RCI points

[Panbad]

I've been scouring the forums trying to find this answer and I cannot. Is it possible (or beneficial) to buy a very small contract (Wyndham or other TS) just to have access to RCI? I like the idea of looking and using the last call feature but you have to be a TS owner to do so. I like Wyndham - and I'm considering buying in at some point but would like to "test the waters" in RCI to see if that would even be beneficial.

Another side question - I see a lot of places that sell "RCI Points", but RCI isn't a TS right? Do you already have to be a TS owner to buy "RCI Points". The sales I've looked at on EBAY and Redweek appear to be normal TS's with MF and such, but for RCI points only.

Thanks to anyone who can help. All the information on this site and the web is a little overwhelming.

 

[55plus]

If you are military or a veteran try this: www.AFVClub.com. It has last minute discount deals and much more. It's like RCI without points.

 

[Panbad]

If you are military or a veteran try this: www.AFVClub.com. It has last minute discount deals and much more. It's like RCI without points.

I'm not either - but this page looks identical to tripbeat.com I looked at that earlier today and the site is identical (other than the header).

 

[55plus]

It's probably by the same vacation brokers. I'll send it to my non military friends. Thanks.

 

[kwelty]

I've been pleased with RCI points which is not the same as Wyndham points (you mentioned buying Wyndham). The way I exchange mine is for inventory that is within about a 30 day window and the points to get a week drops to less than 10,000, usually 7,500. With a good maintenance fee rate of a penny a point, the total cost with a standard $239 exchange fee is a little over $300 for a week in a two bedroom. During the summer the pickings are slim but there is always a better selection than last call or AFVC.
Try to get something in points that is somewhere you want to go anyway because you may end up with too many points. You can always drop out of points if you don't like it and use the underlying week. You shouldn't have to pay a premium over a regular week to get points, RCI points are something the previous owner bought after owning the week already.

 

[Panbad]

I've been pleased with RCI points which is not the same as Wyndham points (you mentioned buying Wyndham). The way I exchange mine is for inventory that is within about a 30 day window and the points to get a week drops to less than 10,000, usually 7,500. With a good maintenance fee rate of a penny a point, the total cost with a standard $239 exchange fee is a little over $300 for a week in a two bedroom. During the summer the pickings are slim but there is always a better selection than last call or AFVC.
Try to get something in points that is somewhere you want to go anyway because you may end up with too many points. You can always drop out of points if you don't like it and use the underlying week. You shouldn't have to pay a premium over a regular week to get points, RCI points are something the previous owner bought after owning the week already.

Can you help me understand what RCI Points are? Or direct me somewhere to research them? I understand RCI to be a "middle man" only for exchanging timeshares/points, but it makes it sound like RCI has their own points they sell as well? That's confusing to me.

 

[kwelty]

Can you help me understand what RCI Points are? Or direct me somewhere to research them? I understand RCI to be a "middle man" only for exchanging timeshares/points, but it makes it sound like RCI has their own points they sell as well? That's confusing to me.

RCI Doesn't sell points, usually the HOA or developer does and prices vary but usually are $thousands. However on the aftermarket, most notably ebay, a week with points is free or a few hundred dollars. You can put in your search request and ebay will let you know when you get a match.
This TUG article and topic may help you:

https://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/rci-points-exchange-timeshare-faq.html

https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/rci-points-reference-guide.283848/#post-2246585

 

[Panbad]

RCI Doesn't sell points, usually the HOA or developer does and prices vary but usually are $thousands. However on the aftermarket, most notably ebay, a week with points is free or a few hundred dollars. You can put in your search request and ebay will let you know when you get a match.
This TUG article and topic may help you:

https://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/rci-points-exchange-timeshare-faq.html

https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/rci-points-reference-guide.283848/#post-2246585

Thank you Keith, I've read through those and they are helpful but it doesn't answer my initial question: Do you already have to be a TS owner to buy "RCI Points"?
Based on what I'm seeing it appears no, but the whole design behind RCI is to exchange points/weeks for existing owners. How can you own RCI points without owning a resort?

 

[moonstone]

RCI Points are affiliated with a resort. Ours (77K, bought resale) are with the Vacation Village chain (Vacation Village at Parkway, at Weston,...) affiliated with (deeded to) Sunrise Ridge Resort in TN. We can spend 1 week there in a 2 bedroom or let the points stay in the RCI system and use smaller amounts of the total and exchange into other resorts, often for many more weeks. We can get a slightly better deal (lower exchange fee & points needed) if we stay within the Vacation Village system but it isn't mandatory. You can make points your first purchase or like in our case add to your collection. We only pay for 1 RCI membership but have different sign-ins depending if we want to search in the points system or the weeks system.


~Diane

 

[Panbad]

RCI Points are affiliated with a resort. Ours (77K, bought resale) are with the Vacation Village chain (Vacation Village at Parkway, at Weston,...) affiliated with (deeded to) Sunrise Ridge Resort in TN. We can spend 1 week there in a 2 bedroom or let the points stay in the RCI system and use smaller amounts of the total and exchange into other resorts, often for many more weeks. We can get a slightly better deal (lower exchange fee & points needed) if we stay within the Vacation Village system but it isn't mandatory. You can make points your first purchase or like in our case add to your collection. We only pay for 1 RCI membership but have different sign-ins depending if we want to search in the points system or the weeks system.


~Diane

Thanks Diane, that's helpful. So when you're buying "RCI Points" in the resale market, it's really a timeshare somewhere that you're purchasing and the RCI points are nothing more than the timeshare points/weeks being converted already to RCI. I think I got it, but man that's confusing. So the best research you could do when looking at RCI Points sales is to find the underlying timeshare and determine if that's a TS company you want to own and work with.

 

[Jan M.]

Thanks Diane, that's helpful. So when you're buying "RCI Points" in the resale market, it's really a timeshare somewhere that you're purchasing and the RCI points are nothing more than the timeshare points/weeks being converted already to RCI. I think I got it, but man that's confusing. So the best research you could do when looking at RCI Points sales is to find the underlying timeshare and determine if that's a TS company you want to own and work with.

You got it!

I usually recommend looking for a 98,000 point week at Grandview Las Vegas. This resort is in the Vacation Village family of resorts. The maintenance fees for the two bedrooms for 2019 are $835. The two bedroom units are depending on the week get 122,000, 98,000, 80,000 or 61,000 points. The one bedroom weeks get 61,000, 49,000, 40,000, or 30,500 points. The maintenance fees are 417.50 for the one bedroom weeks. Obviously the 122,000 two bedroom and 61,000 one bedroom weeks would be everyone's first choice but because of that you don't often find good deals on them. You can find good deals on the 98,000 two bedroom and 49,000 one bedroom weeks.

You can carry over points and borrow points. When you borrow points from your next use year you would have to pay the maintenance fees for that year even though they wouldn't be due until January 1 if you weren't borrowing points.

 

[Panbad]

I see 2 sets of 122,000 points for sale on the TUG marketplace (for the Grandview at LV). It looks like they are owned by "Vacation Village"? So I would need to find out what ownership looks like through that company.

I like the idea of looking w/in Wyndham as I understand it the best, I've stayed at Wyndham a few times, and I like the resort. I found a Sapphire Wyndham contract on the TUG marketplace for 154,000 points but it sounds like they are already transferring the deed. The maintenance fees looked about as low as any I've found for sale for Wyndham and was bummed to find that they were already selling.

Appreciate your help Jan! I've read a lot of your posts on these message boards and you're very helpful and for us newbies, I'm grateful!

 

[Panbad]

Ok, so I'm doing math now. Scenario: I purchase 122k points via Granview LV at $835 MF/Yr.
I take 1 trip via RCI, total cost for the MF/booking/RCI membership would be: $835 + $239 + $129 = $1203 - if we only take 1 trip per year it would make more sense to rent.
If we take 2 trips per year: $835 + $239 + $239 + $129 = $1442/2 = $721 - still looks like renting would probably be the better option.
If we take 3 trips per year: $835 + $239 + $239 + $239 + $129 = $1681/3 = $560 - this is where it could make more sense to own and obviously price per trip goes down for every one you take.

Question on Wyndham - if you own points in Wyndham and deposit those into RCI, do you still pay the $239 fee to RCI to use the points? If so it'd probably be advantageous to book within Wyndham as much as possible.

 

[Jan M.]

I see 2 sets of 122,000 points for sale on the TUG marketplace (for the Grandview at LV). It looks like they are owned by "Vacation Village"? So I would need to find out what ownership looks like through that company.

I like the idea of looking w/in Wyndham as I understand it the best, I've stayed at Wyndham a few times, and I like the resort. I found a Sapphire Wyndham contract on the TUG marketplace for 154,000 points but it sounds like they are already transferring the deed. The maintenance fees looked about as low as any I've found for sale for Wyndham and was bummed to find that they were already selling.

Appreciate your help Jan! I've read a lot of your posts on these message boards and you're very helpful and for us newbies, I'm grateful!

On the Grandview 122,000 point week. The ad says the price is $1500 plus the 2019 maintenance fee ($835) reimbursement, closing cost by LT Transfers of approximately $150 and $225 resort transfer fee. LT Transfers as of this Fall was charging $215. It would be more if the seller isn't able to provide them with the deed and they have to get it. The Grandview resort transfer fee is $250. If the seller will transfer their RCI account to you it will cost $98. If you have to get a new RCI points account it will be $222 but that includes the first year's membership fee. So now you are up to $2800 plus the possible charge to get a copy of the deed plus either $98 or $222 for the RCI account.

We have a 98,000 point week at Grandview that we will be giving away at some point this year and there are other people offering the same thing. Please know I am not pushing our week just giving you something to compare. You could have our week for the transfer fee and closing cost and we do have the deed. So $465. However our week won't have points until 2020 but you can borrow against them for this year as long as you pre-pay the 2020 maintenance fees. Other people might have points for 2019 and they may or may not want you to pay the 2019 maintenance fees. And of course you will have the expense of the RCI account. So to compare apples to apples we are going to look at how many years it would take you to recover that $1500 they are asking based on this years maintenance fees of $835 for either week. That $835 divided by 122,000 points times the 24,000 more points you will get with the 122,000 week over the 98,000 point week means those 24,000 points have a value of $164.26 for this year. If you divided the $1500 the seller is asking by $164.26 that means it will take you 9.13 years to recover the cost of those 24,000 points a year. Or if you look at it based on the 98,000 points cost per point it would be $204.49 to have 24,000 more points year which comes out to 7.35 years. My brain is overtaxed right now to figure out which is the most valid way to look at it.

Now on to the Wyndham 154,000 points with maintenance fees of $63.70 a month. 154,000 points isn't all that many points so do some research on the resorts you think you will be wanting to visit in the next few years to see what that number of points will get you. I'm not sure the $63.70 a month includes the program fee which for you would be another $135 a year if it isn't included. The only information I am able to find on Shapphire Valley is from the 2017 sticky on maintenance fees and it isn't a great deal of help. 12 times $63.70 is $764.40 and I'm not seeing anything that low. Hopefully someone else will post what the 2019 maintenance fees are for points at Sapphire Valley. The buyer is responsible for all the transfer fees. We already know what LT Transfers charges, $215. The resort transfer fee for Wyndham is is $299

Sapphire Valley

• Fairway Forest DS Annual 1177.7
• Fairway Forest SS Annual 865.15
• Foxhunt All Annual 902.93
• Mt Laurel Villas All Annual 1305.49

 

[Panbad]

On the Grandview 122,000 point week. The ad says the price is $1500 plus the 2019 maintenance fee ($835) reimbursement, closing cost by LT Transfers of approximately $150 and $225 resort transfer fee. LT Transfers as of this Fall was charging $215. It would be more if the seller isn't able to provide them with the deed and they have to get it. The Grandview resort transfer fee is $250. If the seller will transfer their RCI account to you it will cost $98. If you have to get a new RCI points account it will be $222 but that includes the first year's membership fee. So now you are up to $2800 plus the possible charge to get a copy of the deed plus either $98 or $222 for the RCI account.

We have a 98,000 point week at Grandview that we will be giving away at some point this year and there are other people offering the same thing. Please know I am not pushing our week just giving you something to compare. You could have our week for the transfer fee and closing cost and we do have the deed. So $465. However our week won't have points until 2020 but you can borrow against them for this year as long as you pre-pay the 2020 maintenance fees. Other people might have points for 2019 and they may or may not want you to pay the 2019 maintenance fees. And of course you will have the expense of the RCI account. So to compare apples to apples we are going to look at how many years it would take you to recover that $1500 they are asking based on this years maintenance fees of $835 for either week. That $835 divided by 122,000 points times the 24,000 more points you will get with the 122,000 week over the 98,000 point week means those 24,000 points have a value of $164.26 for this year. If you divided the $1500 the seller is asking by $164.26 that means it will take you 9.13 years to recover the cost of those 24,000 points a year. Or if you look at it based on the 98,000 points cost per point it would be $204.49 to have 24,000 more points year which comes out to 7.35 years. My brain is overtaxed right now to figure out which is the most valid way to look at it.

Now on to the Wyndham 154,000 points with maintenance fees of $63.70 a month. 154,000 points isn't all that many points so do some research on the resorts you think you will be wanting to visit in the next few years to see what that number of points will get you. I'm not sure the $63.70 a month includes the program fee which for you would be another $135 a year if it isn't included. The only information I am able to find on Shapphire Valley is from the 2017 sticky on maintenance fees and it isn't a great deal of help. 12 times $63.70 is $764.40 and I'm not seeing anything that low. Hopefully someone else will post what the 2019 maintenance fees are for points at Sapphire Valley. The buyer is responsible for all the transfer fees. We already know what LT Transfers charges, $215. The resort transfer fee for Wyndham is is $299

Sapphire Valley

• Fairway Forest DS Annual 1177.7
• Fairway Forest SS Annual 865.15
• Foxhunt All Annual 902.93
• Mt Laurel Villas All Annual 1305.49

So you're 98,000 points has the same $835 MF? Assuming so but just tying to be clear that I understand. I know the transfer fees and LT charges will be an added expense during purchase (if paid by buyer) but I'm not real concerned as that's a 1 time expense. I'm looking more into what a yearly cost will be to own something.

I know 154K is not a ton of points with Wyndham, but we can pretty much travel whenever so we can probably get some better deals in the off seasons. And would plan to use the RCI last calls and extra deals so we don't have to use points as much. But I will look into some of the resorts and what points would cost for some of the places we want to stay and when we'd like to stay.

Thanks for your help on this, making me feel a lot better about ownership and understanding all the craziness!

 

[Jan M.]

So you're 98,000 points has the same $835 MF? Assuming so but just tying to be clear that I understand. I know the transfer fees and LT charges will be an added expense during purchase (if paid by buyer) but I'm not real concerned as that's a 1 time expense. I'm looking more into what a yearly cost will be to own something.

I know 154K is not a ton of points with Wyndham, but we can pretty much travel whenever so we can probably get some better deals in the off seasons. And would plan to use the RCI last calls and extra deals so we don't have to use points as much. But I will look into some of the resorts and what points would cost for some of the places we want to stay and when we'd like to stay.

Thanks for your help on this, making me feel a lot better about ownership and understanding all the craziness!

At Grandview all one bedroom units paid $417.50 for 2019 and two bedroom units paid $835 regardless of how many points the week gets.