UPGRADE TO RCI GLOBAL POINT SYSTEM, WORTH IT?

[Mrras]

Last year, we purchased timeshare week at massanutten resort, and affiliate of RCI. This year, they offered us an upgrade to RCI global point system. It will cost us about $5,500 and an increase and maintenance fees of about $150 a year. Advantages are access ability to more resorts, flexibility of getting from one day to three weeks vacations, using points toworda travel cost, and making bonus weeks bookable up to six months in advance compared to 45 days that we have now. Any experience with this before?

 

[AwayWeGo]

In our experience, upgrading to points is way too expensive compared with just buying an already points-converted timeshare on the resale market (e.g., eBay, etc.).

Our current timeshare came from eBay. Purchase price was in the neighborhood of $250, with free closing & free resort transfer.

Our experience with that is not unique.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Mrras]

In our experience, upgrading to points is way too expensive compared with just buying an already points-converted timeshare on the resale market (e.g., eBay, etc.).

Our current timeshare came from eBay. Purchase price was in the neighborhood of $250, with free closing & free resort transfer.

Our experience with that is not unique.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Thanks Alan, was it at Massanutten, given you are in Virginia? We are already fooled with timeshare costing 10k but in the week system the upgrade would change this too. Would you still recommend leaving this as and by a resale?

 

[AwayWeGo]

Yes, that's my recommendation.

And if you decide to add a resale points timeshare instead of laying out big bux for upgrade-conversion of what you already own, you are not limited to Massanutten points units. Points are points.

Check out Grandview At Las Vegas, for example, & Vacation Village At Parkway. Both of those are often are plentiful on eBay & sometimes turn up cheap or free among the TUG Bargain Giveaways.

Full Disclosure: We formerly owned a resale (eBay) 2BR triennial points unit at Vacation Village At Parkway. When we downsized, we sold that & bought a 1BR triennial eBay points unit at Grandview At Las Vegas -- roughly half the points for about 1/2 the maintenance fees. We once stayed a week in Woodstone At Massanutten (via RCI exchange -- had a nice time) but we have not owned any Massanutten timeshares, points or otherwise.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[bluehende]

I am not a points member so some things I can comment on and some I cannot. Basically they are charging you to rebuy what you already own. Points will not increase the value of your unit just give some more flexibility.

Yes more resorts will be available, but will you have enough points to book anything new you want.

You can now book smaller periods but if that includes a weekend you should look at the points needed and make sure when you travel it will be equivalent to what you own.

I am not sure why the MF goes up 150. Is it basically you now pay more for the same thing?

someone else can comment on the six month window. Is there discounts at 6 months in points????

Think how many extra vacations you can book with 5500 and 150 a year.

Only you can determine with your travel needs whether that small amount of flexibility is worth it. Also verify everything that was said. Salesmen in general and timeshare sales specifically have been known to stretch the truth a bit.

 

[tschwa2]

If you paid $10,000 for your week, you probably don't have that high a value week in either the weeks or, if converted, points system. Converting an off season week into points isn't even worth $10 let alone $5000.

 

[Mrras]

Yes, that's my recommendation.

And if you decide to add a resale points timeshare instead of laying out big bux for upgrade-conversion of what you already own, you are not limited to Massanutten points units. Points are points.

Check out Grandview At Las Vegas, for example, & Vacation Village At Parkway. Both of those are often are plentiful on eBay & sometimes turn up cheap or free among the TUG Bargain Giveaways.

Full Disclosure: We formerly owned a resale (eBay) 2BR triennial points unit at Vacation Village At Parkway. When we downsized, we sold that & bought a 1BR triennial eBay points unit at Grandview At Las Vegas -- roughly half the points for about 1/2 the maintenance fees. We once stayed a week in Woodstone At Massanutten (via RCI exchange -- had a nice time) but we have not owned any Massanutten timeshares, points or otherwise.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Thanks, the big question is why these are almost free on eBay, are they really of no value?

 

[Mrras]

I am not a points member so some things I can comment on and some I cannot. Basically they are charging you to rebuy what you already own. Points will not increase the value of your unit just give some more flexibility.

Yes more resorts will be available, but will you have enough points to book anything new you want.

You can now book smaller periods but if that includes a weekend you should look at the points needed and make sure when you travel it will be equivalent to what you own.

I am not sure why the MF goes up 150. Is it basically you now pay more for the same thing?

someone else can comment on the six month window. Is there discounts at 6 months in points????

Think how many extra vacations you can book with 5500 and 150 a year.

Only you can determine with your travel needs whether that small amount of flexibility is worth it. Also verify everything that was said. Salesmen in general and timeshare sales specifically have been known to stretch the truth a bit.

Thanks, I might have not clarified. The $5500 is to make the 2br biennial annual, upgrading it to a gold crown property that qualifies for points with global point value of 58000 annually. The MF increase is for the new golden crown unit.

 

[Mrras]

If you paid $10,000 for your week, you probably don't have that high a value week in either the weeks or, if converted, points system. Converting an off season week into points isn't even worth $10 let alone $5000.

. To clarify, are you saying that $10000 for a week will not by high value? The upgrade is to make the biennial 2br week in nongold crown property, to weekly in goldcrown with a value of 58000 global points a year

 

[tschwa2]

. To clarify, are you saying that $10000 for a week will not by high value? The upgrade is to make the biennial 2br week in nongold crown property, to weekly in goldcrown with a value of 58000 global points a year

Still not worth it. There are some units at Massanutten- (I have one of these in points and one not in points) that get 84,000 points a year with a $500 MF. For my non point summer regal vista week I wouldn't pay more than $1500 to convert it.

Anything that has a MF of over a penny a point in RCI points has no resale value because exchanges would be too expensive when you add in all the rci fees. The closer to half a penny a point the better. With resale you would lose the premier benefits (6 month for the bonus week etc) but that is really not that big of a deal.

They didn't mention this but your rci fees would go up another $30 or so a year as well as points memberships cost more than weeks.

 

[chemteach]

I recently purchased a 98,000 points per year contract at Grandview, Las Vegas on ebay for less than $500. Maintenance fees are only $840 per year. My advice is that if you really want points, don't do a conversion. Sell your week (you would likely have to give it away - these are difficult to get rid of) and purchase a points unit on ebay... I do like my RCI points account. Better than my weeks...

 

[tschwa2]

Couple other things they didn't mention. If you do the short stays through RCI points into resorts you usually have to pay additional housekeeping fees when you check in- $40-80 depending on the resort and the unit size. In terms of using points toward travel with the premier platinum account you can use a maximum of half your points on travel partners. There are modest transaction fees. If you pay $0.006 or less per point you are paying the same or less to book through rci if you pay more -which you will it will be the equivalent of paying $300 in MF for those points to get $200 or less in travel (car rental , hotel, airfare).

 

[Mrras]

Still not worth it. There are some units at Massanutten- (I have one of these in points and one not in points) that get 84,000 points a year with a $500 MF. For my non point summer regal vista week I wouldn't pay more than $1500 to convert it.

Anything that has a MF of over a penny a point in RCI points has no resale value because exchanges would be too expensive when you add in all the rci fees. The closer to half a penny a point the better. With resale you would lose the premier benefits (6 month for the bonus week etc) but that is really not that big of a deal.

They didn't mention this but your rci fees would go up another $30 or so a year as well as points memberships cost more than weeks.

Thanks for the insight. To summarize my situation. I have Eagle Trace 2br biennially, floating week. At best I get 26 trading power points. The firs question: is it a good deal is?
Second, what it the best way to increase the trading value. My interest is to use this week for a beach vacation, current Trading power would not secure an annual Florida beach vacation. Thanks

 

[tschwa2]

Thanks for the insight. To summarize my situation. I have Eagle Trace 2br biennially, floating week. At best I get 26 trading power points. The firs question: is it a good deal is?
Second, what it the best way to increase the trading value. My interest is to use this week for a beach vacation, current Trading power would not secure an annual Florida beach vacation. Thanks

If you pay your MF (which you need to do to get the best week anyway) early you can get a short term trading boost of 10-17 points. Lets say you have an even year. Prepay now and reserve week 52 as two 1 BR units. You will get 17 for each side. In August call to see if the trading boost is available. You will probably get around 14 tpu's. You will have to pay a fee to combine the 3 deposits, there is an option for one year $154 or two years $184. The date resets from the time you combine. This will give you 48 which should be enough for a beach vacation with left overs but you will probably want to start a ongoing search for summer 2021, or winter/spring 2021 if you are looking for Florida right away.

 

[Mrras]

I recently purchased a 98,000 points per year contract at Grandview, Las Vegas on ebay for less than $500. Maintenance fees are only $840 per year. My advice is that if you really want points, don't do a conversion. Sell your week (you would likely have to give it away - these are difficult to get rid of) and purchase a points unit on ebay... I do like my RCI points account. Better than my weeks...

Thanks, it is a new mortgage, so still owe most of it. Are you proposing giving it away and continuing paying?

 

[Mrras]

If you pay your MF (which you need to do to get the best week anyway) early you can get a short term trading boost of 10-17 points. Lets say you have an even year. Prepay now and reserve week 52 as two 1 BR units. You will get 17 for each side. In August call to see if the trading boost is available. You will probably get around 14 tpu's. You will have to pay a fee to combine the 3 deposits, there is an option for one year $154 or two years $184. The date resets from the time you combine. This will give you 48 which should be enough for a beach vacation with left overs but you will probably want to start a ongoing search for summer 2021, or winter/spring 2021 if you are looking for Florida right away.

Very helpful, what do you think is the best use of the bonus week 2- 45 days?

Back to the offers (sorry if i seem circular), just trying to see if this would increase the utility of what I have.

I had 2 offers, 1 for $10000 converting biennial to annual, upgrade to RV, week Thanksgiving, global points, bonus week to 6 months.

Second $5000, woodlawn week 58000 points, add points to my ET at 48000, bonus weeks to six weeks?

Are these, or any other resale offers could increase what I am getting out of what I have. Thanks again for your generous time.

 

[chemteach]

Thanks, it is a new mortgage, so still owe most of it. Are you proposing giving it away and continuing paying?

You would still be liable for your mortgage. I'm suggesting that if you really want RCI points, it would make more sense to own Grandview Las Vegas because their maintenance fees to points ratio is good. Your Woodstone ratio sounds quite poor. I would not throw good money after bad. If you like your Woodstone week, you should keep it. If you want to try RCI points, you can purchase an inexpensive Grandview week.

 

[tschwa2]

Actually if you buy an rci points week anywhere, like grandview, your eagle trace week would still be eligible to use as points for deposit (for an extra 48,000 EOY).
I wouldn't take any of the deals they are offering. Just pay off what you already bought and don't buy again from the developer.

In terms of the bonus weeks, I find them fairly useless but you might not. To get the best value you have to search often using the certs and see if you like anything. The bonus weeks still cost the $239 exchange fee, are good only less than 45 days from check in. They are also only usually good for inventory that is worth less than about 10 tpu's. Just as a reference point you can often find the same type of inventory on extra calls/last calls for not much more or the same or even less during RCI's frequent sales.

 

[AwayWeGo]

At 1 time (& maybe still, I don't know), Points For Deposit did not work for weeks units in points timeshares, only for weeks units in straight-weeks (i.e, non-points) timeshare resorts.

With the growth of RCI Points affiliations in recent years, maybe that's no longer the case. But it might be well to check it out with an authoritative source before making plans.

RCI charges a little something each time you do Points For Deposit. Plus, sometimes the TPU value of a straight-weeks timeshare unit generates more oomph for trading than the points that same unit would yield via Points For Deposit -- just 1 more thing to check out while deciding how to proceed.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[tschwa2]

Woodstone and Regal Vistas are not eligible for points for deposit. If you want those in points you have to pay for the conversion or buy one already converted. The other sections of Massanutten are not being sold as points and are still eligible. In fact one of the deals the OP was offered was to keep his Eagle Trace unit and use it as points for deposit along with a new Woodstone unit. If Massanutten starts selling conversions to other sections then they would lose the ability to be used with Points for deposit but since many of the other sections float 1-52 that would be problematic for assigning points for a converted week vs making an owner reserve a week and then doing a points for deposit based on the week they actually deposit.

 

[Jan M.]

Do not put any more money into this. Many of us learned what we now know after buying from the developer at a sales presentation and sometimes paid more than you did. Someone here on TUG calls the money spent like paying college tuition for what he/she came to learn about timeshares after they became owners. Other people went to college with a full ride scholarship from TUG and bought resale. We are presidential reserve owners with Wyndham and I tell my husband that must mean we both paid out of our own pockets for a PhD or MD from an Ivy League school. Lol (but I'm over crying about what we spent). Our first RCI points week was bought developer too but the resort got sold to a developer and we actually made money on the deal which is very rare. The four points weeks we now have at Grandview Las Vegas in RCI were bought resale thanks to what I learned on TUG!

In regards to what the salesperson told you.
1. You can deposit the week you currently have for trade and potentially get more than just one week. You will pay an exchange fee but with points you also pay an exchange fee when you book stays.
2. In the going on 13 years we have owned points weeks in RCI we have never once used our points to book less than full week stays. When you start adding in the housekeeping fees for less than full week stays it can be more cost effective to book discounted point weeks or sale weeks that don't require you to use any points then just not use the whole week.
3. Using your points for airfares, rental cars is an extremely poor value and a horrible waste of points
4. Booking bonus weeks 6 months in advance instead of 45 days I'm going to call not true. However that could be some kind of temporary one time thing they are giving you to sweeten the deal.
5. Is what they are proposing to sell you is at an entirely different resort? This is what I'm seeing on the RCI website. Regal Vistas, The Summit and Woodstone are Gold Crown. Mountainside Villas is Silver Crown. Eagle Trace at Massanutten and Skyline Ranch are RCI Hospitality. Eagle Trace at Killy Court and Shenandoah Villas don't have any special designation.

Just to give you some perspective on why you should walk away and save your self a lot of money. If you want a points week that is actually worth something I have week 27 in a two bedroom at Grandview Las Vegas, a Gold Crown Resort, that gets 98,000 annual RCI points, comes with the 2019 points and $835 maintenance fees for 2019 paid that I will sell you for $1500. That price includes the $215 closing cost, the $250 resort transfer fee, and I will even include the $224 that you would have to pay for a new RCI points account which includes the first year membership fee in RCI. So a value of $1524 for $1500. And as an owner at a Vacation Village property you will automatically get this:

Vacation Village- Extra Vacation Certificate
Vacation Village Resort members- Redeem your 2-45 day advance Extra Vacations(SM) Certificate you receive each year. For the cost of an exchange, you can enjoy a great week long stay at select resorts!
(This is the current availability for those weeks.)
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[rickandcindy23]

Jan, that is a great post. I love college tuition analogy. Perfect.

I actually did something like the developer is talking about. We owned at Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort already, many weeks, and I saw many more vacations via my RCI Points account that we wanted to take, and very specifically, Wyndham Shearwater, and so I called the resort and asked what they would charge me to convert to RCI Points. It was $3,000 total to convert 5 weeks. I have been pretty happy with it, and it's been about 8 years. I would NOT have done this for one week. I did it for basically $600 per week. This particular resort charges $3K for the conversion, no matter how many weeks you have.

When you get an RCI Points account, you get a free account for weeks. So you don't have to have two accounts. I would buy the Grandview, if it were me, and I would add to that, if I felt I wasn't getting enough vacations.

As far as the hard sell on the 9K points or less vacations developers tend to talk up...most people cannot travel last minute, and the chances of getting exactly what you want are not great. I have taken advantage of that one time. It was a great one, it was Grand Pacific Palisades, 2 bedroom, in July. I watched for that week for days, especially right at midnight Eastern Time. Now inventory doesn't necessarily show up at exactly midnight anymore. RCI changed that.

 

[Jan M.]

It was $3,000 total to convert 5 weeks.

Wow! That is by far, farther and farther still the best deal I've ever heard of anyone getting to convert the fixed weeks they own to RCI points.

 

[hyperjewl]

For those who own RCI points, what range of points would you need to stay in 2-3 bedroom (sleep 8) condos at gold crown resorts? I know it will vary based on time of year, but I'm only familiar with the TPU side of things as we own weeks - Summit at Massanutten. I'd love to hear from owners, so that if we do purchase points to add greater flexibility, how many we'd be looking at to be able to get resorts & units that we want!

 

[rickandcindy23]

For those who own RCI points, what range of points would you need to stay in 2-3 bedroom (sleep 8) condos at gold crown resorts? I know it will vary based on time of year, but I'm only familiar with the TPU side of things as we own weeks - Summit at Massanutten. I'd love to hear from owners, so that if we do purchase points to add greater flexibility, how many we'd be looking at to be able to get resorts & units that we want!

It depends on season and area. But a good number to own is right around 90K for a start, to make sure you have enough for most weeks. I know that my Wyndham Shearwater exchanges were much higher than that per week. I don't really know anymore, since I so rarely see any.

It's important for points to book some things right at 10 months. I literally have gotten on my computer at midnight, 10 months out, and I have been able to get one of our favorite Maui resorts, two weeks at once, starting exactly 10 months. That one is Kahana Beach on Maui. I want to say it was about 70K per week for a one bedroom (guaranteed oceanfront), and it's a nice big unit with two bathrooms. And it has AC, which most do not.