Are there any happy RCI points owners?

[momeason]

Has anyone learned how to make the RCI points system work well for them?
I thought it might be a cheap way to get an RCI membership to go with my II membership, but it seems there are no happy campers in this system.
Please share if you like your RCI points.

 

[UWSurfer]

So far we've been pretty happy with our points. A 2 bdrm Vegas week has got us to Sedona, Sheerwater on Kaui, and Sands of Kahana this coming fall as well as few shorter stays in Ft. Lauderdale & SoCal.

They've made changes that don't make the system as desirable as it once was for us, but so far we're still getting to places we might otherwise not have access to. I've also used Extra Vacations for corporate housing for business projects and that has worked very well too.

I do miss the 9500 point, 40 day out last call type of opportunities though.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Some resorts are pretty cheap points, depending on season. For example, I am a big Disney fan and love the 41-42.5K Disney Vacation Club 1 bedroom weeks in early December and most of January. My points aren't as cheap as they used to be, but these particular weeks are bargains with points.

We only own 145K points or so. It's not a lot, considering we travel a minimum of ten weeks per year.

 

[madbuns]

RCI Points OK, Would Choose Them Again

My favorite thing about RCI Points has been my ability to piece together trips of different sizes fairly easily. My challenge with RCI points is that some of the partner programs are not worth ****, so I have points that I am not able to easily burn.

I also am a RCI Weeks owner, so I usually use both sites in order to determine where the best value is for a particular opportunity. In this instance, Points have been best (for me) in planning short stays and Weeks have been best for traditional (1 week) stays.

In hindsight, I would have probably elected to get into points with a property that had fewer points (or, perhaps, an even/odd year property) to be sure that I used all of the points each year.

 

[fishingguy]

happy yes (but some no)

We get 510K RCI Points a year, at a 2012 rate of $.0053/point (.53 cents per point), so are very happy with cost. Between our points properties (all 2 or 3br L/Os), and 2 - 2BR L/Os that we can either deposit for TPU or PFD for points, we get plenty of vacations for us and family.

We'd be elated with RCI Points except for the website -- the bottom line is that the enhancements implemented a few months ago totally screwed things up for us. What used to take on a matter of minutes to check for potential exchanges via month, has turned into looking at many calendar days now; taking considerably longer. In addition, the website is really buggy and we haven't been able to book our last 4 exchanges on the website; had to use VCs. I have a PC and Mac with various browsers for each, in order to make the best that I can from the points website. The home resort options are totally messed up in RCI Points.

There is no Holy Grail in RCI Points or TPU Weeks. Each user will have different needs, maintenance fees, travel plans, priorities, etc. Mileage will vary.

 

[Keep Traveling]

While a lot of points, I am getting a 3 bedroom in St. Lucia with pool for 140k. Can seem to find these jewels in Weeks.

I use them as a backup OR I look for resorts that can easily get in Weeks. Spent a week in The Crane (from Points).

Also, odd things are really cheap sometimes in points and not that cheap in weeks.

Our plan is to keep points for another 3 years and then re-evaluate.

KT

 

[bobpark56]

No complaints

Well...I only have 35,750 points, but they came as a bonus (pretty much a freebie) when we purchased a 1BR unit at Sandos Caracol. These points have been getting us 2 nice stays every 3 years (we tend to travel in shoulder seasons) in addition to our Sandos stays. This year it will be The Villas at Banyan Bay on Ambergris Caye, Belize in early May. My only (mild) problems have been in wrestling with the RCI site. So color me happy.

 

[ronparise]

The jury is still out. I took this ownership for the nightly stays and the 7500 point weeks.. but I havent used it yet..

 

[Passepartout]

I'm reasonably happy. Points work pretty much the same as when I bought the underlying resort. I have roughly 50K points/yr and am able to get 2 'decent' 1BR weeks plus a last minute week per year. Seems a decent trade off for my 1 week 2 BR- which is bigger than we need. I have used 'Points For Deposit' with a low cost membership that 'ups' the point total.

My only beef- the old 7500 point weeks at 45 days are now 9000 points at 30 days. And worse selection at that.

Leftover points still roll over to the next year, and you can borrow from upcoming years, so you can use points that are above your point 'budget' for special occasions- like an extended family getaway to Hawaii or Disney.

Jim

 

[momeason]

RCI points w/o underlying RCI membership?

Would you purchase RCI points if you do not have an RCI membership already?
I think in most cases I would have to buy my own membership. I have an II
membership and have done well although my points required for deposit recently went up. I can no longer deposit a studio. 1 br is the smallest deposit with my current points system.
I do not know much about how good the system for last minute travel within RCI is since I have never had RCI. I know there are more resorts available in RCI. I do not want to get obligated to another contract with a lot of MF, but I have some interest in trying RCI for last minute travel.
Sounds like availability may be less than ideal and not improving.

 

[Passepartout]

Would you purchase RCI points if you do not have an RCI membership already?

Since 'weeks' have been supplanted by TPU, probably not. I would buy a desirable fixed week at a resort I want to go to at least half the years, that has a high enough TPU value to pull other desirable weeks. I have added just such a week to my portfolio.

Now, as I re-read your question, IF I didn't have an RCI membership at all, I'd buy into a mini system with resorts I wanted to go to that has low-cost internal exchanges. Like VRI, Vacation Internationale, or some others. I don't have a desire for the big, hotel-based systems, but that's just me. Ymmv. I just happen to like owner-controlled HOAs instead of corporate control.

This is probably more information than you asked for, but it is what it is.

I DO have RCI Points, RCI weeks AND a mini system membership, so I can compare the apples with the oranges and the grapes.

Jim

 

[prickler]

A week at The Disney Grand Californian and 10 days at The Windjammer in St Lucia last year using RCI points. Both stays with a net cost of way less than those owners pay in maintainence fees so I can't complain.

 

[JohnPaul]

Very Happy with RCI Points

We have been very happy with RCI points and have explicitly bought more.

Our ownership is in resorts with very low MF. We own at Sedona Pines in Arizona (2 weeks per year) and Oakmont Resort in Tenessee (never been there and probably never will).

We get 132,500 points a year. MF run us about $1300.

More than anything, we use our points for skiing in Colorado. I also like the flexibility of booking other than a week.

Last year we stayed 8 nights in Colorado in a two bedroom unit. This year we are in a 4 bedroom at the same resort. Last August we stayed 3 nights at The Manhattan Club. This spring we are staying 4 nights at a Lake Tahoe resort.

I'm a big believer in point systems in general (we own Shell, VI, Worldmark, and HGVC besides the RCI points). Flexibility to do varying numbers of days, vayring size of units, varying properties, etc.

The only down side w/ RCI points is that the fees (especially if you get hit with a housekeeping fee) make small exchanges uneconomical.

 

[JohnPaul]

A week at The Disney Grand Californian and 10 days at The Windjammer in St Lucia last year using RCI points. Both stays with a net cost of way less than those owners pay in maintainence fees so I can't complain.

I've been interested in the Grand Californian and never thought about trying with RCI points.

Thanks!

 

[Elan]

I've been in RCI Points for about 7 years. My experience has been that if you can find what you want and your cost per Point (MF's) is reasonable, you can get some very inexpensive vacations (week at Oregon Coast in a 2BR, sleeps 8, for less than $500 in Points, a last minute week in a 2BR in Salt Lake City for less than $100 in Points). But the fees are ridiculous and getting worse. The online search experience, while infinitely better than it was, is still pretty bad. Finding desirable exchanges is not a given.

In summary, I think if you can often travel on short notice and want the flexibility of less-than-full-week stays, Points are an ok way to go. For full week stays constrained by other factors (kids school calendar, for example), I wouldn't recommend Points. If I had to do it all over again, I'd pay more upfront and get into a mini system.

 

[ampaholic]

I'm pretty happy with the RCI Points system so far, just need to trim my portfolio a bit.

To me fine tuning your portfolio is an ongoing thing as life changes and system changes kick in.

 

[chriskre]

I'm happy with RCI points and have been for years. I own a triennial unit and do points for deposits with weeks that I'm not using so can adjust the amount of points needed up or down depending on what I want to book.

By owning a triennial unit I get 24K points a year for roughly $250 in MF's. I don't like to heavily invest in any one system since the game keeps changing and I don't want to be stuck with something that is no longer working for me.

I find that availability at the places that I want to go is better for 2 bedrooms and larger in RCI points. There are also some resorts that only appear in points. I think with the TPU system that most are splitting the lock offs and depositing separately so there are fewer large units in weeks compared to points.

Although not the most cost effective all the time, I still like the option of doing short stays in RCI points. It's still cheaper than booking other ways. I would love for all my exchanages to cost me $50 a night or less but every now and then $100 is acceptable.

 

[Free2Roam]

A few months ago I decided to expand my portfolio, so I purchased one of the RCI Points triennials at VV@P.

Just yesterday I confirmed a reservation at The Quarter House in New Orleans 12/28/12-1/4/13.

I'm absolutely thrilled so far!!

 

[tlguinn_2000]

We have been in points for only about 1.5 years and are happy thus far. We stayed at Disney's Vero Beach in Sept. 2011, Staying at Disney' Boardwalk Villas in March 2012, and staying at Siesta Key this summer. All on one RCI points resort in Gatlinburg TN. The key for us, and most people I think, is you have to be very flexible. We can also get studios or one-bedrooms. If you HAVE to have a two-bedroom the second week of July at Disney then be prepared to stay on the computer a lot.

,

 

[gCasey]

Hi there.
I'm a PCI owner. And I'm pretty happy about it.
What's wrong with yours, dude?
_________
free image editor

 

[ronparise]

I just got an email notice...it seems my rci points account annual membership fee is due by the end of April

I spent a lot of time today on the phone with RCI, points, and RCI weeks, and Vacation Village trying to figure out what Im going to do

I bought a triennual week at Vacation Village at Parkway a year ago...I now have 74000 rci points in the account...mf is $750 every 3 years

I bought this account for the 7500-9000 point reservations that can be made...thinking that I could get 8 reservations in 3 years out of one $750 mf

Today as it turns out there is but one of these 7500 point reservations available in the Orlando area.....looks like my plan was a bust

On the weeks side however there are several discounted reservations available in the 4-5 tpu range..and I can deposit my week to get 36 TPU.. so so it may be possible to get the eight reservations for one deposit I had hoped for....but I can also trade back into exactly what I own for 9-11 TPU...so maybe 4 weeks for my one deposit ...and they accept my dogs (a savings of $220 a week at the kennel

I think Im going to let my points account expire and either just use my week or deposit it to RCI weeks

So count me in the unhappy with RCI points category

Update

turns out one mans trash is another mans treasure...and not everone is unhappy with their RCI points...I just offered to give my points away and got 4 requests inside of 5 minutes...

 

[chriskre]

Ron,
Those 7500 deals are scarce when the snowbirds are here.
They reappear when they fly away.

 

[hypnotiq]

Damn sunbirds.