I know how a traditional timeshare works and I know it is not for me. I want to travel, not go to the same place year after year. Can anyone explain how RCI works? I know there is a points system and weeks, but how do those two systems work? Do you pay a set price (plus yearly dues) and own it for a certain number of years like a traditional timeshare? And what are the cost? I would love to get in to it if I am able to use it in locations all over the world. All the information I have been able to find on it is very confusing. I have found points charts but no price information for the points. Any help is much appreciated.
Exchanging through RCI requires buying a timeshare week (resale) where your unit is eligible for exchange on RCI (almost all timeshares participate in RCI Weeks exchanges; only certain units at certain properties have RCI Points allotted to them). Don't forget besides the purchase price and closing costs, as owner you'll need to pay annual maintenance fees and occasional special assessments, just like someone who owns a coop or condo apartment except yours is a 1/52nd or 1/50th share. So if owning a timeshare is not for you then you're not going to be making vacation exchanges through RCI.
If you want to do exchanges through RCI, then besides buying a timeshare you'll need to buy membership in RCI (annual dues). If it's RCI Weeks, you'll decide whether and when to deposit (bank) use of your week for a particular year, which will entitle you to use somebody else's banked week. What you're allowed to take in exchange for what you've deposited is determined by RCI Weeks' secret system; generally you want to deposit a week that has good trading value (supply and demand so a July week in Cape Cod, for example, can see many more exchange offers than the same property's October week), and you want to make the deposit about a year in advance. Once you've made a Weeks deposit you have generally a two year window to find an exchange that you want to use.
[The company that owns RCI allows itself to take some of those deposits and rent them for cash, which is one reason that timeshare owners are often disappointed with what's available to them to reserve. This has been the subject of a lawsuit but at this point it's also a fact of life. So if you're not going to buy a timeshare you should be looking at the agencies that offer those weeks to the public at a cash price.]
If you don't bank the week you own, it's there for you to use, or to rent for cash if you can find a taker.
If you own a fixed week that's what you bank; if you own a floating week you'll do well to choose a "good" week to deposit. If it's RCI Points your ownership will entitle you to a certain number of RCI Points (so make sure you know what the week you buy entitles you to). In RCI Points the deposit of your week and receipt of its points is generally automatic - - if you want to use the week you own or rent it out for cash you have to call ahead and cancel the automatic deposit.
There's no charge to deposit your week (apart from initial membership and annual dues) but there's a hefty exchange fee (almost $200) to reserve somebody else's banked week. So if the maintenance on the week you own is $700 and you bank it and pay an exchange fee, you're paying about $900 to use the exchange week (plus paying off the purchase price of the week you bought, plus annual dues to RCI). Renting out a week you get from the bank is prohibited, but if you want to allow friend or family to stay in the week you've taken out of the bank (if you're not checking in yourself) you can buy them a guest certificate to stay there. RCI points deposits generally are good for two years (you need to know your "use year" to figure it out) and can be used for RCI Points properties and also in the RCI Weeks system but only for resorts that don't participate in RCI Points.
RCI is not the only exchange company. Besides II in which some properties participate, there are others, like Dial an Exchange (DAE) and SFX.
Or you can buy your week in a system that has its own internal exchange system, like Wyndham, Marriott, Starwood, etc. Most Wyndham properties come with points values for exchange within Wyndham and offer the option of trading into RCI Weeks (the Wyndham dues give you a free RCI Weeks account but you pay regular RCI exchange fees if you use it). Marriott has its own internal trades plus it has a connection to II. Starwood has its own exchange system (I don't know if a Starwood owner can also use RCI, II, DAE etc.).