RCI Availability via HGVC

[alwysonvac]

Just a heads up…
If a RCI resort deposits units in both RCI Points and RCI Weeks, we might not see all available units via the HGVC website.

Background:
When we first received online access to RCI via the HGVC site, there were two options to choose from either- RCI WEEKLY Reservation or RCI NIGHTLY Reservation (aka RCI POINTS). RCI updated their reservation system giving us one combined access to both RCI WEEKS and RCI POINTS inventory. But I think there might be a RCI issue with their combined reservation system.

I can tell that we still have online access to RCI Weeks and RCI Points. However, it seems that if resort inventory is available in both RCI WEEKS and RCI POINTS then it looks like RCI only displays inventory from one (either RCI WEEKS or RCI POINTS) when it should display inventory from both.
(NOTE: I don’t have a separate RCI Points account so I can’t prove this)

I wrote to HGVC about my concerns and received the following initial feedback.

“….You are correct that RCI reservations used to be divided into two buckets of inventory. One bucket was RCI nightly (points) for reservations less than 7 nights and the second bucket was RCI weekly for reservations booked for 7 nights. Both of those buckets are now combined. The system is set up to select the best inventory for you based on availability and the number of nights you are booking. If you are booking a reservation less than 7 nights the inventory will be nightly (points) inventory. If you are booking for 7 nights the inventory will most likely be weekly, unless the resort chosen is a points only resort.…..“

I sent a follow up email stating

“Thanks for getting back to me. My concern is that if I want to book a 7 night reservation, RCI will only display available from one bucket (not both).

I’ve played with the system when we first received online access to RCI. This helped me gain an understanding of what was typically available in RCI Nightly (points) vs RCI Weekly. As you stated below, some resorts participate in both. And those that do generally place more deposits and/or larger unit sizes in one compared to another especially high demand travel periods

In less than two months we will be approaching the 10 month reservation window for summer 2013 availability via RCI Points.
I’m concerned that HGVC members may be at a disadvantage since the combined display may be misleading on what is truly available (when members are basing their decision on what is currently displayed online). Yes, I can call in to confirm what’s available but that defeats the whole purpose of RCI’s online access.”

I received the following response

“Thank you for your email. I have forwarded your concerns to our IT department. Unfortunately if you are unable to see something online and you feel that there may be inventory you are not seeing you will have to call the call center. I appreciate your feedback and concerns. “

I don’t know why RCI chose to combine the two buckets (whether it was requested by HGVC or something RCI chose to do on their own) but there may be limitations based on this new combined view.

Here are some examples that I’ve seen over the years that displayed different inventory in Weeks & Points (when we had access to both buckets via HGVC).
- Manhattan Club (#4064) – more weeks in RCI Weeks
- Grand Pacific Resorts – more summer weeks in RCI Points
- The Houses at Summer Bay Resort (#6884) – more week in Points
- NeNastako Village at Meadow Lake Resort (#5994) – many more weeks in Points
- Meadow Lake Golf and Ski Resort (#1909) – many more week in Points
- The Cliff Club at Snowbird (#4068) – larger unit sizes in Points
- various resorts in United Kingdom – high demand weeks in Points
- various resorts in British Columbia – high demand weeks in Points
- various resorts in Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina – high demand summer weeks in Points

Here are my old sightings threads comparing the differences between the WEEKS inventory vs the POINTS inventory via the HGVC website
Hawaii Summer 2010 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108127 [posted October 11, 2009]
South Carolina Summer 2010 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108150 [posted October 11, 2009]
Spain & Portugal Summer 2010 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108239 [posted October 12, 2009]
United Kingdom Summer 2010 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108237 [posted October 12, 2009]
Various resorts in England for July 2011 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130861 [posted September 18, 2010]
RCI Weeks & RCI Points: Disney 2010 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113871 [posted January 14, 2010]
Houses at Summer Bay for RCI Weeks ( http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129469 ) [posted August 27, 2010]
Houses at Summer Bay for RCI Points ( http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129464 ) [posted August 27, 2010]
NeNastako Village at Meadow Lake Resort (Montana) - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126611 [posted July 18, 2010]
Meadow Lake Golf and Ski Resort (Montana) - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126612 [posted July 18, 2010]
The Cliff Club at Snowbird (Utah) Aug 2010 thru Sept 2011 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126608 [posted July 18, 2010]
Various resorts in British Columbia for July 2011 - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130744 [posted September 16, 2010]

 

[lvkcwalker]

You can search the points inventory by clicking on the "Length of Stay" tab on the left side below the locations & months of availability. This gives you a choice of "1 - 6", "7+", or "7 days". I have done this several times without difficulty. Just be aware that it only shows you the points inventory and not the weeks inventory if you choose 1-6 or 7+.

 

[alwysonvac]

You can search the points inventory by clicking on the "Length of Stay" tab on the left side below the locations & months of availability. This gives you a choice of "1 - 6", "7+", or "7 days". I have done this several times without difficulty. Just be aware that it only shows you the points inventory and not the weeks inventory if you choose 1-6 or 7+.

Yes, logically it should work that way.

However if 7+ night only shows me the Points Inventory, then explain to me why do I see availability in RCI out to June 2014 when I filter by 7+ nights.
How is this possible if the RCI Points Inventory bucket begins 10 months before check-in?
The only explanation I can think of is that they must be using the same RCI inventory to populate both the 7 and 7+ options.


Another observation....
When you click on Available Units, sometimes a popup calendar is displayed which highlights available dates and other times (the popup calendar is not used) only a list of available dates is displayed.

For example:
Grand Pacific Resorts at Grand Pacific Palisades Resort (#5362) - doesn't display a popup calendar for 7+ nights.
Grand Pacific Resorts at Carlsbad Seapointe Resort (#3987) - does displays a popup calendar for 7+ nights.

Does this mean that one is displaying RCI Weeks inventory (no popup calendar) and the other is displaying RCI Points inventory?

 

[Talent312]

It sounds like these are questions for RCI which runs this search engine.

I would'a thought that a length-of-stay of "7" would return a weeks list,
and that "7+" would get you weeks + points. But perhaps filtering for a
month more than 10 months out instead is what it takes?

 

[alwysonvac]

Yes, logically it should work that way.

However if 7+ night only shows me the Points Inventory, then explain to me why do I see availability in RCI out to June 2014 when I filter by 7+ nights.
How is this possible if the RCI Points Inventory bucket begins 10 months before check-in?
The only explanation I can think of is that they must be using the same RCI inventory to populate both the 7 and 7+ options.

Here's an example:
I compared Grand Pacific Resorts at Carlsbad Seapointe Resort (#3987) using my WorldMark account (with access to RCI Weeks) and my HGVC account (with access to RCI Weeks and RCI Points). HGVC showed the same exact check-in dates for both the 7 and 7+ option. And both HGVC filter options (7 night and 7+ nights) had inventory that extended one month beyond what was available via my WorldMark account. If we had access to both weeks and points, I would have expected the 7 nights filter results from my HGVC account to be in sync with my WorldMark acct.
Details can be found on the sighting board - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173990 (NOTE: You have to be a TUG Member to view sightings).

NOTE: RCI Resorts that participate in RCI Points have the RCI Points logo on their RCI Directory page.

My Point:
If HGVC is defaulting to RCI Points inventory (instead of displaying inventory from both Weeks and Points) then in most cases we will be ok (since there seems to be more availability, larger units sizes and higher demand weeks in RCI Points) however this isn't always the case. RCI inventory can be completely different in RCI Points and RCI Weeks and when this happens we can be at a disadvantage if inventory from both POINTS and WEEKS are not displayed.

For examples of different inventory in RCI Points vs RCI Weeks: See links to my sightings in Post #1 for Disney 2010, South Carolina Summer 2010 & Houses at Summer Bay

 

[chriskre]

I have noticed that sometimes there is inventory that I can see with my HGVC that I cannot see with my Wyndham account. It could be possible that the different mini portals are getting different inventory or that there is a lag because sometimes it happens. :annoyed:

I always check with all my accounts to see which is cheaper. Sometimes what I want is only in HGVC. There may also be quality filters in place.

 

[rjp123]

There may also be quality filters in place.

I think this is true.

 

[alwysonvac]

Please note that the sightings in post #1 are all HGVC comparisons (not comparisons between different mini portals).
It compares what was soley found via the HGVC mini portal when the RCI inventory for WEEKS and POINTS were separately accessed via HGVC's portal.

I'm not pursuing this issue any further with HGVC. As stated in post #1, I wrote my email to HGVC stating my previous observations and my concerns. This is a non-issue for me because I generally don't use my HGVC points for RCI exchanges. I simply wanted to give a heads up to those who exchange regularly using their HGVC points.

HGVC members with non-corporate RCI accounts can probably perform some comparisons if anyone wants to pursue this further. As noted above, differences between mini portal availability has been discussed in the past on TUG as well as HGVC quality filtering.

 

[alwysonvac]

Here's an example:
I compared Grand Pacific Resorts at Carlsbad Seapointe Resort (#3987) using my WorldMark account (with access to RCI Weeks) and my HGVC account (with access to RCI Weeks and RCI Points) . HGVC showed the same exact check-in dates for both the 7 and 7+ option. And both HGVC filter options (7 night and 7+ nights) had inventory that extended one month beyond what was available via my WorldMark account. If we had access to both weeks and points, I would have expected the 7 nights filter results from my HGVC account to be in sync with my WorldMark acct.
Details can be found on the sighting board - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173990 (NOTE: You have to be a TUG Member to view sightings).

NOTE: RCI Resorts that participate in RCI Points have the RCI Points logo on their RCI Directory page.

My Point:
If HGVC is defaulting to RCI Points inventory (instead of displaying inventory from both Weeks and Points) then in most cases we will be ok (since there seems to be more availability, larger units sizes and higher demand weeks in RCI Points) however this isn't always the case. RCI inventory can be completely different in RCI Points and RCI Weeks and when this happens we can be at a disadvantage if inventory from both POINTS and WEEKS are not displayed.

For examples of different inventory in RCI Points vs RCI Weeks: See links to my sightings in Post #1 for Disney 2010, South Carolina Summer 2010 & Houses at Summer Bay

UPDATE...
Two TUG members posted what they saw for Grand Pacific Resorts at Carlsbad Seapointe Resort (#3987) using their non-corporate RCI account for RCI Weeks and RCI Points

The weeks available via the non-corporate RCI Weeks account matched my WorldMark RCI Weeks account.

The date range available via the non-corporate RCI Points account matched my HGVC RCI Weeks/Points account for both the 7 and 7+ option.

Details can be found on the sighting board - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173990 (NOTE: You have to be a TUG Member to view sightings).