How to efficiently search on RCI.com [RCI Points]

[rickandcindy23]

Well that explains a lot

I have never been able to do a search for standard reservations (everything available in a particular local, 10 months out) I guess I have to do 10 searches, one for each month

Until I read this comment I had decided to just abandon my points account in protest

You are kidding, right? The searches are more time consuming, but it has always been clear that 30 days is all you can search at once. Weeks used to allow a specific area for ten weeks at once, tops. This changed a few years ago, but it was very slow. TUG members really relied more on Sightings back then, because it took so much time to search.

Same with Points. A lot of people count on sightings here on TUG.

This is the same for the Shell Portal into RCI Points as well.

I had never heard of anyone giving up on it entirely, but I could see how a person could get frustrated.

Every time we hear rumors of upgrades, I hope it's going to be the Points product.

 

[MichaelColey]

I had never heard of anyone giving up on it entirely, but I could see how a person could get frustrated.

You can count me in the group that has essentially given up on points. I'll still search if there's something specific where I know points would work better (like a short stay or Manhattan Club at 10 months), but I regularly search and have ongoing searches on the RCI Weeks side while I almost NEVER take the time to do similar searches on the RCI Points side. I just can't justify spending 15-30 minutes a day watching for things on the RCI Points side, when I can do the same thing in a minute (with a saved search) or no time (with an ongoing search) on the RCI Weeks side..

 

[ampaholic]

HEY, The thread is: How to efficiently search on RCI.com [RCI Points]

I guess that the nay-sayers have proven beyond a doubt that RCI Points search is "hooey". Mostly because Google and WM do it "better".

(Casey Athony's prosecutors new argument = Casey must be a crap mom and killed her kid because many other moms are not crap moms and don't kill their kids. Could that get a conviction?)

I on the other hand think it is yea clunky and would like to see it improved but can live with it as is cause I get what I want from it.

So general public who should you take advice from?:

1. Someone who slams it and says it's crap - with no real advice on how to get what you want from it.

2. Someone who gives you examples how to get want you want from it ?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Well, Michael, you would have been disappointed in the searches in weeks, if you owned timeshare 2 1/2 years ago, because it was 10 weeks at a time, one area at a time.

It was a lot of time involved to keep watching for new inventory for different areas each day. I would check for Hawaii and see very little for my dates. Posting sightings is tough in RCI Points, and it used to be tough in weeks, too.

There are gems out there in RCI Points, and if you have a specific date or month you need, it's pretty easy to search daily for that one thing. I don't mind it, because the pure lack of time for some is good for me.

Still cannot find anything great for 11/11 in Orlando, something DVC. It's something I hoped to find for our trip with kids and grandkids. We have SSR, but I would love something else.

 

[ampaholic]

Hey, the thread is about efficient searchs on RCI.com

-snip-
The Points interface is broken, pure and simple. It's nearly exactly the same as the Weeks interface was about 3-4 years ago. The Weeks interface is now much better. The Points interface should be too. I'm not sure why it isn't, but it absolutely could and should be. It's not as though Points has an order of magnitude more inventory or anything; there simply is no technical reason why Points should remain broken.

(And, lest you suggest I'm not qualified as a computer scientist to offer that comment, I think I am.)

Wow a "pile it higher and deeper" ney-sayer I think you should offer your services to RCI and "git er done".

Until then do you have anything constructive to help the OP do more efficient searchs on RCI.com?

 

[ampaholic]

Another Trick to get what you want:

I often search for Kala Point in Washington and when I specify "state: Washington" in the [Region/State/Resort] selection I almost never find Kala Point.
I recently did both Feb and March 2012 and found nada.

Yet when I specify "region:Washington/Oregon" in the [Region/State/Resort] selection I was able to find Kala Point times (7 day stays) in both Feb and March.

Bottom line = I think the data entry is sporadic at RCI and they don't always fill in all the boxes to make it perfect.

Be sure to come at it from slightly different angles.

 

[chriskre]

Sometimes you gotta hit the search twice. I've found that sometimes on the first try you get a "nothing available" screen but if you hit it again then you see something. Not sure why but it's happened to me quite a bit, especially when searching in a region that I know there is inventory in.