WEEKS owners - FACTS/QUESTIONS - new RCI Program

[Conan]

But with the Nov. 12 changes, if I deposit my late August week and am not able to find an exchange my family is willing to accept -- I have now lost the ability to trade back into summer at my owned resort, on a week-for-week exchange.

If in the real world a late August week has less demand or more supply, why should it exchange one-to-one with an early August week?

And if RCI or an internal exchange system formerly allowed that, why is it wrong for them to change?

 

[bnoble]

The strategy thread talks about a cap of 60 points for combining points. Is that true?

No, at least two different people have combined to larger totals.

 

[sandkastle4966]

Renee - I fully understand your arguement and your frustration.....however I think the "fault" is with the resorts not RCI. Resorts have set up floating weeks in a "red" season pool that is too broad - June 1 - Aug 30. Reality is that there is Pink and HOT RED with HOT being late June - first week august. RCI recognizes this. So does wyndham in their point evaluation. Mid/late august is far easier to get into Alexandria than any time in late June/july.

You have actually already expressed this - you dont want late august - which you can "more easily" get than the july weeks that go for the first 5 minutes of reserve day. Why should RCI give late August the same trades value as July weeks, when what more folks really want is July?

I think RCI has got it right.......

(i also own a floating summer - I will be on that phone every day at 8 am....)

 

[elaine]

my week 32 has a different value if it is before Aug. 10

I noticed that my week 32 summer NC beach week has a different value if it starts prior to Aug. 10 (in 2012) vs. after Aug. 10 (in 2011). When arrival is Aug. 12, it gets the same trading power (24 points) as the next 4 weeks. When arrival is prior to Aug. 10, it gets the same as July weeks (32 points). So, yes, RCI is confirming what many on TUG have said for years: "summer" is weeks 24-32 with weeks 26-30 being red hot. But I was still shocked to see my week 32 lumped with a week 35 and 36.

 

[krmlaw]

UGGH ongoing search ...

i still cant see or modify - anyone else?

 

[janej]

Elaine,

I think it has something to do with the location of the resort. At least, the TP of my two weeks in PA and NY do not drop until after labor day. RCI either knows that local schools do not start until after labor day or they have some historic demand data supporting the decision.

 

[FrmrVacGuide]

janej,

They do keep track of the historical data. That is what they have used to determine the trading power. I contend that they use too wide of a range to draw their average from. I don't know the specifics, but I would think they would get a better data set by actually using a smaller amount of years to come up with the average. That way they would actually be tracking useful and timely vacation habits.

 

[dundey]

Well, I decided to give RCI a call this afternoon because I wanted to get a few questions answered.

HOME RESORT PREFERENCE
Like others who have posted previously, I was told that it only puts you ahead of non-owners in line, but that you must have enough trade power for the trade. So, if the week I deposit is even 1 credit less than the exchange I am trying to make -- I was told it would not happen without combining points.

We enjoy our home resort, but it's a real cat-fight to get summer weeks. Unfortunately, it's a floating week resort and everybody wants summer. (All units are gone within the 1st five minutes on reservation call-in days) So, it's always been nice that on the years we called the resort 20 different times, and never got a week -- we could deposit the best week we could get, pay the RCI fee and exchange back in the following summer. But there's no way for that to happen now. RCI is saying they won't let you back into your own resort during the summer (or peak season), like they used to, unless you have the new required point value.

Okay, what sucks the most about this --- is that I own a red/high season week at this resort. I am not a shoulder season owner trying to trade into a higher season than I purchased. I purchased a red, high season summer week. So, I have a real issue with RCI thinking that I should spend 2 weeks worth of maintenance fees, plus all of their fees -- for 1 week of exchange back to where I already own. ($750+$750+$99+$189 = $1,788) for 1 week of vacation? Are they insane? Or, do they just think I am really, really stupid? Did I mention that you can rent a summer week at my resort for 1/2 of that price ($850) on Redweek? And forget all this "change back" business. It's a moot point when you've got kids & can only travel when school's out.

Maybe the November 12th change may not have affected my trade power, but it certainly killed my ability to exchange back into my home resort during peak times. They also killed uptrades. If you want an uptrade to a larger unit now, you're going to have to pay the points for it. One by one, RCI's endless quest for ever-increasing corporate profits, is killing many of the advantages of owning a timeshare.

Please excuse my rant, but I am not a happy camper!

--- Rene

I agree with you 100%. We should all be running away from RCI. Give your weeks to other exchange companies or use them yourself. Get out of RCI while you can.

I think a lot of people are missing the point of the post. It is not only home resort preference but also VRI preference, and I'm guessing some other groups as well. I was always able to trade into any VRI managed resort with my VRI week if it was available. Trading power did not matter.
THIS IS NOW GONE>

I realize many of you are happy with these changes, and there is some good, but the bottom line is that the over all value of the week exchange model continues to be eroded by RCI, and fees are getting out of hand. Just compare their fee structure to II - big difference.
I will no longer be a member once my present membership runs out.

 

[FrmrVacGuide]

I was always able to trade into any VRI managed resort with my VRI week if it was available. Trading power did not matter.
THIS IS NOW GONE>

I will no longer be a member once my present membership runs out.

The last part first. Why wait until then? Just cancel now and get a refund.

Trading power has always mattered. The difference now is that you can see the numbers and all of the availability. I can tell you that VRI members are wrong when they think that.

I knew for a fact that a VRI deposit had been made, because I was tracking the account. There had been some issues with the deposit, and I wanted to make sure it went through correctly. Shortly after I saw it in the account, I got a call from another VRI member. They were looking for the same thing that had just been deposited. They couldn't pull it up. I thought it was strange, so I checked the account it had been deposited on. It still showed as available. I looked for it in extra vacations to see if it had been moved to the rental pool, it wasn't there. Then I opened up an account that I kept around because that person has better traders than most everyone else, and she kept a few on the account at all times. She could pull it up for trade.

So, as you can see, just because you own through a group or resort, it doesn't mean that RCI was making everything available to you. Otherwise, you would have been able to buy the bluest studio ever and gotten a super red 3 bedroom. That obviously wasn't the case, aside from last minute things.

 

[rpennisi]

historically speaking

janej,

They do keep track of the historical data. That is what they have used to determine the trading power. I contend that they use too wide of a range to draw their average from. I don't know the specifics, but I would think they would get a better data set by actually using a smaller amount of years to come up with the average. That way they would actually be tracking useful and timely vacation habits.

How about this for the use of historical data. I have owned Shawnee River Village 2 (2 bedroom, 2 bath) and been a member of RCI since 1988. My week is fixed 7, Presidents' Week, when we and the kids had off to go skiing. About every 10 years or so, Presidents' Week vacation doesn't fall on week 7. This happens in 2011, so I banked (over 9 months early) and got 13 credits. For the year 2012, Presidents' Week is back to week 7, so now it's 21 credits if banked.

PS The "kids" still ski, we're retired.

I agree RCI does check out historical trends pretty closely.

 

[5finny]

VRI preference after weeks combined?

I have a low value VRI week if I combine it with a non-vri resort will I lose the preference?

 

[rpennisi]

mixed credits

Knowing now that as a MP owner, I can't trade on RCI for a higher Grand Mayan or a lower Sea Garden (and this seems to be a new change with RCI, since I used to be able to trade across "mayans"), what happens if I combine Mayan Palace credits with my other TS credits? Do they all become generic, or will I still be blocked by RCI from making certain Mayan trades?

My inclination is not to mix mayan palace and non mayan palace when I do combine, which I have to do to get the trades I want. But, I would rather combine them all one time and trade from there.
Ron

 

[dundey]

The last part first. Why wait until then? Just cancel now and get a refund.

Trading power has always mattered. The difference now is that you can see the numbers and all of the availability. I can tell you that VRI members are wrong when they think that.

I knew for a fact that a VRI deposit had been made, because I was tracking the account. There had been some issues with the deposit, and I wanted to make sure it went through correctly. Shortly after I saw it in the account, I got a call from another VRI member. They were looking for the same thing that had just been deposited. They couldn't pull it up. I thought it was strange, so I checked the account it had been deposited on. It still showed as available. I looked for it in extra vacations to see if it had been moved to the rental pool, it wasn't there. Then I opened up an account that I kept around because that person has better traders than most everyone else, and she kept a few on the account at all times. She could pull it up for trade.

So, as you can see, just because you own through a group or resort, it doesn't mean that RCI was making everything available to you. Otherwise, you would have been able to buy the bluest studio ever and gotten a super red 3 bedroom. That obviously wasn't the case, aside from last minute things.

You are completely and totally wrong as far as VRI is concerned. VRI had confirmed in the past that their weeks receive preference in RCI and that if a VRI week is available, ANY VRI on deposit will get it, unless it is taken by an ongoing search first.
As an example - I have a Lehigh week that was always one of my poorest traders when looking at what my other deposits could pull. Yet I was able to get a Presidents Day ski week with it 2 years in a row (I will be there again this Feb.). Not all of my other resorts could see that week, only the VRI.

And as for canceling now - I have weeks on deposit.

 

[dundey]

FrmrVacGuide, why did you pick Nov. 18, 2010 to register for TUG?

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Resort Preference

So, as you can see, just because you own through a group or resort, it doesn't mean that RCI was making everything available to you. Otherwise, you would have been able to buy the bluest studio ever and gotten a super red 3 bedroom. That obviously wasn't the case, aside from last minute things.

If I remember correctly RCI put a condition of "same season" on resort preference. So blue trades into blue, red into red.

 

[FrmrVacGuide]

FrmrVacGuide, why did you pick Nov. 18, 2010 to register for TUG?

Because that was when I started looking at the website again. I came here to see if anyone had tips for weeks to deposit from Blue Green with the system change.

I'm assuming you think that I'm an RCI plant, here to tell you everything is rainbows and butterflies, right?

 

[JudyS]

... I looked for it in extra vacations to see if it had been moved to the rental pool, it wasn't there. ....

Any information on what percentage of desirable deposits were put in the rental pool? That's always a hot topic here.

... VRI had confirmed in the past that their weeks receive preference in RCI and that if a VRI week is available, ANY VRI on deposit will get it, unless it is taken by an ongoing search first.
As an example - I have a Lehigh week that was always one of my poorest traders when looking at what my other deposits could pull. Yet I was able to get a Presidents Day ski week with it 2 years in a row (I will be there again this Feb.). Not all of my other resorts could see that week, only the VRI...

There was, at the very least, a color code restriction in the VRI trades (priority didn't work when trading up in color), as Maple Leaf said. Almost all Lehigh weeks are red (a few are white), so your week there was probably red.

 

[Keep Traveling]

I have always consider Big Cedar Red weeks (studio) as a good deposit for Blue green, but now it also appears that christmas/new years in Orlando is a good week to deposit.

Any other finds in the BG system.

KT

 

[FrmrVacGuide]

Any information on what percentage of desirable deposits were put in the rental pool? That's always a hot topic here.

We asked about that every now and then, and revenue management would never really give a straight answer. Honestly, it really is less than you guys think it is. Especially this last summer, I was seeing more and more non-timeshare resorts in that pool. I saw more inventory that had its resort ID start with an "R" than ever before. That stuff isn't being deposited by owners and flipped over.

 

[Carolinian]

We asked about that every now and then, and revenue management would never really give a straight answer. Honestly, it really is less than you guys think it is. Especially this last summer, I was seeing more and more non-timeshare resorts in that pool. I saw more inventory that had its resort ID start with an "R" than ever before. That stuff isn't being deposited by owners and flipped over.

Hmmm! Just the opposite answer from what Bootleg and Anon told us!

 

[Carolinian]

Sometimes people just give themselves away! This is one of those times. It is RCI and NOT resorts that determine what is red time. If you think otherwise, ask your resort to call up RCI and tell them to make more of the year red! All it takes to see through this is common sense. Look at any resort area and you will find all resorts have the same season. That is NOT because they just happened to each decide on the same weeks. It happened because RCI did the deciding. Same with II. They decide what weeks are red or other colors not the individual resort. Indeed, on the OBX many years ago, RCI changed some spring and fall OBX weeks to different color codes, and, of course for the entire OBX, not just one resort.

You still get put ahead of non-owners, as you said in your original post. That would seem to mean that you are given preference.

If your resort made too much of the year red, that would be something you need to take up with them. RCI can't really do anything to fix that for you. If they went through and covered for all of the mistakes that resorts make, they would be making even more of you mad.

My understanding of "summer" at RCI is that it is all based on travel volume. Because of the ever-shrinking time off for kids, that window has condensed. If you want to see that change, I would suggest pressuring your elected officials to change the laws and makes schools start after Labor Day.

I've heard "I can't get what I want" from so many people that I beg you to forgive me when if I get a bit annoyed. Most of the people that I helped got the vacation they wanted. Of course, there was the woman who canceled her RCI account because we "never got her what she wanted" and had been to SW Florida four of five years.

I'm sorry, but to have a factual discussion about what you are trying to do, it would be necessary for me to know what you are trading, how far in advance you deposit it, where you were looking to travel, and when you started looking.

 

[Carolinian]

Current market value? When I look at many high demand, low supply areas, that is laughable. Oh, and I am not surprised that they changed value numbers. There has been an ongoing battle on these boards between a group of staunch RCI defenders who swore RCI was telling the truth when they promised that the values would not change. I was one who said that they almost assuredly would.

I thought RCI was pretty upfront about the fact that TP does change over time. Why are you surprised that when they do the biggest change ever to the Weeks program, that they would update all of the trading power to reflect current market value?

 

[Carolinian]

I noticed that my week 32 summer NC beach week has a different value if it starts prior to Aug. 10 (in 2012) vs. after Aug. 10 (in 2011). When arrival is Aug. 12, it gets the same trading power (24 points) as the next 4 weeks. When arrival is prior to Aug. 10, it gets the same as July weeks (32 points). So, yes, RCI is confirming what many on TUG have said for years: "summer" is weeks 24-32 with weeks 26-30 being red hot. But I was still shocked to see my week 32 lumped with a week 35 and 36.

Outer Banks Resort Rentals should not have any problem with renting that week 32 for you if RCI cheats you on deposit value. And a week 32, whether it starts August 9 or 12 will always rent a heck of a lot quicker and for a lot more money than a week 36. RCI is way off base in lumping these together on a grid. Just like they are way off base in lumping week 11 and week 21 together at the same value on their grid. Published points systems seem to always involve such overaveraging. The desirability and value of weeks increase incrementally week by week in the spring and decrease incrementally week by week in the fall. Grids that lump lots of those weeks together but then have big jumps between weeks that are only incrementally different, like 21 and 22 do not reflect the real market.

 

[Carolinian]

Elaine,

I think it has something to do with the location of the resort. At least, the TP of my two weeks in PA and NY do not drop until after labor day. RCI either knows that local schools do not start until after labor day or they have some historic demand data supporting the decision.

The OBX has a unique situation in that Viriginia schools and North Carolina schools have different calendars, one tends to be earlier and the other later, which keeps demand up at both ends of the school season.

To protect the vacation industry, the OBX's state senator got a bill through the legislature to set a date in June that no school system in NC could run beyond and a date in August that no system could start before.

 

[crazyhorse]

"It is RCI and NOT resorts that determine what is red time."

I have to agree with that remark.

We have been told in the past by RCI that the demand for a week in a particular resort determines its "Colour" Red, White or Blue. This will depend upon local weather, school vacations and general desirability. Only RCI will know that demand, not the resorts.

This and other factors put together should then determine the Trading Value of a specific week in a specific apartment.

The RCI Points to Weeks exchange grids use the above colours in blocks for the Americas, Asia etc. A little odd that they don`t use the colour blocks for Europe though.