RCI Platinum - - Changes/Improvements Effective Nov 14 2015

[Conan]

Overall a change for the better, if you're OK paying $69/year.

https://www.rci.com/static/docs/namer/en_US/Platinum_Membership_Rules-90_Day_Redline.pdf

Now if they only would add some worthwhile Platinum inventory!

 

[Rene McDaniel]

Thanks for your post - interesting read.

Does RCI platinum ever offer any of the HYATT hotels in the city, like they did 5 years ago? Like downtown Seattle or Chicago? Since we are on the left coast (and near the beach), all those platinum units in the Florida panhandle had no appeal for us. But we really enjoyed our trip to the Chicago Hyatt the one year we had platinum. After that, the the appeal of the Platinum offerings seemed to REALLY decline.

Thanks.

 

[tschwa2]

I think this year it has primarily been Hilton city hotels that I have seen. I know there were a boat load of sleeps 4 and sleeps 2 hotel rooms for DC including the summer and various other cities, including Chicago I believe.

I think there were about 5 different cities offered.

 

[bellesgirl]

Sounds like they are getting rid of the rebates and giving you Savings Dollars to be used in fixed amounts (say $25) for things you don't need or want - like restaurant.com certs. The main reason I have Platinum is because I get more in rebates than the annual fee. In 3 years I have gotten one upgrade and have booked the Washington DC Hilton at a very high TPU rate (but I needed it).

Getting full deposit value at 6 months is nice but not worth much since you only lose about 5% at that point. Curious what others see as an improvement.

 

[missyrcrews]

Not impressed

Sounds like they are getting rid of the rebates and giving you Savings Dollars to be used in fixed amounts (say $25) for things you don't need or want - like restaurant.com certs. The main reason I have Platinum is because I get more in rebates than the annual fee. In 3 years I have gotten one upgrade and have booked the Washington DC Hilton at a very high TPU rate (but I needed it).

Getting full deposit value at 6 months is nice but not worth much since you only lose about 5% at that point. Curious what others see as an improvement.

Like you...I enjoyed earning the $15 "rebates" on extra vacations etc. I've earned $30 so far this year...which offsets the Platinum fee. Not thinking I'll be renewing this year. I don't use anything that the Savings Dollars will be used for. Too bad.

 

[tschwa2]

Just sent this to the Contact us email. I don't expect it to do any good but I might as well let them know what I think.

I have seen the changes to the platinum program. I really am not impressed at all and do not think I will be renewing. I have access to "lifestyle benefits" through multiple memberships/ownerships that I already have and think it is worthless and useless "benefit" that I wouldn't pay $1 a year let alone anything more. I don't know how this third party vendor has managed to convince so many membership programs to enroll but I wish you would come up with something that is more worthwhile than "savings dollars"

 

[missyrcrews]

Hmmm...just read it again

Like I tell my kids when "reading closely"...read once for the flow, and then read a second time for deeper understanding. On the second read-through, I noticed that Platinum members get a 10% discount when booking extra vacations and last call trips. That would be better for me than the $15/trip. The extra vacation we just took to Timber Creek was $419, so 10% off would have been about $42 of discount...better than the $15 rebate. So maybe not such a bad deal after all. Time will tell!

 

[Free2Roam]

My platinum membership is paid thru 2017. We do an annual group ski trip where we get multiple units using extra vacation sales. I only did the platinum upgrade because the $15 rebate per unit more than covers the annual fee. The only other benefit I use from platinum is advanced notice of sales. I've never received a unit upgrade and never use the restaurant.com certificates (and recently gave a bunch away). If the new 'savings dollars' are only good on 3rd party stuff, I doubt that I'll renew.

 

[MichaelColey]

I used to benefit quite a bit from Combine Rebates, so that's a big loss for me. The new benefits seem to be a bit ambiguous, so it's hard to put a value on them.

 

[mdurette]

Some of my random observations:
1. Unit Upgrade (not that I have ever received one) The start date of the stay including the upgraded unit must be within 2 days of the start date (either 2 days before or 2 days after) of the previously confirmed Exchange and the length of the stay must be the same number of nights as the previously confirmed Exchange, and the upgraded unit must be at the same resort as for the applicable Exchange.

I couldn't imagine getting the automatic upgrade 2 weeks prior to trip and finding out it didn't have the same start day.

2. They state members can request a different resort within 2 weeks prior as long as same geographic area. This may be an interesting one to snag something better last minute.

3. 10% of getaways, extra vacations. I like that.

4. Free ongoing searches. I like that.

5. Deposit Restore: looks like for a fee you can late deposit and still get full TPUs.

 

[MichaelColey]

From my initial reading, I'm understanding some of those benefits just a little differently.

4. Free ongoing searches isn't a new one. They've had that for a while.

5. Deposit Restore. Instead of getting 100% for deposits 9+ months out, Platinum members get 100% for 6+ months out. I think you were only dinged 5% for 6-9 months, so that's a pretty minor change, and it only applies to that specific situation. Also, I don't think there's a fee for that.

 

[rapmarks]

regarding the free search, that only happens if you call in and set up the search, if you set it up online yourself, you have to put the deposit down. Last year I set up on phone, confirmed on line, and was charged the on phone amount which I never was able to clear up. So I went ahead and paid the fee for the ongoing search this time. I probably won't renew.

 

[mdurette]

regarding the free search, that only happens if you call in and set up the search, if you set it up online yourself, you have to put the deposit down. Last year I set up on phone, confirmed on line, and was charged the on phone amount which I never was able to clear up. So I went ahead and paid the fee for the ongoing search this time. I probably won't renew.

Thanks for this info.....I had thought that free OGS were dropped from RCI Platinum as I have always paid, but I also do online. I'm about the put one in...so guess I will call.