Point Protection in RCI May Not Cover Your Points

[Panina]

Yeah makes sense. I wonder if anyone does some cost comparison between HGVC points vs RCI points. I have a feeling if not for the home resort priority, owning HGVC is more expensive from the very start to every step along the way with all the “WTF you gonna do” fees.

Actually HGVC is very reasonable if you buy a high point week with a reasonble mf and want to trade within the system. I own a prime summer week in Myrtle Beach. I never used it. If I use my points within HGVC I can get 4-5, 4 to 5 day vacations. So far I have had luck getting good places but I am retired and have lots of flexability.

 

[dayooper]

Yeah makes sense. I wonder if anyone does some cost comparison between HGVC points vs RCI points. I have a feeling if not for the home resort priority, owning HGVC is more expensive from the very start to every step along the way with all the “WTF you gonna do” fees.

I agree with @Panina HGVC is pretty good value. I don’t use point protection unless I think thee will be a problem. Otherwise I only pay the booking fee and MF’s. $1100 plus a reservation fee is great value for a week in a 2 bedroom condo on the beach at Hilton Head, Hawaii or most HGVC locations. There are a ton of fees, but I don’t pay most of them. I just don’t use what those fees are for.

As far as RCI goes, you have to look at the usage in a monetary way. My MF/point ratio is around $0.10 a point so that the $299 RCI fee values out to about 3000 points. Someone with a higher MF/point ratio will actually get a better value than me. Then again, that booking fee isn’t the only cost. The resort fees really add up, adding another $175 ($25 per night). That would put me up to the cost of almost 5000 points in fees making an RCI vacation more expensive than an HGVC one, at least for me.

 

[iftravel]

I agree with @Panina HGVC is pretty good value. I don’t use point protection unless I think thee will be a problem. Otherwise I only pay the booking fee and MF’s. $1100 plus a reservation fee is great value for a week in a 2 bedroom condo on the beach at Hilton Head, Hawaii or most HGVC locations. There are a ton of fees, but I don’t pay most of them. I just don’t use what those fees are for.

As far as RCI goes, you have to look at the usage in a monetary way. My MF/point ratio is around $0.10 a point so that the $299 RCI fee values out to about 3000 points. Someone with a higher MF/point ratio will actually get a better value than me. Then again, that booking fee isn’t the only cost. The resort fees really add up, adding another $175 ($25 per night). That would put me up to the cost of almost 5000 points in fees making an RCI vacation more expensive than an HGVC one, at least for me.

Make sense. I booked a 2-bed the Bay Club end of August 2026 trip in RCI points. Yeah I didn’t factor in the resort fees. So if I value RCI points at 0.01, the 115k RCI points cost 1150. Plus 300 exchange fee, plus 100 points protection, plus 200 resort fees, yeah it’s more or less 1750. How much can you do in HGVC?

 

[dayooper]

Make sense. I booked a 2-bed the Bay Club end of August 2026 trip in RCI points. Yeah I didn’t factor in the resort fees. So if I value RCI points at 0.01, the 115k RCI points cost 1150. Plus 300 exchange fee, plus 100 points protection, plus 200 resort fees, yeah it’s more or less 1750. How much can you do in HGVC?

It all depends on how your membership is used. We usually use our points for lodge family trips in 2 or 3 bedroom units for 9-10 days, but it depends on where, when and what room you book. The first time we booked with 2 weeks of points we had a platinum season week in Hilton Head in a 2 bedroom, 5 nights in the gold season in a 3 bedroom at Elara in Vegas and 3 platinum season nights in a 1 bedroom at Chicago. We maximized our points by booking as few weekend nights as possible (only 3 weekend nights during all 3 of those stays).

If you can go in the off season (we really can’t) and book during the week (we do), you can get even better value. When we book our 9-10 day trips, we check-in on a Monday or Tuesday and check-out on a Thursday avoiding the more expensive Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights (they are double what the other nights are). We own 2 bedroom deeds. If we stay in smaller rooms, we can get more nights as well.

I also want to say there no resorts in the HGVC we have stayed at and would not go back to. In my ranking of HGVC resorts, The Boulevard in on the bottom but we would have no issue going back there. It’s a very nice resort with awesome amenities, but we just live the other resorts better.

 

[brp]

Make sense. I booked a 2-bed the Bay Club end of August 2026 trip in RCI points. Yeah I didn’t factor in the resort fees. So if I value RCI points at 0.01, the 115k RCI points cost 1150. Plus 300 exchange fee, plus 100 points protection, plus 200 resort fees, yeah it’s more or less 1750. How much can you do in HGVC?

How many days is your trip?

Cheers.

 

[GT75]

I only pay the booking fee and MF’s. $1100 plus a reservation fee is great value for a week in a 2 bedroom condo on the beach at Hilton Head,

You are getting better value than actually owning at Ocean Oak because the MFs there are $1551.

 

[iftravel]

How many days is your trip?

Cheers.

One week.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I am facing a decision on a week I have that I reserved with Wyndham points through the RCI portal, a 3 bedroom at Maui Lea at Maui Hill. I booked it a while ago, June 7th 2024. I was going to cancel it and get my points back in full, as I am in the GRACE PERIOD. Will the points really be refunded?

The week is February of 2026. It was 300,000 Wyndham points + $300. I would rather just leave the week sit empty than give it back to RCI and lose all of the points. If I cancel, RCI gets another exchange fee and another $300 fee. Sucks to be an RCI customer with unclear expiration dates on points and all of the fees involved.

 

[Panina]

I am facing a decision on a week I have that I reserved with Wyndham points through the RCI portal, a 3 bedroom at Maui Lea at Maui Hill. I booked it a while ago, June 7th 2024. I was going to cancel it and get my points back in full, as I am in the GRACE PERIOD. Will the points really be refunded?

View attachment 112707

The week is February of 2026. It was 300,000 Wyndham points + $300. I would rather just leave the week sit empty than give it back to RCI and lose all of the points. If I cancel, RCI gets another exchange fee and another $300 fee. Sucks to be an RCI customer with unclear expiration dates on points and all of the fees involved.

This is how I understand it for HGVC. I will write it for those who would be interested. Wyndham can work differently. It depends on their rules.

If you used 2024 points that were saved from 2023 I believed you would lose them.

If you used 2024 points without saving the points to 2025 technically no but you should be offered the option to pay the 2024 fee to save your points to 2025. If you then cancel in 2025 you should get your points back into 2025 but they are saved points so you would have to use them this year or pay to save them in RCI.

If you used regular 2025 points you will get them back.

 

[rickandcindy23]

If I call RCI, I don't believe they will give me an answer on the points' expiration or whether I will get them back.

I offered the week to my niece, she has three kids but is terrified of airplanes. The kids aren't, her husband isn't, but she has never been on an airplane and never plans on it.

 

[Panina]

If I call RCI, I don't believe they will give me an answer on the points' expiration or whether I will get them back.

I offered the week to my niece, she has three kids but is terrified of airplanes. The kids aren't, her husband isn't, but she has never been on an airplane and never plans on it.

RCI will tell you. They told me. Just say if I cancel this week will I get my points back.