RCI vs FF Points

[gabenluke]

Just curious as to what people think about RCI vs FF Points Systems. I currently have 92,500 RCI points annually through VV@Parkway. The main reason I am looking at FF is that I like many of the FF/Wyndham resorts and would like to be assured (or high probability) of getting into one of these resorts.

I expect (hope) they work like many other resort families in that if you are an owner you get 2nd "pecking order" before the week is put into RCI or II??

Does FF trade and use points similarly as RCI does?
Can I place the FF Points into RCI? Does it make sense to do that?
If I'm looking on EBay for FF resort, what is a good "rule-of-thumb" for points/MF ratio and Points/purchase price ratio?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Conan]

Basically, Fairfield points gets you direct reservations at FF properties, 10 months in advance or 13 months in advance at your home resort, or you can transfer those points into RCI Weeks and book their inventory up to 2 years in advance.

Fairfield maintenance isn't cheap and it takes quite a few points to book in season within FF, but you can get bargains with FF points transferred into RCI Weeks because relatively few FF points can get you a good RCI weeks exchange.

Having RCI Points for points properties, and FF points for FF + RCI Weeks is a good combination.

 

[EAM]

And (for a price) you can add the Plus Partners feature to a FSP account and use FSP points for RCI Points resorts via the RCI Nightly Stay program.

Also, there seems to be an internal trading preference so that it is easy to trade to a larger unit or better season when trading FSP points for a Fairfield Resort via RCI Weeks.

 

[gabenluke]

Does it matter what FF resort I purchase? Or do I just look for the lowest MF/points ratio?

Gabenluke

 

[EAM]

Pros and cons of owning at a particular FSP resort

If you own at a particular resort

1. You pay the POA maintenance fees for that resort (plus the standard FSP program fee which is $0.50/1000 points no matter which resort you own).

2. You have the right to reserve at that resort 10-13 months before checkin (ARP = Advance Reservation Priority), before the standard reservation period begins at 10 months. This is a major advantage if you want to go to a particular high demand location every year (e.g. Myrtle Beach in summer). It is not so important otherwise. If you own UDI (undivided interest points) you can reserve any available unit for 3, 4 or 7 days with checkin or checkout on a weekend as long as you have in your account enough UDI points at that resort to make the reservation. The points need to be from the year of the reservation. If you have a fixed week converted to point, that week and unit would be the only week/unit you could reserve during the 10-13 month ARP period. Fairfield used to allow UDI owners to deposit ARP weeks in RCI, but last summer they stopped permitting such deposits.

3. Some FSP resorts (e.g. Governor's Green, Star Island, Royal Vista, and a couple of the Newport resorts) trade via II rather than RCI. Part of FF Pagosa may be II affiliated, too, but most of it is affiliated with RCI.

If the resort is in Florida, you pay a separate property tax bill in addition to the fees mentioned in #1 above

Ownership at certain (Kona Hawaiian?, Royal Sea Cliff?) Hawaiian Resorts is connected with membership in the Outrigger Resort Club which gives you the right to use FSP points at certain Outrigger properties in the Pacific and some other benefits. I don't know if the club rights are transferrred upon resale or not. http://www.outriggerresortclub.com/about.asp

Ownership at some resorts may give you reciprocal ARP rights (11 month reservations) at one or more other resorts. Again, I am not sure that this benefit transfers upon resale. Fairfield sometimes gives RARP rights when a salesman at a sold-out resort sells points at a new resort. You would have ARP at the new resort and RARP for the older resort.

 

[Conan]

Does it matter what FF resort I purchase? Or do I just look for the lowest MF/points ratio?

Maintenance fees vary - - if you join the Yahoo Fairfield group there's a comparison file.

And there's the 13-month advance reservation preference at the resort you own. So if you want to stay in Myrtle Beach in July, you need to own in Myrtle Beach, because that books up as soon as the 13-month window opens, leaving nothing for other FF members who can't book until the 10-month date.

 

[donnaval]

You have a good-sized RCI points deal, gabenluke. That gives you lots of flexibility and benefits within the RCI points system.

The small RCI points packages (like the one I have lol) make you appreciate the FF points system a lot more.

With the FF points system, even a small package of 28k points can sometimes get you a 2-br GC resort when trading through RCI. Yes, you can do this with RCI points with the 9k instant exchanges in the 45-day timeframe, but you can't get a 2-br GC with a blue studio's worth of RCI points outside of that timeframe. I was able to use 28k points to reserve a 2-br unit a year and a half in advance during a bulk spacebanking. The same unit was available through RCI points but at full points value, meaning it would have taken several years' worth of my RCI points to obtain it.

Also, FF doesn't play around with the points values the way RCI does. Your week will always be worth the same number of points, and it will always "cost" you the same number of points to trade into other FF resorts. Newer resorts that come online seem to be costing more points but the older ones remain a level playing field. RCI can and does play around with the points values. Last year, for example, RCI raised the number of RCI points for resorts in the Caribbean to levels that would take more than three years' worth of my points to obtain a week. My points weren't increased. Also, when a resort is downgraded, owners lose points--Sheraton Vistana's recent downgrade to a Silver Crown will mean tens of thousands less points per year for points owners at that resort until/if it regains GC status. FF Williamsburg Kingsgate was also downgraded to SC, but owners there still retain the same level of FF points.

I like having both systems--each has its pluses and minuses.

 

[EAM]

Also, FF doesn't play around with the points values the way RCI does. Your week will always be worth the same number of points, and it will always "cost" you the same number of points to trade into other FF resorts. Newer resorts that come online seem to be costing more points but the older ones remain a level playing field. RCI can and does play around with the points values.

Actually FF could change the allocation of points too (see section 4.02 of the FSP Trust Agreement) but there are limits on how the points could be redistributed. I do not know of any instance in which FF has actually reallocated points, though.

 

[gabenluke]

EAM,

Once you buy into a FF resort, does it cost to join the FSP? If so, is it like RCI where ther is an annual fee (eg $99/year)? Maybe donnoval is right and I should buy into FF to get the best of both point systems?:

Thanks for your input. I learn so much discussing topics like this

TUG is a great site!

Gabenluke

 

[EAM]

If you buy UDI points, you should automatically be enrolled in FSP. I think this is also the case if you buy a fixed week converted to points. The annual program fee for FSP is $0.50 per 1000 points for an account with PlusPartners (access to RCI points resorts, use of FSP points for travel) and over 300K points, less for an account that does not have PlusPartners, more for an account with fewer than 300K points. This fee is added to your resort's maintenance fees and both are paid at the same time, either by monthly deduction from a checking account or some other arrangement.

Note that for accounts with over 154K points, the FSP fee is per 1000 points, not per contract. And I think that for accounts with less than 154K points, the FSP fee is per account, not per contract. Some FF sales reps (who are either ignorant of their own system or less than honest) have claimed that one can save money by doing an equity exchange in which one trades in several small UDI points contracts for one large contract, buying more points at the same time.

A FSP RCI weeks or II membership is paid for by your FSP program fee. I don't know how this would be handled if you already have an RCI points membership. I am sure someone else in this group would have had experience with this situation, though.

Also, from 2006 to 2007, resort maintenance fees increased, but the FSP program fee actually went down.

If you buy a fixed week (not converted to points) there is a one-time fee to convert to points (about $2400?). This fee is usually waived if you buy additional points from Fairfield.

 

[Jya-Ning]

EAM,

Once you buy into a FF resort, does it cost to join the FSP? If so, is it like RCI where ther is an annual fee (eg $99/year)? Maybe donnoval is right and I should buy into FF to get the best of both point systems?:

Thanks for your input. I learn so much discussing topics like this

TUG is a great site!

Gabenluke

If you buy UDI (like new RCI point resort) or converted week (like old RCI week resort that can convert to RCI) it will not cost you anything to joint FSP just like RCI point. If you buy old FF week (fix or floating), it will cost you to convert to FSP (you need either buy extra from FF or pay 2,395).

Yes, it does has FSP program fee. It is depended on point size you have. The more you have, the less the due per point. The ad you usually see from eBay has it included for that point size.

Jya-Ning

 

[RyanBuckner]

Fairfield Reorts Points + RCI Weeks

I've been dealing with Fairfield Points and RCI Weeks for 3 years now.

Here is a perfect formula for figuring out every question you need answered:

If you X, then you're screwed.
If you Y, you're screwed
You can do Z, for a fee, but then you are screwed
If you have a FF or RCI timeshare, you're screwed.