RCI membership for Last Call or Resort Vacation Certificates?

I am considering buying a cheap timeshare that would allow me to get RCI membership. The cheap timeshare is something that I could use occasionally (cheap resort in orlando) (but not looking forward to), but I'm looking forward to more of the RCI membership that I would get with it.

I like the fact that I could now be to book RCI "Last Call" bookings, which is good since our family vacations are typically flexible. However, someone told me that I shouldn't really buy an RCI timeshare just so I can book "Last Call" b/c he thought someone told him that a non-timeshare owner could also book "Last Call", albeit indirectly.

I did some research, and it appears that Resort Vacation Certificates (http://www.resortcerts.com/perks) might be this way.

Does anyone know if Resort Vacation Certificates have the same inventory as RCI Last call?

How is RCI Last Call in terms of recent inventory and success with it?

Resort Vacation Certificates appear to be around $200, which seems cheaper than RCI.

You wouldn't be the first person to buy a resale TS to get access to Last Calls. I know of no other sites that have pay-as-you go access to RCI Last Call and/or Extra Vacation inventory. There are some REALLY inexpensive bi- and tri-ennial TS ownerships (+- $150/yr MF) and we hear of people keeping up their RCI membership after selling (or giving away) the underlying TS ownership.

Jim

Resort certs are a subset of Extra Vacations. It probably has about 30% of the Extra Vacations that are priced between $209 (when on sale) up to about $479. The link you provided requires a corporate ID. It;s not the pricing for everyone just with companies that have a deal with RCI to get the certs at that price for their employees. The "normal" price for Resort Certs is a crazy $599-700. Skyauction regularly has them on sale for $249-$279 per cert.

For example system wide in Extra Vacations and Last calls (and exchanges) there are thousands of Vacation Villas affiliates (Vacation Villas in Orlando, Massanutten in VA and Grandview in Las Vegas) but those unit rarely come up through Resort Certs.

Have you had a chance to look over the TUG Bargain Deals forum? Almost all the timeshares posted there are completely FREE.