# What advantages does RCI points have over weeks after the changes?



## tombo (Jan 21, 2011)

I purchased an RCI points week about a year ago so that I can access RCI points. I read here about how much better the points program is than the weeks program. Several knowledgeable timeshare owners here were making me want more points. 

Now with the advent of points on the weeks side where you can combine weeks (for $99) to get a large number of points (TPU), where combining your points that are about to expire will extend their life by giving them the expiration date of the newest week you combine them with, and where any leftover points can be used to trade for something else the game has changed. With these new perks I am extremelly excited about the weeks exchange program and I am wondering what advantages (if any) RCI points now has over RCI weeks  (other than booking shorter than a full week).

I am seriously considering converting my only RCI points week back to a fixed week. I will probably never use the points on this unit because it is a fixed july beach week that I could never reserve using points. Under points I have to reserve my prime fixed week way in advance (10 or 11 months I think) or it converts to points. If I do convert my points week back to a fixed week I can have my fixed week to rent, use, or deposit in weeks to exchange with. I can see very little disdvantage of doing so. Some of the RCI pointsexperts please tell me what I would be missing if i swapped my lone points unit to weeks.

Thanks,
Tom


----------



## vacationhopeful (Jan 21, 2011)

How many points does your week generate each year? Is it part of a mini-system, like VRI? What is the cost per 1k of points to MFs (cheap ratio?).
Is this a floating week or a tradiation fixed deed week?

Some advantages: your RCI Points are good for 2 years. You can borrow for free the next years w/o paying MFs. If you play the cost per point over the two systems, there are places where one system is cheaper than the other. There is no combining fee.

I used my RCI points to book back into my Home Resort alot. I have also used them for 2 DVC vacations weeks and 1 Manhatten Club weeks in the past 13 months. 

Booking your HOME WEEK is done 13 months ==> it is free. You can cancel that reservation up to 3 or 4 months before checkin if you find sometime that you want to use the points for. At 12 months, my HOME RESORT exchanging fee is just $40 ==> again same liberal cancelling policy.

As you mentioned, you can book less than 7 days; some resorts will charge a cleaning fee as they have an extra cleaning to pay for. Those partial booking weeks occur at the 10 month or less mark from checkin.

I like my RCI Points; I use them mainly to get back into my Home Resort. 

I will have to divorice myself from my habit of low cost Wyndham weeks exchanges back into Wyndham which were costing me less than $350 a week almost anywheres in the Wyndham system.  So I too will be learning the Weeks Lite/Trading Credits/RCI Weeks system.

Maybe, I will be able to answer this question much better in a year or more.


----------



## tombo (Jan 21, 2011)

My resort is VRI. It receives 53,500 annual RCI points. The MF's are $629 total including taxes. this is a fixed annual July week. I can take 53,500 points and request a june or July week and the odds are slim of getting one because few owners deposit their weeks. I can easily rent the week to others for $1000. I can't personally rent an ocean front summer week in a 2 bed room in Panama City for less than $1200 or $1500 unless I luck out and find a good rental price from an owner. The resort charges $250 a day plus tax.I used some points for a Hyatt in Chicago last year so my account currently has 28,500 points left.

If I deposit the same week in RCI weeks it has a max trading power of 45 and a current trading power of 42 for 2011. That will pull some pretty good weeks. 45 trading power in RCI weeks seems better than 53,500 in  RCI points.

I appreciate your insight as I don't want to turn my only points week to a fixed week in  the RCI weeks program and regret it later, but as of now I can't see much value in keeping a points week that is more valuable to rent, trade, or use than the points I would receive.


----------



## vacationhopeful (Jan 21, 2011)

Hi Tom,
You got a ratio MF to Pts better than mine. As for the point total, you have VRI value point right now 82,000 points (left over points plus current/future year week). You can at 11 months before checkin, go to your RCI points account and book another VRI resort under HOME GROUP RESORTs. 

Have you looked at availability on the Home Group booking timeframe?


----------



## siesta (Jan 22, 2011)

one advantage is access to certain resorts that may not be on the weeks side.  for example, crane resort in barbados.


----------



## Tommart (Jan 22, 2011)

*One Minor Correction*



tombo said:


> ....Now with the advent of points on the weeks side where you can combine weeks (for $99) to get a large number of points (TPU), where combining your points that are about to expire will extend their life by giving them the expiration date of the newest week you combine them with, and where any leftover points can be used to trade for something else the game has changed......



Tom
When we combine RCI Weeks deposits, the new expiration is two years from the date of the combination and not the date of the newest deposit.

In December 2010, I combined five deposits with expirations of August 2012. June 2013 (2), and August 2013 (2).  The resulting deposit has an expiration of December 2012.  

Tom M.


----------



## tombo (Jan 24, 2011)

I was mistaken on expiration dates of combinations in weeks. That is nice to know. 

If in your example where your combined points will expire in December of 2012,if you paid $99 and added a week in November 2012 wouldn't that take all of your exisitng combined points and extend them for 2 more years? If that is the case you can make sure that your points never expire.


----------



## Tommart (Jan 24, 2011)

*You are correct*



tombo said:


> I was mistaken on expiration dates of combinations in weeks. That is nice to know.
> 
> If in your example where your combined points will expire in December of 2012,if you paid $99 and added a week in November 2012 wouldn't that take all of your exisitng combined points and extend them for 2 more years? If that is the case you can make sure that your points never expire.



You are correct.  If you combine every other year, your points will never expire.  In fact,  some may have a difficult choice.  If they only have one timeshare worth 18 points, and exchanged this year for a 14 TP unit, the deposit would now be 4 TPs.  At some point, they may need to decide whether it is worth $99 to combine the 4 TP deposit with a future deposit.        

What will happen for me is that I'll wait as long as I can until combining again.  After combining, I confirmed three exchanges, I have 26 TPs left.  In October, I'll likely deposit one-half of my June 2012 lockout with June 2014 expiration dates.  In December 2011, I will deposit half or both halfs of my August lockout and have one or two additional deposits.  I will make exchanges with these separate deposits, but at some point I will need to combine either due to an upcoming expiration, or need to exchange for something greater than any of my individual deposits.  I hope to delay this as long as possible, but it will need to occur by December 2012 unless I locate an exchange or two that exactly equals 26 TP.

Unless the rules change, I could save all my deposits, not exchange, and continue combining every other year to extend them.  If I did this for six years, I would have 500 points.


----------



## fishingguy (Jan 25, 2011)

*...subtle options*

Unlike the new RCI TPU Weeks, RCI Points does have some advantages with regard to Tommart's previous post.  The ability to borrow, transfer and even rent points is available in an RCI Points account -- but not at a TPU level in a Weeks account.  In many ways the RCI Points account is more flexible and has more features, that might be used to avoid paying combine fees.

*1) The ability to borrow from your next year's deposit.* You have the ability to borrow RCI Points from next year's deposit, if you don't have enough points to make an exchange.  There is no real additional cost to borrow, but you can use this feature in a couple of different ways.  

It might be used as a way to put off purchasing an additional TS property for a bit longer, or even be a way to accomodate the need for a slightly larger unit than what you'd normally book. Lastly, you might want to borrow, if you are trading for more popular week or location, than what you typically get.

*2) The ability to borrow, rent or transfer points from another member.* You have the ability to receive points into your RCI Points account from another RCI Point member.  This flexibility can gives you some more-subtle options that you might need or want to consider.

You can rent points from another RCI Points member; I've seen them go for anywhere from ~$.005 to ~$.011 per point on the forums, eBay and other websites.  [It seems like the price is climbing here lately, as the economy recovers and the demand for points increases -- but I admit that's just my gut telling me this.]  Like any purchase, buyer beware and do your due-diligence ahead of time --> in many ways it is no different than renting a week TS if you make a large RCI Points purchase.

You can also receive points from another RCI Points Member and there is no charge for doing it.  A points member that has some points that are close to expiring, might give them to another member so they can be used for an exchange; rather then letting them expire worthless. [A Note: TUG Members have briefly discussed this option on the forum in the past, but it might be a way to reduce the need for borrowing if integrated into vacation planning?]

Lastly you can rent points from RCI for a fee.  The cost for doing this will be higher than what most members pay for points at thier resort [points delivered per maintenance fee], but might be lower than the $99 TPU combine fee -- you'll need to do your own math for the properties you own.

The last 2 options might be useful for a member who has a bi-annual or tri-annual property and needs a few extra points, but can't borrow from next year's deposit.  [Think about it as a way to avoid buying a new TS, in order to make some nice exchanges now?]

*A NOTE:* I don't necessarily think constantly borrowing points is a good option, unless it is integrated into longer-term vacation ownership plans.  In addition, this might not be a good option, if you have problems balancing a budget or tend to get carried away with constantly borrowing points.

...some options in light of the OP.


----------



## tombo (Jan 25, 2011)

Thanks to all for the info on both weeks and points. After reading and studying the differences I am going to keep both weeks and points for the time being. The main advantage to me with points over weeks at this time to me is the shorter than 7 day stays. Booking 3 or 4 nights is better than what I often do, and that is booking a full week and checking out after 3 or 4 days. When I have expiring weeks deposits or when I want to go somewhere but can't stay for long I used to book a whole week and stay for 3 or 4 days figuring that the week was expiring in a few months and $179 exchange fee for 3 nights in a 2 bed room was cheap. Paying the points required for a 3 night stay is by far the better way to go. Thanks again to everyone.


----------

