RCI Question

[kirby3]

Hi Everyone!
Friends of ours no longer own a timeshare and they are still getting calls and booking cruises and resort weeks through RCI. They sold their week a couple years ago but just booked 2 cruises and a couple resort weeks. One of them resort weeks was a replacement for another week that they were not pleased with 2 years ago on a week they took. So it was free. Do you not have to own to get the special deals through RCI? They think this is wonderful as they don't have to worry about maintenance fees, etc. Is this how it usually works?

 

[theo]

Yes and no...

Friends of ours no longer own a timeshare and they are still getting calls and booking cruises and resort weeks through RCI. They sold their week a couple years ago but just booked 2 cruises and a couple resort weeks. One of them resort weeks was a replacement for another week that they were not pleased with 2 years ago on a week they took. So it was free. Do you not have to own to get the special deals through RCI? They think this is wonderful as they don't have to worry about maintenance fees, etc. Is this how it usually works?

Initially, you must own at a RCI affiliated resort in order to purchase a RCI membership in the first place. Indeed, the RCI resort identification number is usually embedded within the RCI membership number.

Thereafter however, as long as the RCI member keeps paying RCI membership fees, RCI doesn't seem to particularly care about the status of that initial (...or any other) timeshare ownership, just as long as they (RCI) keep getting their money to keep that underlying RCI membership current.

That being said, whether or not RCI "special deals" (...aside from their good, low cost "Last Call" rentals) are ever even really "deals" at all (particularly anything involving cruises), is certainly open to debate....

 

[kirby3]

Thanks for clearing that up. It may be worth them to keep paying RCI. They bought some package deal twice now. You get 2 cruises and one week at a resort for a certain price. They were not pleased with the resort they picked and got a free week- to be used up in a certain time. We have not joined RCI as we use the week/resort we bought every year and love it so did not think we needed to pay out the extra cash. Maybe we should consider it?

 

[theo]

A personal decision...

Thanks for clearing that up..... We have not joined RCI as we use the week/resort we bought every year and love it so did not think we needed to pay out the extra cash. Maybe we should consider it?

If you have no plans or intentions regarding "exchanging" in the future, in my personal opinion the only useful benefit you would obtain from acquiring (...and paying annually for) a RCI membership is access to their inexpensive "Last Call" weekly rentals. Even then, these weeks would only be of interest or use to you if you happen to have the personal and geographic flexibility to use such relatively short notice rentals, which are very rarely "prime" weeks in the first place, to say the least.

As far as cruise deals, "partners programs" and other such alleged RCI "benefits", the conventional wisdom is that you can almost always find better deals elsewhere on your own with just a little bit of effort.

I am certainly no fan of RCI , their "moving goalposts" and regular fee increases. I gave up my RCI membership years ago and have no plans to reinstate it. Your personal mileage and view may vary...

 

[timesharegirl101]

My experience with RCI

From my experience with RCI and resales RCI will let you keep your RCI memebership to untilize thier benefit as your friends have been doing. I will say I have seen this more though with RCI points accounts and not really with the weeks. When an owner resells thier timeshare that was upgraded to RCI points they can choose whether or not to transfer the points account with it, and if they don't then any points that are already in thier account will stay there for up to two years as long as they keep paying the RCI membership fee. This allows the member to still book weeks and get deals on promotions, even after the points are used or expire.

I also want to add that RCI also has special weekend promostions from resorts where you can pay so much $$ for a 3 day 4 night stay at a resort adn this is usually "last minute" inventory. Hope this helps

Hi Everyone!
Friends of ours no longer own a timeshare and they are still getting calls and booking cruises and resort weeks through RCI. They sold their week a couple years ago but just booked 2 cruises and a couple resort weeks. One of them resort weeks was a replacement for another week that they were not pleased with 2 years ago on a week they took. So it was free. Do you not have to own to get the special deals through RCI? They think this is wonderful as they don't have to worry about maintenance fees, etc. Is this how it usually works?