What's an easy RCI exchange?

[DebBrown]

I am an II member and fairly familiar with what resorts/areas/seasons I can pull but I'm clueless about RCI.

Awhile back, I traded weeks with an RCI member. I gave her an II exchange and she owes me an RCI exchange. I've put in numerous requests and have searched online but still haven't gotten anything I can use.

I have to admit that I have a tendency to request and search for resorts that I can't get through II. For example, I'm looking for Christmas at the Gamboa resort in Panama. This is probably not going to happen.

I need to start thinking about what exchanges I might be able to pull. The deposit is a June week at Causeway on Gull Minnesota. Oh... I occasionally check sightings listed here on TUG but have never been able to pull any of them.

Any advice?

Deb

 

[spiceycat]

how about Hilton Grand Vacation Club in Orlando, Las Vegas or Key West?

I know the last is not an easy trade - but you might get lucky?

 

[Janie]

That should be a pretty good trader....

it's a gorgeous resort: probably very high VEP, which may be screening out a lot of lower VEP choices when you search. If its a very early June week (i.e. before school gets out, which in MN is second week of Jun), trading power might be a little bit compromised but I would think still should be decent. What have you tried for and not been able to get?

 

[funtime]

RCI lead time is a lot longer

You might start looking in 2007 -- RCI traders trade a lot longer out into the future; in contrast at II you can still get some pretty good stuff six months out. So try expanding your search to 2007.

 

[DebBrown]

Yes, I'm trying to plan for 2007. My 2006 plans are already set.

Janie, I've been trying for a couple of years. We tried Marriott Desert Springs for Thanksgiving (it trades both II and RCI), London for our spring break and summer, a bunch of Caribbean resorts for spring break, and now the Caribbean or Panama for Christmas 2006.

Occasionally, I've searched online for other weeks. When I see an interesting sighting, I sometimes check but maybe by 9am, I am too late?

Maybe I should be thinking summer or fall 2007. Ideally, I'd like Europe for summer or some place warm for Thanksgiving.

Something has got to be easy with RCI, right? I'm used to getting whatever I want with II so I'm a bit spoiled.

Deb

 

[Janie]

Deb, have you tried an ongoing search? The things you are looking for are pretty difficult exchanges (although certainly not impossible) in RCI. I've had really great luck with ongoing searches started at least a year in advance in RCI.

Europe in the summer, unless you are looking for the UK, Spain, or Portugal, will be tough with a high VEP week. I have a high VEP good trading week and the VEP restriction screens out most resorts in France and Italy. You'll pull some resorts in Germany or Austria with a high VEP week: check out the Mondi Ferienclub chain of resorts for some good high VEP choices. For France and Italy, I've observed that you need to start searches two years in advance. By the 12 month mark, all the really good stuff is gone.

The only London resort in RCI right now seems to be Allen House. I've traded in there several times now, but it's not easy to get. Owners can deposit one year in advance, so you're too early for Spring Break 2007. Put in an ongoing search right now for that one.

Can't help much with the Caribbean--I have little experience with that.

 

[bethd]

What is VEP???

I am confused what VEP is? I see many of you writng about it here. I deposited my week with RCI 4 months ago. I own a floating week with Westin in Puerto Vallarta. It can be used as a 1 bedroom from May- October and the rst of the year as a studio. I have hads no luck. I am tryingto get to a gold crown in Cabo or Grand Mayan properties over winter break and only want a 1 or 2 bedroom. Any suggestions?????

 

[Judy]

V E P

VEP is the quality rating that RCI assigns to each resort based on comment cards received from exchangers. It is not the same as "Gold Crown".
RCI blocks exchanges into resorts that have VEP's much higher or much lower than the VEP of the deposited resort.

 

[Lee B]

IMO, VEP is almost certainly a resort's demand vs. supply. I think it stands for vacation exchange power. Comments and inspections contribute to recognition awards, but RCI makes exchange decisions based on comparable exchange demand vs. supply, and then similar amenities/awards. They may give you a trade into a better resort than yours but not a lesser one.

As the time gets closer, RCI will be less stringent on matching VEPs, but not let you trade DOWN in quality (usually; I was offered a stinker once). You have to argue with them to let you exchange into a standard resort if you deposited a much fancier awarded resort. The online choices that you see and the on-screen choices that the phone reps see don't even show lesser quality resorts as available, even when those do have interval deposits available.

Many TUGgers own standard resorts to deposit with RCI. They get offered more locations to trade into.

I like to say that if you deposited a 4-bedroom Gold Crown resort on overbuilt Mt. Ordinary, they won't let you trade into the standard Grande Location Resort, even if that one is just where you want to go and has a vacant interval. It won't even appear as available. They don't like complaints about members trading a wonderfully deluxe resort for a plain one.

Request and pay for an ongoing search, then stick to your requirements. Even if you specify a certain single location, they will offer a trade many miles away when it becomes available. If you grudgingly accept it, their statistics will show another satisfactory exchange.

 

[Laurie]

Actually I think VEP is Vacation Experience Profile - the way I understand this, it has nothing to do with exchange power. Some very high VEP resorts are terrible traders, and some really low VEP resorts are great traders. How well or badly something trades is pretty much demand vs. supply, which is often (not always) more about location/season, and its relative supply/demand ratio, than anything else.

So it can be confusing and I'm not sure I've understood it all, but for instance, some really minimalist summer cape resorts can be low VEP, I think. But there aren't enough of them to meet demand. Similarly, some really minimalist European resorts can be really low VEP too. But they're not easy trades necessarily, because demand always outstrips supply. So the "Experience" word in the VEP doesn't relate to your experience at the location at all, but rather your experience at the resort itself, as relates to quality. I think.

Gold Crown relates as much to a specific list of amenities, as I understand it...

Now all this could be incorrect. Good luck in figuring it out!

 

[Hoc]

Actually I think VEP is Vacation Experience Profile - the way I understand this, it has nothing to do with exchange

Actually, VEP has a lot to do with Trade Power. But it works exactly opposite to what we at TUG like to call "Trade Power."

A high VEP means that the resort is rated highly by people who stay there. Therefore, if you own there and try to trade it, RCI will not allow you to trade into a resort that is not as well rated. That is because RCI presumes you will be unhappy with the trade, since the resort into which you trade is not as nice. So, it blocks your trade into the lesser resorts. Low VEP resorts, however, can trade into almost anything. The problem is that, with a low VEP resort, the demand might not be as high, so the trade power of the resort might not be as good and you cannot trade into a lot.

The ideal situation for trading is to have a cr*ppy resort that is in high demand. Therefore, you will have high trade power and a low VEP, and you can trade into almost anything. Some of the Southern Cal. Beach resorts in the summer are like that.

 

[Leturno]

Deb, have you tried an ongoing search? The things you are looking for are pretty difficult exchanges (although certainly not impossible) in RCI. I've had really great luck with ongoing searches started at least a year in advance in RCI.

....

Deb,

I second "Ongoing Search" with Janie. It didn't even occur to me that you would not be performing ongoing searchs. Think of ongoing searchs as 'getting in line' the available exchanges go first to those waiting in line. They only show up for searchs if nobody else is in queue waiting for that exchange (based on VEP and all the rest).

So if someone then you has a weeker trader but has an ongoing search for that resort and that week, that person will snag it and you will never know it was there to search for. You have to decide where you want to go and get an ongoing search working for you. Be flexible.

Scott

 

[JLB]

It works both ways. We get stuff through RCI we couldn't in our 14 years with II.

Each companies appears to have it's favorites. Generally speaking I feel II tends to favor the larger, name brand, chain resort companies, while RCI seems to give an occasional break to the little guys.

 

[DebBrown]

Janie and Scott, I do indeed try ongoing searches. I also check online occasionally but I'm really too busy to monitor the sightings and check regularly.

As to Europe, we had an ongoing search for about a hear for England during spring break or early summer but didn't get anything.

Jim, since you know both II and RCI, what are good RCI choices - not just good resorts but something reasonable that I could pull?

Right now I have an ongoing search for my Panama at Christmas vacation. The search is also looking for the Caribbean but I'll have to drop that part because I'm buying airline tickets soon. I'd like to keep this request because we'll go to Panama with/without the exchange.

We're open to any good ideas for summer 2007. Occasionally DH and I take a trip alone in the spring or fall, so I'd be interest in fabulous resorts which might be easy to get in the off-season. Ideas??

Deb

 

[wrxdoug]

There are some wonderful resorts in scotland you might want to consider in the spring or fall. Both Cameron house and the hgvc scotland resorts are wonderful and there would be some available 2007 spring or fall. Scotland is a lovely place full of castles and great countryside. Also Hungary and Croatia are both new hot spots and are extremely economical to tourists still ...Budapest is beautiful.

 

[JLB]

email me about you likes, timeframe, and I'll take a look.

 

[schoolinmy3]

Success with Ongoing Search

I had an ongoing search going for England and was able to secure an exchange for the first week of April 2007 just recently (check in March 31). I put the request in October 28 and a match was found on January 3 using a FF Flagstaff week. The resort is Brantridge Park which is close enough to London to make a day trip by train. In my ongoing search I had added in any resorts I thought would work as I wanted to keep our options as open as possible. I needed a 2 BR since there are five of us and was very happy to find this one. I'm still hoping to find something in France for the second week in April but I won't be able to deposit another week into RCI until March and it may be too late by then. In any case, I will be trying!

diane kradel

 

[DebBrown]

Speaking of ongoing searches... is there a way to request specific resorts for two different timeframes?

I see that I can request different areas but there is only one resort ID list.

Can this be done by phone?

Deb

 

[Janie]

I'm baffled as to why you can't pull anything in RCI, particularly for spring or fall in the UK, which is not a very difficult trade.

I tried a couple of searches with a good trading high VEP SA week and got several excellent resorts in the UK for Spring (April-June) and fall (September-October 2007). Right now there are weeks available at Brantridge Park, the Osborne Club, Kilconquhar Castle, Edinburgh Residence, and Hilton Craigendarroch among many others. There are summer 2007 weeks online right now at Craigendarroch also.

These five resorts are very highly rated by TUGgers: I haven't personally been to any of them. If you want details, please feel free to email me and I'll send you the results.

I didn't pull up anything in Panama for Christmas 2006: the closest date was in early December.

 

[DebBrown]

Thanks, Janie. I just did a quick check for "British Isles" for 4/15 - 6/15 and came up with only one choice: Canaltime for 4/22. Then I searched 9/15 - 11/15 and got quite a few hits but only for November dates. At this point, we're not searching for UK but its interesting to see that we're not getting much pull.

I guess this all leads back to my original question: what's easy?

Deb

 

[Janie]

What's easy in RCI: Orlando, Branson, Williamsburg, the Dominican Republic. Most Florida locations except Captiva, Sanibel, Marco Island and the Keys. Inland New England. The Rockies outside of ski season. Quebec. Many places in Mexico. Southern Spain and the Canary Islands. Most places off season are pretty easy.

Causeway on Gull--the resort you are trying to trade--is a wonderful resort with some of the most beautiful units I've ever seen. Maybe try with your internal trade preference for a summer or leaf season week? It would be a great place to be in September/early October. Summer trades there are very difficult to get, which is one reason I'm baffled as to why your trade power is so poor.

Do you know if your week was a late deposit or anything else that would have compromised its trade power?