comparisionn and see if RCI is still reserving some inventory for European members.


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## Margariet (Sep 12, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> There is a function to search for all RCI weeks availible.  You have to click on the icon to change the search and then select ''all RCI weeks availible''.  That will then pull up all RCI availibilities on any date at any resort in the country you are looking at, regardless of whether you have the trading power for it or not.
> 
> I really wish someone with a US account would post the numbers they see for all availibilities on the British Isles and on Italy, so we could get a comparisionn and see if RCI is still reserving some inventory for European members.



Recently we did a comparison for Italy and London. In this thread you can see that there was no difference at that time for a specific time frame:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154497


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## Teddie2 (Sep 12, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> There is a function to search for all RCI weeks availible.  You have to click on the icon to change the search and then select ''all RCI weeks availible''.  That will then pull up all RCI availibilities on any date at any resort in the country you are looking at, regardless of whether you have the trading power for it or not.
> 
> I really wish someone with a US account would post the numbers they see for all availibilities on the British Isles and on Italy, so we could get a comparisionn and see if RCI is still reserving some inventory for European members.



I just tried --this is just a count of all TS that there are in the area not current availability... 
what comes up for italy is 181 and what comes up for England is 1168 -that is just what is available through points 
When I use my weeks account I get 74 in Italy and 35 in England  huge difference for what is available!


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## Laurie (Sep 12, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> There is a function to search for all RCI weeks availible.  You have to click on the icon to change the search and then select ''all RCI weeks availible''.  That will then pull up all RCI availibilities on any date at any resort in the country you are looking at, regardless of whether you have the trading power for it or not.
> 
> I really wish someone with a US account would post the numbers they see for all availibilities on the British Isles and on Italy, so we could get a comparisionn and see if RCI is still reserving some inventory for European members.


OK, from my US account right now:

British Isles - 60 resorts, 1551 units
Italy - 79 resorts, 1340 units

This includes Platinum/Priority access which includes 1 resort each for Italy (19 units) & UK (8 units).

Carolinian, what do you get today? I believe there was a decrease of about 3k in total available units, from 169k to 166k, from over the weekend to today.


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## Margariet (Sep 12, 2011)

Laurie said:


> OK, from my US account right now:
> 
> British Isles - 60 resorts, 1551 units
> Italy - 79 resorts, 1340 units
> ...



OK from my European account right now:
*All available RCI units through exchanbe through September 2013 (check this in the US account as well!!)*

UK & Ireland - 321, 1888
Italy - 92, 1461

No Platinum/Priority access because Platinum membership for weeks is not available in Europe.

*Now, please, for me as an European: the same timeframe with all available units for the USA!!*

Because I still can't see every sighting posted here!


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## Carolinian (Sep 12, 2011)

Margariet said:


> ------------
> 
> Update: checked RCI Europe inventory for you: La Ferreira HB which you've already seen, I guess, and Carpe Diem Assisi which I wouldn't choose because of not very good reviews, but I guess you've seen that one as well.



HB = Half Board, i.e. compulsory payment to resort for some meals

Carpe Diem Assisi is also in Umbria, the next province east of Tuscany, rather than Tuscany itself.  I would suggest renting something that is directly in Tuscany rather than add that extra driving for sightseeing.


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