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RCI fees increasing 11/1

Pair-A-Dice

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I have never used RCI or II. Can someone tell me why they would pay $239 to exchange their timeshare when they can do it for FREE right here on TUG. Is it the selection? If all the Tuggers used Tug to exchange then we would have a wider selection. I'm all about Free.
 

Synergy

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I have never used RCI or II. Can someone tell me why they would pay $239 to exchange their timeshare when they can do it for FREE right here on TUG. Is it the selection? If all the Tuggers used Tug to exchange then we would have a wider selection. I'm all about Free.

Well, with each of my weeks, I can book multiple weeks using the exchanges. Most of my weeks are points, so I'm tied to RCI for exchange, but I'd be a member of exchanges regardless. If I wanted something truly special, I'd make the attempt here - but I'd also be using an old ongoing search to make the attempt on the exchange.
 

dgalati

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Being in a digital world, travel down and working from home , the owners are getting greedy. That is why i used other exchange companies like SFX and RTX, superior rates and resorts although less choice.
These fee increases are why renting is a better deal then owning. Why own when you can rent for less from a VIP? Without the burden of paying maintenance fees.
 
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Happytravels

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We are down to three!!
These fee increases are why renting is a better deal then owning. Why own when you can rent for less from a VIP? Without the burden of paying maintenance fees.
You are correct. We have recently deeded back two of our timeshares. We are now down to three. Two are fixed weeks at the beach and the other is floating with free internal exchanges to 12 different resorts. Our RCI membership is paid until 2023, not sure if we will continue. When we first started in late 90's exchange fees were $99.00 and so were last calls. Times have changed and so has the industry. On another note our beach week resort has been renting out units instead if selling.
 

PamMo

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Ugh! I'm revisiting this now. I have a bunch of Covid banked HGVC points and was thinking about exchanging in RCI. That $249 exchange fee is just salt in the wound. :cry:
 

tschwa2

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Ugh! I'm revisiting this now. I have a bunch of Covid banked HGVC points and was thinking about exchanging in RCI. That $249 exchange fee is just salt in the wound. :cry:
rci points inventory went up last month too. I think a week in points inventory is now $219
 

montygz

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These fee increases are why renting is a better deal then owning. Why own when you can rent for less from a VIP? Without the burden of paying maintenance fees.
Sometimes that's true, but remember that while fees can go up a few percent, that rental you got a bargain on last year could jump up substantially more if lots of people want to travel.
 

moonstone

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77,000 RCI points (Sunrise Ridge Resort, TN)
Ugh! I'm revisiting this now. I have a bunch of Covid banked HGVC points and was thinking about exchanging in RCI. That $249 exchange fee is just salt in the wound. :cry:

Not as bad as us Canadians are charged. A Points exchange fee for a 7-13 night stay is $321, for a week it's $365. At today's exchange rates a $249 US exchange should be $306 Cndn.

I still think that for those of us who do all our own searching and booking online, not involving an RCI councilor at all, should get a big break on the fees.


~Diane
 

escanoe

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I still think that for those of us who do all our own searching and booking online, not involving an RCI councilor at all, should get a big break on the fees.

Could not agree more! I can't speak for II (haven't used it yet), but RCI is like a legacy company made to work on the phone that has limped along and not truly faced competition from a digital innovator. I COMPLETELY manage my OGSs online, yet they call me at least once a day every day that I have an OGS matching. I can opt out of them calling me altogether, but haven't. I am sure they have had tremendous overhead costs dealing with things on the phone during COVID that they were systemically incapable of managing electronically.

I am not anti-RCI. They give me value or I would not use them. I just wish they faced a little more competition and were forced to be more sensitive to pricing. I would really like to see the merged HGVC-DRI launch an exchange for the modern era OR see a new entrant ... something like SFX deciding they were going to digitize and scale up.
 
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