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RCI Exchange need help

Rhiannon35

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I own a fixed week at Winner's Circle in Solana Beach, 1 BR, week 29 when the racetrack is open. Only been an owner two years. We decided to vacation elsewhere last year, so I had the mgmt. company sell the resort, and though it sold, by the time all the fees were taken out I lost money.

I am thinking of exchanging using RCI for our 2019 week and since I'm a newbie I need some help. WC is a points resort and according to the points chart I found, my week is worth 46,500 points -- not a heckuva lot considering it's high season
Questions:

* Are the points our resorts are worth in the RCI chart the same amount we would get from RCI if we deposit the week for exchange? Or if say someone has put in a request and RCI knows they can sell the week do we possibly get more points?
* For 2019, we would be looking to travel one of the last two weeks of Aug. in the Orlando area in a 2BR or 3 BR. When I look at the points chart, I can't get a thing with 46,500 points. However, when I look at a Weeks chart, it appears I could get a Silver Crown resort 2 BR for 45,500 points. Am I understanding this correctly? Seems strange I can't get any points resorts but can get a weeks resort.
* Can you buy points to upgrade? If so, how much are they?

I realize it is often cheaper to just buy a week in Orlando during a "hot deal," which we did this summer and had a 2 BR at Summer Bay for $375. However, I lost money on my WC week selling via our timeshare company. I was hoping we could get a 3BR next summer through an exchange since there is such a surplus in Orlando esp during end of Aug. but now I'm not so sure. Have looked at II but the membership, plus exchange plus upgrade fee would probably not be worth it.
We are very limited in when we can travel as my daughter is still in hs. She graduates in 2020 so we will have more freedom and choices then, and we bought the timeshare with that in mind.
 

DeniseM

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I'm guessing that you mean that you had them "rent" your week? When you "sell" you sell the deed.
We decided to vacation elsewhere last year, so I had the mgmt. company sell the resort, and though it sold, by the time all the fees were taken out I lost money.

Generally, you can do a lot better if you rent the week yourself, instead of going through the management company, but I'm not familiar with this resort. You could look in the TUG Marketplace and www.redweek.com to see what the identical week is renting for on the open market.
 

Rhiannon35

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I'm guessing that you mean that you had them "rent" your week? When you "sell" you sell the deed.


Generally, you can do a lot better if you rent the week yourself, instead of going through the management company, but I'm not familiar with this resort. You could look in the TUG Marketplace and www.redweek.com to see what the identical week is renting for on the open market.
Yes, sorry, I meant 'rent' not 'sell." I didn't want to rent the week out myself as it was only about three months out when we decided we weren't going to use the week, and I was afraid it wouldn't sell if I tried on my own. I knew the mgmt. company would likely be able to rent it, so I decided to take something over nothing. I suppose I could try to rentit myself this time around, but still have that fear it might not rent.
 

DeniseM

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Put it up for rent as early as possible, like a year in advance, and then deposit it if it doesn't rent.
 

Rhiannon35

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Yes, thanks, that’s an option but I’d still like answers to my RCI questions to help me in figuring out if that’s also a viable option.
 

tschwa2

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Do you already have an RCI account? Is it an RCI points account? Just because your resort sold rci points weeks doesn't mean you own an rci points week. If it is not enrolled in points it currently shows as 42 points. It does start decreasing if deposited after 10/22. Other than DVC you should be able to get any Orlando resort. It would be $239 plus your week and you might get rci tpu's back.
 

Rhiannon35

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Do you already have an RCI account? Is it an RCI points account? Just because your resort sold rci points weeks doesn't mean you own an rci points week. If it is not enrolled in points it currently shows as 42 points. It does start decreasing if deposited after 10/22. Other than DVC you should be able to get any Orlando resort. It would be $239 plus your week and you might get rci tpu's back.

I do not have an RCI account and I didn’t buy anything through RCI. I bought my week directly from resort. But when I look it up on RCI, my resort is listed as a points resort. I read a TUG piece on if you should buy a points or weeks membership and it said your home resort will be one or the other. Is this not the case?
I’m also confused by you saying “it would show as 42 points.” I thought points were listed in the 10,000s vicinity and TPUS as double digits.
 

tschwa2

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At a non points resort you can never buy an RCI points converted week. At a points resort, there are likely owners that have points and ones that are still in weeks. If the resort is not in active sales but has HOA weeks that they sell, it depends if your week was ever converted or not. Usually when you own an RCI points week, you know it as you are required to have an RCI points account active and pay the fee of around $105 per year. An RCI points week is auto deposited in your RCI points account as points annually unless you specifically reserve your fixed week 12 months out.
You can call the resort to see if your week was ever converted but it sounds like it wasn't. Even if it was, since it has not been enrolled in RCI for two years, I am not sure if it would still be enrolled.

A non converted week (even at a points resort) when deposited in RCI goes into a weeks account. A weeks membership is around $90 per year but they sometimes have 2 for 1 specials. Weeks are assigned points between 2-60 (trading point units).
 

Rhiannon35

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At a non points resort you can never buy an RCI points converted week. At a points resort, there are likely owners that have points and ones that are still in weeks. If the resort is not in active sales but has HOA weeks that they sell, it depends if your week was ever converted or not. Usually when you own an RCI points week, you know it as you are required to have an RCI points account active and pay the fee of around $105 per year. An RCI points week is auto deposited in your RCI points account as points annually unless you specifically reserve your fixed week 12 months out.
You can call the resort to see if your week was ever converted but it sounds like it wasn't. Even if it was, since it has not been enrolled in RCI for two years, I am not sure if it would still be enrolled.

A non converted week (even at a points resort) when deposited in RCI goes into a weeks account. A weeks membership is around $90 per year but they sometimes have 2 for 1 specials. Weeks are assigned points between 2-60 (trading point units).

Thanks, very helpful. I didn’t realize a resort could be both points and weeks. Still learning.
I am going to guess I do not have a points week, as I do not need to reserve my week in advance, I own a specific unit at my resort and just show up my week to check in. And, as I said, I’ve never had to deal with RCI, I just have the option of using them for exchange. But, I will call to verify.
I believe someone told me in a previous TUG conversation that I’d get about 40 TPUs for my week.
Can I ask how or why a week would be converted from weeks to points? I’m trying to learn as much as I can.
 

DeniseM

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Can I ask how or why a week would be converted from weeks to points?
You have to pay a large fee to convert a week to points - hundreds or even thousands of dollars - so it's a poor value. It makes more sense to buy an inexpensive TS that is already converted to points, or use the TPU's that you already have for trading in RCI, instead.

I don't know if 40 TPU's is correct or not, but that is an above average number of TPU's and should be plenty for Orlando.

If you buy a timeshare at an RCI points resort from the developer, it's usually already enrolled in points. But if you buy on the resale market, it may or may not be.
 

Rhiannon35

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You have to pay a large fee to convert a week to points - hundreds or even thousands of dollars - so it's a poor value. It makes more sense to buy an inexpensive TS that is already converted to points, or use the TPU's that you already have for trading in RCI, instead.

I don't know if 40 TPU's is correct or not, but that is an above average number of TPU's and should be plenty for Orlando.

If you buy a timeshare at an RCI points resort from the developer, it's usually already enrolled in points. But if you buy on the resale market, it may or may not be.

I see. I bought the week from the resort from a number of foreclosures they had two years ago going at reasonable rates.
So, you say if I buy from developer, which I guess I did, it would likely already be enrolled in points.
However, previous poster says I would know if it was points because I’d have to buy RCI membership, reserve my week, etc. I don’t do any of that. Again, I’m confused as this seems to be conflicting information.
I do remember reading on TUG that it’s a rip off to convert so thanks for refreshing my memory.
 

DeniseM

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If it was a foreclosure, it may have already been removed from points membership, because the original owner failed to pay the required fees to RCI. If you don't pay RCI - you lose your points membership. If they weren't paying the resort, I suspect that they weren't paying RCI either.
 

Rhiannon35

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If it was a foreclosure, it may have already been removed from points membership, because the original owner failed to pay the required fees to RCI. If you don't pay RCI - you lose your points membership. If they weren't paying the resort, I suspect that they weren't paying RCI either.
If you buy a points membership don’t you have to buy from RCI and deal with them to reserve your week? In other words, I wouldn’t buy a fixed week from resort, I’d buy an RCI points week with that as my home resort.
All the foreclosures they were selling (there were about 30) were directly through the resort. None had anything to do with RCI. So, isn’t it possible former owner never had an RCI membership? I don’t have an RCI membership of any type.

Thanks again for your help
 

tschwa2

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If you buy a points membership don’t you have to buy from RCI and deal with them to reserve your week? In other words, I wouldn’t buy a fixed week from resort, I’d buy an RCI points week with that as my home resort.
All the foreclosures they were selling (there were about 30) were directly through the resort. None had anything to do with RCI. So, isn’t it possible former owner never had an RCI membership? I don’t have an RCI membership of any type.

Thanks again for your help
My guess is the resort is no longer in active sales but they have foreclosed HOA owned weeks. With the original developer out of the way the week may have never been converted or may have been removed to from points. Buying from the HOA at a resort that is not in active sales is not the same as the traditional buying from the resort. If you bought a week from the developer that was part of RCI points it would have been mentioned and they would have had you set up an RCI points membership as part of the purchase process.
 

DeniseM

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If you buy a points membership don’t you have to buy from RCI and deal with them to reserve your week?

RCI doesn't sell timeshares or points - they are an exchange company and they sell RCI memberships and exchanges. In other words, you must own a timeshare to become an RCI member, and you enroll your timeshare with RCI. The trading value of your timeshare in RCI is valued as TPU's or points.

It's hard to tell whether the deed you own was ever enrolled in RCI or not - but at this point it really doesn't matter, because it doesn't impact your current ownership.
 

Rhiannon35

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My guess is the resort is no longer in active sales but they have foreclosed HOA owned weeks. With the original developer out of the way the week may have never been converted or may have been removed to from points. Buying from the HOA at a resort that is not in active sales is not the same as the traditional buying from the resort. If you bought a week from the developer that was part of RCI points it would have been mentioned and they would have had you set up an RCI points membership as part of the purchase process.

I think this is exactly what the case is, yes.

At a non points resort you can never buy an RCI points converted week. At a points resort, there are likely owners that have points and ones that are still in weeks. .

Since it appears if I exchange with RCI it will be with a weeks membership, can I still exchange into a week at a Points resort if the resort uses both weeks and points? You pointed out that some Points resorts haven't fully converted and owners will have both. I realize I can't get points without paying to convert from weeks to points. But I'd be depositing a week at a Points resort into the exchange so wondering how this affects my options.
 

Rhiannon35

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RCI doesn't sell timeshares or points - they are an exchange company and they sell RCI memberships and exchanges. In other words, you must own a timeshare to become an RCI member, and you enroll your timeshare with RCI. The trading value of your timeshare in RCI is valued as TPU's or points.

It's hard to tell whether the deed you own was ever enrolled in RCI or not - but at this point it really doesn't matter, because it doesn't impact your current ownership.

Yes, I realize RCI doesn't sell timeshares. I didn't word it well but what i was asking was if I bought a week at a RCI points resort wouldn't I have to buy the points membership with RCI and deal with RCI when making my reservations. I know some owners -- I almost rented a week from a HIVC owner -- have to deal with RCI if they want to switch weeks even at their home resort. I can just call my resort directly and switch.

Either way, Tschwa answered that for me and you are correct, it doesn't matter, but at least I have a much better understanding of RCI now. :)
 

tschwa2

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I think this is exactly what the case is, yes.



Since it appears if I exchange with RCI it will be with a weeks membership, can I still exchange into a week at a Points resort if the resort uses both weeks and points? You pointed out that some Points resorts haven't fully converted and owners will have both. I realize I can't get points without paying to convert from weeks to points. But I'd be depositing a week at a Points resort into the exchange so wondering how this affects my options.
Yes, you would be able to exchange into the weeks inventory at both weeks only and points resorts.
 

bizaro86

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There are lots of nice 3 bedroom options in RCI weeks for that time frame. 8 resorts have 3 bedroom units in your time frame.

HGVC seaworld has 3 Bedrooms for 37 TPU is probably what I would take, although that has a nightly fee.

There is also a Holiday Inn Orange Lake 3 bedroom for 26 TPU.

There are 6 other choices, but personally I'd book one of those two.
 

funtime

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Winners Circle is also a member of II if you prefer to join II. You can also join both Timeshare companies.
 

Vacationsarefun

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Not sure about your week but I own at Winners Circle and mine is not in points. The TPU
you get
(around 40) are actually quite good. You should be able to easily get most anything in Orlando at the end of August. I know this as we just went there this year at the same time. I was willing to wait till the last minute and was able to get two weeks in a one bedroom at a DVC resort - each was 11 TPU. Most other nice resorts were between 20 and 35 TPU a couple of months out. There were also plenty of nice resorts at 10 or less TPU. Given that it is low season in Orlando and that there are so many nice timeshares there, you can easily put in a request and then wait.until closer to your departure if necessary.

However, I have no experience with a points account so if you really have a points week I am not sure how it would go.
 

Rhiannon35

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There are lots of nice 3 bedroom options in RCI weeks for that time frame. 8 resorts have 3 bedroom units in your time frame.

HGVC seaworld has 3 Bedrooms for 37 TPU is probably what I would take, although that has a nightly fee.

There is also a Holiday Inn Orange Lake 3 bedroom for 26 TPU.

There are 6 other choices, but personally I'd book one of those two.
Wow, thank you for checking! I like that I don't have to pay an upgrade fee to go from 1 BR to 3 BR, and that there are so many options. I'm sure if we decide on a 2 BR there'll be even more.
 

Rhiannon35

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Not sure about your week but I own at Winners Circle and mine is not in points. The TPU
you get
(around 40) are actually quite good. You should be able to easily get most anything in Orlando at the end of August. I know this as we just went there this year at the same time. I was willing to wait till the last minute and was able to get two weeks in a one bedroom at a DVC resort - each was 11 TPU. Most other nice resorts were between 20 and 35 TPU a couple of months out. There were also plenty of nice resorts at 10 or less TPU. Given that it is low season in Orlando and that there are so many nice timeshares there, you can easily put in a request and then wait.until closer to your departure if necessary.

However, I have no experience with a points account so if you really have a points week I am not sure how it would go.
Thank you for the advice! 11 TPU -- wow, good for you!
May I ask: you got a good deal because you waited until the last minute. When you say to put in a request and then wait closer to my departure, how would that work exactly? If I put in a request, don't I have to take it if a match comes up? Or do I just keep waiting to take an exchange until closer to travel date so TPUs go down?
 

jackio

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Thank you for the advice! 11 TPU -- wow, good for you!
May I ask: you got a good deal because you waited until the last minute. When you say to put in a request and then wait closer to my departure, how would that work exactly? If I put in a request, don't I have to take it if a match comes up? Or do I just keep waiting to take an exchange until closer to travel date so TPUs go down?

When you put in a request, you pre-pay the exchange fee, and give them dates and resorts that would be acceptable to you. Then you are notified when a match comes up. You do not have to take that match - you can decline it and still keep your search active. However, if you wait too long, you may not match, so if a match comes up at a resort you really want, you might want to take it.
 
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