RCI Exchange Plus

[Miss Marty]

Look for the key icon next to available inventory
How does RCI Exchange Plus work
How long has this been around ?

 

[tschwa2]

It's hotel sourced inventory. Usually 3 nights or 5 nights. The exchange fee is $399 or $599. There can be daily resort fees as well. First noticed their appearance in June 2021.

 

[dioxide45]

Here is a thread that talks about it;

RCI exchange fee $599

Either it is a glitch or the new normal. RCI is offering some of the week long (non timeshare) hotel stay for points (or trading power) plus a $599 exchange fee. They are listed as exchange plus and the codes start with RG. An example is RGH7 Pirate's Cove Resort & Marina (#RGH7)Stuart, FL...

tugbbs.com

 

[escanoe]

The program definitely blurs the difference between renting and exchanging. While there are many things about the program that cause some concern, in my view it has helped RCI manage inventory at a time when pent up demand was putting a lot of pressure on inventory.

If anyone is thinking about doing an exchange plus transaction, I would recommend seeing if the same inventory is available as an extra vacation (rental) and price it both ways.

 

[tschwa2]

RCI now has some exchange plus that require a $999 exchange plus fee in addition to the points needed.

 

[klpca]

RCI now has some exchange plus that require a $999 exchange plus fee in addition to the points needed.

Sounds like they should have called it "Exchange plus plus plus!"

 

[Ty1on]

Sounds like they should have called it "Exchange plus plus plus!"

Or just "rip-off"

 

[dioxide45]

RCI now has some exchange plus that require a $999 exchange plus fee in addition to the points needed.

These must be some great resorts and destinations?

 

[Ski-Dad]

What is really disappointing is all these exchange plus show up when you are searching for exchanges. It makes it look like inventory when really it is a hotel booking site. I have looked at a few of these and the value proposition is poor. In most cases you are better off booking a hotel

 

[escanoe]

Or just "rip-off"

In truth, they have found a way to take a hotel "extra" vacation, have it show up in everyone's exchange search results, and then not have to pay sales tax on the transaction since it is an "exchange."

#NewShapeofTravel
#Reshaping Travel

 

[donnaval]

I find the insertion of the exchange plus listings into my searches to be extremely annoying. I have ZERO interest in booking any of those units. I can eliminate most of them from showing up by checking the box to define unit size - but it is an extra step that I have to take and some of them still wiggle through. Plus there are times when I might consider renting a studio unit so I still have to wade through the x+ dreck.

 

[tschwa2]

I was going to give examples but there are so many.

There are 399, 599, 799 and 999

The $399 ones generally require 9 tpus or 30,000 rci points
The $599 ones generally require 12 tpus or 40,000
The $799 and the $999 ones generally require 14 tpus or 50,000

As a platinum member who saves 10% of extra vacations but not exchanges the cost of the exchange plus, the costs are almost identical

 

[montygz]

I looked at one of these for fun. It was Residence Inn and it came out to about $1,100 for 3 nights, or $366 a night using points and the $599 fee. The hotel website charges about $300 a night + tax.

If taxes are included, it's probably pretty close, but you'd still likely still be paying more to book through RCI.

Now, some people may have a bunch of RCI points and no way to use them. They would be paying about $200 a night. Thus, if you have points to burn, there may be cases where this is useful.

There may be some other deals out there if you hunt enough. Not likely, though.

In the end, like most timeshare things, it is not a good strategy to use timeshare points for anything but exchanging into timeshares.

However, I'm sure it sounds good in a sales pitch.

 

[escanoe]

What is really disappointing is all these exchange plus show up when you are searching for exchanges.

In the typical maner of RCI website execution, they give you the option to select “exchange vacations only” to filter search results. And that does not one darn thing to remove the “exchange plus” results from the search.

On the other hand if you select “exchange plus only” it executes perfectly in showing only the exchange plus results.

As has been said before, the ones managing and overseeing their website must not ever use it.

#NewShapeofTravel
#Reshaping

 

[dioxide45]

As has been said before, the ones managing and overseeing their website must not ever use it.

The ones designing the website knew exactly what they were doing...

 

[escanoe]

The ones designing the website knew exactly what they were doing...

A cynical person (self included) could think that on this. But I promise you whoever is in charge of executing the website doesn’t use it to book timeshares.

There is no other explanation for the website having calendars that still pop up in Chinese every once in a while, that makes “favorites” very hard to find and require a senseless number of clicks to navigate, and cannot work out the bugs to list OGSs in a readable manner without modifying a request and refreshing the page a couple of times.

And if they don’t want to give you an option to see “exchanges only” they could just not give you the option rather than give you a sort tool that doesn’t work.

 

[rboesl]

About that calendar in Chinese. I don't know if you use a VPN but I do. I've noticed that if my VPN connects to a non-US security server I get other languages for dynamic content, like the pop-up calendar, on the pages I'm viewing. So that Chinese may not be RCI's fault.

 

[escanoe]

It is not a VPN-related issue for me. A year or two it used to happen at least a couple of times a day while using the site and was fairly widespread. It is much less pronounced and has only happened to me once in about the past month. But my point is it took months and months for them to make any improvement and they still haven't 100% resolved it.

They clearly have people that go for "aesthetically pleasing and big pictures" and manage to do pretty good on that. But they do not appear to have much of a clue when it comes to funtionality and user experience. I get a big part of it is marketing. But show me you are doing your core function of time share exchanging well before I am going to start using you all the time to book flights, hotels, cruises, etc.

About that calendar in Chinese. I don't know if you use a VPN but I do. I've noticed that if my VPN connects to a non-US security server I get other languages for dynamic content, like the pop-up calendar, on the pages I'm viewing. So that Chinese may not be RCI's fault.

 

[tlguinn_2000]

RCI now has some exchange plus that require a $999 exchange plus fee in addition to the points needed.

Plus resort fees, plus maintenance fees we have already paid, plus, plus

 

[elliselectric]

RCI putting these under exchange plus is fraud, no members own at any of these locations and pay any maintenance fee

 

[escanoe]

RCI putting these under exchange plus is fraud, no members own at any of these locations and pay any maintenance fee

They are an option. No one has to book one. I would have no complaints if they were not a pain to sort through. I might even book one every once in a while if it were not for the outrageously high exchange fee.