I did a presentation with them last week. They would allow me to buy into the club for $9K. Or they would sell me a 1 BR off season for $9.5 K and throw the club in free. I refused. I can go get a 2 BR peak season on ebay for $1. Might even get maintenance fees up front for a year.
Here was the problem with their points. I own in Hilton Head. 3 BR, 4th of July week. It trades at 106,000 RCI points for $950 MF. I would get 50,000 Crown Club Points for this if deposited in their system.
Their selling point was how flexible the Crown Points were. Confusing might be a better word. The showed me how I could purchase $25 gift cards for hundreds of retail places (Home Depot, Red Lobster, etc), for only 2,500 points. I did the math... with 50,000 points, I could get 20 gift cards. Or a value of $500. For my $950 MF.
When I showed them that, they backed off and said, "Well it's obviously not the best use of points, but it's an option."
They also charge $300 per year for membership. But that includes RCI weeks and points membership and Platinum. They'll even throw in a free $25 restaurant gift card every month (which is just the Restaurant.com card for Platinum).
He showed me a lot of hotels, where I could get 3 nights for my Hilton Head exchange. That's $300 per night. I guess if I wanted to travel to NY or Chicago every year it may work. But if I wanted to do that, timeshares probably weren't for me in the first place.
I opted to avoid this. It seemed to me like they were trying to muddle up the RCI points system. Make it look good and make it so confusing you can't keep up with anything. And line their pockets with $9K in exchange for NOTHING.