For points does it matter where I buy?

Ok, my first question? I have been reviewing hundreds of threads and have learned a lot but still one question I cant seem to get clear.

If I am buying for points, does it matter where the property is?

and what point system are you referring to.

Sorry, should have said. RCI

You'll find threads that are of differing opinions.

Personally, it matters to me where, and the underlying week.

I only have purchased RCI points timeshares that have prime underlying weeks (location/prime red week). The resort has to be well-managed with a history of stability (maintenance, fees, special assessments). I have bought and re-sold a few RCI Points timeshares and the Buyers were more interested each time in the resort/underlying week than the points themselves. Also, the maintenance fee for a prime week at most resorts is the same amount as the maintenance fee for a blue week. More RCI Points are assigned to the prime weeks, which automatically makes for a better maintenance fee-to-points ratio. Speaking of which, I always make sure that the ratio is currently less than a $.01/per point.

It mattered to me with my last two points purchases, but that is because I can see us going to the resorts someday, should the points system go away. I doubt it ever would go away, though.

My points are more expensive than people on TUG recommend. Our points are at various resorts, and some of the resorts have had HUGE increases in maintenance fees, plus the value of the Aussie dollar going up against U.S.'s dollar has really affected that particular contract. We own 400K RCI Points. Love them.

I recommend that you do not buy in Orlando, and that is the only thing I would caution. Buying in Orlando at Vacation Village at Parkway is a mistake, because even though the fees are reasonable now, I feel they will skyrocket after the developer is done selling (if they ever get done). The hard sell is going to create a huge # of people defaulting on their loans and fees, and it will be the owners who will suffer as a result. I expect the fees to go up anyway, even if owners don't default, because they are lower than the other resorts in the area.

Also, anything you buy in Orlando will create a regional block, which means you won't be able to trade into DVC, if that's what you want to do.

RCI Points is one of the only things we have purchased that I would buy again, knowing what I know. That's saying a lot about RCI Points.

I love RCI points too but for a different reason than most.

I almost exclusively use my points for the 7500-9000 point last minute exchange opportunities.

Yes you shouldn't buy in Orlando if you want to do DVC exchanges but I own at VV Parkway, a triennial unit and for the MF's I pay I can get alot of great vacations for a pretty reasonable price.

The MF's have gone up recently, it used to be $600 every 3 years but now it's around $700. With that I get 25K points a year. With that amount of points I can get 3 plus weeks of vacations on short notice.

I use it mostly for last minute Disney trips where I've been very lucky to get into Vistana and other nice TS's that aren't official Disney but beautiful places.

It seems to work great for you if you live somewhere close to lots of TS's so you can pounce on those great deals, even if you only use it for 3 to 4 nights out of the 7. It makes for great getaways.

Many times I book a beach getaway and use only 3 nights and let a friend use the remaining nights. It's a way to give and get at the same time.

I Resemble That Remark.

chriskre said:

I almost exclusively use my points for the 7500-9000 point last minute exchange opportunities.

Yes you shouldn't buy in Orlando if you want to do DVC exchanges but I own at VV Parkway, a triennial unit and for the MF's I pay I can get alot of great vacations for a pretty reasonable price.

The MF's have gone up recently, it used to be $600 every 3 years but now it's around $700. With that I get 25K points a year. With that amount of points I can get 3 plus weeks of vacations on short notice.

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Since taking the points plunge in 2005, we have gone on straight-points timeshare exchange exactly once. Most of our RCI reservations ever since have been Last Call & Instant Exchange, with 1 straight-weeks exchange in the mix a couple of years ago.

We deeded back the dinky points timeshare that we bought in 2005 because the maintenance fees had escalated all out of proportion. As a replacement, we bought an eBay triennial Vacation Village At Parkway 2BR off-season lock-off worth 18,500 points annually -- 3,500 points per year more than the paltry points we were getting from our original dinky points timeshare, for about half the annual fee amount we had been paying (although we're told Vacation Village At Parkway will be bill us once every 3 years, not annually, even though we'll be getting an injection of points every year -- go figure).

We have received our original recorded Vacation Village At Parkway deed, but so far as I can tell neither RCI Points nor Vacation Village At Parkway has processed our eBay acquisition yet. So it goes.

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

Great responses! Thanks!

I have grandsons age 3 and 2 and will probably be doing the Disney visits in a few years. That gives me time to patiently wait for something good at Vistana to open up. We really liked that place when we stayed their a few years ago. In the mean time my wife wants some beach time and snow time so the plan was to get some points so we could visit different places. Here in north Texas we are equal distance from both.

AwayWeGo said:

Most of our RCI reservations ever since have been Last Call & Instant Exchange, with 1 straight-weeks exchange in the mix a couple of years ago.

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

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From the posts I have been reading, instant exchanges is probably what we will be doing the most of. I know that it is low points, but is there also a fee?

AwayWeGo said:

We have received our original recorded Vacation Village At Parkway deed, but so far as I can tell neither RCI Points nor Vacation Village At Parkway has processed our eBay acquisition yet. So it goes.[/RIGHT]

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I am looking at several different properties on ebay. How long has it been since your purchase and do you have access to those points now?

One thing I'm surprised nobody mentioned was Home booking advantage. Instead of only being able to book 303 days out, you can book up to 334 days out in your Home Group and 365 days out at your Home Resort.

I'm not quite educated enough to tell you what resorts or groups would give the best advantage, I know enough to know that there is an advantage.

MichaelColey-
I brought my RCI Points for the Home Resort. Do I have too many eggs in one basket? Yes, but I prefer to use my Home Resort and booking at the 12 month mark, the exchange fee is $40.
My Home Group is VRI. Lots of options to book thru out that group of managed resorts at the 11 month mark. As for DVC, I have book there also. Am headed to Manhatten Club next weekend, too.

But as I own Wyndham points, I realize the 13 & 12 & 11 month booking schedule is a serious advantage to getting what I want.

Instant Exchange = 7,500 Points (USA) + Exchange Fee.

howiedb said:

From the posts I have been reading, instant exchanges is probably what we will be doing the most of. I know that it is low points, but is there also a fee?

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Exchange fee + minimal points.

Last Call by contrast is cash + Zero points.

howiedb said:

How long has it been since your purchase and do you have access to those points now?

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Won the eBay bidding July 8th, paid instantly via PayPal, received the original recorded about 2 weeks ago, still waiting for the timeshare resort & RCI Points to acknowledge.

Fortunately we have a bunch of points in our RCI Points account already from other timeshares, so we are not inconvenienced by backroom paperwork delays at the timeshare & RCI.

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

So what would be the risks/negatives in buying into an RCI points timeshare that you have no desire to go to but has a great points/MF ratio. Also, what if the resort has an average rating on RCI like maybe 3 stars. I bought my first Account off of Ebay at somewhere I would actually go, but I am looking at a couple of others that I doubt I would ever go to but has a great ratio but also rates at about a 3 on RCI.

pnorto said:

So what would be the risks/negatives in buying into an RCI points timeshare that you have no desire to go to but has a great points/MF ratio. Also, what if the resort has an average rating on RCI like maybe 3 stars. I bought my first Account off of Ebay at somewhere I would actually go, but I am looking at a couple of others that I doubt I would ever go to but has a great ratio but also rates at about a 3 on RCI.

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the risk you take is RCI devaluing your TS at some time in the future, if/when that happens you will have the same MF with less points.

Gold Crown, Shmould Crown.

pnorto said:

Also, what if the resort has an average rating on RCI like maybe 3 stars. I bought my first Account off of Ebay at somewhere I would actually go, but I am looking at a couple of others that I doubt I would ever go to but has a great ratio but also rates at about a 3 on RCI.

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Points are points.

Mox nix if you're using points from low-rated timeshares for points-exchange reservations into fancypants timeshares, just so you have enough points in your account to do the exchange.

The main advantage of the timeshare points system is equalizing, via higher & lower points values, the differences between higher & lower rated resorts, larger & smaller units, prime season & off-season, prime locations & out-of-the-way locations, etc.

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

Actually, risks are similiar for many TSs. Your MF go up because of poor management or other owners stop paying, special assessments due to poor management or prior years' reserve fund is not fully funded, and your point valuation goes way down because reviews by inbound exchangers are negative.

I have several weeks at my RCI Points resort. I take time to look and watch at my resort on every visit. I know the supervisors on the Front Desk to housekeepers on the floors to the resort manager and have positive comments as often as possible. I offer sincere appreciation for improvements and concern if there is a difficulty. If I hear/see problems on stays to other TS resorts, I pass the word - like how many LCD TVs have disappeared ... 3 one weekend at "A" resort; was told about the 27 LCD TVs one month at "B" resort.

I have a vested interest in the success of my Home Resort.

Another thing that I love about RCI points is that not only do I get my 25K points a year with my triennial unit, I also get the opportunity to do a PFD (points for deposit) with my weeks resort that does not participate in RCI points.

RCI allows owners of an RCI points account who also own at older resorts that never went to RCI points to do a PFD with their week.

I don't do it often because I usually use my week, but that week is something that I don't worrying about paying MF's for a place I will never visit. This works very well for me because on the years that I don't use my week, RCI gives me 38K points for a $450 MF. Not the killer deal that I get with VVParkway but still not too shabby and then I can take even more last minute vacations.

I've had my RCI points account since 2004 so I think it's proven to be a good value for me. When it isn't any longer then I guess it will be history.

I Resemble That Remark, Too.

chriskre said:

Another thing that I love about RCI points is that not only do I get my 25K points a year with my triennial unit, I also get the opportunity to do a PFD (points for deposit) with my weeks resort that does not participate in RCI points.

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You typed a mouthful.

A timeshare-understanding breakthrough for us was (finally) catching on that conversion to points & Points For Deposit are 2 different things in RCI-speak, even though they both involve getting RCI points for what started out as plain-vanilla timeshare weeks.

Once we grasped that key distinction, we were ready at last to take the points plunge, with the idea in mind of using a dinky low-cost entry-level points timeshare as our toe-hold into the points system so that we could start doing Points For Deposit with our straight-weeks timeshares as our major points source.

That's pretty much how it's gone ever since we plunged in 2005 -- except that it turns out we rarely (as in just 1 time so far) go for straight-points exchanges & practically always go for Last Call (cash + Zero points) or Instant Exchange (exchange fee + 7,500 points). (Last Call & Instant Exchange are for reservations made within 45 days of check-in.)

Is this a great country or what ?

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

chriskre said:

I also get the opportunity to do a PFD (points for deposit) with my weeks resort that does not participate in RCI points.

RCI allows owners of an RCI points account who also own at older resorts that never went to RCI points to do a PFD with their week.

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Yep, that can be huge.

I love having the PFD option. My Branson lockouts (a little over $500 MF) are pretty good traders if I get a good week, but if I don't see what I want I can always PFD the two sides separately and get 92k points (at about 0.6 cents per point, even after the PFD fees). That's tough to beat.

MichaelColey said:

Yep, that can be huge.

I love having the PFD option. My Branson lockouts (a little over $500 MF) are pretty good traders if I get a good week, but if I don't see what I want I can always PFD the two sides separately and get 92k points (at about 0.6 cents per point, even after the PFD fees). That's tough to beat.

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You are incredibly smart, Michael. I am amazed that you were able to get your points so reasonably priced, buy the UDI from Bruce, and now you have PFD for much cheaper than anything I can do. I was helping you learn initially, but in ten minutes, I think you were beyond me in timeshare savvy. You are a second BocaBum. He is the only other person I know who caught on so quickly. We owned for 24 years before we knew how to use what we had to our advantage. I applaud you.

Great reviews of your Kauai trip, too. Very honest and helpful for anyone considering those two resorts for exchange.

If TUG was around 24 years ago, I bet you would have caught on much sooner, too.

I still have MUCH to learn, but I'm getting there.

I hope we get to meet in some tropical location someday. I love meeting fellow TUG members, and I really admire your ability to see what so many people cannot.

Question on the whole Orlando DVC block? So I have seen mixed comments on the topic that DVC gets blocked if you own within 30 miles of Orlando, 90 miles of Orlando and all of Florida. So which is it? Also, If I have one account that is all consolidated with points in Orlando and points outside of Orlando will that pose a problem getting into DVC?

RCI points are mostly from older resorts whose prime red units were sold as fixed weeks. Those owners are the least likely to convert, hence those units will will not be available for RCI points owners. Those people who bought RCI points for the beach and snow will be disappointed.

e.bram said:

RCI points are mostly from older resorts whose prime red units were sold as fixed weeks. Those owners are the least likely to convert, hence those units will will not be available for RCI points owners. Those people who bought RCI points for the beach and snow will be disappointed.

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Clueless person who doesn't even own RCI Points! Don't listen to him.

If you want to see what points will get, how they work, how many you need, etc., I will let you look with my log-in for a day or two. I am not even selling my points, so it's just out of the kindness of my heart. You cannot make reservations with my account, because I would know and can cancel them with one push of a button. :rofl:

Don't care about the snow....but I'm a prime beach week person!

e.bram said:

RCI points are mostly from older resorts whose prime red units were sold as fixed weeks. Those owners are the least likely to convert, hence those units will will not be available for RCI points owners. Those people who bought RCI points for the beach and snow will be disappointed.

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As Cindy said, this is the same mantra from e.bram who doesn't own nor use points.

Residences at the Crane Barbados Easter Week
Cable Beach Bahamas Easter Week
Outer Banks resorts, Summer Weeks
DVC 2BR Easter Week
Myrtle Beach resorts, Summer Weeks
Hilton Head resorts, Summer Weeks
Cape Cod resorts, Summer Weeks
Gulf Coast FL, Spring and Summer Weeks

There's others, but I think you get it. The last minute Weeks exchanges have been awesome for me, too! I always run out of Points and I have over 400,000 annual points (2010 points were used up long ago).

e.bram, take Cindy up on her offer!