RCI - Points for Hotel Stays

[CPNY]

While in my new RCI account I was checking for exchanged when I say “use points for hotel stays” I was playing around with it and it seemed that for 10,000 RCI points it took money off the nightly rate. I compared a south beach hotel for a week in May 2021 and 10,000 points saved me $3,000 off off Booking.com rate. Other savings were around 100 dollars or less a night in savings. Is this new? Is this worth it? 10,000 points doesn’t seem like a lot. Is this like a typical Priceline savings but they are just taking points off your account and making you think you’re getting a deal? This is all new to me so I’d love to hear from someone who has experience in this. I wish there was a way to use all points for the whole stay!

 

[moonstone]

I think RCI recently changed their points for hotel stay system but they have had a variation of it for quite a while. Several years ago we had a small amount (3-4K?) that was going to expire and I didnt want to pay RCI's price to extend such a small amount. Through their website I found a nice hotel room for 1 night that would use nearly all our remaining points for our night on the road on the way home from Florida. It was a much nicer hotel than what we usually stay in on our road trips. We arranged our driving/stopping time to check in earlier than we normally do, enjoy the pool and walk across the road for a nice dinner. We probably could have found a last minute exchange or waited for a sale, and gone to a resort for a whole week for the same amount of points, but the points were expiring soon.


~Diane

 

[stonebroke]

I don't see where i can pay for the entire room with points. I did a search and it said use your points and save $15 (approximate)....and some of the "savings" i was seeing actually costs less on some website. (and the search doesn't even say how many points it will take to save that amount. I am looking in my points account under "Search for a Vacation" and "New! Use Points to Save Extra on Hotels "

 

[moonstone]

I don't see where i can pay for the entire room with points. I did a search and it said use your points and save $15 (approximate)....and some of the "savings" i was seeing actually costs less on some website. (and the search doesn't even say how many points it will take to save that amount. I am looking in my points account under "Search for a Vacation" and "New! Use Points to Save Extra on Hotels "

Yes, I don't see that now either. I think that is the major change RCI made a while ago. Too bad! I have priced rooms through their site and I can do much better with Hotels .com or Booking .com so I won't likely be using them again.


~Diane

 

[CPNY]

Yes, I don't see that now either. I think that is the major change RCI made a while ago. Too bad! I have priced rooms through their site and I can do much better with Hotels .com or Booking .com so I won't likely be using them again.


~Diane

I ran a few tests and it seemed to save some money. But I’m sure I could wait and see further discounts on some booking sites while saving points

 

[timeshare trader]

You can book hotel rooms and apply the points to buy down the price lower. You can also get discounts without using the points (less savings). I have found their pricing to be very good. On some there is minimal savings but, i have not found other sites cheaper. I have also not booked my hotel rooms via the RCi website as I have not travelled much due to Covid.

 

[CPNY]

You can book hotel rooms and apply the points to buy down the price lower. You can also get discounts without using the points (less savings). I have found their pricing to be very good. On some there is minimal savings but, i have not found other sites cheaper. I have also not booked my hotel rooms via the RCi website as I have not travelled much due to Covid.

It’s good to know, I’m def going to check into it before booking hotels from now on

 

[donnaval]

I recently booked two single nights - one each way for a long drive to my timeshare stay. I checked the RCI rates but it ended up being less expensive with my II account, which gives a discount through Priceline. The II price was about 12% lower than the same hotel directly with Priceline. No points or exchange required.