[ 2011 ] Pay To Convert From Weeks to Points Saga

[Kid20]

My wife and I own a week at an independent time share resort in Texas. We purchased it in the early 90"s.
We recently listened to the presentation to convert our one week (Red Zone) to Points. As I will not sign or join any program that insists that you sign right then and there, I have the option to take their deal in the next two weeks. They want me to pay $2,250 to convert. The salesperson gave me the standard sales pitch, blah, blah, blah.
As it has been increasengly difficult over the years to find a good week exchange, I am somewhat interested in converting. I am sure someone here at TUG has some good input for me to consider before I make my final decision, and possibly pay mucho dollars to convert.
Does anyone have any ideas, input they can pass along to me?

Thanks - Kid 20

 

[ampaholic]

Wow, those guys are proud of their points. I have a white week in Idaho and was offered the conversion for $699 - almost took it - but ....

I went on eBay and purchased a platinum (1-53) at Fox Hills in Wisconsin for a dollar plus free closing and just $100 to set up my RCI Points account.

So now every year I get 53,500 RCI Points for my $488 MF, Plus if I ever happen to be in Mushicot I get day use for free. I have been able to get several weeks and weekends for my points - I'm happy.

I also just trade my Idaho white week to Platinum Interchange and usually get three weeks for it cause I deposit early.

Just search RCI Points in the timeshare section of eBay and there are usually 50 or so to pick from - if you have questions about a particular one ask here.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Too Rich For My Blood.

They want me to pay $2,250 to convert.

Shux, $2,250 is about $325 more than we paid for our outstanding 3BR floating-week lock-off timeshare that we bought via eBay in 2003 & gave away el freebo in 2010.

For $2,250 you can buy a whole passel of points timeshares that previous owners converted & that stay converted when resold via eBay.

We bought 2 of'm last year, dinky triennials that came with free closing & free resort transfer & free points, both eBay specials. One cost us about $165. The other was approximately $210. (I don't recall the exact amounts & I am too lazy to look'm up. But those guessed-at amounts are pretty close, maybe a few dollars over.)

Since then, I've noticed any number of eBay specials starting at $1, no reserve.

Checking eBay's completed points-timeshare auctions, I've seen several that sold for prices comparable to what we paid, plus lots & lots of others that started at $1 (no reserve) & did not sell -- not even at $1.

So if you are ready to take the timeshare points plunge, I am here to testify that you can do it for way less than $2,250.

Not all of'm come with free points & free closing & free resort transfer, so before bidding on eBay be sure to read the whole item description closely & make sure you know what's what before you commit.

Good luck.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Passepartout]

Kid20, is this about an RCI weeks to points conversion? Since nowadays ALL RCI weeks have the Trading Power Unit (TPU) points, and you use those like currency to make exchanges, perhaps you are more able to exchange than you know. How many TPUs does your unit (resort & week) get? Since your contract is for a floater, you may have to deposit as good a week as possible to maximize your TPUs, but once that's done you can see what resorts you can exchange into.

It is my understanding that RCI charges something like $300 to do the exchange. It looks like your resort is playing you for a cash cow.

In short, I wouldn't pay about $2000 more into their coffers for something it isn't clear you need.

Jim Ricks

 

[vacationdoc]

RCI points account has lost value vs weeks

you may want to reconsider converting from a week to point system with RCI. With RCI points you are not allowed to enter an ongoing search, you can only search for 30 days at a time and the points are never discounted like they are in weeks. You pay the same amount of points for a last minute booking as one booked 10 months out. You can only book points resorts 10 months out. If you pay extra for the platinum points account you can't search and book the special inventory online, you are at the mercy of the call center and they charge you $199.00 to book.

 

[funtime]

You can buy a points membership at a different resort for less than 500 on ebay. Points are points. Do not pay to convert. You can also vacation at your home resort and rent a desirable vacation from ebay for less than the MF. We rented a beautiful 2 BR beach resort in Aug in Florida for less than $400.

 

[shelleyo]

We were just approached by Point Rental Liquidators (PRL) who for almost $10,000 (purchasing points and converting our weeks to points) guaranteed that we would be able to make over $6,000 per year on our timeshare if we let them rent out our points at $.085 per point. This would give us 8 weeks in vacation or we could use some for vacation and they would pay us to rent out the rest. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it as good as they make it out to be?

 

[ampaholic]

-snip-
Is it as good as they make it out to be?

If you are talking about RCI Points; you are not allowed to "rent" them out, it is a violation of your member agreement and can result in the loss of your membership.

I also doubt RCI would allow you to hire someone to "rent" them out for you.

I would beware of anyone who tells you it is a "good idea" to skirt this rule.

In short - it has "scam you out of $10,000" written all over it - sorry

 

[fishingguy]

huh????

Why would anyone pay $.08 per RCI Point, when you can rent them directly from RCI for $.02 per point? If you want to take a chance, you can find them on eBay for $.01 to .015 per point, several Tuggers have had good success in doing that, even though it isn't per the rules.

You can buy a resale timeshare on eBay already converted to points at less than $.01 per point. They aren't that hard to find, and often sell for <350$ including closing costs and transfer fees.

...doesn't sound like much of a guarantee to me.

 

[djs]

We were just approached by Point Rental Liquidators (PRL) who for almost $10,000 (purchasing points and converting our weeks to points) guaranteed that we would be able to make over $6,000 per year on our timeshare if we let them rent out our points at $.085 per point. This would give us 8 weeks in vacation or we could use some for vacation and they would pay us to rent out the rest. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it as good as they make it out to be?

And if you let them rent them out at $0.17 per point you would make $12,000. Question is, can they be rented at that amount? Can they even be rented at $0.085?

 

[shelleyo]

From the way it was explained to us, this company (PRL) would purchase our points at $.085 per point and put them in a big pool, then sell them to corporations and others to use as needed $.12 -$.13 per point. Or we could keep our points and use them for vacations. We belong to Interval International but would be able to draw from and use our points for all the timeshare companies (II, RCI, etc.) to plan vacations. The biggest problem was the $9,000 for the initial points.

 

[ampaholic]

A fool and their money are soon parted.

 

[fishingguy]

questions...

The website has only been registered since June 2011, and it was registered through a company that specializes in cloaking owner information. They obviously don't do this for spamming reasons -- because their email address/business name/phone number is listed on the website. So why would they do this?

What makes you sure that they will still be in business if your $6K per year from rental and other guarantees don't pan out?

Corporations are very knowledgeable about controlling travel costs. So, why would they rent from the company you are considering at $.13 per point, when they can rent on the general public websites for considerably less? (At $.13 per point, a typical 100,000 point RCI timeshare would cost the client $13000; yet they could rent it themselves for <~$2400.)

Or better yet, why wouldn't this company you are considering, just rent the timeshare at <~2400$ for a corporate client on their own, and turn a quick ~$10000 profit -- all without you! They wouldn't even need you in this case.

Lastly I did a Google search, and did you see the report from the older couple, and they couldn't get any response from this company?
http://www.justanswer.com/consumer-protection-law/5g6a3-deals-contract-law-wife-purchased.html

Fishingguy smells fish...

 

[geekette]

We were just approached by Point Rental Liquidators (PRL) who for almost $10,000 (purchasing points and converting our weeks to points) guaranteed that we would be able to make over $6,000 per year on our timeshare if we let them rent out our points at $.085 per point. This would give us 8 weeks in vacation or we could use some for vacation and they would pay us to rent out the rest. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it as good as they make it out to be?

the guarantee part is what's most disturbing. Like they guarantee it so long as you can find them.

Have never heard of this group, how were you "approached"?

 

[shelleyo]

We got a phone call from someone who seemed to know about our timeshare in Hot Springs and they invited us to a free dinner at Golden Corral for the sales pitch along with many other owners.

I did not find the comment you posted. Thanks for finding that for us. I suspected the same but wanted confirmation that turning down the offer was really the best decision.

Thank you all for your information and advice.

 

[TUGBrian]

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/convert_timeshare_deeded_week_to_points.html

common question!

 

[catcher24]

You could buy one of the resale points resorts for very little, as already indicated. Then, for a $26 fee to RCI, you can convert your other deeded week into RCI points. The points value is based on the same criteria as the week's trading power: value of season, level of resort, size of unit, etc. For what it's worth, I own a points TS in the Poconos, which was a reasonable buy at resale (but which has MF that are WAY too high) that I originally purchased to get into RCI points. I later purchased a deeded week time share at another resort, a four bed/four bath lockout, which has much more reasonable MF. After I pay my MF at the weeks resort, I simply bank the weeks (I split the four/four into a pair of two/two units, hence I get two weeks to deposit), then contact RCI to convert the two weeks into points. For the cost of my MF (about $425 bi-annually) and the conversion fee ($52) I end up with 121,000 more RCI points. I then use the points as I want. I've used them recently to pay for a couple of hotel rooms in areas there are no resorts. I can also use them to get a week at a weeks resort for 7500 to 9000 points if I book within 30 days of travel. So theoretically I could get somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 or 13 weeks if I always traveled on short notice. Not likely to do that, but it is possible.

 

[AwayWeGo]

RCI Points Terminology. (Picky, Picky.)

Then, for a $26 fee to RCI, you can convert your other deeded week into RCI points.

When you get points for your straight non-points timeshare week for $26 that way, RCI calls it Points For Deposit -- i.e., banking your RCI Weeks unit with RCI Points & getting the week's points value added to your RCI Points balance instead of banking the RCI Weeks unit into RCI Weeks. It's $26 every time you do it, & whether you do it or don't do it in any given year is up to you. Plus, it can't be done unless you already belong to RCI points based upon owning some other timeshare unit that's already in points.,

By contrast, converting a timeshare week into the points system means paying a significant 1-time fee for having the unit permanently added to the RCI Points system. That can only be done at resorts that are already part of RCI Points. It is only necessary for units that started out as straight-weeks before the timeshare signed on with RCI Points. When the timeshare joins the points system, that does not automatically put all the existing units into points. That's where conversion comes in, for owners who want to get into RCI Points.

Points For Deposit cannot be done with unconverted straight-weeks units at RCI Points timeshares, only with units at RCI Weeks timeshares.

Confusing, no ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[pdj2001]

Same as us!

We were just approached by Point Rental Liquidators (PRL) who for almost $10,000 (purchasing points and converting our weeks to points) guaranteed that we would be able to make over $6,000 per year on our timeshare if we let them rent out our points at $.085 per point. This would give us 8 weeks in vacation or we could use some for vacation and they would pay us to rent out the rest. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it as good as they make it out to be?

We had our presentation yesterday. Seemed 2 good 2 B true. Maybe it is. I have 2 more days to decide if I want to go through with this. Did you buy this? Any more posted comments would be appreciated.

 

[shelleyo]

We did not buy. When the salesman said we had to make a decision that night or we would be making a decision to walk away, I walked away. We do not have $9000 to throw away on something that I haven't fully investigated.

 

[jasavak]

RCI Points question

[QUOTE=AwayWeGo;


" Points For Deposit cannot be done with unconverted straight-weeks units at RCI Points timeshares, only with units at RCI Weeks timeshares. "

I just bought an RCI 80,000 points annual timeshare .

If I want more points I should avoid buying another timeshare that is contracted in week format if that resort has converted to the point system ?

What is the best way to get more low cost points ?

 

[Karen G]

I have 2 more days to decide if I want to go through with this.

Get out now while you still can and do some more research. You will have just this one chance to rescind and if you let it slip by, you'll be stuck with it. Take your time. Investigate. If the deal is as good as the salesman told you it was, it will still be there no matter what they told you.

 

[jasavak]

How much does it cost you for 121,000 points ?

You could buy one of the resale points resorts for very little, as already indicated. Then, for a $26 fee to RCI, you can convert your other deeded week into RCI points. The points value is based on the same criteria as the week's trading power: value of season, level of resort, size of unit, etc. For what it's worth, I own a points TS in the Poconos, which was a reasonable buy at resale (but which has MF that are WAY too high) that I originally purchased to get into RCI points. I later purchased a deeded week time share at another resort, a four bed/four bath lockout, which has much more reasonable MF. After I pay my MF at the weeks resort, I simply bank the weeks (I split the four/four into a pair of two/two units, hence I get two weeks to deposit), then contact RCI to convert the two weeks into points. For the cost of my MF (about $425 bi-annually) and the conversion fee ($52) I end up with 121,000 more RCI points. I then use the points as I want. I've used them recently to pay for a couple of hotel rooms in areas there are no resorts. I can also use them to get a week at a weeks resort for 7500 to 9000 points if I book within 30 days of travel. So theoretically I could get somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 or 13 weeks if I always traveled on short notice. Not likely to do that, but it is possible.

So your cost is $850 in MF plus $52 for a total of $902 to get each 121,000 points ? Is this correct ?

 

[AwayWeGo]

No Points For Deposit At "Points" Timeshares.

If I want more points I should avoid buying another timeshare that is contracted in week format if that resort has converted to the point system ?

A straight-weeks unit (i.e., unconverted week) at a points timeshare cannot be used for Points For Deposit.

Only way to get points for a unit at a points timeshare is to pay for conversion, or buy 1 that's already converted & that stays converted upon transfer to a new owner.

An RCI representative last week said that doing Points For Deposit is not always as advantageous as it was in the past. In some instances, she says, the trading value of the TPUs obtained by depositing a straight week into RCI Weeks exceeds its PFD points value. Putting it another way, sometimes a week's TPUs are worth more than its RCI points.

Who'd a-thunk ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[jasavak]

Thanks for the advice

A straight-weeks unit (i.e., unconverted week) at a points timeshare cannot be used for Points For Deposit.

Only way to get points for a unit at a points timeshare is to pay for conversion, or buy 1 that's already converted & that stays converted upon transfer to a new owner.

An RCI representative last week said that doing Points For Deposit is not always as advantageous as it was in the past. In some instances, she says, the trading value of the TPUs obtained by depositing a straight week into RCI Weeks exceeds its PFD points value. Putting it another way, sometimes a week's TPUs are worth more than its RCI points.

Who'd a-thunk ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

The fact that an unconverted week at a points timeshare cannot be used for points elsewhere really surprised me .

However , the idea that a week unit can have more trading power if left unconverted doesn't surprise me. We have a studio unit that probably doesn't generate hardly any points .