Royal Holiday transfer to RCI - their choice on resort/week?

[BrianKrueger]

I am a Royal Holiday points timeshare owner. I get 25,000 points per year. I did not use my 2013 points, so I am rolling them over into 2014. I also prepaid for 2014, so I can now book out to 12/31/2014. I have 50,000 points allocated to 2014. I want to transfer to RCI to get a better selection of resorts (most of Royal Holiday's primary resorts are all-inclusive, which doesn't work well for me or my wife).

In the past I have had a bad experience with earning trading power by having the weeks assigned by Royal Holiday. In both cases, I was at the end of a year when I could not use my Royal Holiday points and called RCI, they then got on the phone with Royal Holiday, and I ended up getting whatever they (Royal Holiday) decided to transfer. They simply assigned a week (or two in my case in the most recent transfer in 2012) that was just a couple months out with very little trading power. In reviewing the info at RCI, it stressed the importance of depositing weeks as far out in advance as possible, at least 9 months in advance if possible. It also emphasized transferring from a resort in demand for a week that is in demand. OK, I am paid up in advance for 2014, so I am planning out in advance.

I checked with the RCI calculator and chose a specific week (during Christmas 2014, 12/20-27, 2014) at a specific resort to maximize my trading power. I talked to someone at RCI who told me that I needed to reserve that week with Royal Holiday first, then have it transferred to RCI.

So far so good.

I called Royal Holiday and tried to book that week. I was told I could only book 12/6 or 12/13 (both of which are much lower trading power) to transfer to RCI. She said she could book me personally for 12/20/2014, but it would not be a week that would be transferrable to RCI. I didn’t know that there were limited weeks available for transfer (that wasn’t my impression when talking with RCI). She told me to call back next month.

I then tried doing a chat session online with Royal Holiday. That operator said that Royal Holiday will actually assign the week for you from inventory, that I don’t get to choose the resort or the week. He said "the system" would randomly assign the week for transfer to RCI. That is exactly the problem I had in the past. I don’t want Royal Holiday to assign the week they want to get rid of. I want to assign a week that has trading power.

Does anyone with Royal Holiday points have a recommendation on how to approach this? Am I truly limited to whatever Royal Holiday wants to assign to RCI?

Help?

 

[BevL]

I can't comment specifically on Royal Holiday but that is not an unusual scenario at all. Many timeshares, both those that are in programs and independent, deposit a whole bunch of weeks into RCI, then as owners call in and want to deposit into RCI, assign one of those prebanked weeks. The process is known as "bulk banking."

THere are lots of pros and cons and it has been discussed at length on the BBS, you could probably find more than you want to know if you do a search for "bulk bank."

On the pro side, bulk banks are great for those looking to exchange into a resort - they often will provide a bunch of weeks that otherwise might not be available. It's also good for folks who don't plan to deposit their timeshare (or don't plan at all) until close to the last minute; you're getting a week that has been deposited for quite a while so you're not losing trading power for a late deposit. As well, it basically reserves high demand weeks for owners rather than making them available for exchange.

On the con side though, it's not as appealing to most TUGgers, as we normally are pretty on top of what we're doing with our timeshares, like to deposit the best weeks we can to get the most trading power we can as far in advance as we can.

It doesn't surprise me that RCI did not alert you to this, it really has nothing to do with them as they just accept whatever week they're given. It's your timeshare group that have set the rules as to what is allowed to be deposited.

An option might be to consider an independent company. I've never used them but I think the rules may be a bit different with some or all of them. Perhaps someone with some experience or knowledge will comment on that.

There is likely nothing you can do as far as getting a high demand week to deposit with RCI, I'm afraid.

Bev

 

[MuranoJo]

Bev is correct. For resorts that do bulk spacebanking (for floating units), it is the luck of the draw what you'll get for your deposit & trading power.

That said, if you can reserve a high-demand week, often times you can lock that in and exchange through one of the independents (non-RCI or -II). You just need to first make sure the independent exchange company will take your resort's week. So check with the independent exchange company first, then reserve your week at your resort (no need to tell them what you'll do with your week), then call the independent back and they will initiate the transfer directly from your resort. Also make sure the independent exchange company has inventory you want.

Good luck!

 

[BrianKrueger]

Bev is correct. For resorts that do bulk spacebanking (for floating units), it is the luck of the draw what you'll get for your deposit & trading power.

That said, if you can reserve a high-demand week, often times you can lock that in and exchange through one of the independents (non-RCI or -II). You just need to first make sure the independent exchange company will take your resort's week. So check with the independent exchange company first, then reserve your week at your resort (no need to tell them what you'll do with your week), then call the independent back and they will initiate the transfer directly from your resort. Also make sure the independent exchange company has inventory you want.

Good luck!

Thanks for your help. Can you recommend any independent exchanges to research/review further?

 

[MaryH]

Brian

I only deposited one week from rhc to rci years ago before points lite. they assigned a mexico or nassau week that already passed with little trading power. how many tpu did Rci give for your week?

I tend to deposit to sfx (but they only take certain weeks) and platinum interchage and if you choose the right weeks and or deposit early enough you can get bonus weeks. I have also deposited a few weeks into Dae

 

[BrianKrueger]

Depositing with RH vs. SFX vs. PI vs. DAE

Brian

I only deposited one week from rhc to rci years ago before points lite. they assigned a mexico or nassau week that already passed with little trading power. how many tpu did Rci give for your week?

I tend to deposit to sfx (but they only take certain weeks) and platinum interchage and if you choose the right weeks and or deposit early enough you can get bonus weeks. I have also deposited a few weeks into Dae

Hi Mary,

I got 12 TPU for each of the two weeks that were deposited by RH to RCI. Really only able to book other off weeks, not the places we were actually interested in staying when we wanted to stay there. Like you, RH assigned a Mexico week (Cancun), in my case it was only 2 months out.

With SFX, PI and DAE, can you choose which week to book with RH and then transfer it to them? Or is it the same with RH deciding which week?

I haven't used anything other than RCI, so SFX, PI and DAE are new to me. I will do more research online this morning. Do you (or anyone else) have any recommendation for/against these three (or any others), specifically as it refers to maximizing value with RH points as the base timeshare?

Thanks for your help!

 

[PeelBoy]

Hi Mary,

I got 12 TPU for each of the two weeks that were deposited by RH to RCI. Really only able to book other off weeks, not the places we were actually interested in staying when we wanted to stay there. Like you, RH assigned a Mexico week (Cancun), in my case it was only 2 months out.

With SFX, PI and DAE, can you choose which week to book with RH and then transfer it to them? Or is it the same with RH deciding which week?

I haven't used anything other than RCI, so SFX, PI and DAE are new to me. I will do more research online this morning. Do you (or anyone else) have any recommendation for/against these three (or any others), specifically as it refers to maximizing value with RH points as the base timeshare?

Thanks for your help!

Brian,

You select and reserve the week online without telling RHC. Thereafter, deposit the week to independents, who will deal with RHC. For the first deposit, RHC may ask you to sign an authorization, however, the work is done by the independents.

You really have to study these independents. They can be added benefits but too small to replace RCI and II.

 

[BrianKrueger]

RCI/II vs. Independents

Brian,

You select and reserve the week online without telling RHC. Thereafter, deposit the week to independents, who will deal with RHC. For the first deposit, RHC may ask you to sign an authorization, however, the work is done by the independents.

You really have to study these independents. They can be added benefits but too small to replace RCI and II.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I'm a newbie at this, not having dealt with anyone other than RCI to this point. The big negative with RCI is that I'm not getting to choose the week I deposit, by the way you describe it, you can do this with the independents?

I've been reviewing the sites of SFX, PI and DAE this morning. On the surface, they appear to be similar to RCI. Why are they called independents vs. RCI/II? Any recommendations for a link that will show a comparison across these different exchanges, pluses/minuses?

 

[PeelBoy]

It would be nice if those who have used an independent exchange company recently with an RHC deposit and had success, maybe they could tell us specifically which one was able to work it. My fear is that RHC would say that RCI is the only authorized exchange company and they would refuse to 'confirm' your deposit to the independent. Comments?

I dealt with DAE only but have talked to SFX and SFX agreed to accept my deposit. DAE dealt with RHC directly in the backroom and SFX had advised me that they will handle the deposit directly with RHC without my involvement.

DAE accepts everything. Exchange is like to like, ie. a studio for a studio. SFX accepts a few e.g. SFO. Check their list.

 

[BrianKrueger]

Who decided what got transferred?

I dealt with DAE only but have talked to SFX and SFX agreed to accept my deposit. DAE dealt with RHC directly in the backroom and SFX had advised me that they will handle the deposit directly with RHC without my involvement.

DAE accepts everything. Exchange is like to like, ie. a studio for a studio. SFX accepts a few e.g. SFO. Check their list.

So who decided which week/unit/location would be transferred? You? Or RHC? Or DAE?

 

[PeelBoy]

So who decided which week/unit/location would be transferred? You? Or RHC? Or DAE?

I decided the resort, the week and the unit type. I made the reservation online without telling RHC as if I were using the week/unit. The rest will be dealt with by DAE, and I receive a deposit credit from DAE.


It seems you do not know these independents very well. Do your due diligence. Check all small prints before your commitment. I was shocked by an exchange that I can legally call it false pretendence. DAE presented the resort as a 5 star hotel but in fact the studio was a service apartment in the same building. The unit was fine and I enjoyed my stay, but was not pleased with the misrepresentation. I will return to this service apartment in October but this time I fully know what I am going to get.