Do RCI points make sense at all to you, with the new weeks' system, Points Lite?

[Conan]

I've moved one week out of RCI Points - - it's Week 51 in Orlando and although it was getting 82,000 RCI Points it supposedly will get 56 TP in RCI Weeks.

In dollar terms the $850 maintenance (high, I know) was about 1 cent per RCI Point which will now be about $15 per TP. I changed because of the greater availability and flexibility in the new RCI Weeks.

By the way, when you tell RCI you want to move a week you own out of points, the form they send you is the one you would use to close your RCI Points account completely, which was not what I wanted to do. That's the only form they have, so you have to write all over it to explain that you're only moving one week you own permanently out of points, and you're retaining your Points account for the other RCI Points properties you own. I also phoned them and had the agent write in their 'notes' what I intended.

I called back again to have them read back to me what weeks of mine show as being enrolled in Points and wonder of wonders they've gotten it right!

 

[MichaelColey]

The downside is I am also forced to keep my RCI points property, which is MUCH more expensive. That one is Tanglwood Resort, where my 33,500 points per year costs me a dear $575 in maintenance fees, or 1.7 cents per point.

Is there any resale value for your Tanglwood timeshare? If so, you might want to look at something like a triennial Grandview and sell Tanglewood. I picked mine up on eBay for about $1k, and it gives 16.3k points for about $110/year. Great RCI Points resort for those of us who use PFD for the majority of our points.

 

[prickler]

Is there any resale value for your Tanglwood timeshare? If so, you might want to look at something like a triennial Grandview and sell Tanglewood. I picked mine up on eBay for about $1k, and it gives 16.3k points for about $110/year. Great RCI Points resort for those of us who use PFD for the majority of our points.

I was watching this triennial Grandview that just ended. 16,333 RCI points per year with a $113 m/f and 32,000 points included in the sale. Went for under $400 including closing and transfer. Not a bad deal at all, sure hope a tugger got it :whoopie:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=250778033448&si=kzn%252FMKW5Yp2M01A9r0FJdv7ej5w%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

 

[catcher24]

Is there any resale value for your Tanglwood timeshare? If so, you might want to look at something like a triennial Grandview and sell Tanglewood. I picked mine up on eBay for about $1k, and it gives 16.3k points for about $110/year. Great RCI Points resort for those of us who use PFD for the majority of our points.

Not much resale value, and at this point even though I could afford it pretty easily I'm really not interested in picking up another property. I really can't complain too much because I bought it for about $1000 as a resale several years ago. One good thing is that over the last few years new officers in the HOA have done a lot to increase the value of the resort. It was simply a standard resort when I bought it, it is now rated a "Resort of Distinction", and my understanding is that it is very close to reaching Gold Crown status, which would I presume increase everyone's point values to Gold Crown resort level and would then give me 60,500 points per year. Still not cheap, but less than one cent per point, and combined with the points I get via Massanutten very reasonable - almost as cheap as the points you mentioned above.

 

[Carolinian]

Apparently it is much easier to get your weeks out of Points in Europe. See the posts here by Morpheus (and especially where he has moved his weeks to!): http://www.timesharetalk.co.uk/index.php?topic=14870.msg45430

I've moved one week out of RCI Points - - it's Week 51 in Orlando and although it was getting 82,000 RCI Points it supposedly will get 56 TP in RCI Weeks.

In dollar terms the $850 maintenance (high, I know) was about 1 cent per RCI Point which will now be about $15 per TP. I changed because of the greater availability and flexibility in the new RCI Weeks.

By the way, when you tell RCI you want to move a week you own out of points, the form they send you is the one you would use to close your RCI Points account completely, which was not what I wanted to do. That's the only form they have, so you have to write all over it to explain that you're only moving one week you own permanently out of points, and you're retaining your Points account for the other RCI Points properties you own. I also phoned them and had the agent write in their 'notes' what I intended.

I called back again to have them read back to me what weeks of mine show as being enrolled in Points and wonder of wonders they've gotten it right!

 

[ampaholic]

I was watching this triennial Grandview that just ended. 16,333 RCI points per year with a $113 m/f and 32,000 points included in the sale. Went for under $400 including closing and transfer. Not a bad deal at all, sure hope a tugger got it :whoopie:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=250778033448&si=kzn%252FMKW5Yp2M01A9r0FJdv7ej5w%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

Yep - a TUG member got it it just closed

Not much chance I will remove it from points

 

[MichaelColey]

Congrats! I bought one just like it for more than twice that price last year, just to get my foot in the door with RCI Points. (I PFD to get points.)

 

[rickandcindy23]

I haven't changed my opinion. RCI Points are no longer a value for US, but that is because our points are more expensive.

Maybe if you buy some points through Scott Riddle, or some other cheaper source, you will be happier using points. For us, it's all about weeks. It's cheaper for the areas we like to travel.

We had Meadow Lake points, and they were around .011 each, so I gave those four contracts away. Australia points this year will be around .012. Foxhills is around 1.1, too. Not cheap.

 

[ampaholic]

I prefer (cheap) points over TPU's for two reasons:

A: I can combine and divide for free.

B: I can use them for hotels, air fare, and car rentals :whoopie: even more so with the Platinum membership.

The Grandview are the cheapest I have ever seen at just under .7 cents per point - when you factor in the freebo points even cheaper.

My portfolio average now is .94 cents per point with Meadow Ridge being the high one at 1.08 cents per point.

I am on hold as far as buy/sell for right now at 227K points per year.

 

[ronparise]

Quarter House in New Orleans

week 7
32 tpu at $12 = 384 + 199= $583
33500 points at $0.01 =335 + 149= $484

advantage points

My goal however is to use RCI only for special occasions. I bought my fixed weeks to use, not to trade...thats where the real financial advantage is

 

[MichaelColey]

What size unit is that, Ron? I think you'll see quite a contrast if you do your calculations once for Studio and again for a 2BR.

 

[ampaholic]

Congrats! I bought one just like it for more than twice that price last year, just to get my foot in the door with RCI Points. (I PFD to get points.)

even at twice the price it's a pretty good unit as far as points per $ go - it will amortize.

 

[Egret1986]

I went througth this also when I sold a Points timeshare

I've moved one week out of RCI Points - - it's Week 51 in Orlando and although it was getting 82,000 RCI Points it supposedly will get 56 TP in RCI Weeks.

In dollar terms the $850 maintenance (high, I know) was about 1 cent per RCI Point which will now be about $15 per TP. I changed because of the greater availability and flexibility in the new RCI Weeks.

By the way, when you tell RCI you want to move a week you own out of points, the form they send you is the one you would use to close your RCI Points account completely, which was not what I wanted to do. That's the only form they have, so you have to write all over it to explain that you're only moving one week you own permanently out of points, and you're retaining your Points account for the other RCI Points properties you own. I also phoned them and had the agent write in their 'notes' what I intended.

I called back again to have them read back to me what weeks of mine show as being enrolled in Points and wonder of wonders they've gotten it right!

Why can't they just create a separate form to remove a timeshare from your Points account? I was very uncomfortable removing that one week with a form that is designed to close your RCI Points account completely. I still had four other Points resorts. Much to go through with the agent at RCI to make sure the account wasn't closed. I still have a resort in my Points account that was sold a couple of years ago. I still have "Home Group" and "Home Resort" advantage. The new owner has never contacted me that he is having any problems. Whatever?!

Every time I'm forced to call RCI, I'm encouraged to deposit Weeks on the "Weeks" side that I haven't owned in years. In fact, none of the Weeks listed in my Weeks Account are anything that I currently own. I have told no less than 10 Guides that I no longer own these weeks. No one bothers to be proactive and offer to get my account cleaned up and remove these weeks. I just got an email today from RCI that I was losing Trade Power on my week if I didn't deposit it. Whatever?! I haven't owned that week in about 3 years.

 

[Egret1986]

RCI Points was a breath of fresh air when they came out

I haven't changed my opinion. RCI Points are no longer a value for US, but that is because our points are more expensive.

Maybe if you buy some points through Scott Riddle, or some other cheaper source, you will be happier using points. For us, it's all about weeks. It's cheaper for the areas we like to travel.

We had Meadow Lake points, and they were around .011 each, so I gave those four contracts away. Australia points this year will be around .012. Foxhills is around 1.1, too. Not cheap.

I still have three Points resorts, though one to two would probably be enough now. There was a time when four Points timeshares wasn't enough and I was buying additional Points from other members or renting them through RCI. I rely less and less on an exchange company for my vacations. I think it's advantageous for me to have both a Weeks and Points accout as long as I rely on RCI for exchanges.

I'm not sure if it's the changes that have taken place within RCI (new Points Lite and less availability of the 45-days-or-less exhanges) or the changes that I have made personally in my timesharing strategies, but I'm not using anywhere near the number of Points that I was previously.

I'm still very leary of depositing my valuable weeks on the Weeks side. Renting these weeks out still makes better sense to me. The TPUs offered by RCI for these Summer beach weeks doesn't appeal to me. I stopped depositing these weeks in the old system because it was more advantageous to rent these instead of depositing. However, I have to admit I haven't focused on this system enough to take advantage of it like I did with the other Weeks system for 20 years and then the Points system. Maybe if I focused back on it, as opposed to my other strategies, I might find I could "work" this system to my advantage.

Bottom line for me, if I'm going to be in RCI, I need to have something in both Weeks and Points because I have access to "all" availability. I think some "tweaking" could be done to Points Lite that would make it more desireable for me (ie. combining all deposit TPUs at no cost and allowing "rental" of TPUs or the ability to purchase extras from other members like RCI Points).

 

[MichaelColey]

Every time I'm forced to call RCI, I'm encouraged to deposit Weeks on the "Weeks" side that I haven't owned in years. In fact, none of the Weeks listed in my Weeks Account are anything that I currently own. I have told no less than 10 Guides that I no longer own these weeks. No one bothers to be proactive and offer to get my account cleaned up and remove these weeks.

Very few VGs at RCI seem to know anything at all about that. You'll probably need to talk to a supervisor or a web support person to get them removed.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Same Deal With Our Former RCI Points Ownership. Sheesh.

Every time I'm forced to call RCI, I'm encouraged to deposit Weeks on the "Weeks" side that I haven't owned in years. In fact, none of the Weeks listed in my Weeks Account are anything that I currently own. I have told no less than 10 Guides that I no longer own these weeks. No one bothers to be proactive and offer to get my account cleaned up and remove these weeks.

RCI Points still thinks we own the dinky points timeshare that we deeded back to the resort last year, even though we told RCI Points more than once that we no longer own it.

That's more of a nuisance irritation than a real problem.

A problem would be if RCI Points did not add our newly acquired points timeshare(s) to our RCI Points account.

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

 

[ronparise]

MichaelColey

I compared 1 bedroom units at the quarter house using the deposit calculator and points chart for comparison...At your suggestion a I did the 2 bedrooms and the spread seemd to shrink

I did the same thing at another New Orleans resort an for studios and 1 beds, and found the advantage was still with points.


later this summer and into the fall I will be looking at an extended stay at a local resort near my home. I will be out of my house, but not into a new one and plan to stay at the timeshare property

There are always (except for the winter season) units available for last call reservations so I will be comparing the last call cost to the tpu cost, to the points cost at this place... Assuming availability of 9000 point last minute reservations i suspect points will be the cheapest alternative if I can book 4 weeks with one $149 exchange fee...if I can than points have the advantage here too


I think what I take away from this discussion is that for some trades points are cheaper, for some tpu, for others use last call. The variable that is the controlling factor is the availability at the particular resort you want.

 

[jlwquilter]

I can offer up a real time example...

2 weeks ago I exchanged into a resort for March 2012 spring break using TPUs. Only a 1 bedroom was available. Because of my TPU costs, total for the week is $429.

Yesterday my brand spanking new RCI Points account was activated. After tooling around and seeing that indeed I got better value out of my Weeks account, I thought hmmmf! But then...

I checked the resort I exchanged into above. Points had a 2 bedroom unit and with my Points cost, total cost for the week is $439. BUT for a 2 bedroom rather than a 1 bedroom. I'd say that's a case of Points winning over Weeks.

Add in the fact that the resort only has 5 2 bedroom units, I think getting one for a specific desired week thru any exchange portal is pretty darn sweet!

In full disclosure mode I have to also add that my total cost of vacation will go up $79 as that's what I'll have to pay to get the vacation protection on the Weeks exchange so I can turn around and cancel it. But $79 to upgrade to a bigger unit is worth it to me. I just wish I had been smart enough to hold off booking the Weeks exchange until my Points account came thru. Ah, well.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I admit there is still some value in RCI Points, but for Orlando in off-season, and definitely for Hawaii, I am much better off in weeks. And where do we go for most of our trips? It's almost always Orlando and Hawaii.

RCI Points has those wonderful 2 bed at the Hiltons on I-Drive, but it's 52,500 points for the low seasons. I go to the weeks side, and it's easy to get them for about 10 TPU's. That is $250 for weeks, over double for points.

Today I posted Shearwater in Sightings and put my cost for the weeks and points. So different!

I hope to find better value for Points. It's not easy.

 

[ampaholic]

as a test I just booked a 1 bedroom 28 days (4 weeks) at VV@P in early Sept (about as off season as it gets) for 120,000 points a single $139 fee.

$1090. (my cost for points) + $139 = $1229.00

$307.25 per week

Not bad for 4 weeks?

Me like points :rofl:

 

[Elan]

Interesting topic. I haven't really followed the Points Lite thing that closely, as I'm only in RCI Points (no weeks account).

For the purposes of this discussion, could someone in weeks please look up the TPU assignment for the following:

July 2-9th week at Eagle crest Resort, Redmond, OR (2BR)

July 9-16th week at Boambee Bay Resort, NSW, Australia (2BR)

I'd like to see how they compare in TPU's vs Points.

TIA!

 

[rickandcindy23]

We have to compare things in both systems, for your comparison to work. Eagle Crest is a weeks resort in RCI, so you got a ressie in weeks, right? If there is nothing in Points on the weeks side for that date currently, there will be nothing for it in weeks, either.

 

[jlwquilter]

as a test I just booked a 1 bedroom 28 days (4 weeks) at VV@P in early Sept (about as off season as it gets) for 120,000 points a single $139 fee.

$1090. (my cost for points) + $139 = $1229.00

$307.25 per week

Not bad for 4 weeks?

Me like points :rofl:

That's a very good cost indeed. I just booked (on hold actually, but I will confirm it) at VV@Parkway for June 17 in Weeks for 5 TPUs - total cost for the week well under $307. Points considers this week to be full on high season - and even at my points cost, it's way more than either of us are paying, due to season designation. Weeks wins hands down EXCEPT.... and this can be very important (but not to me this time).... Points has a 2 BR available for my date and Weeks only has 1 bedrooms available. If I HAD to have a 2 bedroom unit, Points would provide for it, although at a high cost. Further, for the example, if I could manage with 2 1 bed units then Weeks would still be cheaper, even with the 2 exchange fees.

Frankly, I bought Points for NYC exchanges. Not that I have an opening to schedule such an exchange right now, but I like to be prepared . I didn't even really expect to find a real life example for myself where Points did win out over Weeks. I am happily surprised and pleased!

 

[Elan]

We have to compare things in both systems, for your comparison to work. Eagle Crest is a weeks resort in RCI, so you got a ressie in weeks, right? If there is nothing in Points on the weeks side for that date currently, there will be nothing for it in weeks, either.

I was of the understanding, perhaps incorrectly, that one could generically look up a TPU value (acknowledging it varies with time to use) much like the generic Points crossover grid. Is that not the case -- does there have to be a week available (deposited) to see the TPU value?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Yes. TPU you get for the week has little to do with what the week cost someone else in TPU. I get 18 TPU for one of my weeks that RCI has right now for 5 TPU.