# [2013] Explaining the "Home Reservations" system in RCI Points



## JudyS (Jan 29, 2013)

I recently posted some VRI Home Group sightings on the Sightings Board. A poster replied and asked what "Home Group" means. Since not all BBS members have access to the sightings board, I am posting my answer here.

The "Home Group Booking Window" is part of RCI Points. In RCI Points, all inventory is made available to all members at 10 months prior to check-in. However, before inventory is made available to the general membership, there are three special booking windows, during which owners have "first crack" at reservations at their home resort or resort group.

The first special booking window is the "Home *Week* Booking Window." During this time period (which is about 13-12 months before check-in) owners have a chance to book their home week (the week that they converted to RCI Points) with no exchange fee. 

Second, there is a "Home *Resort* Booking Window." During this time period (which is about 12-11 months before check-in) owners have a chance to book any available week at their home resort (the resort where they own RCI Points.) Often, the exchange fee is reduced during this time period. For example, I own points at Winners' Circle in Solana Beach, CA. If I book during the Home Resort Booking Window, I can book a week at Winners' Circle for just a $40 exchange fee. (I own at a couple of other VRI-managed resorts and I think they would also be $40 per reservation during the Home Resort period.) 

Most other points systems (Wyndham, DVC, etc) have something similar to RCI Point's Home *Resort* Booking Window, where owners can book at their home resort before owners at other resorts can. This gives owners at a particular resort "first crack" at holidays and other desirable times at their home resort. 

Third, there is a "Home *Group *Booking Window," which is about 11-10 months before check-in. If the resort where you own points is managed by a group (such as VRI or Daily Management) then you can book any available week at other resorts managed by the same company, before the general RCI Points membership can book them. 

The Home *Group *Booking Window in RCI Points is similar to the Marriott Priority or Starwood Priority in II. The main difference is, deposits in II show up whenever owners get around to depositing their weeks, whereas deposits in RCI Points show up at a fixed time before check-in. (Occasionally, something will show up later due to a cancellation.) 

All RCI Points contracts have a Home Week and Home Resort booking window, but only some RCI Points contracts have a Home Group booking window. If you own at a resort that isn't part of a larger group, then you won't have a Home Group booking window. Again, this is similar to II, where some Marriott or Starwood resorts have special booking priority, and (most?) other resorts have no special booking priority. 

There is no extra fee for the Home Group Booking Window. If your RCI Points resort is part of a management group, then your RCI Points account automatically gives you access to the Home Group Booking Window. 

Also, currently RCI Points lets members use *all* of their points in their Home Group Booking Window, no matter where those points come from. For example, I have some extra points from "Points-For-Deposit," and the resort I used for Points-For-Deposit isn't part of VRI, but I can still use those extra points to book during the VRI Home Group Booking Window. 

RCI Points members can access their various "Home" booking windows by clicking where it says "Home Reservations" at the top of "Search for an Exchange Vacation" page. With the current RCI search system, searching for Home Group reservations is very easy to do. 

In my experience, the VRI Home Group booking window provides access to some nice weeks. I am trying to make a point of posting VRI Home Group sightings. I hope owners in other Home Groups will also post sightings from their Home Groups, so TUG members can compare the value of the different Home Groups in RCI Points.


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## hcarman (Jan 29, 2013)

Thanks for the great explanation.  Makes sense now.  I had never heard that term, as we use II more than RCI.
We are Marriott owners so we are very familiar with the Interval Marriott preference period.  We also own Hyatt and they have a preference period of sorts when booking internally.

However, we do own Bluegreen.  We have only once exchanged within RCI.  I assume this would mean that any of the Bluegreen resorts would be considered a Home group?  We could book these out further than other resorts on RCI?  It is a points system but we do have a deeded week - so that may fall under the Home Resort/Home week preference periods on RCI as well?  Will have to check into this.


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## JudyS (Jan 29, 2013)

hcarman said:


> ....
> However, we do own Bluegreen.  We have only once exchanged within RCI.  I assume this would mean that any of the Bluegreen resorts would be considered a Home group?...


Let me emphasize that the various booking windows I'm talking about are only in RCI *Points*, not RCI *Weeks*. I'm not sure any Bluegreen resorts trade in RCI Points. 

There used to be some special trade priorities in RCI Weeks, but they worked differently than the Booking Windows in RCI Points. I'm not sure if there still are any special trade priorities in RCI Weeks.


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## hcarman (Jan 29, 2013)

We are actually part of RCI Points now with Bluegreen.  So, our exchanges have been through the Points side of RCI.  We have not been with Bluegreen more than a few years, but when we first joined, we were with RCI weeks.


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## darkfox021 (Feb 25, 2013)

Thanks for this information. How are floating weeks (such as 24-32) handled in the Home Week Booking Window? Do they lose out on this priority?


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## JudyS (Feb 25, 2013)

darkfox021 said:


> Thanks for this information. How are floating weeks (such as 24-32) handled in the Home Week Booking Window? Do they lose out on this priority?


I don't own a floating week, but I have heard floating owners also get the Home Week booking window. During that time, no one else can book (only owners during that floating system), and there is no exchange fee. I don't know how RCI resolves conflicts if, say, a whole bunch of owners all want July 4th week. Possibly, it is first come, first served.


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## darkfox021 (Feb 26, 2013)

Thanks, further confusion in reading your reply prompted me to re-read your original post. I misunderstood that the Home Week Booking Window applied only to your original underlying week at your original underlying home resort. For some reason, I misread this that you had priority access to your original underlying home week at _any_ RCI resort.

The home week booking window is far less useful to what I'm trying to do.


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## Free2Roam (Feb 26, 2013)

A few months back I picked up an RCI Points contract for a summer week at Landmark Holiday Beach Resort in PCB, FL. _(I was a little surprised that no one else bid on it...I'm guessing it's because the cost per point wasn't great.) _I bought this for the week... the fact that it's a VRI resort already converted to RCI Points was a bonus, since - at least for now - I can now use my other points for VRI home group reservations.    By the time I bought this contract, the 2013 usage was already in RCI Points.  I already had an RCI Points contract at VV@P and  I know there's a Disney block on RCI  points from Orlando area resorts.  I also heard/read that this  block is for your account, not just for the Orlando resort points.  

A couple questions:


After these points were added to my account, I  was surprised to see Disney availability that I couldn't see when I only had  VV@P RCI points.  I even tried making a reservation (never actually confirmed with payment though).  Does this mean that the Disney block is NOT for the  account?  Or would my reservation have been cancelled if I had confirmed?  I  don't really want a reservation now, or in the immediate future...but I have  a 1 yr old granddaughter who will probably convince me to take her to Disney in a few years.
Since the "Home" reservations are made thru RCI, if I want to send a guest to Landmark in my place, during my Home Week, will I need to obtain (and pay for) a guest certificate from RCI?  Or can I just contact my home resort?  I called RCI and asked this question and I don't like the answer they   gave. I know sometimes the answer depends on the rep's knowledge... so I  figured I'd ask here.  Perhaps someone knows firsthand.


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## JudyS (Feb 28, 2013)

darkfox021 said:


> Thanks, further confusion in reading your reply prompted me to re-read your original post. I misunderstood that the Home Week Booking Window applied only to your original underlying week at your original underlying home resort. For some reason, I misread this that you had priority access to your original underlying home week at _any_ RCI resort.
> 
> The home week booking window is far less useful to what I'm trying to do.


The Home *Week *booking window is really just to let you use your underlying (deeded) week rather than having it go into the RCI exchange pool. So, it's not really for an exchange at all. The Home *Resort* and Home *Group* booking windows provide priority into certain exchanges.


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## JudyS (Feb 28, 2013)

FreeIn2010 said:


> After these points were added to my account, I  was surprised to see Disney availability that I couldn't see when I only had  VV@P RCI points.  I even tried making a reservation (never actually confirmed with payment though).  Does this mean that the Disney block is NOT for the  account?  Or would my reservation have been cancelled if I had confirmed?  I  don't really want a reservation now, or in the immediate future...but I have  a 1 yr old granddaughter who will probably convince me to take her to Disney in a few years.
> Since the "Home" reservations are made thru RCI, if I want to send a guest to Landmark in my place, during my Home Week, will I need to obtain (and pay for) a guest certificate from RCI?  Or can I just contact my home resort?  I called RCI and asked this question and I don't like the answer they   gave. I know sometimes the answer depends on the rep's knowledge... so I  figured I'd ask here.  Perhaps someone knows firsthand.


Juanita, I wish I knew the answer to question #1!

As for question #2, RCI wants you to get a Guest Certificate if you send a guest to use your home week. However, some resorts enforce this rule, and others don't. For the three VRI resorts I own, one requires me to get a Guest Certificate if I send a guest to use my Home Week, and the other two resorts just let me notify them directly, no Guest Certificate required. By the way, back when "Madge" was the RCI rep here on TUG, she confirmed that owners are allowed to rent their Home Week even if it's been converted to RCI Points.


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## Free2Roam (Feb 28, 2013)

Thanks Judy. I was actually contemplating picking up another VRI resort in RCI Points and taking this one out. I'll call Landmark and ask about the guest certificate. It is also good to know that I can rent my Home Week if I want.


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## rifleman69 (Mar 4, 2013)

Love the Home Group option, essentially traded into Wyndham Shearwater for next to nothing!


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## Joe33426 (Jul 27, 2013)

I'm wondering if the group priority in points, extends to groups that you are in due to weeks ownership.  

In other words, If I have a points account with Resort A that is in the Daily Management group and a weeks account with Resort B that's in VRI, will I have access to the priority window to point reservations at Resort C that is in the points program?  

Or, does the week that I own in Resort B have to be in the points program?


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## vacationhopeful (Jul 27, 2013)

The VRI resort MAY have changed your RCI Points account - as VRI points and its "free weeks" account has a specialize 1-800 booking number ==> which I always get transferred to when I call the general VRI number.

This MIGHT have hidden your Orlando ownership from the "Disney exclusion" rule.


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## harveyhaddixfan (Aug 21, 2015)

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I was just looking for this info and found it VERY helpful!


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