What to do with RCI points?

Hi all. My MIL is a RCI Points owner and currently does not use her points at all. (Her husband passed away and I think it is too emotional for her to use the points on her own.) She has told my husband and me to use them however we want.

She gets 98,000 points per year and has a lot of points rolled over. Her home resort is in LV.

My husband and I want to go to Europe, but the resort choices do not help us since we want to visit major cities. Any advice?

Can we use the RCI points for hotels, airfare, train tickets, museum tickets, etc? I think we will have around 290,000 points available (2013, 2014, 2015). Or, is there a way to redeem points at a Wyndham hotel?

TIA

Wow --- that is a lot of RCI Points... I believe some of them may die on Jan 1, 2015.

How do you feel about Hawaii? Might be easier to put together a domestic trip there verses Europe. Or to NYC?

Yeah, 98,000 will expire on Feb. 28th. Hawaii is nice, but I was hoping for Paris. NYC would be great, especially since we go there almost every year anyway. I'd love to use points towards that, if possible.

There are 4 timeshares NOW in NYC -- Manhatten Club, HVGC at 57th Street, The Hilton Club and the new Wyndham resort (might not be in RCI yet).

There are also timeshares in multiple other big cities -- San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago, Miami, San Diego ....

Look up the benefits of a RCI Platinum membership as it allows points to be used for other purposes.

Many people sell their points in the TUG Marketplace for between 1 to 1.5 cents per point. Those points that expire in February 2015 could net you around $980 which should cover the cost of a ticket to Europe. People sell points all the time but there is a grey area there if it is legal or not. Perhaps someone else could weigh in on that.

Hopefully you will be able to do something with the points before they expire.

Ok, help me figure this out. I just tried to book one of the NYC locations. Entered in my credit card info and everything, and then got an error message when I submitted. Immediately went back to the booking page, and now no more are available? Or I'm just not pulling them up? Is it possible that it went that quickly, from time I saw it until I put in my credit card info?

To start out with that HUGE pile of points and not knowing or having the experience with them is at best, daunting!

RCI is closed over the weekends, so I think you should call them during the week and talk to a counselor or supervisor. You may have to get 'Mom' to make the call, and get into the system. You may have to pay for 'guest certificates' when you use the points at a resort.

Using TSs in Europe is confusing to Americans. We want to go to the cities. But remember, Europeans LIVE in the cities and want to vacation in the countryside. You will find lots of (fairly modest by US standards) timeshares out in the country and around golf courses. There are some nice ones in Edinburgh Scotland, and we've had great exchanges in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. As you might expect, the urban European ones get snapped up as soon as they appear.

Finding a resort in the online 'catalog' is probably the worst way to book a high demand property. Those are just leftovers. The weeks first go to deeded- fixed week owners. Then they go to those who have made a deposit (though that isn't possible with points), and have set up an On Going Search. You in essence put in a request for a certain week- or range of weeks at a certain resort, and when (if) it becomes available, you are booked and notified of the reservation.

The timeshare learning curve is a bit steep, but between your MIL, and TUGgers and the folks at RCI, you'll get it. It won't be perfect at first, and trying to book something before Feb 28th, will be a challenge, but I'm sure you'll find something acceptable.

Welcome to TUG!

Jim

I guess that's what I'm frustrated with. The online catalog doesn't seem to have any properties available in any place we'd actually want to go.

I guess I'd actually like to know if I can use the points in ways besides booking timeshares? Can we use the points for airfare or train tickets or attractions? Is there a creative way to use these points?

BTW: I'm hopeful to also use a few to book for NYC in January. Thanks for the suggestion.

Disney Vacation Club is another GREAT location - even for adult fun. My 55 year old sister who had not been to Disney on 20 years was truly resistant to my idea of her coming to Villas at Wilderness Lodge with me for a retirement trip. She had a decent time ---

She & I went back 5 months later --- another DVC stay, but at Animal Kingdom Villas ... she loved that resort (like the VWL).

Generally, we understand there is not great value in using the Points with 'Points Partners' (air/cruises/hotels, etc) when compared with the underlying maintenance fee cost. My understanding is it just gets you a discount from the retail price of the air/cruise/hotel- not the full price. But if you're basically getting them for free (well actually paid for by MIL) and they would go to waste otherwise, the value may be passable. As mentioned upthread, if you pay the $15/yr to join TUG, one of the bennies is the ability to post ads in the Marketplace (in the red stripe above). the value is somewhere between a penny and a penny and a half each. Then your MIL or for that matter you can use the money for travel expenses or whatever you wish.

Jim

Below is a link to the Points Partner Program

ajenks22 said:

I guess that's what I'm frustrated with. The online catalog doesn't seem to have any properties available in any place we'd actually want to go.

I guess I'd actually like to know if I can use the points in ways besides booking timeshares? Can we use the points for airfare or train tickets or attractions? Is there a creative way to use these points?

BTW: I'm hopeful to also use a few to book for NYC in January. Thanks for the suggestion.

Click to expand...

http://www.rcitravel.com/ms_landing_page?v2_landing_page_type_id=70

I've personally never utilized it.

If you upgrade to the Platinum membership ($59), there is currently Jan 23-30at the Millenium Hotel in NYC (#D599) for 2. That would blow out a lot of Points.

Hotel
SELECT UNIT
Fri 23-Jan-2015 to Fri 30-Jan-2015 Max Occup(Privacy):2 (2)Kitchen:No Kitchen
Points: 143500

There's also a 5 Night Stay at the Hilton Club of NY Jan 30-Feb 4

Studio
SELECT UNIT
Fri 30-Jan-2015 to Wed 04-Feb-2015 Max Occup(Privacy):2 (2)Kitchen:No Kitchen
Points: 50920


I saw one Paris Area Accommodation with 9 check-ins Jan-Mar at Park & Suites Prestige Val D'Europe (#R978) in a Studio for 72000.

Ever consider Barbados?

There is currently a 1BR for August showing online at The Crane, which is rare to find. It's 85000 RCI Points.

If MIL isn't ever going to use these Points and you really don't see the Points working for you for the destinations you want to visit, now might be a good time to find out how to get rid of the timeshare. Someone could be very interested with that number of points available for use. That could sweeten the deal. There's lots of good info on TUG about selling or getting rid of a timeshare.

Egret1986 said:

http://www.rcitravel.com/ms_landing_page?v2_landing_page_type_id=70

If you upgrade to the Platinum membership ($59), there is currently Jan 23-30at the Millenium Hotel (#D599) for 2. That would blow out a lot of Points.
.

Click to expand...

If you upgrade the membership to platinum, you'll be able to use up to 50% of the annual points allocation for airfare, hotels, etc in the points partner program. Since they receive 98,000 points annually, you will be able to use 49,000 points towards airfare at .008 a point so roughly $390 worth of airfare.

In addition, points partners works on a calendar year basis. Therefore, you can use up 98,000 of what is about to expire in Feb 2015 towards airfare by using 49,000 by 12/31/2014 and another 49,000 after 1/1/2015 but before the points expire in February.

Generally, RCI points for airfare is not an economical use of points due to the underlying cost of the points does not usually equal the value you are getting back but it's a better option that letting them to go waste all together!

ajenks22 said:

Ok, help me figure this out. I just tried to book one of the NYC locations. Entered in my credit card info and everything, and then got an error message when I submitted. Immediately went back to the booking page, and now no more are available? Or I'm just not pulling them up? Is it possible that it went that quickly, from time I saw it until I put in my credit card info?

Click to expand...

From what I've heard/read on this site, yes it is possible to go that quickly. Also, I've heard there are sometimes "ghost reservations" that show online but are not really available. I don't know how that works.

Perhaps someone who regularly uses RCI can comment further. In your situation you might find bumping up to the Platinum membership worthwhile.

Seaport104 said:

If you upgrade the membership to platinum, you'll be able to use up to 50% of the annual points allocation for airfare, hotels, etc in the points partner program. Since they receive 98,000 points annually, you will be able to use 49,000 points towards airfare at .008 a point so roughly $390 worth of airfare.

In addition, points partners works on a calendar year basis. Therefore, you can use up 98,000 of what is about to expire in Feb 2015 towards airfare by using 49,000 by 12/31/2014 and another 49,000 after 1/1/2015 but before the points expire in February.

Generally, RCI points for airfare is not an economical use of points due to the underlying cost of the points does not usually equal the value you are getting back but it's a better option that letting them to go waste all together!

Click to expand...

One problem is that the TS/points are not in the OP's name. The son and daughter-in-law of the owner (mom) need to be added to the account or it needs to be deeded over to them.

Since the OP doesn't have an RCI Account they can not get a Platinum Membership.

Chilcotin said:

Look up the benefits of a RCI Platinum membership as it allows points to be used for other purposes.

Many people sell their points in the TUG Marketplace for between 1 to 1.5 cents per point. Those points that expire in February 2015 could net you around $980 which should cover the cost of a ticket to Europe. People sell points all the time but there is a grey area there if it is legal or not. Perhaps someone else could weigh in on that.

Hopefully you will be able to do something with the points before they expire.

Click to expand...

I own a 80K RCI_Points TS. I get 80K points/year. I can not randomly purchase some RCI Points from an owner without the underlining ownership. There is no way to get those points added to my RCI account without purchasing the TS that they are associated with.

Take a look at the ads in the Market Place selling points. They are selling their TS, not just selling a one time purchase of points.

Yes there are ads occasionally for a one-time transfer of points without the underlying ownership transfer. RCI prohibits "selling" points, but they do allow transfer. You even get one transfer per year with no extra fees.

FreeIn2010 said:

Yes there are ads occasionally for a one-time transfer of points without the underlying ownership transfer. RCI prohibits "selling" points, but they do allow transfer. You even get one transfer per year with no extra fees.

Click to expand...

Items 11, in the RCI Points document/link below, TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF RCI POINTS SUBSCRIBING MEMBERSHIP, specifically refers to the transfer of points. As you stated, there can be co compensation, unless actual (underlining) ownership of the associated TS is transferred, along with the points.

http://www.rci.com/static/docs/namer/en_US/TermsandConditionsofRCIPoints.pdf

I'm not trying to pick on Seaprt104, but we keep seeing these erroneous posts on Tug, from different people, about the sale of RCI Points, without the sale of the underlining TS. The transfer of a specific number of points, for a specific transaction, is possible, but there can be no compensation for the transaction between the two parties, and RCI will charge you for that transfer.