Hilton and Wyndham points vs. RCI points timeshares.

[hyperjewl]

Can someone explain the benefits to owning Wyndham points or Hilton points vs. owning RCI points?

I understand owning where you want to travel, but if you travel to more than Wyndham or Hilton resorts, are there downsides to owning at an RCI points resort instead? We are looking to expand what we own, as we own summit weeks at massanutten. We’re very happy with the TPU’s we get each year, but because we do prefer gold crown resorts, tend to stay in larger units during popular times, and want to expand our flexibility on days of travel, we’re looking to buy something in a points system. We were ready to buy a resale Hilton, as we love their Orlando resorts, but learned it would always be a separate system (RCI points, in addition to RCI weeks account). Apparently if we owned Wyndham points or a different RCI points account, we’d only have to pay 1 account a year (RCI points) and have the option to transfer our summit weeks to points. One option I’m looking at the Grandview in Las Vegas. It’s a sister vacation village property but would offer a good number of points to for us to get the units we’d like. I’d also like the next maintenance fee to be around 1K or less - seeing as they always go up.

I would like feedback from those of you who are familiar with the different options. Are there other pro’s or con’s to either that I’m not aware of?

 

[tschwa2]

Can someone explain the benefits to owning Wyndham points or Hilton points vs. owning RCI points?

I understand owning where you want to travel, but if you travel to more than Wyndham or Hilton resorts, are there downsides to owning at an RCI points resort instead? We are looking to expand what we own, as we own summit weeks at massanutten. We’re very happy with the TPU’s we get each year, but because we do prefer gold crown resorts, tend to stay in larger units during popular times, and want to expand our flexibility on days of travel, we’re looking to buy something in a points system. We were ready to buy a resale Hilton, as we love their Orlando resorts, but learned it would always be a separate system (RCI points, in addition to RCI weeks account). Apparently if we owned Wyndham points or a different RCI points account, we’d only have to pay 1 account a year (RCI points) and have the option to transfer our summit weeks to points. One option I’m looking at the Grandview in Las Vegas. It’s a sister vacation village property but would offer a good number of points to for us to get the units we’d like. I’d also like the next maintenance fee to be around 1K or less - seeing as they always go up.

I would like feedback from those of you who are familiar with the different options. Are there other pro’s or con’s to either that I’m not aware of?

The benefit of owning Hilton or Wyndham points is it is much easier to book during higher seasons within those systems because their members use prime location/times none of those get deposited into rci. If Orlando is your go to place, you still have plenty of nice resorts to choose from year round. On the other hand if you want a 2 BR ocean front resort during the summer say in Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach, in a gold crown resort through rci, you could put in a search and not get a match in 2 years.

As an FWI, buying wyndham points wouldn't help with the summit to transfer to points (unless you bought retail $17,000+) in which case you could use a program the have called PIC to turn your Summit to Wyndham points. With RCI points you can buy a resale points week and use their program called points for deposit to turn the tpu's into rci points.

 

[Sandy VDH]

NOT exactly.

Think of each of these systems a currency, Like USD vs CDN vs Euros. There are not to be combined into a single currency, you have to live with the points in each of the currency buckets they are in.

You can't turn RCI Points into Wyndham points. There are some provision in Wyndham where if you made a developer purchase (not advised) you could then do a PIC (Personal Interval Choice) which will turn a NON-wyndham, NON-points until into Wyndham Points. But your existing ownership is already RCI points so that is A NO GO, plus you would have to purchase from the developer in order to do it.

You can use Wyndham points to book things in RCI, but they don't convert to RCI points, they remain Wyndham currency. Within their own system (HGVC, WYN etc) you use the currency to book any unit. Inventory is generally better and reservations fees are generally lower than RCI (weeks or points inventory).

So don't try to merge them, just view them as different currency in different wallets.. I own Hilton, Wyndham, Holiday Inn and have 3 other NON Points Weeks. I compare cost in one system vs the other. Wyndham's membership does gives me access to RCI via a portal BUT it also covers the cost of my standalone RCI weeks account. Hilton & Holiday Inn have a portal only access to RCI via points conversion. It is never a points merging.

 

[hyperjewl]

Gotcha. So an RCI points resort would just give me more flexibility & more points/weeks to travel each year. Currently, I combine my TPU’s and put ongoing searches on. It has worked for Orlando, but I’ve never seen Wyndham smoky mountain lodge over during break. Thank you, that’s good to know that RCI points/weeks still stand alone - unless it’s an RCI points purchase.

 

[Sandy VDH]

but I’ve never seen Wyndham smoky mountain lodge over during break.

It is likely that high demand weeks are NEVER turned over to RCI they are only ever used within their own points program. If you want Wyndham Smoky Mountains over a holiday period, you would be better off renting from an Owner.

 

[Eric B]

A couple of things to add - with Wyndham (or WorldMark) it you own in the system, you pay a program fee that covers the cost of exchange fees you would pay to book something in RCI points outside of your home week. It also covers the equivalent of your membership cost for RCI points. I mention WorldMark, which you hadn't asked about, because you can get the equivalent of PIC for the Massanutten Summit ownership you already have allowing you to trade in a week there for WorldMark credits (for a fee, of course) without having to purchase anything directly from the developer. There aren't many WorldMark resorts on the east coast, so that one might not directly appeal to you, but if you are looking to travel to the west, Hawaii, or Florida, it's worth considering for being able to better use your current ownership as a retail buyer.

 

[hyperjewl]

Good to know Eric, thank you. I know all systems points work differently. Are worldmark points the same as Wyndham A in terms of how many you need for particular units? Also, I’m more familiar with Hilton & vacation village regarding maintence fees. Are there worldmark locations that are better to own or more cost efficient for how many points you get? many world Mark points does