What's a good RCI points-per-MF-dollar ratio to shoot for?

I know it's important to find a resort I actually want to visit, but is there a good guideline for number of points to try to attain per dollar of annual maintenance fee?

Looking thru eBay it looks like getting 100 annual points-per-dollar is kinda tough but possible.

spackler said:

I know it's important to find a resort I actually want to visit, but is there a good guideline for number of points to try to attain per dollar of annual maintenance fee?

Looking thru eBay it looks like getting 100 annual points-per-dollar is kinda tough but possible.

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Welcome to TUG.

It is not necessarily important to buy where you want to go. You will hear it over and over again on this site but it is not the best thing for everyone.

In the past I owned 2 timeshares for a while that I never went to, I exchanged them with Dial an Exchange instead. It worked very well for me.

In Timeshare World there is very little advice that fits everyones situation.

spackler said:

I know it's important to find a resort I actually want to visit, but is there a good guideline for number of points to try to attain per dollar of annual maintenance fee?

Looking thru eBay it looks like getting 100 annual points-per-dollar is kinda tough but possible.

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A penny a point.
Try Vacation Village at Parkway or Grandview.
There are others.

Buyers tend to fixate on low MF which results in prices being driven up.

In many cases it may be cheaper to go with little higher MF and pay nothing upfront vs pay say $2K up front.

Have to run numbers on each deal plus factor in other variables like location and reservation priority!

1 cent MF per RCI Point has been the TUG 'good deal' threshold. We've seen some as low as the $0.006 area. That would be 100,000 Points for $600 MF. That's about the best I've heard of.

Of course the point/MF ratio can change if RCI changes the rating of a resort, or I suppose the resort- or it's HOA can downgrade it's ratio. That's one reason I'm leery of developer heavy HOA's.

Jim

Thanks everyone; just trying to get a sense of how to value some of these eBay listings I see that are being sold for around a dollar + closing costs.

At Grandview the MFs are $700 a year and you can get a 122K point package. Thats .0057 a point.

TUG members do always say 1 cent per point. They have been saying it for years.

I used to get a better value for my Aussie points, but that has become a thing of the past. There is always inflation.

Smokatoke said:

At Grandview the MFs are $700 a year and you can get a 122K point package. Thats .0057 a point.

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Thank you. What are some other best-bang-for-your-buck resorts besides Grandview?

spackler said:

Thank you. What are some other best-bang-for-your-buck resorts besides Grandview?

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I have seen Summer Bay units with 126,000 RCI points but the maintenance + taxes are almost $1,000 so the ratio is still not as good as Grandview at .0079


I've seen a VA summer beach week converted to RCI points that was roughly .008 as well.

TPU

Is there a general "good value" guideline for the TPUs on the Weeks side as well? Like dollars per TPU?

ineedavacation33 said:

Is there a general "good value" guideline for the TPUs on the Weeks side as well? Like dollars per TPU?

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Based on what I've previously read here, $12-15 per TPU is a "good value".

I am curios though, what is the average maintenance to RCI points ratio and TPU of the general public?

I really dont think the buy where you plan to stay rules apply to points as much as TPU, so where you buy in terms of location doesnt matter.

I push Grandview because it gives great value, but you NEVER have you use your points to stay there. Availability is very high in Extra Vacations and Last Call for only $200-250. I stay there once a year, and use my points else where or I bank them.

I have a small Grandview unit (just 16,333 RCI points per year) the MF is just over $100 per year - I think I am at or near the .0065 per point level and the purchase price was under $275 all in.

I never plan on staying at the Grandview because I don't go to vegas.

I also have very good luck with a cheap MF unit in Idaho that I deposit with Platinum Interchange every year. My lowly $325 MF there has gotten me a week in Hawaii at the Wyndham and several nice weeks on the coast.

Prudent shopping can still give good value in TimeShare land.

Smokatoke said:

At Grandview the MFs are $700 a year and you can get a 122K point package. Thats .0057 a point.

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Hi I was wondering how you get this information for a resort. Also, in regards to Grandview in particular how does season come into play? I thought that Las Vegas was over built and for that reason did not have good trading power? I am knew and very confused when it comes to trading power.

Thanks,

Steve

Some subjective observations...

Steve_N said:

Hi I was wondering how you get this information for a resort. Also, in regards to Grandview in particular how does season come into play? I thought that Las Vegas was over built and for that reason did not have good trading power? I am new and very confused when it comes to trading power.

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"Points are points", as the saying goes, so "trading power" of points is not much of an issue, as it certainly is with the "trading power" of (non-points) "weeks".
With points, it's just a maintenance fee / points ratio calculation with what you own --- a pure numbers game, if you will. Points owners may never stay (or ever want to stay) at the underlying "home base" of their points; I believe that Grandview has many such owners who just want those low cost ratio points to use them elsewhere.

Non-points "weeks", on the other hand, have a specific (but changeable by RCI) TPU (Trading Power Unit) value assigned to them (a bit arbitrarily, it seems) by RCI; a value supposedly based upon demand and unit size. TPU value of a "deposited week" begins to decrease 180 days before upcoming occupancy date and continues to shrink further as that occupancy date looms closer, whereas points just stay the same, without any numbers reduction over the course of their year.

Despite a lot of years of timeshare ownership (but little or no interest in "trading" anymore) I am admittedly just completely befuddled by RCI's TPU valuations.
I check my "weeks" TPU values periodically, mostly out of curiosity. My best (IMO) high demand, prime week on the Maine Coast at a fine facility has the lowest TPU value and a mediocre resorts' winter week in Florida has the highest TPU. Unit sizes are identical in both cases, but there is no comparison between the two resorts --- the low TPU facility in Maine is head and shoulders above the FL facility with higher TPU's, by any possible standard or measure. I sometimes wonder if RCI assigns TPU's by use of a pub dartboard, but having no interest in "exchanging", I'm not at all bothered by their strange and seemingly inconsistent "weeks" TPU valuations.

Using RCI for Disney

Thanks for the quick reply Theo. I was just reading an older post that says that you cannot use RCI to stay at Disney World if you own a resort within 30 miles. I actually own two DVC contracts, but I thought I had read posts in the past of people who have owned DVC and other timeshares and have used the other timeshare to stay at Disney. Does anyone know if this is possible? I was thinking maybe because with DVC you’re not really a member of RCI so that rule doesn’t apply or maybe I misunderstand something.