# I like traveling mainly in Asia. Is still RCI point system useful ?



## dabo_gc (Aug 6, 2009)

Are there many resorts/hotels which we can exchange in Asia through RCI point sytem ? How about last minute deal ? 

Have you ever exchanged resort in Japan, Bali, Thai, Malaysia, Phillipines, etc ?

Or, do you suggest me not to expect much availabilty of asian resorts ?

One of my friends in asia told me to join Marriott Vacation Club Asia Pacific (point system). Would you think that is better than RCI point system ? 

Please tell me your experiences or thoughts.


Best regards,

dabo_gc


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## philsfan (Aug 7, 2009)

I just did a search for a standard reservation, which means I am searching for points resorts, using Asia Pacific - Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific - Northeast Asia for next June 4th and got nothing.  That is 10 months out so if there was going to be availability, I think it would be then.

The weeks availability is theoretically the same from the points side.  I did some searches and found some availability starting at the end of next August for 10 weeks.


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## CarolF (Aug 8, 2009)

............


dabo_gc said:


> Are there many resorts/hotels which we can exchange in Asia through RCI point sytem ? How about last minute deal ?
> 
> Have you ever exchanged resort in Japan, Bali, Thai, Malaysia, Phillipines, etc ?
> 
> ...


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## dabo_gc (Aug 9, 2009)

Thank you very much for you comment, philsfan.

Your search result made me so sad. I have been expecting your words like " Don't worry. There are bunch of aisan resorts to choose from!"  

They say there are hundreds of RCI resorts in asia. I wounder how I can catch a pie in the sky.    


CarolF, thank you for your comment, too.

Normaly, is it said that II is better than RCI in Asia region ?

Anyway, I'll try to find a way to access II.


dabo_gc


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## philsfan (Aug 9, 2009)

dabo_gc said:


> Thank you very much for you comment, philsfan.
> 
> Your search result made me so sad. I have been expecting your words like " Don't worry. There are bunch of aisan resorts to choose from!"
> 
> ...



There is some availability using points to search RCI weeks.  If you tell me what months you like to travel, I will send you a private message with the search results for Japan, Bali, Thai, Malaysia, Phillipines for those months.  There was not what I would call a lot of availability but I don't know anything about resorts on that side of the world, the 12 or so that I saw could be great places to visit.


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## PeelBoy (Aug 9, 2009)

I have RCI weeks, but not points.  My somewhat "tiger" week pulls resorts in the region without difficulties.

Through RCI weeks, there are always availabilities in China, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and some Indonesia, though DAE is the king in the region.

The 2 exceptions are:

1. Beijing and Korea.  I can see them in last minute only, but they are there.  Now, Beijing has 3 weeks available online.

2. Japan.  There are alot in Japan, but you have to watch the bulk banking, which happened in October last year.  The inventories were all gone by February this year.

Beijing, Korea and Japan are more difficult to trade into, because their rental rates are higher.  Others in SE Asia and China, though available, are not worth it, cost wise, if you factor in the MF, exchange fees and RCI membership.


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## PeelBoy (Aug 9, 2009)

Don't join Marriott Asian Pacific.  Instead, use an all time low unit to trade through II.   The two resorts in Phuket are terrific but it is easy to trade into one of them.

They are very expensive to own, so why spend the money?


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## dabo_gc (Aug 9, 2009)

philsfan said:


> There is some availability using points to search RCI weeks.  If you tell me what months you like to travel, I will send you a private message with the search results for Japan, Bali, Thai, Malaysia, Phillipines for those months.  There was not what I would call a lot of availability but I don't know anything about resorts on that side of the world, the 12 or so that I saw could be great places to visit.



philsfan, I am going to get retired soon, so if there are some good resorts available I can fly to Japan, Korea or Thai, etc. any time. I am interested especialy in Japan where I originaly came from.

Thank you very much for your cooperation.

dabo_gc


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## dabo_gc (Aug 9, 2009)

Thank you very much for yor comment, PeelBoy.

>DAE is the king in the region.

Really? Good news. I will check it later. But I don't own any weeks to trade with. I am trying to concentrate in RCI points. Also, there is no way for me to use II.

>Don't join Marriott Asian Pacific.

Yes, I agree with you. Their point system looks good but the cost is too high. Do you mean getting Marriott Puhket is not so hard ?  If I own cheaper TS and could exchange with Marriott Puhket, it would be the best choice.

If I want to spend 2-3 weeks in SE Asia, do I need to own 2-3 weeks to exchange ? Sorry, I don't know anything about II nor DAE.

dabo_gc


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## CarolF (Aug 13, 2009)

PeelBoy said:


> though DAE is the king in the region.



My search results for exchange availability with DAE show:

Japan - nil results for 2009 and 2010
Malaysia - nil results for 2009 and 2010
Philippines - 3 weeks in 2009, nil 2010
Bali - 1 week left in 2009, nil 2010
Thailand - 21 weeks in 2009, 1 week in 2010




> If I want to spend 2-3 weeks in SE Asia, do I need to own 2-3 weeks to exchange ?



Generally that is the way it works.  In return for a week you give to an exchange company they will give you one back.  

It is usually best to buy a timeshare at a location you wish to visit often or in a points system that has timeshares at the places you wish to go.  



> Beijing, Korea and Japan are more difficult to trade into, because their rental rates are higher. Others in SE Asia and China, though available, are not worth it, cost wise, if you factor in the MF, exchange fees and RCI membership.



Peelboys comment is valid.  It would be worth doing your sums before purchasing a timeshare to exchange into Malaysia, Bali, Thailand - it is not too difficult to find cheap accommodation in those places.

I would recommend you take your time and do lots of reading before deciding to purchase a timeshare.  The link below is very informative:

http://www.tug2.net/advice/faq.htm


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## dabo_gc (Aug 13, 2009)

Thank you very much for your search and comment, Carol.

I know there are so many cheap accommodations in SE Asia. But what in mind are high-end resorts which normaly cost me 300-700 US$/night. Good example is Marrott Phuket which is one of the best TSs in the world. It is ranked 20th of TUG TOP 30.

http://tug2.com/RnR/ResortsGrid.aspx?TugTop30=true

http://tug2.com/RnR/TabResortDescription.aspx?ResortGUID=b6078a0e-5fca-426c-bc6c-b3ad95f89256

Marriott Phuket
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/hktjw-jw-marriott-phuket-resort-and-spa/

Also, there are many high-end RCI resorts in Japan. Some of them cost me US$15,000 - 300,000 initial cost to purchase from the developper. Samples are XIV resorts or Tokyo bay court club.

XIV resorts
http://www.resorttrust.co.jp/

Tokyou bay court club.
http://baycourtclub.jp/

What I wanted to know was if we had a chance to exchange into such kind of high-end TSs in Asia.

Pies in the sky............   


dabo_gc

philsfan, thank you very much for your efforts and PM which made me understand what we can get through RCI.


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## PeelBoy (Aug 13, 2009)

Hi. me again. I did answer Phil's questions.  This is the link:

http://timeshareforums.com/forums/rci/96289-rci-japan.html#post338831

Too bad since I can't read Japanese, so can't understand the links you provided.  

I have never seen RCI has these resorts.  There are others but not as high end as these two.  There are a few nice ones in Gumma, Kyotoa and Beppa (not sure about the spelling).  Their rental rates in the market are like $150 to $170 American dollars.

These resorts are out of town in the beautiful Japan rural area, so a car is a must.  I checked TooCool and the price is from 42,100 to 52,000 yens.  Road toll is like 20 dollars per hundred km, so I have to factor in like $100 to $200 for toll, on top of expensive gas in Japan.

Would you consider a JR pass or car rental?  By the way, how expensive is Japan compared to Australia, Canada and Europe?  I find prices in Australia slightly lower than that in Canada, so please tell me how you compare Australia and Japan price wise?  Also, any tips to cut cost?


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## dabo_gc (Aug 14, 2009)

Hi, PeelBoy.

I heard that the most of RCI resort companies in Japan do bulk space banking. So if the high-end resort owner deposits his week to exchange through RCI, what we see is one of the cheap resorts in low season just like the one in Kyoto or Beppu which you mentioned. They might use high end week to exchange for members in the group. That's what they said.

TooCool ? Isn't it ToCoo ? ToCoo is one of the best travel companies who sell very reasonable price of Hotels/Ryokan(Japanese traditional accommodation), but it's in Japanese. 

If you understand Japanese, ToCoo, Ikkyu and Rakuten Travel are the bests.

ToCoo - they offer incredibly cheap ones, ie. 20dollars/night.
http://www.tocoo.jp/UserUI/do/uTop010Init.aspx?asp_id=0

Ikkyu - good to buy high-end
http://www.ikyu.com/

Rakuten Travel 
http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/

I don't think they have sites in English. I am very sorry that I don't know how to find good deal in English.

If you travel around in Japan, JR Pass would be the best choice. Rent a car is also good to drive around the area, but not for drive city to city. As you mentioned, toll fee is VERY expensive. In Japan, many budget travelers use Express Bus between cities. They are cheap and seats are just like the one in Bussiness class of Airplane.

Even though toll fee is very expensive, rent a car would be the best if you travel with 3 or more paties.

The biggest problem of travel in Japan is that there are almost NO condominium type of accommodation. Only we can choose is hotel or ryokan(Japanese traditional accommodation). Normaly ryokan offers breakfast and dinner. I think Ryokan is the best for foreign people to experience Japanese traditional hospitality but it is not cost efective. But I don't recommend to stay at cheap ryokan, rather stay in reasonable hotel and go to traditional Japanese restaurant around the area if you want Japanese traditional taste. 

Or, choose Minshuku (budget type of Ryokan) which has been used by budget Japanese travelers in hundreds of years. They are mostly in rural area. Most of them are owned and operated by families and sometimes the owner is fisherman and they serve fresh sea food which they catch by themselves early in the morning. Sometimes you are invited to go fishing with them. It's fun and the price is VERY reasonable. It's somthing like B&B.

I think traveling in Australia is very easy and cheap. You can find reasonable accommodaition/restaurant everywhere, rent a car or caravan is MUST though. Compare with Japan is difficult because of difference of culture. Japan is workaholic country and thinking way of vacation is different. I've seldom or never heard about a Japanese who has more than one week long vacation. If you tell them that you sometimes have two or three week vacation, no Japanese would believe it.  

In Japan, when we say vacation, it normaly means that we stay 1 or 2 days in rural area (we don't need condo). So timeshare in Japan never go by week but days. Every foreign tourists come to Japan says everyting is expensive in Japan, but I think you now understand that Japanese holiday(tour or accomodation) is built and set for 1-2 days holiday which every body can afford to pay. So if you stay long in Japan, you feel everything is expensive which normal Japanese never pays. So it is very big headache for me to plan a long vacation in Japan. That's why I am looking for timeshare exchage through RCI.

I hope you understand my explanation in poor English.


dabo_gc


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## Carolinian (Aug 14, 2009)

To trade into this region, I would also suggest using independent exchange company Dial an Exchange (DAE), which was originally founded in Australia.  They have free membership, lower exchange fees, and a request first system and will probably take about any RCI resort as a deposit.

www.daelive.com


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## Jya-Ning (Aug 14, 2009)

This is what I can find for the Tokyo bay club
www.resorttrust.co.jp/e_index/news_image/2008/2008_0318.pdf

Look like RCI is handling their internal exchange (for all XIV group) also.  And its setting is like 1 or 2 night type of deal.  So it will be very unlikely they are in RCI week system.  And I don't believe most of owner there will request outside of that type of system (stay 1 or 2 nights).

Pure guess, but I will believe RCI will just rent out their unit reserved for exchange to RCI resort, and if they want an RCI week long exchange, RCI will just pull from its exchange pool and give to them.

I don't believe you will see them in DAE.

Jya-Ning


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## Jya-Ning (Aug 14, 2009)

dabo_gc said:


> If you understand Japanese, ToCoo, Ikkyu and Rakuten Travel are the bests.
> 
> ToCoo - they offer incredibly cheap ones, ie. 20dollars/night.
> http://www.tocoo.jp/UserUI/do/uTop010Init.aspx?asp_id=0
> ...




Thanks for the link and information.  I don't know Japanese, but based on those free Japanese to English (or Chinese) translate, I can guess a lot as long as I get all the places translated list first.

The biggest problem I have is with 2 small kids, I usually needs to figure out what size of bed they actually are, if it is regular twin, than an extra room is needed, if it is full size, than 2 BED room is slightly acceptable.  And need to actually figure out what Japanese Style room can accomodate (the size sometimes mean little to me).  I guess I will have to buy a pre-paid phone card and call those hotel sometime.

Jya-Ning


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## dabo_gc (Aug 16, 2009)

Jya-Ning said:


> The biggest problem I have is with 2 small kids, I usually needs to figure out what size of bed they actually are, if it is regular twin, than an extra room is needed, if it is full size, than 2 BED room is slightly acceptable.  And need to actually figure out what Japanese Style room can accomodate (the size sometimes mean little to me).  I guess I will have to buy a pre-paid phone card and call those hotel sometime.
> 
> Jya-Ning



I think hotel rooms in Japan might be little smaller than American standard. But of course there are lots of hotels that offer bigger rooms. The best way for you to find suitable hotel/room, please go and ask travel agent. They  have answers what you'd like to know, also they offer tours in very competitive price. The point is not to choose hotel and air separately. Just like US$1200 Japan from LUX one week tour/person inclusive of air and hotel. That is what many of my friends in USA do. If you reserve same air and hotel separately, they might cost you more than US$2000.

For myself, US$1200/person/week is still expensive. So I normally use free air tickets from my miledge and would like to stay in timeshare resort if I could.

I found this site that offers very nice accomo in reasonable price. Please check it out. It might be good if you'd like to have long and badged trip.

http://www.vrbo.com/


dabo_gc


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## PeelBoy (Oct 27, 2009)

Hi. Folks.  Time to check out Japan TS - 10 resorts and 93 weeks in 2010.  Interesting, some have a bathing tax of 150 yens, about $1.30 per person per night.  Japanese pays tax while having a shower!!!

I should stop complaining the heavy tax in Canada.


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