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Points or weeks

L

Lessa13

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Aug 9, 2006
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Hi. I need some sage advice. We are owners of a one bedroom week at Sunterra Villas de Santa Fe. We are not members of Sunterra Club. We presently have an RCI weeks membership but have just purchased a resale week at an RCI points resort which came with a RCI points membership. That deal should close within the next week or so.
Anyway, I just paid our '08 fees to the Santa Fe resort but have not chosen a week yet. We visited Santa Fe last year, our first year as owners, and now we are debating whether to deposit our '08 week into RCI weeks or use it as a week for points in our RCI points account.
First of all, when I get the RCI points account will I still have the RCI weeks account?
Will the Santa Fe Timeshare be more valuable as a weeks trade or as points added to the points from our Points home resort? I think I need to know the answers to these questions before I select a week from the Santa Fe resort....or do I? We're pretty new to doing this on our own. We previously owned some S.A. timeshares and the weeks were preselected and deposited to RCI for us.

Thank you for your help.
 
Sage, Smayj.

Lessa said:
I need some sage advice.
Click to expand...
Sorry, my advice is more like semi-doofus advice. So it goes.
We visited Santa Fe last year, our first year as owners, and now we are debating whether to deposit our '08 week into RCI weeks or use it as a week for points in our RCI points account.
First of all, when I get the RCI points account will I still have the RCI weeks account?
Click to expand...
All the semi-sage folks on TUG-BBS say that a free RCI Weeks account comes with your paid RCI Points account. We already had a paid-for RCI Weeks account when we joined RCI Points. The paid-up period runs out next year, so after a few more months we will find out whether we really do get a free weeks account with our points account.
Will the Santa Fe Timeshare be more valuable as a weeks trade or as points added to the points from our Points home resort? I think I need to know the answers to these questions before I select a week from the Santa Fe resort....or do I? We're pretty new to doing this on our own.
Click to expand...
You can leave the straight-weeks timeshare in the weeks account, see if you like the exchanges shown as available when you search, then also look on the points side & see if you can get the same thing or an equivalent that you also like for fewer points than the points-value of your straight week. If so, do Points For Deposit with your straight week, make the exchange, & keep the leftover points as change. Just be sure you do Points For Deposit at least 90 days before the check-in date of your straight-weeks timeshare. Otherwise its Points For Deposit value sinks like a stone. For points newbies, it might not hurt to go ahead & do Points For Deposit with the straight-weeks timeshare anyway, then see if you like the exchanges you get that way. If so, keep on doing it in future years. If not, go with week-for-week exchanges with it instead in the years to come.

Good luck & have fun.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Great Advice

Great advice! Thanks a million. We're in Hawaii right now enjoying our Shearwater weeks but when we get home Sunday night I will start exploring the RCI points site and see what's available.
Happy New Year!
 
RCI Points members do get a free RCI Weeks account. In fact AwayWeGo can phone RCI Weeks and ask for a refund of the dues he/she paid for RCI Weeks membership in the overlap year.

As to the OP's question, the bottom line is will their Sunterra Villas de Santa Fe week draw better as an RCI Weeks deposit or compared to the points it will yield as an RCI Points deposit.

How good a trader the Sunterra Villas de Santa Fe week is as an RCI Weeks deposit depends on RCI Week's secret trading power formula. Assuming it's deposited a year or so in advance that's a question of supply-and-demand and the most important factor is probably how desirable the particular deposited week is.

It's easier to quess what it's worth as an RCI Points-for-deposit:

(1) If using it within RCI Points to search among RCI Weeks properties, you'll find it's about B+ quality - - quite above average but not a Tiger. But don't forget that the universe of RCI Weeks properties that it can search among is restricted to resorts that do not participate in RCI Points. [By comparison, Sunterra Villas de Santa Fe deposited as an RCI Weeks property will also be able to search among deposited weeks in resorts that do participate in RCI Points.]

(2) If using it within RCI Points to search among RCI Points properties, your search is limited to 10 months in advance (which can be a blessing), and on the first day of the 10 month window your points (if you have enough of them) will see every RCI Points unit that remains after the local owners took what they wanted (the local owners' reservation window opens 13 months in advance).

The only disadvantage that RCI Points obtained by points-for-deposit suffer compared to regular RCI Points properties is the ability to spend two year's points (this year's and next year's) currently. It's not that the points themselves are any different, but you probably won't be able to make next year's points-for-deposit early enough to have them in your account to spend this year.
 
Another thing to consider...

With points, you may be able to stretch your week into several weeks. That is why I am a HUGE FAN of the points system.
 
Another thing to consider

alanraycole said:
With points, you may be able to stretch your week into several weeks. That is why I am a HUGE FAN of the points system.
Click to expand...

With weeks I almost always can trade up from a studio to a 1BR or many times to a two BR which you can't do with points so as long as I can do that I'm still a Huge fan of weeks. :D :cheer:
 
rklein001 said:
RCI Points members do get a free RCI Weeks account.
Click to expand...

Not exactly! I own at both weeks and points resorts. Yes, you can make reservations at weeks resorts from your points account. Yes, you can deposit your weeks timeshare into your points account as points. No, you cannot treat your weeks resort as a weeks resort within your points account... it can only be deposited for points. If you want to treat a weeks resort week as a weeks resort week, you have to have a straight weeks account... words directly from RCI (unless I was lied to or things have changed).

When I first bought my Cliffs Club, knowing it to be a weeks resort, I innocently called to deposit it into my RCI points account, the only kind of RCI account I have. I only then learned that I couldn't do it unless I deposited it as points. It seriously irked me until I learned that I was better off depositing it as points after all. What convinced me? I deposited my week as points, used some of those points to make a reservation back into the Cliffs Club on a Last Call and then later stayed two more weeks at other resorts using my alloted points from my 1 week deposit.
 
I Am A Believer.

alanraycole said:
With points, you may be able to stretch your week into several weeks. That is why I am a HUGE FAN of the points system.
Click to expand...
Alan Ray, you are preaching to the choir.

2 things attracted us to timeshare points -- partial-week reservations & 9,000-point Instant Exchange reservations.

As it turns out, we've done Instant Exchange several times now but partial-week reservations zero times.

Who'd a-thunk ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 
Larry said:
With weeks I almost always can trade up from a studio to a 1BR or many times to a two BR which you can't do with points so as long as I can do that I'm still a Huge fan of weeks. :D :cheer:
Click to expand...

Larry, are you sure that you don't have this reversed? Points, if you have enough, assure you that you can upgrade. With weeks, you can get lucky if you are searching for a white or blue time that ultimately ends up in Last Call or the 45 Day 9000 Points special.

I have gotten lucky in upgrading weeks BUT if I want to GUARANTEE success, I have to use my points account. In fact, even though I have (had) several weeks available for deposit into weeks, I have discontinued depositing weeks into RCI.

I either convert these weeks to RCI Points or Diamond Sun Options.
 
BillR said:

Larry, are you sure that you don't have this reversed? Points, if you have enough, assure you that you can upgrade. With weeks, you can get lucky if you are searching for a white or blue time that ultimately ends up in Last Call or the 45 Day 9000 Points special.

I have gotten lucky in upgrading weeks BUT if I want to GUARANTEE success, I have to use my points account. In fact, even though I have (had) several weeks available for deposit into weeks, I have discontinued depositing weeks into RCI.

I either convert these weeks to RCI Points or Diamond Sun Options.
Click to expand...

No I don't have it reversed with points you need to pay for upgrades with more points just like when you pay for something with cash, It's just a different kind of currency.

With weeks if you have the trading power you can trade up. I have never exchanged during 45 day window and have never traded for a Blue or white week. I almost always have been able to trade up to a year or 18 months in advance and always travel during prime season.:cheer: :hi:
 
Upgrades are almost histort

Larry said:
No I don't have it reversed with points you need to pay for upgrades with more points just like when you pay for something with cash, It's just a different kind of currency.

With weeks if you have the trading power you can trade up. I have never exchanged during 45 day window and have never traded for a Blue or white week. I almost always have been able to trade up to a year or 18 months in advance and always travel during prime season.:cheer: :hi:
Click to expand...

With both RCI & II enforcing like for like more than ever before free upgrades using weeks are disappearing fast (far more money in rentals I guess). Don't plan on them much longer.
 
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timeos2 said:
With both RCI & II enforcing like for like more than ever before free upgrades using weeks are disspearing fast (far more money in rentals I guess). Don't plan on them much longer.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I respectfuly disagree. II does not usually give upgrades on unit size except for during the flexexchange period and that's why I prefer RCI for my exchanges except for 1 week that I trade exclusively during Flexexchange period in II.

RCI gives higher trading power to smaller units based on season, resort and location than comparable weeks in less demanded locations or seasons even if the units are larger than what you are trading. RCI also allows upgrades to resorts that don't have smaller size units as long as trading power matches.

I am still getting upgrades and when they stop giving upgrades I will continue renting out more weeks and using the funds to rent whatever weeks I want. It's my ultimate points exchange system ( cash) and it's better currency than points and doesn't cost anything to convert. If you have a desirable week it works. If you don't than points may be the best option.:cheer: :banana: :hi:
 
Lessa said:
...
Will the Santa Fe Timeshare be more valuable as a weeks trade or as points added to the points from our Points home resort? I think I need to know the answers to these questions before I select a week from the Santa Fe resort....or do I? We're pretty new to doing this on our own. We previously owned some S.A. timeshares and the weeks were preselected and deposited to RCI for us.

Thank you for your help.
Click to expand...

First of all, no, I don't think you need to decide how you'll deposit it before selecting your week.

Secondly, I doubt it'll be valuable as a points resort. Aren't most of the rooms there 1 bedroom? If I remember correctly, it's not a goldcrown resort, is it? So I suspect points values will be low as a Points for Deposit resort, and I suspect fees are relatively high.
 
I only said "RCI Points members do get a free RCI Weeks account" which is true.

I'm not aware of any reason why a person would want to pay dues to keep a second weeks account. I was in Weeks before I bought a Points property. RCI refunded the multi-year dues that I'd prepaid on my Weeks account, and I continue to use it just as before.
 
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