Club Wyndham Owners

[1Melanie]

I would say that RCI can be a total crap shoot when it comes to the quality of the resort. But I will say this. RCI and exchanges exist to fill a need. For instance, you can exchange into a resort that either Wyndham or Worldmark don't have a resort in the area, or they are booked. So your option would be "go somewhere else", or deal with a resort that may or may not be up to your perceived "Wyndham quality" standards. Admittedly, some RCI resorts are lacking when it comes to quality.

But at the same time, believe it or not, there are some instances where a Wyndham owner can actually book a Wyndham unit through RCI for LESS POINTS!

An example is Midtown 45 in New York City. A Wyndham resort, which exists inside of RCI. You can find a 1br unit or hotel room unit through RCI for a fraction of the points that it would be required to book using your Wyndham points. This is not always the case, in most cases it's "cheaper" to book Wyndham units with our Wyndham points. But not always. Also because it's an exchange, it's dependent on availability.

But just saying that there are use cases for exchanges like RCI/II

Absolute

I would say that RCI can be a total crap shoot when it comes to the quality of the resort. But I will say this. RCI and exchanges exist to fill a need. For instance, you can exchange into a resort that either Wyndham or Worldmark don't have a resort in the area, or they are booked. So your option would be "go somewhere else", or deal with a resort that may or may not be up to your perceived "Wyndham quality" standards. Admittedly, some RCI resorts are lacking when it comes to quality.

But at the same time, believe it or not, there are some instances where a Wyndham owner can actually book a Wyndham unit through RCI for LESS POINTS!

An example is Midtown 45 in New York City. A Wyndham resort, which exists inside of RCI. You can find a 1br unit or hotel room unit through RCI for a fraction of the points that it would be required to book using your Wyndham points. This is not always the case, in most cases it's "cheaper" to book Wyndham units with our Wyndham points. But not always. Also because it's an exchange, it's dependent on availability.

But just saying that there are use cases for exchanges like RCI/II

i agree that sometimes RCI is good for an exchange somewhere Wyndham does not have a resort. That being said, I wouldn’t give RCI my points until or unless I find what I want first. At one time the only option for preserving unused points was an RCI deposit. Now that we can roll our points into the following use year, an RCI deposit is no longer needed. When traveling internationally, we prefer to take a tour or go on a cruise where we can easily book a tour with an English speaking guide.

 

[DouginSC]

Wow guys! Lot's of helpful information in this thread.

So let me understand. If we decide to convert our week into Club Wyndham, and pay more, then that week would be converted to points that are deposited into the Club Wyndham site that you can then use to book with any Wyndham Resort with no exchange fees? But those points, but not all have to be, can also be deposited into RCI to use for any resort with still no exchange fees?
How many points would be good to have to get at least 1 week yearly at peak season near Disney area or Myrtle Beach?

 

[tschwa2]

Wow guys! Lot's of helpful information in this thread.

So let me understand. If we decide to convert our week into Club Wyndham, and pay more, then that week would be converted to points that are deposited into the Club Wyndham site that you can then use to book with any Wyndham Resort with no exchange fees? But those points, but not all have to be, can also be deposited into RCI to use for any resort with still no exchange fees?
How many points would be good to have to get at least 1 week yearly at peak season near Disney area or Myrtle Beach?

rci is always going to have an exchange fee.

 

[bnoble]

If we decide to convert our week into Club Wyndham, and pay more

This is probably not a good idea unless Wyndham offers to convert for free (or nearly free), and/or your week ends up having a very good $/K maintenance fee ratio. The latter is important because converted weeks offer both some of the best and worst fees in the system.

 

[flindberg]

Absolute

i agree that sometimes RCI is good for an exchange somewhere Wyndham does not have a resort. That being said, I wouldn’t give RCI my points until or unless I find what I want first. At one time the only option for preserving unused points was an RCI deposit. Now that we can roll our points into the following use year, an RCI deposit is no longer needed. When traveling internationally, we prefer to take a tour or go on a cruise where we can easily book a tour with an English speaking guide.

I totally agree that ideally it's best not to deposit to RCI until your desired unit is available/on hold. There are caveats to rolling points to a future use year. The window depends on the tier level of ones ownership. We had a lot of points built up due to covid extension/waiver which we planned to use up last year. Due to unforeseen medical reasons we had to cancel most of our plans. This was after our Gold Owner rollover deadline had passed. In order to not forfeit all those points, our only option was depositing to RCI. I suppose that's better than nothing. But my experience with RCI is that inventory available to Wyndham owners is very limited. And there is always a non-negotiable/non-refundable exchange fee payable at the time of booking.

 

[flindberg]

Wow guys! Lot's of helpful information in this thread.

So let me understand. If we decide to convert our week into Club Wyndham, and pay more, then that week would be converted to points that are deposited into the Club Wyndham site that you can then use to book with any Wyndham Resort with no exchange fees? But those points, but not all have to be, can also be deposited into RCI to use for any resort with still no exchange fees?
How many points would be good to have to get at least 1 week yearly at peak season near Disney area or Myrtle Beach?

I'm *guessing* but 120K for a 1bd & double that (or more) for 2+ bds at Myrtle or Orlando.

 

[bnoble]

But my experience with RCI is that inventory available to Wyndham owners is very limited.

Wyndham (as with any mini-system) can see everything in RCI Weeks. If you have Plus Partners, you can also see everything in RCI Points. However, if you are just looking on the web site, you are only seeing the leftovers. Usually the good stuff is gotten by ongoing search.

As for how much: the mini-systems charge the same points values for a particular unit size during a particular week at all of the resorts in a specific area. Peak season Orlando is usually "High" on the exchange grid, which means 105K for a 1BR, and 165K for a 2BR. There are one or two peak spring break weeks that are more (Prime). I don't know Myrtle off the top of my head.