# WorldMark points needed for RCI exchange?



## roset (Jun 30, 2011)

I've been reading through all these forums to determine whether to buy Wyndham or Worldmark and how much to buy.  I'm inclined toward Worldmark because I live in S. CA and Worldmark has more on the Westcoast and would like to avoid exchanging through RCI as much as possible, but I know there are times I'll need to go through RCI and was wondering how many points are needed to get a prime (July/August), 2 bedroom week on the S. CA coast.  The people who have posted exchanges seem to pay different amounts.  Is this how it works?  Does the amount you need to deposit change with every deposit, and you only exchange the number of points necessary to get the unit you want?  Also, I was wondering if it exchanges better by depositing the points, or could it be a better exchange by actually booking a particular unit, that is highly desirable, and depositing that?  I really want to know how many points I need to purchase to get 1 high demand 2-3 bedroom unit every 2-3 years.


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## LLW (Jun 30, 2011)

roset said:


> I've been reading through all these forums to determine whether to buy Wyndham or Worldmark and how much to buy.  I'm inclined toward Worldmark because I live in S. CA and Worldmark has more on the Westcoast and would like to avoid exchanging through RCI as much as possible, but I know there are times I'll need to go through RCI and was wondering how many points are needed to get a prime (July/August), 2 bedroom week on the S. CA coast.  The people who have posted exchanges seem to pay different amounts.  Is this how it works?  Does the amount you need to deposit change with every deposit, and you only exchange the number of points necessary to get the unit you want?  Also, I was wondering if it exchanges better by depositing the points, or could it be a better exchange by actually booking a particular unit, that is highly desirable, and depositing that?  I really want to know how many points I need to purchase to get 1 high demand 2-3 bedroom unit every 2-3 years.



Go to WMOwners.com. The points chart is here:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10111

And here's a suggested reading list for WM exchange beginners:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30897


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## pacman (Jun 30, 2011)

roset said:


> ... would like to avoid exchanging through RCI as much as possible, but I know there are times I'll need to go through RCI



You know that you can also trade a WM through II. I have found WM trading power through II to be quite strong.

pacman


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## rrlongwell (Jun 30, 2011)

pacman said:


> You know that you can also trade a WM through II. I have found WM trading power through II to be quite strong.
> 
> pacman




Wyndham and a Property Owner's group not associated with Wyndham are currently involved in a lawsuit over owners rights and assests (my summary, please refer to actual documents for the actual dispute and the actual parties to the suit).  Personnally, I would not get involved with Worldmark until such time as the lawsuit is resolved.  If I understand correctly, as part of a tenative settlement agreement, the POA that owns the actual deeds may have to give a signifacant part of their assests (timeshares) to Wyndham.  As I understand it, the Worldmark owners own whatever portion of a club they own and not the underlying deeds.  If the Property Owners Association and Wyndham are parting ways on a significant number of assests where Wyndham remains as the Property Managers, I would want to not only see the case in final settlement, I would also want to make sure that a Club exists to meet the current owners demands relating to availabilty.  

You might want to go to Google and enter the following key words for a search:  lawsuit against wyndham worldmark

P.S. If you are only interested in the West Coast every two or three years, you would probably pay more in the short run for a week every two or three years renting it but probably would save a bundle over a lifetime of ownship in a particular timeshare.


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## GregT (Jul 1, 2011)

I own both Worldmark and Wyndham and I think both are great, but Worldmark is my preferred system of the two.  There are several good properties in California (Big Bear, Indio, Tahoe, Solvang) and I've stayed often in the Maui property (Kihei).  It's a terrific system in its own right, and it trades very very well in both II and RCI.

Wyndham trades mostly thru RCI and I do not believe it as strong (but no personal experience).    Other strength is that Worldmark has very reasonable MFs, not always the case with Wyndham.

Good luck with your analysis!

Best,

Greg


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## LLW (Jul 1, 2011)

rrlongwell said:


> Wyndham and a Property Owner's group not associated with Wyndham are currently involved in a lawsuit over owners rights and assests (my summary, please refer to actual documents for the actual dispute and the actual parties to the suit).  Personnally, I would not get involved with Worldmark until such time as the lawsuit is resolved.  If I understand correctly, as part of a tenative settlement agreement, the POA that owns the actual deeds may have to give a signifacant part of their assests (timeshares) to Wyndham.  As I understand it, the Worldmark owners own whatever portion of a club they own and not the underlying deeds.  If the Property Owners Association and Wyndham are parting ways on a significant number of assests where Wyndham remains as the Property Managers, I would want to not only see the case in final settlement, I would also want to make sure that a Club exists to meet the current owners demands relating to availabilty.
> 
> You might want to go to Google and enter the following key words for a search:  lawsuit against wyndham worldmark



That's really not an accurate characterization. In fact many informed owners' view is that the problem with the proposal is that the operational remedies are too insignificant in return for significant concessions in club governing principles. 

The matter is so complicated that plaintiffs' attorneys look like they were asleep at the helm, or selling out for their fees. In essence, by charging newer resorts at much higher credit values than older resorts, regardless of their relative values when compared to existing resorts (a protection provided for in club governing documents), Wyndham was charged with undercharging new owners at the expense of old owners' equity in existing club assets, because that makes their selling job easier - _new owners are getting a piece of existing club assets at a bargain price_. 

Once they get in, over the years, they will in turn slowly lose a small piece of their equity to new*er* owners, but that is minute compared to the equity that they got for free when they first bought in. With their newer credits generated from the higher credit resorts, they have as much right to book the older resorts as older owners. The watershed was when Wyn started assigning higher credit values to resorts that were comparable (had the same use value) to most existing resorts. Wyn only started doing that in the last several years. Before that there was a standard credit value (e.g. 10K for a red 2BR), if the use value was the same.

So no worry, it will be a viable club for new owners for a long, long time.

JMHO.


P.S. For those interested, here's the WMOwners.com forum on this settlement proposal, including the full proposal document: 
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=86


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## learnalot (Jul 1, 2011)

GregT said:


> Wyndham trades mostly thru RCI and I do not believe it as strong (but no personal experience)./QUOTE]
> 
> Wyndham used to have relatively low trading power in RCI, other than a good internal preference for trading back into Wyndham resorts.  Since the creation of the Wyndham portal and revision of the deposit grid for RCI, the low trading power issue has been resolved.  Since the deposit points required are so much higher now, they pull everything available - except the RCI Platinum inventory, which Wyndham owners currently have no way to join.  Also, for Wyndham owners, there is currently nothing in RCI similar to Flexchange in II which would allow rapidly approaching (usually 30 days or less) check-in dates to be booked at a discounted points cost.


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## roset (Jul 1, 2011)

What is flexchange/instant exchange?


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## melschey (Jul 1, 2011)

roset said:


> What is flexchange/instant exchange?



If you book almost anything in the II inventory within 59 days of checkin it only takes 4000 WM credits and the II exchange fee. If you can travel in the offseason you can get great 2 and 3-bedroom resorts on flexchange.


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## cotraveller (Jul 1, 2011)

Instant Exchange works in a similar way for RCI with WorldMark. 4,000 WorldMark credits for any size unit for an exchange within 45 days of check in. 

For both II and RCI a WorldMark housekeeping token is also required. If you are out of HK tokens you will be charged for housekeeping in addition to the exchange fee.


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## roset (Jul 2, 2011)

So, if you book more than 45 days out (I can't usually travel during off times) then 10,000 points would be deposited for a red 2 bedroom?  Is it true that you don't have to deposit your points until RCI (that's the system I'm currently familiar with) has the unit you want?  If this is true, and you have to set up an ongoing search, could you do a search on both RCI and II (assuming you belong to both) and see which one returns the one you want?


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## cotraveller (Jul 3, 2011)

roset said:


> So, if you book more than 45 days out (I can't usually travel during off times) then 10,000 points would be deposited for a red 2 bedroom?  Is it true that you don't have to deposit your points until RCI (that's the system I'm currently familiar with) has the unit you want?  If this is true, and you have to set up an ongoing search, could you do a search on both RCI and II (assuming you belong to both) and see which one returns the one you want?



Correct.  A two bedroom exchange in Red season booked more than 45 days in advance is 10,000 WorldMark credits.  It is RCI's defined Red season which is usually close to the WorldMark seasons, but not necessarily the same.  The credits will not be deducted from your WorldMark accoount until after the exchange is confirmed.

II is similar except that the Flex Change time is 59 days before checkin.

You can set up an ongoing search with both companies.  Just make sure you don't accept an exchange from both.  That would cost you double and you would have a unit you couldn't use.


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