Newbie RCI Points question

Ty1on · Jun 20, 2015

So if I buy in an RCI Points resort, but my deed is not tied to an RCI contract, I would have to pay the goons ridiculous money to get converted to points, right? And I can't Deposit For Points, because it is an RCI Points Resort.

If I were to go out and buy a cheap RCI Points contract, I could not then use that resulting membership to end-around the retail gouging it would take to convert the first contract to use as RCI Points, could I? As I see it, I would then have a cheap RCI Points contract with low points, and a Weeks contract, which would remain Weeks unless I paid the weasels, right?

theo · Jun 20, 2015

PrestonCaldwell said:
So if I buy in an RCI Points resort, but my deed is not tied to an RCI contract, I would have to pay the goons ridiculous money to get converted to points, right? And I can't Deposit For Points, because it is an RCI Points Resort.

If I were to go out and buy a cheap RCI Points contract, I could not then use that resulting membership to end-around the retail gouging it would take to convert the first contract to use as RCI Points, could I? As I see it, I would then have a cheap RCI Points contract with low points, and a Weeks contract, which would remain Weeks unless I paid the weasels, right?

You've got it mostly right, although I would strongly encourage you to confirm and verify that any RCI Points deal you might be considering does not just revert right back to only the underlying week identified within the associated deed (with the assigned RCI Points just completely disappearing upon each and every subsequent resale, requiring "re-buying" into RCI Points for generally $2,500 to $4,000). While this hidden "trap door" is not common, it most certainly does exist at some resorts.

I'm a bit confused by your last sentence / question, as highlighted in blue above. Any single ownership at any RCI affiliated resort is either a (fixed or floating) "weeks only" ownership, with no associated RCI Points at all, or it is a RCI Points ownership, in which there is still always an underlying week specifically identified within the associated deed, but this latter type of ownership also has a pre-assigned RCI Points value. This latter "product" allows you to utilize either the assigned RCI Points or the underlying deeded week itself (by reserving it in advance). If you use the underlying week, you obviously don't still also have those Points to use that year --- it's one or the other.
There is no "have your cake and eat it too", using both the RCI Points and the underlying deeded week itself in the same year. That would be nice, but no can do.

You may well know all of that already, but as stated I was / am puzzled by the blue highlighted portion of your post.

Ty1on · Jun 20, 2015

theo said:
You've got it mostly right, although I would strongly encourage you to confirm and verify that any RCI Points deal you might be considering does not just revert right back to only the underlying week identified within the associated deed (with the assigned RCI Points just completely disappearing upon each and every subsequent resale, requiring "re-buying" into RCI Points for generally $2,500 to $4,000). While this hidden "trap door" is not common, it most certainly does exist at some resorts.

I'm a bit confused by your last sentence / question, as highlighted in blue above. Any single ownership at any RCI affiliated resort is either a (fixed or floating) "weeks only" ownership, with no associated RCI Points at all, or it is a RCI Points ownership, in which there is still always an underlying week specifically identified within the associated deed, but this latter type of ownership also has a pre-assigned RCI Points value. This latter "product" allows you to utilize either the assigned RCI Points or the underlying deeded week itself (by reserving it in advance). If you use the underlying week, you obviously don't still also have those Points to use that year --- it's one or the other.
There is no "have your cake and eat it too", using both the RCI Points and the underlying deeded week itself in the same year. That would be nice, but no can do.

You may well know all of that already, but as stated I was / am puzzled by the blue highlighted portion of your post.

I meant, owning RCI Points Contract B doesn't confer me the right to convert Weeks Contract A to RCI Points without paying the weasels that 2500-3000.

theo · Jun 20, 2015

PrestonCaldwell said:
I meant, owning RCI Points Contract B doesn't confer me the right to convert Weeks Contract A to RCI Points without paying the weasels that 2500-3000.

Got it --- and you're correct. It doesn't matter at all what else you might own; if you want to convert a "week" to RCI Points (...the facility must first obviously be one where RCI Points are already in place, which is certainly not the case at all RCI-affiliated resorts), then you'll have to pony up the required ~~extortion~~ fee to "convert" --- generally no less than $2,500, seldom as much or more than $4k.

Fwiw, I've sometimes wondered (but do not claim to know) the number of RCI "Points" resorts among the total number of RCI-affiliated resorts. It might be statistically meaningless, but none of the (3) RCI-affiliated resorts where we currently own weeks have (or have ever even considered adopting) RCI Points. A fourth RCI-affiliated resort at which we sold off a week last year has recently adopted RCI Points, apparently as a way to try impart more "value" to low demand and / or HOA owned (i.e., foreclosed) weeks. In that instance, I believe that those "dog weeks" are offered with the "conversion to RCI Points" already completed (i.e., no "conversion fee buy in" required for the new owner). I assume the theory is that "dog" weeks or foreclosed weeks then have more value created with RCI Points attached, since those points can just as easily be used elsewhere besides at the home resort --- and a new owner paying maintenance fees is thereby successfully enlisted onto the resort rolls. :shrug:

tschwa2 · Jun 20, 2015

The "weasels" that you are referring to are the resorts/HOA's themselves. RCI offers points conversions to resorts as a way to offer additional flexibility and to get more money from current owners who chose to convert. RCI's actual payment form the conversion is around $299-$399 per week. The sales staff that are paid to sell the conversion - including the gifts they hand out to get owners to the table get about half of the conversion cost minus RCI's cut and the rest go to the HOA. The HOA sometimes has to pay to upgrade systems to allow partial weeks and check outs.

So paying resort X does nothing for resort Y, so resort has no reason to allow you to convert.

Ty1on · Jun 20, 2015

theo said:
Got it --- and you're correct. It doesn't matter at all what else you might own; if you want to convert a "week" to RCI Points (...the facility must first obviously be one where RCI Points are already in place, which is certainly not the case at all RCI-affiliated resorts), then you'll have to pony up the required ~~extortion~~ fee to "convert" --- generally no less than $2,500, seldom as much or more than $4k.

Fwiw, I've sometimes wondered (but do not claim to know) the number of RCI "Points" resorts among the total number of RCI-affiliated resorts. It might be statistically meaningless, but none of the (3) RCI-affiliated resorts where we currently own weeks have (or have ever even considered adopting) RCI Points. A fourth RCI-affiliated resort at which we sold off a week last year has recently adopted RCI Points, apparently as a way to try impart more "value" to low demand and / or HOA owned (i.e., foreclosed) weeks. In that instance, I believe that those "dog weeks" are offered with the "conversion to RCI Points" already completed (i.e., no "conversion fee buy in" required for the new owner). I assume the theory is that "dog" weeks or foreclosed weeks then have more value created with RCI Points attached, since those points can just as easily be used elsewhere besides at the home resort --- and a new owner paying maintenance fees is thereby successfully enlisted onto the resort rolls.

I am actually seeking RCI Points resorts even without RCI Points contracts. The reason is that I can look at the RCI Points Grid on RCI.com's resort listing and get a feel for trade value for my Weeks based on how they are valued as RCI Points. I don't know if this is even a good indicator, but there seems to be no magic source to find out the TPU of a given resort/season.

Free2Roam · Jun 20, 2015

Owning an RCI points contract allows you to convert some weeks ownerships to points. But only if it's an RCI resort that's NOT an RCI points resort. That feature is called Points For Deposit.

So if you have at least one ownership in RCI points, and have other ownerships at resorts affiliated with RCI Weeks, and NOT RCI points, you can, each year, pay a nominal fee to deposit the Weeks ownership to your RCI Points account and get the value you see on the RCI Points grid. (the seasonal/location grid)

tschwa2 · Jun 20, 2015

PrestonCaldwell said:
I am actually seeking RCI Points resorts even without RCI Points contracts. The reason is that I can look at the RCI Points Grid on RCI.com's resort listing and get a feel for trade value for my Weeks based on how they are valued as RCI Points. I don't know if this is even a good indicator, but there seems to be no magic source to find out the TPU of a given resort/season.

There is very little correlation between RCI points and tpu's. RCI points in general might give you an idea of how well the resort negotiated and/or paid a one time RCI points licensing fee. For example Vacation Village resort get some of the highest RCI points values compared to MF's yet in tpu's most weeks have average at best trading power.

If you want to know the current tpu value for any week at any resort, all you need to do is ask someone who has an RCI weeks account.

Newbie RCI Points question

Ty1on

theo

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Ty1on

theo

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tschwa2

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Ty1on

Free2Roam

tschwa2

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