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- Jun 6, 2005
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While RCI NA (North America) and RCI Europe are both divisions of the same company, there are some key differences as to how they each administer the Points programs within their respective geographic regions of influence.
Before listing the differences, it should be noted that which rules govern an owner depend upon where the owner lives and not where they own. If a married couple living in Birmingham, England has a Points membership based upon their ownership of a timeshare unit in Orlando, Florida, they are governed by the rules established by RCI Europe and not RCI North America. The same holds true for a couple from Peoria, Illinois who own a timeshare (in Points) in Italy. What they can and cannot do depends upon the rules established by RCI North America.
Origins: Part of the reason as to why there are differences in how RCI NA and RCI Europe administer their Points program is that the two divisions got into offering points via different routes.
RCI NA began a points program from scratch. The original name for this program was Global Points Network (GPN).
RCI Europe, on the other hand, bought out an existing points program. The CRI Points Club Ltd was an existing enterprise that sold points memberships through approved vendors. Someone could become a member of the Club by ceding their owned week at an RCI resort to the Club or by buying an allotment of “pure points” from the Club. (More on what the term “pure points” refers to below). An annual fee to the Club (known as the composite fee) included an RCI membership, the cost of trading for units within the Club inventory, and external exchanges for units in the RCI system. (Later rules restricted members to making two external exchanges for RCI inventory per year without incurring additional fees. Eventually the composite fee was dropped entirely for new members with an annual membership fee plus fees for every transaction taking its place.)
RCI Europe bought the CRI Points Club in 1999. In 2001, changes were made to CRI Club to bring it more in line with GPN (e.g., bringing points values in line with GPN by multiplying CRI points values by a factor of approximately 30) to create what is became the first component of the RCI Points system in Europe – RCI Points Ltd. While RCI Points Ltd. is now closed to new members, many of the rules governing how the Points program works in Europe are an outgrowth of the rules that governed RCI Points Ltd.
Points for timeshares not at non-participating resorts: RCI cannot require a resort to become part of its Points program. (An exception would be for resorts that are actually owned by RCI such as those within the Wyndham system.) Thus, a question that RCI faced on both sides of the Atlantic is how it could make its Points program available to individuals who own units at resorts that are not part of the program.
RCI NA chose to create the Points for Deposit program (usually abbreviated as PFD). In order to take advantage of this program, someone must first own a unit that is in the Points program. Once someone owns a Points unit, they can then deposit any other unit that they own at a resort that is not in the Points program into their Points account. The amount of points that they receive is determined by a conversion grid that lists the different areas that the resort might exist, how it is classified (Gold Crown, Silver Crown, etc.), and the week of ownership. It is important to understand that someone cannot deposit a unit from another resort if that resort participates in the Points program.
In the original CRI Club, anyone could cede a unit at an RCI resort into the Club via an approved vendor. As a result, when RCI Points Ltd was created, RCI Europe ended up allowing timeshare owners to become part of the Points program by any of three different routes. (1.) The owner could buy a unit at a resort that had become affiliated with the RCI Points program. (2.) Likewise, if someone already owned a unit at one of the resorts that was part of the program, they could pay a fee to convert their unit into the Points program (just as in RCI NA). (3.) Finally, if, someone owns a unit at a non-Points resort, they could, as was true when the CRI Club existed, join the Points program by paying a fee to one of the approved affiliated vendors. The resort has to be on RCI’s list of Resorts of Proven Demand.
Under RCI Europe (which now owns and controls what had been the CRI Club) rules, if someone cedes a unit for a resort that has not been affiliated with the Points program into RCI Points, then the resort in question becomes a “Destination Resort.” Once even a single owner at a non-Points resort has done this, it affects what and when other European Points owners can reserve. To begin, the ceded unit becomes part of the Points program available only to Points members. More importantly, while European Points members can still reserve other units at the resort in question – ones that have been deposited by Weeks members – they can only do so ten months in advance. This provision has been a concern to European Points owners in that many if not all the units at the most desirable resorts are reserved prior to the ten months from check-in date: thus a resort becoming a “Destination Resort” can make a resort all but unavailable to them.
Using up inventory about to expire: Both RCI NA and RCI Europe offer discounts to Points members who reserve units that are nearing their check-in dates (in other words, what is in danger of becoming leftover inventory), but the types of discounts are different.
RCA NA will allow a Points member to reserve any unit in the Weeks system whose check-in date is no further than 45 days out for a maximum of 9000 points. (In some cases, according to the conversion charts, a unit is worth less than 9000 points. In that case, the Points owner can reserve the unit for the lower point total.) There are no automatic discounts for inventory that are in the Points program.
While RCI Europe does not have a 9000 point rule, they do offer percentage discounts for any reservations (Points or Weeks) as the check-in date approaches:
• 10% for reservations made 31-45 days prior to check-in.
• 25% for reservations made 15-30 days prior to check-in.
• 50% for reservations made up to 14 days prior to check-in.
Developer weeks and unattached points: Europeans who buy a unit at a Points resort (or convert an existing unit) were required to buy a certain number of “Pure Points.” These are points available to the owner every year over and above what the owner would get for depositing the unit he or she owned. The source of these points is unsold developer inventory deposited into the Points program.
Owners have had to pay maintenance fees on their Pure Points just as they have to pay maintenance fees for the unit they owned. The level of the maintenance fees for Pure Points varies from year to year, but is pegged to the average of the maintenance fees for all the unsold developer inventory that has been placed into the Points program a given year.
European owners found these fees objectionable in that they have escalated over the last few years and were often substantially higher than the maintenance fees for their units (calculated on a per point basis). That is because newer resorts often have the highest maintenance fees. Questions were also raised about what incentive developers had to not set the maintenance fees for Pure Points at an arbitrary high level.
In face of these objections, RCI Europe has introduced what they call “Next Generation” points. These are the same as Pure Points, except that maintenance fees are pegged to those at the owner’s home resort. Existing Pure Points were not eliminated, so now some European owners possess Pure Points” while others own “Next Generation” points.
Initially, Europeans who bought into the Points program were required to buy a minimum of 6,000 pure points, but later that number became 12,000.
RCI NA does not have anything comparable to either Pure Points or Next Generation points.
Representation for Points owners: When the original CRI Points Club Ltd. existed, they held an annual membership meeting at which owners could express their concerns about how the Club was being operated. In addition, the club was run by a Board of five Directors, two of whom were elected by the members. As noted, CRI was bought out by RCI Europe and then later the Club was merged into the fledgling RCI Points program. Legally, however, CRI Club Ltd (now named RCI Points Ltd.) still exists and can only be dissolved by a majority vote of its membership. An annual meeting together with an election of a board of directors still occurs. While this body has no power to control the direction and the operation of the RCI Europe point program, it does give an outlet for a large group of Points owners to express their concerns over the operation of Points directly to RCI officials.
In addition, some owners in Europe set up a separate organization – Members of RCI Points or MORPS – that is open to all European Points owners (or, anyone else who cares to join). This provides a separate organization that allows Points owners to express their concerns over the operation of the Points program to RCI, and that also gives information and advice to existing owners as well as prospective owners thinking of joining the program.
No representative group of owners from RCI NA regularly meets with or is in contact with RCI officials.
Conversion charts for units not in the Points system: Whenever any member of RCI Points, regardless of whether they are governed by RCI NA or RCI Europe, trades for a Weeks unit (or a unit at a Destination Resort) the number of points required for the trade are governed by a set of conversion charts. While the same charts are used on both sides of the Atlantic, the charts created by RCI NA for North American resorts and the charts created by RCI Europe for European resorts look quite different from each other.
Initially, RCI NA set point values in accordance to the size of the unit, whether the resort was listed as Gold Crown, Silver Crown, or Standard, and whether the week in question was listed as Red, White, or Blue. No attempt was made to further distinguish the value of a week based upon the exact check-in date.
RCI Europe, in addition to noting the size of the unit and the designation of the resort, subdivided the year into a fair number of multi-week intervals and assigned a value to a unit depending upon the popularity of the particular week in question. In other words, they recognized that not all Red (White or Blue) weeks are equal. More popular weeks were given a higher number of points. On top of that, they noted some resorts might require more points than what is listed in the chart.
RCI NA has since dropped using colors to determine a week’s point value and has moved somewhat in the direction of what RCI Europe does. However, RCI NA’s division of the year into different multi-week segments is still not as fined tuned as what is found in the RCI Europe charts. Put differently, the RCI NA conversion charts have fewer lines than ones put out by RCI Europe because RCI NA groups a larger number of weeks into a single category. In the charts currently posted on the internet, some of the listings offer a range of point values. It appears that for these listings, some resorts that fall within the category will garner more points.
Issues not addressed in this document: In RCI NA, there are quite a number of ways in which someone can come into possession of points. One can, of course, own a converted unit or a unit at an all points resort, but, in addition, one might belong to a separate vacation club such as the Shell Vacation Club and indirectly use RCI Points as the mechanism for trading into RCI. On top of that, one can “lease” points from an outside vendor.
The same is true, for RCI Europe. In addition to the original members of CRI Points Ltd., there are individuals who bought points directly from resorts after the establishment of the RCI Points Program. Just as in North America, there are a number of vacation clubs that use RCI Points as their currency of trade.
The bottom line is that no attempt is made in this document to sort out all the rules of ownership. (For example, how long is someone committed to the Points Program, can one uncede their membership, etc.)
Secondly, no attempt is made within this document to sort out what members of RCI NA and RCI Europe can see on their computer screens when they check out the availability for various trades. (When, for example, does the location of a unit at a Destination Resort that came from the Weeks program show up for North Americas versus Europeans.)
While these issues are of interest, they will not be explored here because of the complications that they would add to an already complex document.
I want to thank Sue Beetlestone (co-moderator of the MORPS board and Elected Member Director of RCI Points Ltd) for her kind help in explaining the history and intricacy of the European Points system. It turned out to be considerably more complicated than I had anticipated. Without her help, this post would not have been possible.
Before listing the differences, it should be noted that which rules govern an owner depend upon where the owner lives and not where they own. If a married couple living in Birmingham, England has a Points membership based upon their ownership of a timeshare unit in Orlando, Florida, they are governed by the rules established by RCI Europe and not RCI North America. The same holds true for a couple from Peoria, Illinois who own a timeshare (in Points) in Italy. What they can and cannot do depends upon the rules established by RCI North America.
Origins: Part of the reason as to why there are differences in how RCI NA and RCI Europe administer their Points program is that the two divisions got into offering points via different routes.
RCI NA began a points program from scratch. The original name for this program was Global Points Network (GPN).
RCI Europe, on the other hand, bought out an existing points program. The CRI Points Club Ltd was an existing enterprise that sold points memberships through approved vendors. Someone could become a member of the Club by ceding their owned week at an RCI resort to the Club or by buying an allotment of “pure points” from the Club. (More on what the term “pure points” refers to below). An annual fee to the Club (known as the composite fee) included an RCI membership, the cost of trading for units within the Club inventory, and external exchanges for units in the RCI system. (Later rules restricted members to making two external exchanges for RCI inventory per year without incurring additional fees. Eventually the composite fee was dropped entirely for new members with an annual membership fee plus fees for every transaction taking its place.)
RCI Europe bought the CRI Points Club in 1999. In 2001, changes were made to CRI Club to bring it more in line with GPN (e.g., bringing points values in line with GPN by multiplying CRI points values by a factor of approximately 30) to create what is became the first component of the RCI Points system in Europe – RCI Points Ltd. While RCI Points Ltd. is now closed to new members, many of the rules governing how the Points program works in Europe are an outgrowth of the rules that governed RCI Points Ltd.
Points for timeshares not at non-participating resorts: RCI cannot require a resort to become part of its Points program. (An exception would be for resorts that are actually owned by RCI such as those within the Wyndham system.) Thus, a question that RCI faced on both sides of the Atlantic is how it could make its Points program available to individuals who own units at resorts that are not part of the program.
RCI NA chose to create the Points for Deposit program (usually abbreviated as PFD). In order to take advantage of this program, someone must first own a unit that is in the Points program. Once someone owns a Points unit, they can then deposit any other unit that they own at a resort that is not in the Points program into their Points account. The amount of points that they receive is determined by a conversion grid that lists the different areas that the resort might exist, how it is classified (Gold Crown, Silver Crown, etc.), and the week of ownership. It is important to understand that someone cannot deposit a unit from another resort if that resort participates in the Points program.
In the original CRI Club, anyone could cede a unit at an RCI resort into the Club via an approved vendor. As a result, when RCI Points Ltd was created, RCI Europe ended up allowing timeshare owners to become part of the Points program by any of three different routes. (1.) The owner could buy a unit at a resort that had become affiliated with the RCI Points program. (2.) Likewise, if someone already owned a unit at one of the resorts that was part of the program, they could pay a fee to convert their unit into the Points program (just as in RCI NA). (3.) Finally, if, someone owns a unit at a non-Points resort, they could, as was true when the CRI Club existed, join the Points program by paying a fee to one of the approved affiliated vendors. The resort has to be on RCI’s list of Resorts of Proven Demand.
Under RCI Europe (which now owns and controls what had been the CRI Club) rules, if someone cedes a unit for a resort that has not been affiliated with the Points program into RCI Points, then the resort in question becomes a “Destination Resort.” Once even a single owner at a non-Points resort has done this, it affects what and when other European Points owners can reserve. To begin, the ceded unit becomes part of the Points program available only to Points members. More importantly, while European Points members can still reserve other units at the resort in question – ones that have been deposited by Weeks members – they can only do so ten months in advance. This provision has been a concern to European Points owners in that many if not all the units at the most desirable resorts are reserved prior to the ten months from check-in date: thus a resort becoming a “Destination Resort” can make a resort all but unavailable to them.
Using up inventory about to expire: Both RCI NA and RCI Europe offer discounts to Points members who reserve units that are nearing their check-in dates (in other words, what is in danger of becoming leftover inventory), but the types of discounts are different.
RCA NA will allow a Points member to reserve any unit in the Weeks system whose check-in date is no further than 45 days out for a maximum of 9000 points. (In some cases, according to the conversion charts, a unit is worth less than 9000 points. In that case, the Points owner can reserve the unit for the lower point total.) There are no automatic discounts for inventory that are in the Points program.
While RCI Europe does not have a 9000 point rule, they do offer percentage discounts for any reservations (Points or Weeks) as the check-in date approaches:
• 10% for reservations made 31-45 days prior to check-in.
• 25% for reservations made 15-30 days prior to check-in.
• 50% for reservations made up to 14 days prior to check-in.
Developer weeks and unattached points: Europeans who buy a unit at a Points resort (or convert an existing unit) were required to buy a certain number of “Pure Points.” These are points available to the owner every year over and above what the owner would get for depositing the unit he or she owned. The source of these points is unsold developer inventory deposited into the Points program.
Owners have had to pay maintenance fees on their Pure Points just as they have to pay maintenance fees for the unit they owned. The level of the maintenance fees for Pure Points varies from year to year, but is pegged to the average of the maintenance fees for all the unsold developer inventory that has been placed into the Points program a given year.
European owners found these fees objectionable in that they have escalated over the last few years and were often substantially higher than the maintenance fees for their units (calculated on a per point basis). That is because newer resorts often have the highest maintenance fees. Questions were also raised about what incentive developers had to not set the maintenance fees for Pure Points at an arbitrary high level.
In face of these objections, RCI Europe has introduced what they call “Next Generation” points. These are the same as Pure Points, except that maintenance fees are pegged to those at the owner’s home resort. Existing Pure Points were not eliminated, so now some European owners possess Pure Points” while others own “Next Generation” points.
Initially, Europeans who bought into the Points program were required to buy a minimum of 6,000 pure points, but later that number became 12,000.
RCI NA does not have anything comparable to either Pure Points or Next Generation points.
Representation for Points owners: When the original CRI Points Club Ltd. existed, they held an annual membership meeting at which owners could express their concerns about how the Club was being operated. In addition, the club was run by a Board of five Directors, two of whom were elected by the members. As noted, CRI was bought out by RCI Europe and then later the Club was merged into the fledgling RCI Points program. Legally, however, CRI Club Ltd (now named RCI Points Ltd.) still exists and can only be dissolved by a majority vote of its membership. An annual meeting together with an election of a board of directors still occurs. While this body has no power to control the direction and the operation of the RCI Europe point program, it does give an outlet for a large group of Points owners to express their concerns over the operation of Points directly to RCI officials.
In addition, some owners in Europe set up a separate organization – Members of RCI Points or MORPS – that is open to all European Points owners (or, anyone else who cares to join). This provides a separate organization that allows Points owners to express their concerns over the operation of the Points program to RCI, and that also gives information and advice to existing owners as well as prospective owners thinking of joining the program.
No representative group of owners from RCI NA regularly meets with or is in contact with RCI officials.
Conversion charts for units not in the Points system: Whenever any member of RCI Points, regardless of whether they are governed by RCI NA or RCI Europe, trades for a Weeks unit (or a unit at a Destination Resort) the number of points required for the trade are governed by a set of conversion charts. While the same charts are used on both sides of the Atlantic, the charts created by RCI NA for North American resorts and the charts created by RCI Europe for European resorts look quite different from each other.
Initially, RCI NA set point values in accordance to the size of the unit, whether the resort was listed as Gold Crown, Silver Crown, or Standard, and whether the week in question was listed as Red, White, or Blue. No attempt was made to further distinguish the value of a week based upon the exact check-in date.
RCI Europe, in addition to noting the size of the unit and the designation of the resort, subdivided the year into a fair number of multi-week intervals and assigned a value to a unit depending upon the popularity of the particular week in question. In other words, they recognized that not all Red (White or Blue) weeks are equal. More popular weeks were given a higher number of points. On top of that, they noted some resorts might require more points than what is listed in the chart.
RCI NA has since dropped using colors to determine a week’s point value and has moved somewhat in the direction of what RCI Europe does. However, RCI NA’s division of the year into different multi-week segments is still not as fined tuned as what is found in the RCI Europe charts. Put differently, the RCI NA conversion charts have fewer lines than ones put out by RCI Europe because RCI NA groups a larger number of weeks into a single category. In the charts currently posted on the internet, some of the listings offer a range of point values. It appears that for these listings, some resorts that fall within the category will garner more points.
Issues not addressed in this document: In RCI NA, there are quite a number of ways in which someone can come into possession of points. One can, of course, own a converted unit or a unit at an all points resort, but, in addition, one might belong to a separate vacation club such as the Shell Vacation Club and indirectly use RCI Points as the mechanism for trading into RCI. On top of that, one can “lease” points from an outside vendor.
The same is true, for RCI Europe. In addition to the original members of CRI Points Ltd., there are individuals who bought points directly from resorts after the establishment of the RCI Points Program. Just as in North America, there are a number of vacation clubs that use RCI Points as their currency of trade.
The bottom line is that no attempt is made in this document to sort out all the rules of ownership. (For example, how long is someone committed to the Points Program, can one uncede their membership, etc.)
Secondly, no attempt is made within this document to sort out what members of RCI NA and RCI Europe can see on their computer screens when they check out the availability for various trades. (When, for example, does the location of a unit at a Destination Resort that came from the Weeks program show up for North Americas versus Europeans.)
While these issues are of interest, they will not be explored here because of the complications that they would add to an already complex document.
I want to thank Sue Beetlestone (co-moderator of the MORPS board and Elected Member Director of RCI Points Ltd) for her kind help in explaining the history and intricacy of the European Points system. It turned out to be considerably more complicated than I had anticipated. Without her help, this post would not have been possible.