RCI Decision

I currently own a 2 BR unit at Tahiti Village II in Las Vegas. I use Interval. I have signed a contract with RCI to convert this unit to a points based unit located in Austin, TX. There is a fee of several thousand dollars to do this and comes with over 31,00 annual points. I have 6 days to back out of this contract. Sounds like a better deal but I'm looking for informed advice, PROS and CONS of making this change. I appreciate any help.

You could give away the Tahiti deed, and buy a new deed on the resale market that is ALREADY in RCI points, for a fraction of the cost of this deal.

Back out. You're being swindled out of several thousand dollars.......again.

Several thousand dollars?

Back out fast!!!!

Buy something already converted. For me, 31,000 RCI Points ain't much and I certainly wouldn't pay several thousand for them.

Back out now.

Yes BACK OUT.
31,000 RCI points won't get you much on exchanges in RCI.

Back out !!!

BACK OUT !!!
BACK OUT !!!

And do it quick!

Are you sure it is 31,000? Looking at the rci grid the lowest value I see for a 2 br unit is 58,000 at Tahiti Village. The highest value weeks get 116,000. If they were sold as 1-52 float weeks I would imagine they would give you something in between like 80,000.

Anything that gets you points that cost more than $0.01 per point (dividing MF by the number of points you get) isn't a particularly good deal. If you are getting points closer to 1/2 cent a point then it starts to be worth a thousand or possibly more depending on the number of points you are getting at the 0.005 or less.

RCI points memberships are also another $100 per year if you purchase at least 2 years at a time. They never have 2 for 1 discounts. The exchange fee for RCI is going to be $209 per exchange for any weeks inventory and $159 for points inventory weeks. Shorter stays cost less in exchange fees but often have $40-80 additional housekeeping expenses due upon check in.

steve/NM said:

I currently own a 2 BR unit at Tahiti Village II in Las Vegas. I use Interval. I have signed a contract with RCI to convert this unit to a points based unit located in Austin, TX. There is a fee of several thousand dollars to do this and comes with over 31,00 annual points. I have 6 days to back out of this contract. Sounds like a better deal but I'm looking for informed advice, PROS and CONS of making this change. I appreciate any help.

Click to expand...

For about a grand you can get 120,000 RCI Points at the Grand View in Las Vegas.

31.000 points are nothing.

Cancel

Rescind-run-rejoice!

RCI scammers are rampart in Vegas. You did not sign a contact with RCI Exchange Company.

Thank you..but another question

I did back out of that 31,000 point RCI deal......and thanks to all for responding.....now my home resort Tahiti VIllage via new owners Summers Pointe wants me to buy RCI through them for $3400,00 that comes with 91,400 annual points.......It's so confusing and I know I don't know nearly enough about this to make an informed decision. Can someone help me out again?.....thanks in advance....Steve

There are NO good deals when buying from the developer - PERIOD.

What everyone above has suggested is buying a timeshare with RCI points on the RESALE market. In simplest terms, that means buying from another owner, or reseller - not the developer or management company.

Go back and read the posts above - there is a lot to absorb, and ask questions about what you don't understand.

Ok. It sounds like the first "deal" was from some third party that was going to take your week and the sell you a converted week from who knows where that was worth 31,000 points. It wasn't RCI it was just someone who wanted you to think they were RCI.

Now you are dealing with an actual conversion of your week from your resort. It isn't a terrible deal (especially compared to the one you first signed up for but luckily rescinded). If you are happy with your interval experience there is no reason to pay to do anything. You still could probably give away what you have and get the same thing they are offering for less than $2000. The deal your resort is offering isn't going away anytime soon so you should pass for now and do the research to see if RCI points work from you and then decide the best way to get them if you still want them.

The OP emailed me, and he'd appreciate a walk-through on buying a resale with RCI points. I do not own points, so I am definitely no expert - can someone walk him through it, perhaps using Grand View as an example. He needs details on "how to" buy resale.

Be gentle....

Buying an RCI points resort is easy. It is the same as buying any timeshare. Just make sure the week is already converted to points and the points to mf ratio is good. Never buy anything that is more than a penny a point- ex 60,000 points for $600 in Mf's. The best deals but will cost more but for example the Grandview in LV has some weeks that are worth 122,000 points for about $700 in Mf's but again just because you went to a presentation and they wowed you with razzle dazzle, you don't want to rush out and buy anything without a plan for your old timeshare. These weeks typically range from $1500to $3000, you have to be patient for the better deals. Also keep in mind that RCI points memberships cost more annually than either an II membership or an RCI weeks membership. You also want to get an idea of how many points you need because you don't want too many or too few.

Thanks....but....

I admit I am really DUMB when it comes to this timeshare business....what I'm hearing is that I should just give away the property I own (and paid a lot of money for) and buy something else with built-in points..........makes no sense to me.........why should I give away my timeshare?.....Thank you!!!!

We aren't saying you have to give it away - we are saying that buying another timeshare property on the resale market that already has points will cost you far less than what they will charge you to add points to your Tahiti week.

So keep the Tahiti timeshare if you want to, and consider buying a 2nd timeshare which already has RCI points.

A resale with RCI points will cost you 0-10% of what you paid for your Tahiti week.

Don't buy anything yet, but a good first step is to start studying the ebay auctions for timeshares with RCI points: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...0.H0.Xrci+points&_nkw=rci+points&_sacat=15897

Important question - do you really need RCI points? Or are you doing fine using your timeshare, and using II for exchanging? Not everyone has, or wants, or needs RCI points - I don't have them.

steve/NM said:

....now my home resort Tahiti VIllage via new owners Summers Pointe wants me to buy RCI through them for $3400,00 that comes with 91,400 annual points.......

Click to expand...

This sounds like they want you to "convert" your current (presumably non-points, fixed or floating week) deeded ownership over to a 91K RCI Points ownership instead --- and take $3,400 cash from you for the dubious privilege of doing so. That's a good deal (i.e., it's free money) for them, but certainly not much of a deal for you.

In short, don't do it. If you really want a RCI Points ownership for some unknown reason, you can pick one up for peanuts at any time of any day, including on eBay.
If you are generally satisfied with your current ownership "as is", then use it, enjoy it or exchange it and just ignore all of the "pitch noise", thereby keeping that $3,400 in your own pocket instead of unnecessarily and unwisely putting it in their pockets for no particularly good reason.

steve/NM said:

I did back out of that 31,000 point RCI deal......and thanks to all for responding.....now my home resort Tahiti VIllage via new owners Summers Pointe wants me to buy RCI through them for $3400,00 that comes with 91,400 annual points.......It's so confusing and I know I don't know nearly enough about this to make an informed decision. Can someone help me out again?.....thanks in advance....Steve

Click to expand...

I wouldn't give up on Tahiti Village, yet.

1. See if they'll negotiate.
2. See if you can get 120K points like the Grand View.
3. See if you can get the price down between $1500 and $2000 (resale value of 120K RCI-Points at the GV, which doesn't include closing costs, so total price could be $2600).
4. See if the price includes all closing costs, that could save you $600. Subtract $600 from $3400 and the price looks a lot better ($2800), but not in the ball park, yet.
5. Remember if you buy another TS, you"ll have 2 MF's and still have Tahiti Village with little/no value. What will the TV MF's cost you over the next 5 years?

For a starting point, I'd ask for $2000 pp, no closing costs, 120K annual RCI Points, they take back your TV, and watch your MF's (GV is about $700/year).


If they won't negotiate look for a 80K GV for around $500. With closing costs it would run you around $1100. But your still stuck with the TV TS. Makes trading you TS back to TV more attractive just not at $3400 for 9140 points, but close.

Steve,

The $3400 for the 91,000 isn't a terrible deal. If you are willing to do a fair amount of work you could probably save yourself $2000-$2500 but there are risks (like being stuck with 2 mf's for a period of time) and if you are more comfortable dealing with the sales people at your resort and have the money it may be worth it to just do the conversion. You still would do yourself a favor by doing more research to see if you really want or need points for the kind of travelling you use your timeshare for. Forget everything they told you about cruises and airfare. Take the nightly stay info with a grain of salt knowing that short stays often have additional housekeeping fees paid directly to the resort that off set the savings you think you may be getting. That being said a lot of resort charge even more for points deals that may be worth even less. You can try negotiating down but I doubt they will move much if any. In terms of getting more points they only way to do that at your resort is to get a different week (38-45 and 52). Those weeks are worth 116,000. Your not going to get the developer to upgrade your week and convert it to points for the same $3400. I would expect it to be more in the $10,000 plus range.

Dealing with the developer is never the cheapest way to buy anything and if the difference was in the $10,000 plus range very few people would suggest you continue to consider the dealers' offer. Even when you consider Grandview, a regular week can be had for less than $500 but if you go through there conversion it would cost around $4000 . You can only get the ebay deals because someone spent $20,000 plus originally and then perhaps even more to convert and then realized that it still isn't something that would work for them so they either give it away or even worse pay someone to take it.

I really appreciate everyones' response trying to help me. I will take it from here and not do anything until I become more knowledegable about timeshares. Thanks! guys and gals.

I think most where thinking keep what you have and add what you want via the resale market. Of course that means owning 2 weeks with 2 maintenance fee's and likely being a member of two exchange companies paying membership fee's in each but, you'll have that much more usage and you'll have access to both major exchange companies. Because the exchange landscape is constantly changing it's not necessarily a bad idea to keep a toe in both bodies of water. It gives you more options for more locations in the vacation destinations you want to be in.