RCI And Interval International

[bshanebowl]

Reading what I think is an old Washington Post article about the top timeshare properties. Looks like Disney, Marriott, Sheraton, and Hyatt all trade through Interval (or will, in the case of Disney). Hilton and Wyndham trade through RCI. At the time of the article Disney, Sheraton, and Hyatt had a satisfactory rating from the Better Business Bureau. Marriott, Wyndham, and Hilton were unsatisfactory. This all leads me to the question of if you can buy any of these brands for free or pennies on the dollar, plus transfer fees. How likely is it you can trade them in a satisfactory manner? Certainly those properties trading under II appear to be nice. Do they also have a certain amount of threadbare properties? What is the trading experience like with II? With RCI I have been happy so far with what I traded into but it does appear like there may be a slightly disproportionate amount of less than stellar properties that you have to workaround with RCI. Also my Grandview Las Vegas 2 bedroom week will get me at least a few weeks or better of vacation exchanges through RCI. If you buy one of the properties exchanged through Interval, can you get extra trading power through them.

 

[VacationForever]

First of all, throw out BBB ratings. BBB targets businesses to pay them membership and they will then get an A+ rating automatically. Stop reading BBB. Negative timeshare reviews come from direct purchase buyers.

All the timeshare brands that you have listed run great timeshare operations. You cannot buy most of these for free unless they are in the shoulder/low seasons, but yes, some of them maybe at 10 to 15% of retail cost. I used to trade with RCI, from 1996 to 2007, and then switched to II and never looked back. If you want to buy a timeshare to trade in II, look to buy either a Marriott or Westin/Sheraton, because they have a priority period which allows them to see newly deposited weeks of their own brand, and the period is about 24 days. If you want to trade into Marriott/Westin/Sheraton with with another brand of timeshare, you will mostly see leftovers, after other owners have done their pickings.

Just like RCI, there are threadbare properties in II, and they are not from the big brands.

In II, a week is a week, well, if you lock off a 2BR, you can get 2 weeks out of it for trading. Trading power is blind and there is no assigned TPUs like RCI. A week for a week. You can pay for a size upgrade, say, you use a studio and you trade into a 2BR, you will need to pay 2 upgrade fees.

 

[rickandcindy23]

@bshanebowl You own Grandview, so you probably already use RCI for trading, correct?

 

[bshanebowl]

That is some good information to process but my initial takeaway for someone like me is that even though I might find a good deal on a cheap sale for a deeded II week if I look hard enough, what I'm looking for is a low maintenance fee, more than one week for the week I am banking, and generally looking for more value to make my vacation dollar stretch further both economically and time wise. RCI should probably be my preferred exchange partner under those circumstances. I do think it might be more likely that II might provide a better singular experience though. But not enough to overlook being able to flex my RCI membership the way I like. I might prefer II if money or price was no object.

 

[bshanebowl]

@bshanebowl You own Grandview, so you probably already use RCI for trading, correct?

Yeah. It's worked out really well so far but I'm always wondering if there might be another option out there I may want to explore. I don't think this is it, though. If one even exists.

 

[montygz]

From my study of RCI vs. II, it seemed like you could get more value with an RCI points unit. For example, my 2-bedroom 98K points unit could get me 13 weeks if I get units at 7,500 points. There are even cheaper units 1 bedroom deals.

Obviously, you'll be doing a lot of last-minute booking and paying many exchange fees. Most of the cheap units are lower-quality resorts, but I have gotten a few great exchanges for cheap points.

With II, if you own a lock-off 2-bedroom unit, the most you can get out of it is two weeks. Maybe the II equivalent of last calls is better than the RCI version.

Now, there may be additional tricks about maximizing II that I don't know about since I don't own in that system. I have been considering getting a trader in II to get some Marriott and DVC weeks.

 

[bshanebowl]

I'm sort of coming down on your side of the fence on this but I am curious if II does have some kind of version of last call because there is a contingent of people who just join rci for the least amount of skin in the game possible and just strictly flex last call. It would be interesting to see if there is an II equivalent and what you could get.

 

[VacationForever]

I'm sort of coming down on your side of the fence on this but I am curious if II does have some kind of version of last call because there is a contingent of people who just join rci for the least amount of skin in the game possible and just strictly flex last call. It would be interesting to see if there is an II equivalent and what you could get.

You need to own a week which trades in II in order to get an account. You can simply buy Getaway weeks in II.

 

[rboesl]

II Getaway weeks are not equivalent to RCI Last Call weeks. You can book II Getaway weeks with a long lead time (more than 45 days prior to check in). RCI Last Call weeks are available up to 45 days prior to check in using points.

RCI does have weeks that can be booked without exchanging points but they are not called Last Call.

RCI also has weeks available for 10,000 points or less.

 

[Link]

My experience exchanging with both II and RCI is that II tends to have higher quality resorts overall. Both systems also have many low quality or fee-heavy resorts as well. With DVC moving to II, the primary benefit I see in RCI is their higher quantity of resorts, especially in certain locations.

For example, RCI has many more resorts in the northeast that I can drive to, and it’s very common to be able to book a week during ski season in New Hampshire with only a few weeks notice. It won’t be a Marriott by any means, but it will generally be clean and convenient.

As far as RCI’s last call deals, I feel that the II bonus AC’s are very similar in both cost, timing, and inventory. I would consider them to be pretty much equivalent.

 

[kanerf]

I have both. I use my RCI for cheap weekend stays in Williamsburg which is few hours drive away. I also usually stay there for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have II through DVC and HICV. I have done an exchange yet, but will probably use my HICV for that. DVC is far to easy to rent out if I am not going to be using it.

 

[bshanebowl]

All good know. Looks like I will be sticking with RCI but I wonder if someone could give me an example of what kind of II week I could just straight cash purchase for a vacation, and what would the total cost be. No points or trade or anything. This assumes I just find the cheapest way to get into II initially. For instance right now in RCI I could just pay $287 for a 1 bedroom with a full kitchen at a gold crown 4 star in Sedona AZ for a week at the end of August. Just cash, no points or anything. Doesn't touch my week. What's the II equivalent of that? If there's something good, I might just get one II El cheapo and utilize it when appropriate.

 

[VacationForever]

It is called Getaway as I have posted above. For less desirable locations, resorts and season, you can pay about $300 for a week. For more desirable weeks, it can go up to about $1000 for say, a Marriott resort, during Christmas in Palm Desert.

II also drops a couple of "AC", Accommodation Certificates" which cost under $350 to trade, where you can exchange these free ACs into extremely limited locations and resorts.

 

[Link]

All good know. Looks like I will be sticking with RCI but I wonder if someone could give me an example of what kind of II week I could just straight cash purchase for a vacation, and what would the total cost be. No points or trade or anything. This assumes I just find the cheapest way to get into II initially. For instance right now in RCI I could just pay $287 for a 1 bedroom with a full kitchen at a gold crown 4 star in Sedona AZ for a week at the end of August. Just cash, no points or anything. Doesn't touch my week. What's the II equivalent of that? If there's something good, I might just get one II El cheapo and utilize it when appropriate.

I don’t see anything in Sedona, but this would give you somewhat of a comparison.

 

[bshanebowl]

That really doesn't seem too bad compared to what most people spend when they stay at a place like that. I guess the real question is what is the least amount it would cost me to put myself in a position to get a deal like that should I want it. I mean if I I'm just paying a transfer fee to get any kind of Interval International property given to me and maybe there's something out there with a really low maintenance fee oh, if I was going to use that several times a year it would probably be worth it but is the scenario I'm talkin about actually in existence?

 

[bshanebowl]

Some people in a fb II users group have suggested I just get the cheapest thing with the lowest mf I can find on redweek or ebay that's associated with II and go from there.

 

[VacationForever]

Some people in a fb II users group have suggested I just get the cheapest thing with the lowest mf I can find on redweek or ebay that's associated with II and go from there.

Sure, if your goal is to be able to trade into just any resort, buy Getaways or make use of the Accommodation Certificates. It is very likely that such a week will never get to trade into difficult-to-exchange places like Four Seasons Aviara. It should still be able to trade into a smaller unit of Marriott or Sheraton during shoulder season. For me, trading power is very important. I don't want to stay at "threadbare" properties.

 

[e.bram]

With II you can look first before you deposit. With RCI you have to deposit first.

 

[bshanebowl]

Good point but until this moment I had never considered having or using enough trading power to get into the four seasons, anyway. Although I'm sure it would be nice. Takes away from the most possible time I may want to be vacaying. However, I do know I can probably get a place where my brother in law and sister in law live in Morgantown West Virginia, which sort of captures my style a little more accurately.

 

[Link]

If that is definitely what you want to do, you might look for triennial contracts with resorts associated with II. I believe there are some in Vegas and Williamsburg that would fit the bill. Just keep in mind that an II association isn’t guaranteed forever, like when DVC switched away, and most recently switched back.

 

[escanoe]

If looking for mid-range resorts in my part of the country (Mid-Atlantic), I would go with RCI over II. But there is significant geographic variation on this.

 

[bshanebowl]

If that is definitely what you want to do, you might look for triennial contracts with resorts associated with II. I believe there are some in Vegas and Williamsburg that would fit the bill. Just keep in mind that an II association isn’t guaranteed forever, like when DVC switched away, and most recently switched back.

Very true but ultimately what I want to accomplish is to be set up for the near future when we'll be traveling more by having enough rci points to plan a few nice significant things and then have the other II Getaways and RCI Last Calls available to sort of enhance the space in between since doing a half dozen of those would be much cheaper than having a half dozen deeded weeks. On my budget, mf money detracts directly from spending money so these cheap weekly's are like putting money in my pocket. Whatever changes in the future will just be something I roll with. And for what it's worth I'll be with both of the main traders anyway.

 

[bshanebowl]

At this point all I'm really looking for is someone to direct me to the cheapest triennial that is associated with II. Preferably one where they are giving it away and the mf is under $150-$300. A couple of folks have suggested already.

 

[Link]

Off the top of my head, Tahiti Village or Vacation Villages Williamsburg might fit what you are looking for.

 

[bshanebowl]

Although I am trying to follow up on a couple of other things, the best deal I seem to be able to find currently is a fixed eoy one bedroom in Maine for $552 in the year of use. Sounds like a fair deal to me so far but if I can get something even cheaper to get into II, I'll be checking it out. Here is the link to the resort, I think. https://www.intervalworld.com/web/c...entResortCode=FAO&showVideo=true#.YtXi46QpBPx