Holiday Inn Club Vacations HICV HIVC using RCI

[Sandy]

Greetings,

I am trying to reserve a RCI unit exchange through my HIVC HICV membership link. Of course all of my points are still within my HIVC account, so each opportunity shows "insufficient club points." I think that the last time I did this, I called into HIVC to make the transfer of points from HICV over to RCI. But their offices are closed today (Sunday) and probably tomorrow for Labor day holiday.

Is this only done via phone, or is there a way to get these points into my RCI account online? If by phone only, I will probably have to wait until Tuesday. If there is another way, please let me know how to do this electronically.

thanks

 

[jackio]

I believe that your points show up automatically in your RCI points account when you pay your maintenance fee. If you have insufficient points you may have to pre-pay next year to get those points deposited.

 

[Sandy]

Thanks jackio.
That may be the problem. I haven't been billed for next year yet. But since the office is closed today, I will try to find out first thing tomorrow morning. I hope the unit I want is still available!

 

[jackio]

Good luck.

 

[silentg]

Of course you know the point value is less with RCI than HICV? Also true for IHG. You only get 4 per 5 points, not sure why they do this. If you plan a shorter stay at HICV you may have enough points to do that. I have done this a few times. I have to wait until I pay my Maintenence fee for 2016 because I have used all my HICV points, I find putting them in IHG gives me more options for hotel stays. And they don't expire in IHG.
Silentg

 

[jackio]

Of course you know the point value is less with RCI than HICV? Also true for IHG. You only get 4 per 5 points, not sure why they do this. If you plan a shorter stay at HICV you may have enough points to do that. I have done this a few times. I have to wait until I pay my Maintenence fee for 2016 because I have used all my HICV points, I find putting them in IHG gives me more options for hotel stays. And they don't expire in IHG.
Silentg

I have been putting my points in IHG also. The amount makes you "spire elite". I also have an IHG credit card from Chase. It is $59/year, but it erans points and gives you one free night a year at any of their brands. I used that free night in Aruba, in San Francisco and in New York City. The NYC hotel gave an upgrade to a suite for being what was, at the time, a platinum member.

 

[Sandy]

Of course you know the point value is less with RCI than HICV? Also true for IHG. You only get 4 per 5 points, not sure why they do this. If you plan a shorter stay at HICV you may have enough points to do that. I have done this a few times. I have to wait until I pay my Maintenence fee for 2016 because I have used all my HICV points, I find putting them in IHG gives me more options for hotel stays. And they don't expire in IHG.
Silentg

Only partially correct. The points value through IHG is 4/5, thus getting a 20% loss upon converting. I have put points into IHG and lost 20% of those points.

However, the RCI points are entirely equal. 100,000 HICV HIVC points equals 50,000 RCI points. Just different currencies, same value. I have tested this many times by looking at the same unit and seeing the availability in both currencies. One of my weeks used to get 50,000 RCI points, but when I joined HICV it equated to 100,000 HIVC points.

One real difference in trading through RCI rather internally with HIVC is that the exchange fee is over $200 versus only $60 or so with HIVC.

Think of the value this way: The currency of one country differs from another, but there is a parallel when buying a loaf of bread, either in dollars or in the local currency, it still buys the bread.

Hope this is understandable.

 

[Sandy]

trading HIVC HICV to RCI

I spoke to HIVC today and it was as suggested. I need to pay a fee per thousand points (which goes as a credit to next year's MFs). The HIVC rep said I should talk with the RCI rep and they would put me directly through.

Well.....

The RCI rep had it bass ackwards! He kept telling me that the points needed to trade were twice the HICV value, not one half. He said I needed 367,000 points (or some crazy number that had no correlation to the points for the unit) to get an off season unit, which I was looking at online for 128,000 HICV points. This equates to 64,000 RCI points, and I know this.

He kept saying things like, "I have been doing this for 15 years, and I know that I am right." HUH? I was very patient, trying to guide him to the correct answer, but to no avail. I told him what I was seeing online - 128,000 HICV points. When he kept insisting that it was double what my own eyes were seeing on the HIVC site, and which I knew was the true number, I decided to end the call and try again with another rep.

Funny but sad. I tried to "educate" him on the actual conversion, but he was getting insistent. I should have gotten his full name and ID so I could have someone at RCI correct him. But I had to get off of the phone to attend to something else. I am confident that if I were to go through with the exchange it would only have pulled the correct amount. But by then I was tired of dealing with him!

 

[Sandy]

Update on RCI exchange

I called HIVC again yesterday. I explained what happened the previous call. They put me through to RCI, saying that RCI could take care of it on their end.

This RCI rep was great. I did not have to pay my MF forward for next year, the unit I saw magically appeared again yesterday, the RCI rep got it for me, I paid the $219 exchange fee, and I was done.

I told the RCI rep how "confused" the prior rep was, and she suggested that maybe I got a RCI rep who was not the HICV HIVC trained rep, thus the bass ackwards response to how many points I needed for the exchange.

So, at least for this encounter, I did not have to pay to borrow my 2016 points for the exchange, or have to pay the 2016 MF.

I just wanted to update my post in case others are having the same question.

 

[silentg]

Thanks for the update Sandy!