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Normal for resorts to pick your trading week for you?

yowzator

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I have a floating week in a lock-off unit at Marina Fiesta in Cabo San Lucas. I would like to deposit some weeks into RCI, and am looking for advice on how to get the most trading power.

Last year, I rolled over my 2009 and 2010 years, both of which are now going to expire at the end of this year. I have to use my 2009 week by the end of this year, as it can't be rolled over again. But I can pay $25 to rollover my 2010 year until the end of 2012.

My understanding is that I will get the most TP in RCI if I deposit a week that is at least 9 months out. Obviously, I can't do that with my 2009 week. But I could do that with my 2010 week if I pay the $25 rollover fee.

However, when I was talking with GBS (the company that handles Marina Fiesta timeshares), they said I have no control over the date that they deposit. At one point he said their system randomly picks a date, and at another time he said that it picks the first available date that is at least 60 days out.

Doesn't that mean I'll get really poor TP? It also means I will probably be wasting my money if I pay the $25 rollover fee, since the week deposited could very well be sometime in December 2011.

Is it common practice for resorts to pick the date for you and not let you have any say? If my week doesn't expire until the end of 2012, shouldn't I be able to get the most TP for it?

Thanks!
Tauren
 

Mel

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There may be several factors at play here - some floating weeks resorts do let you pick the week to deposit, but may pick it for you.

What you need to know is if they are picking a week and depositing after the fact, or assigning a week that has already been deposited. That will make a big difference. Assume you call today, and they assign a week in December. If they deposit after the fact, you are getting a week with reduced trade power due to the late deposit. But if they track the average usage of weeks, and deposited that December week back in May (after owners had the option to reserve it for use), the trade power may be better.

Consider also that a prime week deposited 60 days out might not be much more valuable than an off-peak but still good week deposited 8 months out.

Consider also that the ability of the resort to assign deposits is partly what makes it possible for you to delay use of your weeks. If 25% of the owners delayed the use of their weeks in 2010, what happened to those weeks? They may have been used to satisfy requests to "borrow from 2011, but they also may have been used to satisfy deposits for early 2011 - what does it matter if they got the owner the exchange they wanted, and didn't expire before they needed it?

Talk to management at your resort, they should be able to tell you how they assign deposits.
 

yowzator

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Thanks for your help. I was not able to find out how they pick and deposit weeks, but I did find out a little more.

Bottom line is that I have no control over what week they deposit for me, but that it will be at least 35 days out, and it could be much further out, even past the end of this year. And I don't need to pay a rollover fee to extend my week until next year if they pick a week from next year.

The management company (GBS) takes the deposit requests and gives them to the resort, which then looks at inventory and deposits a week into RCI. They have added notes to my request that I'd prefer weeks at the end of June 2011 to be deposited, but again there is no guarantee that will happen.

I looked up the TP for a studio using the RCI deposit calculator. It looks like the maximum for a non-holiday week is 14 points (23 points for the week after Christmas). Since the deposit will be at least 35 days out, I know I will get at least 80% of the TP, or 11 points. I assumed the TP scale dropped much quicker than that, so this isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

So by depositing my 2009, 2010, and 2011 weeks, and splitting my lock-off unit into two studios each time, I should get 6 deposits totally somewhere between 66 and 84 points of TP.

I pay $810 per year in maintenance fees for my lock-off, so $2430 for these three years. Is 66 - 84 TP a good value for that? I'd like to figure out how to best utilize my timeshare and RCI to get the most out of it, so any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Tauren

There may be several factors at play here - some floating weeks resorts do let you pick the week to deposit, but may pick it for you.

What you need to know is if they are picking a week and depositing after the fact, or assigning a week that has already been deposited. That will make a big difference. Assume you call today, and they assign a week in December. If they deposit after the fact, you are getting a week with reduced trade power due to the late deposit. But if they track the average usage of weeks, and deposited that December week back in May (after owners had the option to reserve it for use), the trade power may be better.

Consider also that a prime week deposited 60 days out might not be much more valuable than an off-peak but still good week deposited 8 months out.

Consider also that the ability of the resort to assign deposits is partly what makes it possible for you to delay use of your weeks. If 25% of the owners delayed the use of their weeks in 2010, what happened to those weeks? They may have been used to satisfy requests to "borrow from 2011, but they also may have been used to satisfy deposits for early 2011 - what does it matter if they got the owner the exchange they wanted, and didn't expire before they needed it?

Talk to management at your resort, they should be able to tell you how they assign deposits.
 

riverdees05

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You might also check out some of the other exchange companies. I have one resort that they pick the week deposited with RCI. But they also trade with II and you can deposit the week you reserve with them. My week ownership floats weeks 1-52. Another one of my resorts does the same thing, but are not with II too. Sleigh that resort I deposit the week I reserve with one of the smaller independent companies. You might check and see if one of these could be an option for you.
 

MuranoJo

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Riverdees is right from my experience. When resorts 'bulk deposit' to RCI, you get the luck of the draw. But you can reserve your preferred week and typically deposit that same week with other exchange companies--in other words, you can control the week deposited with non-RCI exchange companies.
 

yowzator

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Riverdees is right from my experience. When resorts 'bulk deposit' to RCI, you get the luck of the draw. But you can reserve your preferred week and typically deposit that same week with other exchange companies--in other words, you can control the week deposited with non-RCI exchange companies.

Interesting, but my resort isn't part of II, only RCI. I was looking at DAE a while back and thinking it might be decent choice. Certainly cheaper than RCI, but I wonder if there is enough trade availability.

To trade to something like DAE, would I reserve a week at my resort using a guest pass? I think they charge an extra $50 for it to be used by a guest. When I give that week to DAE, how does the person who actually uses the week get their name put onto it? Does DAE contact me and tell me who to put down as the guest? Going that route seems a little more complex and somewhat intimidating, but once I figure it out, it might work well.

Thanks!
Tauren
 

MuranoJo

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Interesting, but my resort isn't part of II, only RCI. I was looking at DAE a while back and thinking it might be decent choice. Certainly cheaper than RCI, but I wonder if there is enough trade availability.

To trade to something like DAE, would I reserve a week at my resort using a guest pass? I think they charge an extra $50 for it to be used by a guest. When I give that week to DAE, how does the person who actually uses the week get their name put onto it? Does DAE contact me and tell me who to put down as the guest? Going that route seems a little more complex and somewhat intimidating, but once I figure it out, it might work well.

Thanks!
Tauren

I was referring to my resorts which all are part of RCI.
When you deposit to any exchange company, you shouldn't need a guest certificate. Essentially, you are 'giving' that week to the exchange company, and they link into the resort to set up the exchange logistics. Typically gift certificates are only used once you confirm an exchange with an exchange company and you decide to gift the week to friends or family.

For further input on your first post regarding resorts picking the week for you:
One of my resorts uses the bulk spacebank process, which means if I don't want to or can't use a week for my personal use, I have a couple of options.

1. I can call the resort to deposit a week to RCI in my account. However, because the resort bulk spacebanks to RCI ahead of time, I typically have no control of the week assigned to me in RCI, except it should be in the 'season' I own. (Typically resorts assume a certain % of owners will want to deposit to RCI so they deposit a bunch to RCI ahead of time with unassigned names. This is often referred to as a bulk spacebank. The process does have it's benefits, as the week you will be assigned should have been 'pre-deposited' so you may get the benefit of having had the week in the RCI deposit system some time before it was assigned to you, giving you better trade power or TPU. ) You do not need to get a gift certificate in this process, as once you elect to deposit, the week is fully owned by RCI to do with as they please.

2. I can reserve my week and have the resort deposit with another exchange company (or I can have the other exchange company deal directly with my resort, depending on the relationship). With most of the other exchange companies, once you reserve your week with your resort, you can deposit your assigned week to them as an owner and maintain the trade power that comes with your reserved week. Your reserved week follows you, as the owner. Again, you shouldn't need a guest certificate for this process.

3. Of course, I could always just reserve the week and rent it out. In this case I would normally ask the resort to change my confirmation for this week to my renter's name, once I have satisfactory commitment from the renter.
 
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Mel

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I looked up the TP for a studio using the RCI deposit calculator. It looks like the maximum for a non-holiday week is 14 points (23 points for the week after Christmas). Since the deposit will be at least 35 days out, I know I will get at least 80% of the TP, or 11 points. I assumed the TP scale dropped much quicker than that, so this isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

So by depositing my 2009, 2010, and 2011 weeks, and splitting my lock-off unit into two studios each time, I should get 6 deposits totally somewhere between 66 and 84 points of TP.

I pay $810 per year in maintenance fees for my lock-off, so $2430 for these three years. Is 66 - 84 TP a good value for that? I'd like to figure out how to best utilize my timeshare and RCI to get the most out of it, so any advice is appreciated!
A few things to consider - you will get more points by locking off, but that means you end up with 6 deposits to use for trading. You might want to consider RCI's option of combining those deposits. Many would probably suggest you combine them all at one, so you only pay the fee once, but that leaves you with a single searchable deposit of the full amount. That's fine if you're likely to only need one search going at a time, but can be restricting. Also, that would limit the date by which you need to use all those points to 2 years from the date you combine.

Also, there multiple factors associated with what week they give you. First on your mind is the value of those weeks, which you have figured out. But the other thing to consider is the use window of the deposit. If I am going to trade for a week next year, I only need a deposit good that long - the use date doesn't really matter to me, because I'm not using it!

If you contact the management company, and they in turn contact the resort to make the deposit, you're not actually talking to someone who is involved in the actual deposit process. It sounds like the resort probably does bulk bank, and may make have a policy of depositing most of what is left 35 days out if it's not reserved. What you have been told leads me to believe "at least 35 day out" is referring to when the deposit was made - not necessarily that the deposit is more than 35 days from today. So you could end up with a week that has already passed, which could be a benefit or not (if they want to give you the week after Christmas from 2010, for example).

Hopefully someone else who owns at the same resort might chime in - you might be better off asking on the Mexico forum, since you question would be about your specific resort.
 

eschjw

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Interesting, but my resort isn't part of II, only RCI. I was looking at DAE a while back and thinking it might be decent choice. Certainly cheaper than RCI, but I wonder if there is enough trade availability.

To trade to something like DAE, would I reserve a week at my resort using a guest pass? I think they charge an extra $50 for it to be used by a guest. When I give that week to DAE, how does the person who actually uses the week get their name put onto it? Does DAE contact me and tell me who to put down as the guest? Going that route seems a little more complex and somewhat intimidating, but once I figure it out, it might work well.

Thanks!
Tauren

To trade with DAE is very simple. Reserve a week, deposit it and get an exchange credit. DAE takes care of everything else just like RCI. No need for a guest pass.

DAE often runs specials to encourage deposits at least 6 months in advance. I have gotten a $99 bonus week and a $25 exchange credit in the past. The current special is a free studio room for 4 nights at El Moro Tower or Marina Beach Club in Mazatlan.

If you own a prime time week (see list on their web site) and exchange 6 month in advance you get to make an exchange for $1. The regular exchange rate is $125 and membership is free. If you want to send someone else on your exchange, there is no charge for a name change on the reservation. However, you may not rent your exchange.

Inventory is very limited compared to RCI or II, but there are still some very good trades available, Your best trades are usually made by calling DAE to make a request.

Joe
 

Carolinian

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This is one reason I don't care for floating week resorts. I prefer to know what week I own and have full control over that.

Some of the floating week resorts bulkbank weeks with RCI (and I had an Australian resort that also did that with DAE) for the number of weeks they expect will be used for exchange. Then when a member wants to deposit, they are assigned one of those already deposited weeks. In the old RCI system, the very process of bulkbanked reduced trading power, often substantially. It may be a component of the points lite number assigned in the new system, but we don't know for sure since RCI hides the way they come up with those numbers.
 

presley

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If you decide to use SFX or Platinum Interchange, you just reserve your week at your resort for yourself. Then, you deposit your week with one of them.

That way, you can reserve the highest demand season and be able to get a similar trade.
 

LLW

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Is it common practice for resorts to pick the date for you and not let you have any say? Thanks!

Many mini-systems do it - Worldmark, Wyndham, Starwood......
 
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