Hello all - Timeshare advice please - my first post!

[homefromhome]

Hello all - I would very much appreciated some TS advice.

We have a TS that we've owned for 6 years in Lanzarote - Weeks 33 and 34 - we do like the place but don't necessarily want to keep going back to the same location.

We have been advised to join RCI points (but still keep ownership) - to give us the flexibility to go elsewhere if we need to.

We've paid our maintenance fee this year of £650 - and it will cost and additional £768 to convert to points yet still keep ownership of our weeks and specific apartment. Is this the best 'flexible' option out there? Thanks. This deal was with worldwide timeshare.

 

[homefromhome]

I forgot to mention that my timeshare over two weeks converts to 126,000 points. I have no idea what TS's I can exchange against using those points because I'm not a member of RCI and therefore cannot see the property listings.

Also if I want to upgrade it's a penny-per-point (or I can use banked weeks).

Thanks again.

 

[Passepartout]

Welcome to TUG. I see you've been here checking out the site for a little while, and have noticed that it's pretty US centered. That said, we USUALLY don't recommend upgrading to RCI Points through the resort you own, but if accurate, a 768 pound price to do it is pretty reasonable. That's under $1,000 and US resorts often charge $3,000 to do it. Then there is the (US) $124/yr. RCI membership that is ongoing. 126,000 points is a good size bundle of points. That should get you 2+ prime weeks in top-line resorts. A lot more in lesser size or off-or shoulder season.

If you convert, you will have to notify your resort- probably at the time you pay your annual fee- whether you want to use your underlying week(s) at the home resort or if you want the points deposited into your account. If you use your week(s) the RCI membership is just sunk cost. You still have to pay and other than access to Last Calls (discounted cash rentals inside 45 days from move-in) you get nothing. Ask yourself if the freedom to exchange is worth the cost. You can still deposit the weeks you own into an exchange if you want without converting to RCI Points.

I know you have lots of questions, and for this, there is no 'right' or complete answer. So if you have others, fire away. We'll try.

Jim

 

[homefromhome]

That's excellent advice thank you. I did consider just joining RCI and simply banking my Weeks because that would only cost membership of RCI; however I was told that this limits the resorts I could choose from because I could only choose from banked week resorts, but with points I could choose from BOTH banked weeks and points resorts (I don't know if this is true or not). Also in that price the deal was that I would get 1 years RCI membership thrown in.

I seriously considered banked weeks initially because that way you keep the deed on the property right down to the favourite apartment you purchased - but you can now do this with points so that's not a problem anymore.

Apart from the outlay of £768 - it 'seems' like a very good deal.

 

[TUGBrian]

yes its generally a best practice to "not pay to upgrade to points" as the resale market is quite literally flooded with free timeshare intervals for sale that have already been converted to points...

so basically one has to decide if its worth the time and effort to dispose of your existing timeshare by selling it for $1, and then picking up one already converted to points for another $1 (closing costs may or may not apply depending on what you are buying/selling)....or just paying the cost to upgrade your existing ownership.

you should be able to look at resale ads for properties and see what the underlying RCI point values are for those that have already been converted to RCI points as a place to start your research!

the TUG exchanging forum below is another great place to look up point values!


here is a thread that might give you some more to chew on!

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/should-i-convert-to-points-need-to-know-asap.238189/