What Are Your Favorite Off Season RCI Resorts, And Why?

[bshanebowl]

I'm about to have 119000 RCI points and a 122000 RCI points unit at Grandview Las Vegas transferred to me and I want to use those points to take as much decent vacation time as I can at RCI resorts. I'm hoping people will post some of their favorite off season RCI resorts and the number of points you used to do it so I can see how to stretch those points out. Maybe share why you liked it. Good off season experiences will probably add to the value and pleasure of the stay and since off season should use less points it might make it easier to stretch those points into several weeks of vacation. I have an acquaintance in one of my ts/rci user groups that stayed at resorts for 12 months last year for less than $11000 and it would be great to be able to move in that direction over time, so if you want to share any of your hacks or best practices, feel free to do so. Thanks.

 

[wackymother]

You're in Ohio...how far do you want to go? Which direction? Do you want luxurious resorts or are older resorts okay?

 

[SHG]

OK, I think trying to stretch points is great and I am all for it. But $11000 for a year is only $211.50/wk! That doesn't really seem possible timesharing....... Whats the catch, that only covers the trade fee????

 

[bshanebowl]

You're in Ohio...how far do you want to go? Which direction? Do you want luxurious resorts or are older resorts okay?

I am thinking for practical purposes I should keep it east of the Mississippi for a few more years and I would say any resort that I could generically say this isn't too bad would be acceptable. More specifically if I had to pin it down more, I would say the smokies, ocean city, VA Beach, myrtle Beach as often as not but I have family in Central Florida and it would probably be easy to arrange that from time to time.

 

[elaine]

I've stayed off-season in Williamsburg to visit college DD and it's very nice (anytime but Jan/Feb, when it's cold and rainy/sleety). I usually stay at Greensprings for $349 last call or 9K RCI points (plus trade fee). however, they now charge daily $20 resort fee (which gets nothing-IT, parking, coffee packet in room, use of pools). Still worth it to me for the very nice units and location.
Shoulder seasons at Massanutten can be nice--also $6/day resort fee. Outer banks or Atlantic Beach area in Sept/Oct, May are nice, same for MB, HHI but you can extend those months to early Nov and April-but HHI has golfers, so not as many great off season deals. Off season Orlando is great! Likely cooler weather and tons of units to chose from. II is even better with many Marriotts as getaways.

 

[bshanebowl]

OK, I think trying to stretch points is great and I am all for it. But $11000 for a year is only $211.50/wk! That doesn't really seem possible timesharing....... Whats the catch, that only covers the trade fee????

I don't really know the answer to that but I'm assuming you start with a pretty decent amount of points and weeks to begin with and then you supplement that with the less than 45 day deals that only take several thousand points and a discounted transfer fee. I have heard that it's not impossible to find weeks on an ongoing basis that are 4000 points and $79 and that would go a long way towards making that possible. Probably just takes a combination of sticktoitiveness and being very flexible on where you stay. Time will tell.

 

[wackymother]

I've stayed off-season in Williamsburg to visit college DD and it's very nice (anytime but Jan/Feb, when it's cold and rainy/sleety). I usually stay at Greensprings for $349 last call or 9K RCI points (plus trade fee). however, they now charge daily $20 resort fee (which gets nothing-IT, parking, coffee packet in room, use of pools). Still worth it to me for the very nice units and location.
Shoulder seasons at Massanutten can be nice--also $6/day resort fee. Outer banks or Atlantic Beach area in Sept/Oct, May are nice, same for MB, HHI but you can extend those months to early Nov and April-but HHI has golfers, so not as many great off season deals. Off season Orlando is great! Likely cooler weather and tons of units to chose from. II is even better with many Marriotts as getaways.

Yes, we've stayed in Williamsburg at Christmastime and the weather is usually decent. In early December they have the Grand Illumination--we had school schedules, so we couldn't go then, but Xmas week was nice too. Most of the timeshares there are very nice.

We like to go to Ocean City, Maryland, during April break, which is a great time to go--the weather is fine for walking on the boardwalk, most restaurants are open, it's not hot or super crowded.

 

[AwayWeGo]

In recent years we've been getting by with 16,333 RCI points per year.

We make that work for us by taking advantage of RCI Last Call & Bonus Week reservations, plus those 7-Night Reservations For 10,000 Points & Below (basically, the points version of Last Call).

It helps that our timeshare vacations are mainly off-season (i.e., January in Florida -- who knew?).

It also helps that our main timeshare destination is the world timeshare capital -- Orlando-Kissimmee FL -- a location many TUG people regard as "overbuilt" with timeshares, meaning that we've had no trouble reserving 2 or 3 consecutive Orlando-Kissimmee bargain timeshare weeks for January check-in.

We have become so accustomed to staying in nice timeshare condos at Motel 6 & Super 8 rates that it would hurt our feelings if we had to make a straight-points reservation for the full regular points value of a timeshare week.

If our annual timeshare points total was up there in the 6-figure range, I don't know what we would do with all those points. But it would be a nice problem to have.

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

 

[elaine]

have heard that it's not impossible to find weeks on an ongoing basis that are 4000 points and $79 and that would go a long way towards making that possible.

In RCI? The discounted 9K (or less) points trades all had the standard RCI trade fee. I've never seen $79.

 

[AwayWeGo]

In RCI? The discounted 9K (or less) points trades all had the standard RCI trade fee. I've never seen $79.

Standard exchange fee applies.

Ditto Guest Certificate fee, if the reservation is for a friend or relative.

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

 

[bshanebowl]

I've stayed off-season in Williamsburg to visit college DD and it's very nice (anytime but Jan/Feb, when it's cold and rainy/sleety). I usually stay at Greensprings for $349 last call or 9K RCI points (plus trade fee). however, they now charge daily $20 resort fee (which gets nothing-IT, parking, coffee packet in room, use of pools). Still worth it to me for the very nice units and location.
Shoulder seasons at Massanutten can be nice--also $6/day resort fee. Outer banks or Atlantic Beach area in Sept/Oct, May are nice, same for MB, HHI but you can extend those months to early Nov and April-but HHI has golfers, so not as many great off season deals. Off season Orlando is great! Likely cooler weather and tons of units to chose from. II is even better with many Marriotts as getaways.

I could see all those places being desirable even in the shoulder or off-season plus I think banner elk NC could be good and maybe some new england places, maybe the smokies. Will definitely refer to this as I proceed. Thanks.

 

[bshanebowl]

OK, I think trying to stretch points is great and I am all for it. But $11000 for a year is only $211.50/wk! That doesn't really seem possible timesharing....... Whats the catch, that only covers the trade fee????

I'm just stating what I was informed of by a very experienced trader who has actually been an admin on some major boards for years. He said he typically does 9 months but last year managed 12, probably due to covid. Worth trying to divine a little more if it sounds interesting.

 

[beejaybeeohio]

Points discussion aside I suggest Hershey PA for off-season- lots of day trips from there including Gettysburg and the Harley-Davidson factory. Hershey itself will give a couple of days of things to do. There are a couple of RCI resorts in Illinois too. Michigan is not considered off-season in the winter, but has some neat resorts.

If Canada re-opens there are several resorts in nearby Ontario.

 

[twise625]

With RCI points I have seen up to 21 day reservations for one trade fee, so the $11,000 could be doable if they are combining some longer stays in there. I am interested in more info about the RCI boards you mentioned - would love move tips myself on how to get the most out of my points.