Every uear HGVC has units in RCI for booking that we as HGVC owners cannot even book yet. These are prime time weeks like 3bedrooms at lagoon towers during July 4th or Thanksgiving week.
That seems wrong to me that a RCI exchanger can get units that i wont even be able to book in HGVC months before me. Worst part is when club season comes around these units aren't available for me to book in HGVC.
If you buy into HGVC, make sure you are not just looking through rose colored glasses.
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I am a lucky winner of a July 4 RCI exchange week in the 3 bedroom penthouse in Lagoon Tower.
https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/hit-the-rci-jackpot-points-refund-question.280002/
I don't think this is common as I had nothing for two years (although I am certain there was Hawaii availability, my dates and resorts are very picky) and my OGS was probably top of the queue due based on the original search date. I am also an HGVC owner so not sure why this unit wasn't taken by others prior to my 9 month window. I know that the bulk deposits of HGVC that
@frank808 describes are deposited well in advance of the 9 month HGVC window.
Is it possible an owner deposited their 3bdrm Penthouse week in RCI? Although unfair that HGVC owners only have access at nine months, I have heard that one of the systems (Hyatt?) doesn't allow their owners to trade for same system units in II so perhaps 9 months is better than nothing at all.
Some of the resort fees on RCI are getting ridiculous. Fiesta Americana Cabo has an optional $80/pp/day AI fee on HGVC site. RCI now has $120/pp/day AI fee for same resort. Manhattan Club is now $54 a night resort fee. HGVC now charges daily resort fees to RCI exchangers. RCI allows the resorts to set the fee so this will only get more ridiculous in the future.
HGVC does seem to have good trading power in RCI, because I have received good trade opportunities for Maui (Maui Hill July 4 2 bdrm), Key West, Barbados, Disney SSR, Anaheim Xmas, and other hard to land properties. My problem with RCI is that many of the units are a downgrade quality-wise from HGVC so I don't want to use our expensive points there - especially on Wyndham properties because I could reserve many of the units via Wyndham's discounted excess inventory portals. However instead of Wyndham, I also have access to II so many of the cash getaways at higher quality Marriott, Vistana and Hyatt can be had for the price of an annual MF without the risks of owning.
Search the Tug Sightings / Distressed history if you want to know about HGVC bulk deposit patterns.