Best point-based Timeshare System with lowest MF per RCI pt?

[mohsan]

Considering all point-based time-share systems that allow exchanges with RCI or II, which is the best in terms of MF per equivalent RCI or II-point exchange?

I.E.

1. Worldmark seems to average $0.06/pt, and points convert 1:1
2.
3.
4.

Is there a page posted somewhere with this type of information?

I realize a lot of people have favorites that do not exchange with any big exchanges, but this post is specifically asking for timeshares that have flexible exchange options such as through RCI or II, or even DAE, etc.

 

[Carolinian]

As far as the best point-based timeshare system, hands down that is Hapimag, which is the company that invented timesharing back in the 60's. But Hapimag does not work with either RCI or II on exchanges. For a few years they did do exchanges through DAE and DRI, but I don't think they work with either of them now, either.

 

[mohsan]

Looks like Hapimag has only 50-some resorts and offers no exchanged with RCI or II, so this is not a good one a lot of people would would consider in terms of flexibility. I'll rephrase to clarify the point.

 

[chriskre]

It really depends on where you want to go because you have to factor in exchange fees and reservation fees, not just the MF/point ratio.

I suggest you look at the mini systems that trade in RCI and see which ones will suit your needs and then look for the cheapest points in that system.

Example, if you live west coast you might like Worldmark, East coast might like Wyndham & Bluegreen. If you like Hawaii & Florida then HGVC. These all trade in RCI also thru a fixed grid but there are so many exchange options within these minis that you might not even need RCI.

RCI points is also quite versatile if you can be a planner at around 10 months out. I get alot of value thru RCI points.

I'm a firm believer in never overcommitting to any one system and owning biennials if possible. Rules change all the time so you don't want to get stuck with something that doesn't work for you. One size doesn't fit all when it comes to exchanging.

 

[csalter2]

Diamond Resorts International

I belong to Diamond Resorts International (DRI). I like them. They have lots of resorts throughout the world which saves on exchange fees. They have resorts throughout the US and Europe. Their resorts are usually well maintained and they have been refurbishing the units continuously throughout their system.

Many owners complain about their maintenance fees increasing every year, but I belong to Marriott and their fees go up every year too and they are more expensive. I have not read about any of the major chain of timeshares having their maintenance fees go up each year.

You should look at DRI too.

 

[ronparise]

Considering all point-based time-share systems that allow exchanges with RCI or II, which is the best in terms of MF per equivalent RCI or II-point exchange?

I.E.

1. Worldmark seems to average $0.06/pt, and points convert 1:1
2.
3.
4.

Is there a page posted somewhere with this type of information?

I realize a lot of people have favorites that do not exchange with any big exchanges, but this post is specifically asking for timeshares that have flexible exchange options such as through RCI or II, or even DAE, etc.

"best" is a meaningless term for a couple of reasons 1) things change, whats "best ' today may not be tomorrow 2) whats good for you may not be for me

I can only speak to the Wyndham system . Its generally accepted that the best use of Wyndham points is within the Wyndham system. and i would imagine that its the same in other systems too. I bought Wyndham because the mix of resorts works for me. and the mf is aceptable. I think things are pretty much the same with other systems. folks buy to uses the system directly, they dont buy to trade

Having said that: there are great traders, particular weeks at certain resorts that get great trading power. If I was buying to trade, and in the language of RCI, get the most TPU for my maintenance fees, Id be looking at something like Christmas mountain

If I had it to do all over again, Id buy a week somewhere thats easy to resell. Id buy it, open my rci account, then sell the week, but maintain RCI membership for the Last Call vacations..that way, no mf and all my vacation accommodations are under $300

 

[mohsan]

Interesting.... What is the easiest way possible to get an RCI membership that has Last Call priviledges?... I think I'd love just to use the Last Call option for RCI.

If I read this correctly, if I book through Last Call I don't pay any transfer fees and don't need any points. Do I need to be a member of an RCI affiliated TS?

 

[chriskre]

Interesting.... What is the easiest way possible to get an RCI membership that has Last Call priviledges?... I think I'd love just to use the Last Call option for RCI.

If I read this correctly, if I book through Last Call I don't pay any transfer fees and don't need any points. Do I need to be a member of an RCI affiliated TS?

You could buy a biennial Wyndham contract that comes with a free RCI account and have access to both booking internally with Wyndham and renting from RCI for those last call and extra vacations which are usually a little more money but still sometimes a better deal than exchanging.

 

[ronparise]

Interesting.... What is the easiest way possible to get an RCI membership that has Last Call priviledges?... I think I'd love just to use the Last Call option for RCI.

If I read this correctly, if I book through Last Call I don't pay any transfer fees and don't need any points. Do I need to be a member of an RCI affiliated TS?

see my post above

1) buy a week
2) join RCI

you could them sell the week or give it away. continue to pay your rci dues for access to Last call


or

1) buy a small Wyndham points contract
2) use your included RCI account for last call

this way you will have a maintenance fee due to Wyndham, but no annual fees due RCI

 

[mohsan]

Thanks for this info. very useful.

I'm looking to see the cheapest Wyndham package available... some say RCI Silver and others say RCI Gold.. Does gold exchange have better choices?

What is the cheapest Wyndham you've seen in terms of MF?

 

[boyblue]

If I had it to do all over again, Id buy a week somewhere thats easy to resell. Id buy it, open my rci account, then sell the week, but maintain RCI membership for the Last Call vacations..that way, no mf and all my vacation accommodations are under $300

Wouldn't the account be closed at the end of the year?

I've deeded back two units this year and RCI has told me that my membership cannot be extended past the end of the year.

 

[GregT]

I would also consider Worldmark -- it is a very flexible mini-system for its own properties, and trades extremely well through both II and RCI (although you have to pay the annual membership fee).

One of the terrific things about Worldmark is that has fixed point requirements (in WM, they are called credits, not points).

So if you book a 2BR through RCI or II, it charges you 10,000 credits (which is a $600 MF). You also have an exchange fee plus the membership costs ($154 per trade, and then I think $89/year for the membership fee).

But what I love about Worldmark is that you can rent credits from others to meet your trading needs. So you may only own 5,000 credits -- but you can rent credits from others for approx $0.06 per credit, giving you "unlimited" trades as long as you are willing to pay the fees plus the credit rental cost.

One other thing -- and this is not for the faint of heart -- you can deposit smaller numbers of credits into II -- as little as 4K credits, and get a week on deposit. So you have a $240 MF property plus a $154 Exchange fee, and get trades that way. Some trades are terrific, some aren't so, but it's a very economical approach to stretching your credits.

So....Wyndham is a great system too, and also has a fixed point grid for trades. And you may indeed be happy using it for Last Call, but the trading alternatives are worth considering too.

I hope that helps!

Best,

Greg

 

[deannak]

If I had it to do all over again, Id buy a week somewhere thats easy to resell. Id buy it, open my rci account, then sell the week, but maintain RCI membership for the Last Call vacations..that way, no mf and all my vacation accommodations are under $300

Great idea! I didn't know you could keep your RCI membership unless you own a timeshare, but if that's allowed, this is a cool way to go.

The RCI Last Call and Extra vacations have unbelievable deals. We've booked a bunch of ski weeks this year for < $300 each. Every time I look through the selection, I see more deals I'd love to take advantage of, if only the schedule permitted.

 

[rleigh]

Do I understand Ron correctly in that you don't need to have a TS to use RCI? No plans to unload my own, but I wanted to clarify for others....

///

 

[deannak]

You definitely need to own a TS to join RCI. I talked to one of their people about that recently. But the possibility of just keeping the membership after you sell your TS is something I've never investigated. Perhaps they don't check that?

 

[khalil]

hapimag

Can someone tell me how do i rent hapimag points/timeshare?
I need more info on hapimag.

 

[DeniseM]

Can someone tell me how do i rent hapimag points/timeshare?
I need more info on hapimag.

Just like any other timeshare - find an owner in the classifieds and contact them.

For general questions about Hapimag - you can use the search function.

 

[Beefnot]

Wouldn't the account be closed at the end of the year?

I've deeded back two units this year and RCI has told me that my membership cannot be extended past the end of the year.

Did you contact RCI to let them know you had deeded back the resorts and to remove them from your RCI account? If so, bad move. At least with II, if I sell a property, as long as I don't notify II and I simply let the resort remain showing as an owned resort, they will never re-validate my ownership. I thought the same would be in effect with RCI.

 

[khalil]

Where is the search function for info on hapimag?

Just like any other timeshare - find an owner in the classifieds and contact them.

For general questions about Hapimag - you can use the search function.

 

[flexible]

see my post above

1) buy a week
2) join RCI

you could them sell the week or give it away. continue to pay your rci dues for access to Last call


or

1) buy a small Wyndham points contract
2) use your included RCI account for last call

this way you will have a maintenance fee due to Wyndham, but no annual fees due RCI

Ron (or anyone else),
If you can offer even a partial answer or explanation to the questions below I will be very grateful.
G aka flex


1) Is your WYNDHAM RCI account RCI POINTS ONLY (like our ECVC account managed by Wyndham's subsidiary RCI at their RCI Latin America office in Mexico City) or is it a RCI POINTS with an associated RCI Weeks account?

2) IF you have an RCI WEEKS account is that MEMBERSHIP controlled by your Wyndham/RCI account?

3) Can RCI Weeks TPU be transferred to a your Wyndham RCI account?

4) When you telephone/communicate by mail with RCI regarding your Wyndham/RCI account are you speaking to people in Florida? or ANY RCI office worldwide that is taking overflow calls IF the primary office that answers Wyndham/RCI account phone calls is on overload?

5) When you have needed to get a DIRECT answer from RCI in WRITING regarding their policies or other concerns, which methods have proved most successful?

6) http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185381 might explain what prompts the above questions

 

[DeniseM]

Where is the search function for info on hapimag?

The SEARCH button in the blue bar at the top of the page.

 

[mlefferts]

All I know is this...

Personally getting an RCI points timeshare is what I am looking for. You can find good deals ($.0057/point in MF) at some resorts like Grandview Las Vegas and Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort in Surfside Beach SC if you pay attention and do the math. I would love to own in II or Starwood to trade into Harborside Resort at Atlantis, Bahamas, but the MF are to rich for me at present. Right now I'll settle for being able to trade into Disney and having access to Last Call and using 98k points over a few weeks (you can do it with careful planning) just about anywhere you want to go because there are RCI resorts EVERYWHERE. Not sure about travel to other continents, never tried yet, but I could trade if I want to. I'd love more insight into best value in Starwood and II systems ($/point in MF) if anyone knows!

 

[DeniseM]

I'd love more insight into best value in Starwood and II systems ($/point in MF) if anyone knows!

There is a discussion about that on the Starwood forum right now.

 

[littlestar]

If you are tied to a school schedule, then RCI Last Calls won't work. They generally come up for off season travel.

Figuring out what to buy generally depends on where you want to go and when. If you can travel off season, I'd be tempted to just rent. Here's RCI's and II's rental sites for the general public:

http://www.endlessvacationrentals.com/
http://www.condodirect.com/travel/welcome.home

And if you are government employee or military:

http://www.getravelop.com/


Good luck.