# Help understand rci triannual



## Cay0908 (Sep 17, 2014)

I am in the process of purchasing a triannual rci timeshare, when I purchased it I was led to believe that I would get all points at once but now I am told I will only get 25k every year, the maintenance fees are paid every 3 year (they are low so I'm not concerned about the fee vs point amount) but I am confused about how I can use these points, I can't really do much with 25k points so what are my options, pay my maintenance fee then wait 3 years to use all the points at once or can I borrow points from the next 2 years to get the amount of points I need, it doesn't really make sense to me that I would pay the maintenance fee that would cover 3 years then have to borrow points, am I not understanding how this works correctly? Thanks for any help you can give me

Sorry if I am not posting this in the right place I wasn't sure where to post it


----------



## tschwa2 (Sep 17, 2014)

You should rescind if you bought retail...but as to how it would work...
If you want to stay at your resort during the regular use year, you just let the resort know 1 year before check in and they will reserve your unit and you won't get points for the next 3 years.   Alternatively if you want to go somewhere else and need more points the best option is to save points year 1 and borrow points from year 3 and use the year 2 points to book in year 2.    

Sometimes you can contact the resort and get them to switch how the points are given so that on the use year they will give out the whole amount and nothing the next two years.  You do have to pay for the rci points membership every year points or not.


----------



## Cay0908 (Sep 17, 2014)

I bought as a resale the whole transaction including closing and transfer fee was under $400, the maintenance fees are $630 every 3 years so it breaks down to $210 a year which I think is about right for 25k points per year, overall I think it was a good deal but I am not getting what I expected on the listing it said 75k deposited jan 1 then when I got the purchase agreement it said 25k per year,  I am also under contract for another rci point timeshare that is 66,500 points every other year so I believed this would be the same 
Is this still a good deal or should I forget about it? My goal was to have more points to be able to get a better vacation, I guess if I waited I could still do that


----------



## tschwa2 (Sep 17, 2014)

Eoy's are more likely to give you the whole amount eoy.  Triennial are more likely to give you 1/3 each year.  But like I said sometimes you can change it with the resort.  Typically you have to wait until use year to change but need to notify them a year in advance.


----------



## bogey21 (Sep 17, 2014)

tschwa2 said:


> If you want to stay at your resort during the regular use year, you just let the resort know 1 year before check in and they will reserve your unit and you won't get points for the next 3 years.   Alternatively if you want to go somewhere else and need more points the best option is to save points year 1 and borrow points from year 3 and use the year 2 points to book in year 2.



I have phased out of TS Weeks except for one ski week that is now in my Son's name.  If I were to get back in, I would look carefully at Tri-Annuals.  The flexibility as described above appeals to me.

George


----------



## tschwa2 (Sep 17, 2014)

bogey21 said:


> I have phased out of TS Weeks except for one ski week that is now in my Son's name.  If I were to get back in, I would look carefully at Tri-Annuals.  The flexibility as described above appeals to me.
> 
> George



Only problem with that would be that you have to have an rci points account every year at about $110 per year even with the multi year but in.  If you pay year by year it is about $124.  So whether yo use that week at your home resort or exchange out (with additional exchange fees) you are already out another $330 in addition to your mf's.  It's a fairly high price for the flexibility for a single triennial week.


And while rci has periodically had two for 1 membership or 3 for 1 membership discounts, the only discount offered to rci points members over the last 8 years (over the regular multi year discount) was a single additional $35 off the 2 or 3 year renewal rate during rci's 35 year anniversary (5 years ago).


----------



## Passepartout (Sep 17, 2014)

What he said, add $125 a year for membership. IMO the only thing a triennial ownership is good for is a low cost entry to Last Calls.

This is not necessarily a bad deal, but is will take work, management, and a sprinkling of luck to make it work. Far better to buy what you want, where you want (or are at least happy to go there part of the years) annually.

Jim


----------



## tschwa2 (Sep 17, 2014)

Triennial are also a way to get into points if you have additional weeks you want to use as PDF (points for deposit) on a semi regular basis or if you have points already and know you need x more on the average to get you the places you want.

I am not ready to get rid of points completely but I have downsized from about 85,000 a year to 106,000 eoy with a pdf every so often.  At the same time I increased my weeks ownership by about the same equivalent in MF's.


----------



## presley (Sep 17, 2014)

Cay0908 said:


> I am in the process of purchasing a triannual rci timeshare, when I purchased it I was led to believe that I would get all points at once but now I am told I will only get 25k every year



It boils down to if you knew when you started the purchase what you know now, would you have bought?  The seller shouldn't have said 75K points were deposited January 1 if that wasn't true.  I'd back out on that unless I thought 25K points/year would work for me.


----------



## Cay0908 (Sep 18, 2014)

Thanks for your replies, I have a question about the rci membership fees, do I need to pay a fee per ts each year ($125 each) or is it just a yearly fee no matter how many you own, also I don't know if this makes a difference but the rci membership was included in the purchase price/fees I paid, I'm guessing this was just for the first year though,  I have another ts that is not rci that i use for my main yearly week vacation, I am purchasing the rci because i want to try out the rci point system and thought that I would be able to take one additional vacation every other year, I guess I could still do that but I would have to wait a few years and it sounds like I would need to do a lot of planning to make that work for me  
I also frequently take 3-5 day vacations a year and often on short notice I am very flexible with when I can travel between sept-jan which is mostly the least busy season, would this timeshare plus the other every other year ts be easier to use for those trips, can you get good deals on short stays or last min travel, if so maybe this will work but not for what I thought it would 
And i probably would not have purchased if I knew that it was going to be 25k and not as advertised, I have received the contract but have not signed anything yet so I still have time to back out, I'm trying to decide if I can make this work or keep looking for something  else


----------



## Passepartout (Sep 18, 2014)

The RCI Points membership is for all the resort's you own, and the Weeks membership is included. So that's the max membership fee. Oh, besides the exchange fee (currently $209 online) for making an exchange, whether points, or weeks.

Jim


----------



## theo (Sep 18, 2014)

*Word police, splitting hairs...*

Just for the record:

tri*ennial* --- occurring every three years.

tri*annual* --- not actually a word at all afaik, but if it _*was*_ in the dictionary it would mean *three* times in *one* year (...doesn't exist in any single timeshare ownership).


----------



## Cay0908 (Sep 18, 2014)

I know sorry I didn't realize I was making up words until I just reread the post


----------



## theo (Sep 18, 2014)

*No harm, no foul...*



Cay0908 said:


> I know sorry I didn't realize I was making up words until I just reread the post



Don't be sorry; you are perhaps to be commended for language innovation.


----------



## bogey21 (Sep 18, 2014)

Passepartout said:


> What he said, add $125 a year for membership. IMO the only thing a triennial ownership is good for is a low cost entry to Last Calls.



Last calls are an added plus.  I see this as a low cost way to participate in TimeSharing.

George


----------



## chriskre (Sep 18, 2014)

Cay0908 said:


> I bought as a resale the whole transaction including closing and transfer fee was under $400, the maintenance fees are $630 every 3 years so it breaks down to $210 a year which I think is about right for 25k points per year, overall I think it was a good deal but I am not getting what I expected on the listing it said 75k deposited jan 1 then when I got the purchase agreement it said 25k per year,  I am also under contract for another rci point timeshare that is 66,500 points every other year so I believed this would be the same
> Is this still a good deal or should I forget about it? My goal was to have more points to be able to get a better vacation, I guess if I waited I could still do that



I own one of these.
You can borrow ahead to have 50K to use to book.
You can also do pfd (Points for deposit) of other weeks resorts that you own if they don't participate in RCI points to acquire more points.  
You'd be surprised at what you can find for around 28K points.
I book 2 bedrooms in the summer at the beach in FL for around 28K points.
Ends up being cheaper than using TPU's.  

I have also seen studios at DVC for 28K RCI points.
That's a pretty good deal if you don't own in Orlando.  
You could have done much worse. 
The free weeks account is a plus too.


----------



## brucecz (Sep 18, 2014)

I have a tri-annual that is in RCI Points.  I can take my far lower costing CMV UDI weeks and bank 4 UDI Oak Timbers and 4 Cottage week's each year at  prorated cost of about $205 per year.  Bruce


----------



## tschwa2 (Sep 18, 2014)

brucecz said:


> I have a tri-annual that is in RCI Points.  I can take my far lower costing CMV UDI weeks and bank 4 UDI Oak Timbers and 4 Cottage week's each year at  prorated cost of about $205 per year.  Bruce



That would be a quadrennial.  And really what you have is a 1/13 interest that allows addition useage as available.


----------



## Cay0908 (Sep 18, 2014)

If I were to split the points each year from the eoy ts plus the triennial that gives me 58,250 points per year, I've been looking at the points charts and I'm not sure how accurate they are or how nice each resort is but it seems like I could get something decent for that amount, I only need to get a 1 bedroom a 2 bedroom would be nice but not necessary, I could also wait a year and borrow to get more points
When I borrow from the 3rd year I wouldn't have to prepay maintenance fees right? I would have already paid them in the beginning of the three years 

The triennial points are from Orlando but the eoy are not, so I could only use those points for DVC

I think I am going to keep it or see if they have any other eoy ts I might be able to purchase instead, but if not it seems like a fairly low cost way to see how the rci points work and if I find I need more points per year I could always buy another ts, thanks for all your replies


----------



## brucecz (Sep 18, 2014)

tschwa2 said:


> That would be a quadrennial.  And really what you have is a 1/13 interest that allows addition useage as available.



What is a quadrennial?  Bruce


----------



## chriskre (Sep 18, 2014)

Cay0908 said:


> When I borrow from the 3rd year I wouldn't have to prepay maintenance fees right? I would have already paid them in the beginning of the three years



If this is Vacation Village at Parkway then you pay your MF's every 3 years but get the points allocated every year.   You wouldn't be paying MF's every year.
It works differently at some of their other resorts like Grandview where you pay 1/3 of your MF's yearly.


----------



## tschwa2 (Sep 18, 2014)

Cay0908 said:


> The triennial points are from Orlando but the eoy are not, so I could only use those points for DVC
> 
> I think I am going to keep it or see if they have any other eoy ts I might be able to purchase instead, but if not it seems like a fairly low cost way to see how the rci points work and if I find I need more points per year I could always buy another ts, thanks for all your replies



My understanding is that in an rci weeks account non Orlando weeks can be used at Dvc even if you own in Orlando.  If you combine a deposit that contains any points from Orlando you would not be able to exchange into Dvc.  Problem with points accounts are the points are always combined.  Therefore if you own an Orlando points unit you would not be able to use that account to exchange into Dvc.


----------



## Cay0908 (Sep 20, 2014)

I didn't know I wouldn't be able to use any of the points towards DVC, they are both points ts so the only way for me to not have them combined would be to use the week at the resort and not use the points? I don't usually go to disney but if I ever wanted to in the future then I guess I won't be exchanging for it 
Also does this apply to all DVC exchanges or only the ones in Orlando, I'm not sure how many other resorts there are but just for future reference, will no DVC come up as option when I look for an exchange


----------

