OK we've taken the plunge. Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[JWM2021]

Maybe "the plunge" is a bit much, more like we've dipped our toe in. We've purchased an eoy-odd 61k point position at Grandview (Ad here on TUG). We have our RCI membership (got it just under the wire for the 12/1 price increase). We haven't gone platinum yet, but I think we probably will (although I'll say that it may not be worth it for a position this small). The sale came with the 61k 2021 points but there was a glitch so that transfer is still pending.

We have pretty good access to Wyndham points through my father/mother/sister-in-law (about 3 million points between them). We got this to 1) increase flexibility, especially out west where there are so many national parks, and 2) see RCI availability generally for a week here or a week there, and 3) to see if it made sense to have a larger RCI point position. We're recently retired and are traveling with a focus on national parks and national/historic sites.

Any comments or suggestions on starting out / getting acclimated would be greatly appreciated.

A big thank-you to everyone who has helped and especially @Jan M. who gave us great help.

One thing I know I need to do is join TUG. Ok, I stopped here and went and joined. I'm back and although the post may not show I'm a member since I started this when I was not, I now am.

LETS TRAVEL

 

[CO skier]

If you want National Parks in the West, check into WorldMark. WorldMark West Yellowstone, WorldMark Estes Park and Rocky Mountain Preserve on each side of Rocky Mountain National Park, WM Pagosa for Mesa Verde NP, Taos for Bandelier NP, WorldMark Moab for Arches and Canyonlands then pick up Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon NP on the way to WM St. George for easy access to Zion NP, add more WorldMark locations for Joshua Tree and Yosemite NP in California, the list goes on and on ... You will book directly into these resorts at the time of your choosing (it does require booking at exactly 13 months ahead for the most popular times -- everything has a cost) and not have to hope and wait to get lucky with an exchange.

I recently joined RCI through my resale WorldMark account. It is a weeks account, not a points account like Grandview, but your post indicates an interest in a week here or there. I spend a week at WM West Yellowstone about every other year in September. One really nice benefit is if you want to temporarily increase your RCI vacations, just rent additional WM credits from other owners and not have to commit to a permanently larger RCI or WorldMark ownership.

To top it all off, WorldMark enjoys excellent trading power in RCI (and Interval International) due to the collective strength of the coporate deposit to these exchange programs.

 

[TUGBrian]

ha, awesome!

another successful grandview purchase!

def going to have to keep doing those videos if they truly work this well to promote resales!


so very happy you found TUG, and the knowledge here to dip your toes into the timesharing world for pennies on the dollar....I truly hope it results in years of wonderful vacations for you and your family moving forward!