Need to Use 44K RCI points by the end of April

[dougonbay]

Are there other resort options than what's listed on RCI's website?

We have 96,000 RCI points, 44K of which expire at the end of April....can't be renewed.

We live up North and have a vacation home in SE Florida. We'll be there in April and wanted to use the points on the Gulf coast for a change of pace. There's nothing available on the Gulf in April. RCI lists a few choices on the Atlantic coast but that's not attractive to us. We're using our week at Orange Lake in Orlando in April so exchanging into that area doesn't make sense either.

We've already been soaked exchanging points for cruises and airlines and don't want to go down that road again.

Suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

 

[janej]

Do they still allow you to get cash/gift card with points?

 

[Rawlinson491]

Contact RCI and ask if you can use the points to pay for your RCI Membership
For a fee you can move them over to the next year I think

 

[JudyS]

Do they still allow you to get cash/gift card with points?

Not currently, unfortunately.

It is very hard to get the Gulf Coast for spring. However, maybe you can do an ongoing search. It used to be possible to set up an ongoing search for RCI Weeks inventory using RCI Points -- I'm not sure if that's still true.

Currently, RCI gives .9 cents per RCI Point towards airfare/hotel/car rental, with a fee of $25 (sometimes more) per booking. I wouldn't call that "soaking" as some resort charge less than that in MFs per point. The cruise exchanges, however, are generally a poor deal.

You can also transfer the points to another owner.

 

[ampaholic]

Not currently, unfortunately.

It is very hard to get the Gulf Coast for spring. However, maybe you can do an ongoing search. It used to be possible to set up an ongoing search for RCI Weeks inventory using RCI Points -- I'm not sure if that's still true.

Currently, RCI gives .9 cents per RCI Point towards airfare/hotel/car rental, with a fee of $25 (sometimes more) per booking. I wouldn't call that "soaking" as some resort charge less than that in MFs per point. The cruise exchanges, however, are generally a poor deal.

You can also transfer the points to another owner.

If you transfer to another owner does that effect the expiration date?

You used to be able to get an Avis voucher that had no expiration - I used that once and rented a car a year and a half later in Hawaii.

Check it out with points partners, it was a decent deal in "dollars per points" terms and it's better than lost points.

 

[pranas]

Are there other resort options than what's listed on RCI's website?

We have 96,000 RCI points, 44K of which expire at the end of April....can't be renewed.

We live up North and have a vacation home in SE Florida. We'll be there in April and wanted to use the points on the Gulf coast for a change of pace. There's nothing available on the Gulf in April. RCI lists a few choices on the Atlantic coast but that's not attractive to us. We're using our week at Orange Lake in Orlando in April so exchanging into that area doesn't make sense either.

We've already been soaked exchanging points for cruises and airlines and don't want to go down that road again.

Suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

You can extend them another year by paying a fee. I believe it cost me $100 last fall.

 

[Jennie]

This is posted on the RCI Points website:
"Points Transfer Fee
1 free transfer per Use Year"

Maybe you can make a private arrangement with some TUG member or personal friend who needs extra points this year and would "owe" you the same number of points in the next use year.

It gets a bit tricky, though, because members have different use dates per year. The beginning date of a member's use year is set the month in which he/she joins the Points program. For example, if you purchase a week from a developer (God forbid!) or a friend, or acquire it through an ebay auction, etc. the month in which your resort acknowledges you as the owner (after all the legal paperwork is completed and filed, and fees are paid) you then pay RCI a fee to join RCI Points Program. The month in which this occurs becomes the first month of your "use year" for every year thereafter.

Your RCI Points membership use year could begin on June 1 and end on May 31 of the following year. But the friend whose account into which you want to transfer your Points may have an annual use date of November 1 to October 31 of the next year.I'm not even sure how that would be handled but rest assured, if RCI can make some money on it, they will. Greed should be their middle name.

Leave it to RCI to make things needlessly complicated! My suspicious nature (especially when it comes to anything related to RCI ) leads me to believe that this rule was designed to purposely confuse members and thereby extract evermore fees.

 

[dougonbay]

We've already extended those points so we either use or lose.

Thank you so much for your suggestions....we'll do some investigating.

Worst case we use them on the east coast of FL....thanks again!