RCI New Trading Power

[SilverSandsOwner]

I own 3 different weeks at Silversands in Durban. It appears the new 'trading' power is extremely low. My weeks were downgraded days before the transision and now has a value of 8's and 9.

Supposingly, the resort was being reviewed for a Gold Crown.

Can only one shed some light why we don't have the trading power like we use to?

 

[vckempson]

For Mount Amanzi, 1 br red flexi week, I come in with an 11. For those deposited back in 2008 the value was a 15, confirming the level of decrease power for the SA units now.

 

[dundey]

Over on the exchange boards a couple people mentioned higher values of 15 -18, I think there was even a 20. No one mentioned which resorts however.

Personally, I own 2 - Kynsna Chalets and Glenmore Sands. I have a 2010 and 2011 week on deposit from Glenmore, and a 2010 from Kynsna. All were deposited more than 9 months in advance and all 3 have a value of 11.

This is far lower than what they have pulled in the past. The 2010 Glenmore was seeing over 140,000 before the change - right up there with the best traders.

Both of these weeks are "peak" school vacation times in SA. Not sure what the heck RCI is thinking here.

 

[mqlet]

My 1bd DIK is a 14.

 

[dundey]

My 1bd DIK is a 14.

Based on what I'm seeing with mine, I'd be happy with that!

I'm hoping that we get more SA owners to post on this. There does not seem to be much logic behind the numbers.

 

[SilverSandsOwner]

My Silversands were deposited over 1 yr in advance. I have 2 in January (14th and 21st) which suppose to be peak red. And I have a mid Sept that is red most of the time and occasionaly is white (based upon the school calendar).

They use to be decent traders now they are the pits.

 

[LisaH]

I have a peak Glenmore Sands week. With M/F over $360 and trading power of 10, I wonder if the resort will take the week back? How about we all write to the resort and ask them to put pressure on RCI regarding the valuation (or revaluation) of the the trading power assessment for South Africa weeks?

 

[grail]

i got two 2br dikhololo and it got a trading power of 17 and 23. deposited a year in advance.

 

[cdimi]

I have a 1 bedroom Lowveld Lodge that was deposited 1 yr in advance and only gets a 9. Luckily, I am able to take last minute trips.

 

[Joe M.]

Strand Pavilion weeks in my account range from 17 for a studio up to 25 for a larger 2BR. I think you can use the new trade power calculator to look up the values of other SA timeshares to compare different resorts and seasons.

 

[DrJim]

What chart?

I am "just getting back into the SA game", what chart are you referring to?

Thanks

 

[SilverSandsOwner]

If RCI doesn't address this downsizing I'll probably give my weeks back to the resort. And I am sure there would be thousands of weeks will be going back. The financial burden to resorts may be overwelhming and the SA timeshares industry as a whole will be hurt.

RCI broke the promise of the ability to trade our weeks within their system if we did not use our home resort. We bought their sale pitch and now left out in the cold.

 

[KarenG]

If I can ever get in, I've got 3 Dik weeks, I'll come back and report their values.

 

[dundey]

I am VERY surprised at the trade values being posted for DIK. And just as surprised at the very low numbers for some good quality peak weeks in SA, just does not make any sense. emailing or writing to the resorts could help, I will be doing just that for Glenmore and Kynsna.

I asked my friend to check her account and she is seeing the following:
Glenmore Sands 8
St. Michael's Sands 18

I need to check the deposit calculator for the rest of the year for Glenmore before I do any thing else. It seems SA deposits are now more random than ever. And yes, RCI lied, again.

 

[Carolinian]

What is bizarre is that RCI has now exposed that it is not using supply and demand in setting these values.

Under ''Manage your Deposits'', go to ''Exchange Planner'' to see the availibility tables based on supply and demand. SA is broken down into several regions and just flipping through it looks like all months in all regions in SA have the two best categories of supply and demand. Orlando on the other hand has the lowest category for all 12 months.

Based on RCI's own supply/demand charts, SA creams Orlando, so its trading power should be better.

But SA is not the only place shortchanged. The UK is too, although to a lesser degree.

 

[JudyS]

...Under ''Manage your Deposits'', go to ''Exchange Planner'' to see the availibility tables based on supply and demand. SA is broken down into several regions and just flipping through it looks like all months in all regions in SA have the two best categories of supply and demand. Orlando on the other hand has the lowest category for all 12 months....

I don't actually think the Exchange Planner shows supply and demand. When I look at it, it just shows how many weeks are deposited in a given region during a given month, without any demand information at all. Cape Cod shows as "Moderate Availability (251-2000)" all year round, but if 1000 weeks are deposited each month, 800 of them may sit empty in January whereas almost all of them may be snatched up in July.

So, Orlando always shows as high availability because lots of weeks are deposited there every month.

 

[JEFF H]

When I attempt to use RCI deposit calculator to check deposit value for my 2011 Peak & white Sudwala weeks it says no weeks available at this resort.
Anyone else having this issue.
I have a 2010 white week deposited and it shows as having a value of 11
I would like to find out how much value the 2011 weeks will have if I deposit them.

 

[Carolinian]

This four level month by month table has been in the European version of the directory for years, and it DOES indeed show availibility based on both supply and demand. Indeed until they shortened the terms in the last directory, the descriptions of the four categories included the word demand with phrases like ''very highly demanded'' for the lowest category and ''highly demanded'' for the second lowest. Of course there were also supply terms as well, so it was clearly based on both factors. Now it ranges from ''best'' to ''limited''.

Common sense should also tell you that, as the purpose of this is to plan vacations by seeing where there will be more likely units availible. A chart that did not take into account the demand side would be absolutely useless for that purpose and it would be ridiculous to even publish such a thing.

I agree that there is something squirrelly about many of the current US charts. In most other parts of the world, they change from month to month but many of them I have looked at in the US have the same status for the whole year. For the OBX that is not accurate, as the deposit patterns with the exchange companies do vary with the time of year, with a great majority of summer owners owning to use and not even being members of exchange companies much less depositing. So when they show it the same all year, they are just wrong.

The Orlando version of this table in my latest European directory shows three months with the highest availibility, four months with the second highest, two months with the lowest, and three months with the second lowest. South Africa on the other hand shows all 12 months with the lowest availibility category, ''limited''. Things may well have changed some from that table to this, but I doubt that Orlando has suddenly been flooded with excess supply or that demand has dried up in its high season.

I don't actually think the Exchange Planner shows supply and demand. When I look at it, it just shows how many weeks are deposited in a given region during a given month, without any demand information at all. Cape Cod shows as "Moderate Availability (251-2000)" all year round, but if 1000 weeks are deposited each month, 800 of them may sit empty in January whereas almost all of them may be snatched up in July.

So, Orlando always shows as high availability because lots of weeks are deposited there every month.

 

[JudyS]

I said:

I don't actually think the Exchange Planner shows supply and demand. When I look at it, it just shows how many weeks are deposited in a given region during a given month, without any demand information at all. Cape Cod shows as "Moderate Availability (251-2000)" all year round, but if 1000 weeks are deposited each month, 800 of them may sit empty in January whereas almost all of them may be snatched up in July.

So, Orlando always shows as high availability because lots of weeks are deposited there every month.

And Steve replied:

This four level month by month table has been in the European version of the directory for years, and it DOES indeed show availibility based on both supply and demand.

That may be, but we aren't talking about the European directory, we're talking about the online Exchange Planner, which is an entirely different thing.

Common sense should also tell you that, as the purpose of this is to plan vacations by seeing where there will be more likely units availible. A chart that did not take into account the demand side would be absolutely useless for that purpose and it would be ridiculous to even publish such a thing....

So, you are claiming that RCI never does anything ridiculous? That is certainly new!

It's not completely useless for RCI to provide supply charts with no demand information. Now that we can look up how much trades cost, members can put in a request early, and if there is a lot of supply in an area, they can be pretty sure they will get the trade, regardless of demand. If there is little supply, then they know they might not get the trade, even if they request 2 years in advance. In some areas, there has historically been NO supply for some months, so members know not to bother.

I certainly think a chart of supply and demand would be more useful. But that doesn't seem to be what RCI has provided in the Exchange Planner.

 

[dundey]

When I attempt to use RCI deposit calculator to check deposit value for my 2011 Peak & white Sudwala weeks it says no weeks available at this resort.
Anyone else having this issue.
I have a 2010 white week deposited and it shows as having a value of 11
I would like to find out how much value the 2011 weeks will have if I deposit them.

Jeff what weeks are you looking for? I'm seeing a lot of 11's and 14's, but there are several weeks that pull 18 or 20.
One thing I noticed is that early December weeks are 23! The same as Christmas / New Year weeks. Makes sense since its school holiday time in SA, but other school holidays are lower. Yet with other SA weeks, the increased value is only for the last 2 weeks of Dec.

Another thing I've noticed is that ski weeks (at least in the NE) don't seem to get better value for 2 of the biggest ski weeks of the year - MLK week and Presidents Day week. Values at a few of the resorts I checked are the same for those weeks as late March! Yeah, RCI has done it again!

I think I can probably work within this new system with some of the weeks I have, but overall it seems exceedingly unfair to owners of certain weeks / areas. Having said that, I know value has increased for some as well, particularly some blue weeks that are close to high seasons.

One thing is for certain, the game has changed BIG TIME.

 

[wgaldred]

I would like to find out how much value the 2011 weeks will have if I deposit them.

Your peak weak (which is the same as mine) is 18, your other week will probably still be 11

 

[Carolinian]

Yeah, I noticed that, too. There are 23 weeks with a value of 15, 3 at 15, 1 at 17, 4 at 18, and 3 at 22. I am guessing the 22 weeks will all be fixed weeks and not availible to flexis, so I guess there will be a scramble for the 18's.

Jeff what weeks are you looking for? I'm seeing a lot of 11's and 14's, but there are several weeks that pull 18 or 20.
One thing I noticed is that early December weeks are 23! The same as Christmas / New Year weeks. Makes sense since its school holiday time in SA, but other school holidays are lower.

Another thing I've noticed is that ski weeks (at least in the NE) don't seem to get better value for 2 of the biggest ski weeks of the year - MLK week and Presidents Day week. Values at a few of the resorts I checked are the same for those weeks as late March! Yeah, RCI has done it again!

I think I can probably work within this new system with some of the weeks I have, but overall it seems exceedingly unfair to owners of certain weeks / areas. Having said that, I know value has increased for some as well, particularly some blue weeks that are close to high seasons.

One thing is for certain, the game has changed BIG TIME.

 

[Carolinian]

There chart is in exactly the same format as the chart long used in the European directory, and its content for areas outside the US tracks closely with the latest version of that chart. This argument, advanced earlier by an Orlando owner, that it somehow does not include the demand side is just way off in left field, and is not even logical. I would see why owners in overbuilt areas would want to believe something, anything, to not face the reality that their areas are overbuilt. We seem to get a lot of denial of that by particularly Orlando owners.

I said:

And Steve replied:
That may be, but we aren't talking about the European directory, we're talking about the online Exchange Planner, which is an entirely different thing.

So, you are claiming that RCI never does anything ridiculous? That is certainly new!

It's not completely useless for RCI to provide supply charts with no demand information. Now that we can look up how much trades cost, members can put in a request early, and if there is a lot of supply in an area, they can be pretty sure they will get the trade, regardless of demand. If there is little supply, then they know they might not get the trade, even if they request 2 years in advance. In some areas, there has historically been NO supply for some months, so members know not to bother.

I certainly think a chart of supply and demand would be more useful. But that doesn't seem to be what RCI has provided in the Exchange Planner.

 

[Carolinian]

There is also something else interesting on that Planning chart. It shows historical trade power averages by month. If you compare those with what the system is spitting out for SA now, it is clear SA got whacked on valuation.

 

[dundey]

There is also something else interesting on that Planning chart. It shows historical trade power averages by month. If you compare those with what the system is spitting out for SA now, it is clear SA got whacked on valuation.

Hmm, did not notice that. I'll have to look tonight.

BTW, I agree with your assessment of the supply / demand data. How can you have availability "limited" and NOT have some basis in demand. It's not a logical argument. I know RCI is not logical, but this seems beyond the realm of possibility, even for them.

I wonder if RCI will make any adjustments in this new system as we move forward.