RCI changes= New strategies?

[Carolinian]

Obviously you were not around when Bootleg was posting. He was certainly not a disgruntled employee. He helped a number of Tuggers with problems, some of whom had contact with him at RCI. He generally was supportive of his employer, and came to their defense initially when the rental issue came up. Then he started seeing things for himself, initially confided them to a Tugger in a private email, and then posted on the subject. If you had been around on these boards when all of that went on, you would understand how ridiculous your suggestion that Bootleg was a disgruntled employee or someone trying to get back at RCI is. Bootleg was generally supportive of his employer but I think was ashamed for them on what they were doing with rentals.

Also Anon posted some screen shots from RCI computers showing exchange deposits diverted to rentals. I asked Bootleg to look at them to see if they appeared genuine, and he said that while they were compressed they did have all the right information in the right order as it would be on RCI computers.

You were also not around apparently to remember what I have always suggested as a remedy, and that is convincing a state AG to go after them under consumer protection statutes. I bet they could bring them to heel with some of the pre-litigation tools availible to them that a private attorney would not have. Unfortunately being politically active in the opposite party from my state's AG, I would have no influence to move that forward myself. I was hopefully he would run for governor last election and someone from my party would get in, but he pulled out of the governor's race, so that did not happen.

Back to rentals, my home resort figured out how to identify the rentals on the RCI inbound reports, and what they were renting was almost all high season and were exchange deposits. The developer is long gone from all but the 3 BIS resorts on the OBX, and should be gone from 2 of those, so any rental you see outside of BIS on the OBX is NOT developer inventory. Also no HOA's have been depositing with RCI for years since they changed the rules on HOA deposits. Dunes South was the last resort HOA that did it to any extent and that was back in the 1990s.

There is a good chance that neither Anon or bootleg are RCI employees. On the other hand Anon and bootleg both might be RCI employees, but they might be digruntled RCI employees with an ax to grind. As long as one attacks anonymously you will never know for sure because there is no way to verify. Yes they were supposedly asked questions, but they weren't investigated as though they were deep throat to verify their information. I actually don't doubt that RCI does pilfer some of the best inventory to rent. If they are what are you going to do and how are you going to prove it and make RCI stop? I would love to hear the plan and possibly join your crusade to stop them If your plan is to simply quit then they will continue as always and you will no longer have access to the inventory they do make available for trade. If that is your plan count me out because I am not quitting until there is a better alternative. No reason to cut of my nose to spite my face.

The point I am making is whether they are renting our weeks or not you only have 2 choices unless you want to spend a LOT of money on legal fees. You can live with it and make the best use of RCI that you can, or you can quit. It is simple.

 

[Carolinian]

I have been to Hawaii once in my life. As to islands, I prefer the Caribbean.

However, to give you an example, some here fall all over themselves about DVC. When I was searching for HHI, I put in a request with DAE and they came up with a unit at DVC on HHI. I checked it out, found out I had to drive to the beach, and said no thanks. I found an unrated resort at RCI where I could at least walk a short distance to the beach and booked that one instead. For me an unrated resort on the beach, or at least close enough to the beach to walk always beats a GC where I have to drive to the beach. And I am not the only one. For some years BIS-Kitty Hawk was the only GC on the OBX (that has changed with the latest award list), but according to the local timeshare specialist rental / resale agency was by far the lowest demand resort on the OBX on the rental market. The reason was that it was one of two resorts where one had to drive to the beach. From what I saw online, it certainly appeared that the exchange market followed the rental market. On the OBX, all of the oceanfront unrated resorts, which is most of them, beat what was the only GC on the OBX. Now one of the oceanfront resorts, OBBC II is back to GC, while BIS-Kitty Hawk has fallen to SC.

SFX has limited inventory in limited locations. SFX only has 2 locations in the smokies (neither a favorite of mine). RCI has 23 locations in the Smokies. SFX has none in the Blue Ridge Mountains. RCI has 3 that I like a lot. On the Florida panhandle there are 2 resorts, and neither are on the ocean. RCI has 20 resorts on the panhandle, 10 are oceanfront. These are the drive to locations I frequent the most so SFX is useless to me in most cases. Like I have said repeatedly I will not quit RCI until a better choice for me comes along.

I am not overly concerned with crown status, but when I make statements I try to back them up with examples whenever possible. In my post you are responding to I said prime deposits are limited. Prime deposits are not necessarilly gold crown,some are hard to get locations at a hard to get time of year. Factors to me of prime deposits include Crown Rating, location, time of year, member reviews, and size of unit. A Panama City Beach 2 bed room hospitality rated resort Ocean front in July would be prime for me ,whereas a Panam City gold crown studio across the street from the ocean in February is something I wouldn't want at all. However if all other factors are equal (unit size, time of year, location) a Gold Crown resort will beat a non Gold Crown virtually every time.

I did say in that same post that a lot of people feel that they should get access to Gold Crowns in Hawaii with lesser trades. You love to jump on Gold Crowns as not being all that special. Now is a good time for you to use some examples to explain your point. Please peruse Hawaii and list the non rated resorts you would rather spend a week in over which gold crowns. On Oahu there are only 3 gold crown resorts, and all have excellent reviews. Some of the non rated resorts have 2 stars. Maui only has 2 gold crowns, and both are top resorts on the Island. The big Island has 8 gold crowns, and they are the top rated resorts on the island by member reviews with the exception of one which only has 3 stars. Kauai has 5 gold crowns and all have been rated tops with 4 or 5 stars. Lots of 3 stars for the non rated resorts.

Yes I know the Shearwater is probably the hardest to get resort on Kauai and it is only silver crown. It is rated high in reviews because of the huge rooms and the great views from the cliffs. Shearwater lost Gold Crown because they need to do some renovations and upgrades because the resort is getting old. Even owners here on TUG bemoan the fact that the resort is becoming run down. This proves my point exactly. If you fail to maintain a resort well RCI will downgrade it's rating, even if it is the most desirable resort on the whole island.

I look forward to your list of which non rated resorts beat which gold crown resorts in Hawaii. I assume it will be a short list. I will be glad to follow it up with a long list of Gold Crown resorts on Hawaii that blow away many non rated, hospitality rated, and even Silver Crown rated resorts. Gold Crown doesn't gurantee you the best resort, but there are very few gold crown rated resorts that aren't very nice because if they don't remain nice, they don't remain Gold Crown.

 

[sandkastle4966]

On-going searches.....


Somewhere in this thread was a question/comment on "searches" - they only have priority "in their trade tier" AND whenever the "match algorythm" runs. It is NOT run at the instant that the deposit goes in.

I have found a suitable unit by going in just searching on another week, and then "running" the on-going search and having it match up. (These are daily - I am getting desparate checks, and thus are "new deposits/cancellations, downtrade of trade power, passed some magical date, etc)

 

[tombo]

You were also not around apparently to remember what I have always suggested as a remedy, and that is convincing a state AG to go after them under consumer protection statutes. I bet they could bring them to heel with some of the pre-litigation tools availible to them that a private attorney would not have. Unfortunately being politically active in the opposite party from my state's AG, I would have no influence to move that forward myself. I was hopefully he would run for governor last election and someone from my party would get in, but he pulled out of the governor's race, so that did not happen.

Back to rentals, my home resort figured out how to identify the rentals on the RCI inbound reports, and what they were renting was almost all high season and were exchange deposits. The developer is long gone from all but the 3 BIS resorts on the OBX, and should be gone from 2 of those, so any rental you see outside of BIS on the OBX is NOT developer inventory. Also no HOA's have been depositing with RCI for years since they changed the rules on HOA deposits. Dunes South was the last resort HOA that did it to any extent and that was back in the 1990s.

I do not doubt that they steal deposits to rent. I would hope that it would not be on a huge scale, but it might be. If there is a group writing to an AG to stop the practice more power to them. If it is in my state, or a state where I own a timeshare, I will join the complaint. Getting a big enough group together to get an AG's attention is hard, getting the AG to sue RCI is even harder. Until that happens we will have to live with the system that is in place or quit. I still like the trades I get overall and don't want to quit.

Let me know which AG we are all writing to and list the address. Please make sure to subpoena Anon and Bootleg because other than real people who have real proof it is very hard to win in court on conjectures and allegations. Of course it is pretty easy to convict RCI on TUG with the same conjectures and allegations that would be thrown out of court because of lack of proof.

 

[tombo]

On-going searches.....


Somewhere in this thread was a question/comment on "searches" - they only have priority "in their trade tier" AND whenever the "match algorythm" runs. It is NOT run at the instant that the deposit goes in.

I have found a suitable unit by going in just searching on another week, and then "running" the on-going search and having it match up. (These are daily - I am getting desparate checks, and thus are "new deposits/cancellations, downtrade of trade power, passed some magical date, etc)

I have 2 different deposits with considerably different trading value. Sometimes I can see the same things with both trades and sometimes the better trader will show many more available trades than I can see with the weaker trade for the same area. If you keep the search the same and simply change deposit the difference in what you see can be huge.

 

[jdetar]

Crowns are usually a good indicator of quality, but sometimes resorts aren't crowns when they are in fact, top notch resorts that easily surpass many gold crowns. Right off the top of my head there's at least one in RCI that has no crown or hospitality, but is in the TUG top 30, and an Interal premier resort. Can you guess it? It's well known...


Trading power is determined by computer systems. They do an intense amount of data mining and dynamic calculations to determine a "fair" trading power. Sometimes, especially international resorts, aren't rated fairly. The computer systems simply do what they're programmed to do, and that's it. If they're lacking certain programming requirements and optimizations to take some things into consideration, a resort or deposit may experience significantly reduced trading power based on incorrect factors. I'm sure some resorts deserved the reduced trading power they received, but not all of them.

 

[rickandcindy23]

jdetar, I know of one that is Premiere with II and nothing with RCI, and that is Cypress Harbour, which is Marriott's Cypress Harbour.

And you know the oddity is that you will never see an exchange with a lower trading week for Cypress Harbour through RCI, but ANY blue week will pull a Hilton, sometimes 2 bedrooms, too. RCI is messed up!

RCI has other Marriotts in Orlando as Hospitality rated, too.

 

[jdetar]

Yep, and RCI offers the same few weeks that come up on exchange, for rent for $335 so "first come first serve". But seriously, who in their right mind would exchange into Cypress Harbour when you can rent the same week for that price? More importantly though, it's the same inventory and RCI shares that inventory across their systems which is an unfair advantage to RCI, and an unfair advantage to what made their business, which is exchangers.

 

[jamstew]

Convert devalued fixed week to points? Is that a strategy?

I'm wondering, with my reduced trading power, if it might be worthwhile to convert to points. I have a fixed red week that none of the family can use, and the trades for the areas we want are greatly diminished. What would be the advantages/disadvantages of converting? (Moderators, please feel free to move this if it needs to be somewhere else.)

 

[Carolinian]

I'm wondering, with my reduced trading power, if it might be worthwhile to convert to points. I have a fixed red week that none of the family can use, and the trades for the areas we want are greatly diminished. What would be the advantages/disadvantages of converting? (Moderators, please feel free to move this if it needs to be somewhere else.)

I would change exchange companies. RCI's points system stinks, with rigged point values and a tendency to move the goal posts on many of its ''benefits'', air tickets for example. Plus they rent out that inventory, too!

 

[Carolinian]

Wychnor Park - example of rental vs exchange

Here is the current availibility for both exchange and rental at Wychnor Park in England (against a summer UK week). It is clear in both quantity and quality, the rentals prevail over the exchange inventory.

But most perhaps all of these deposits would have been exchange deposits by individual owners. The resort was purchased years ago by Sunterra (now DRI) which for years has sold inventory here in its own internal points system that trades in II. If there was any developer deposits they would be in II, not RCI. Most, if not all, of the fixed week owners bought from the original developer, who largely marketed to local people as ''a country club that is also a timeshare'' and many of those are now getting on in years and not likely to be playing PFD.

This is clearly an example of exchange deposits being skimmed for rental purposes.

The rental prices are also interesting. For someone with an m/f of a bit over $600, a rental here is in the range of m/f pls exchange fee for some quite decent weeks. Why own and exchange when you can just rent? The strategy is forget about exchanges with RCI. Use Rental Condominiums International for their rentals!



Unit Type Max Occup
(Privacy) Kitchen Check-In Date Check-Out Date Price
1 BR 4 (4) Full 12-Feb-2011 19-Feb-2011 Exchange Fee Only
1 BR 4 (4) Full 26-Feb-2011 05-Mar-2011 Exchange Fee Only
2 BR 6 (6) Full 22-Jan-2011 29-Jan-2011 Exchange Fee Only
2 BR 6 (6) Full 08-Aug-2009 15-Aug-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 22-Aug-2009 29-Aug-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 29-Aug-2009 05-Sep-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 05-Sep-2009 12-Sep-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 12-Sep-2009 19-Sep-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 19-Sep-2009 26-Sep-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 26-Sep-2009 03-Oct-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 03-Oct-2009 10-Oct-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 10-Oct-2009 17-Oct-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 17-Oct-2009 24-Oct-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 24-Oct-2009 31-Oct-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 31-Oct-2009 07-Nov-2009 $773.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 15-Dec-2009 22-Dec-2009 $899.99
2 BR 6 (6) Full 22-Dec-2009 29-Dec-2009 $899.99

 

["Roger"]

...The resort was purchased years ago by Sunterra (now DRI) ....

Just an observation... the most egregious examples of RCI rentals have always been Sunterra (now DRI) properties. A couple of years ago, it was Walt's Sunterra Embassy in Maui. This was cited as proof positive of the fact that RCI deposits were being rented. After that it was (sorry, my memory fails me at this point, but there two other Sunterra resorts). Now it is Wychor in England.

I know that I commented on this pattern in the past and it has always been passed off (not by Carolinian - he has never to my knowledge commented on this topic) as mere coincidence - just happenstance. Personally I am suspicious as to whether it is coincidence - happenstance.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I'm wondering, with my reduced trading power, if it might be worthwhile to convert to points. I have a fixed red week that none of the family can use, and the trades for the areas we want are greatly diminished. What would be the advantages/disadvantages of converting? (Moderators, please feel free to move this if it needs to be somewhere else.)

Don't pay a lot to convert your week to points. Are you talking about using your week as Points for Deposit, or are you talking about converting your week, and what would that cost you?

VRI charges an outrageous price to convert Foxrun weeks to points, but many people have done it. I think it would be a huge mistake, personally.

 

[jamstew]

Don't pay a lot to convert your week to points. Are you talking about using your week as Points for Deposit, or are you talking about converting your week, and what would that cost you?

VRI charges an outrageous price to convert Foxrun weeks to points, but many people have done it. I think it would be a huge mistake, personally.

I have absolutely no idea about the cost. It's nothing I've ever even thought about before, and I have little to no understanding of points. I think I'm talking about converting my week, but from some things I've read, it probably isn't a good idea. I can still get good exchanges, just not as good as before.

 

[triron]

RCI strategy

Let RCI know what great weeks you have by offering them up for exchange and have the guides check to see what Hawaii inventory you can get.

For example: Say you own a Sheraton Desert Oasis 2 bedroom lockout and have April 2nd of 2010 reserved (Easter week and prime week for RCI), and can you get Hawaii with that week? What can you offer me in Hawaii, or ask about Disney Vacation Club resorts, 2 bedrooms, then say I am flexible. When they say, there are Hilton 2 beds in Hawaii, or a two-bedroom at Saratoga Springs, or whatever they offer, you just say, "Well, I don't want to finalize my deposit right now, so please pull it back." OR I will deposit just half of my lockout, then ask them to confirm that 2 bedroom DVC or Hawaii week, on the phone. This will require sightings from TUG members of availability in the prime areas.
Now RCI knows you own that week, and it is now in your account under Deposit Your Week (this always happens when you pull back a week). They will want it and will call you back sometime in the next several months to get that week. Just tell them you don't trust them with your best weeks because your other weeks lost trading power during the late May-early June 2009 "enhancement". :[/B]D



Tried your strategy but RCI representative would not do a search without depositing and said that once you deposit a week you cannot request it back. I still cannot believe that RCI would make such a major change in the trading power of my account without any notice or explanation under the cover of an update to their operating system. I have also been told several stories on why my exchange week has lost trading power so I will try again tomorrow with another representative. Reminds me of an old joke: What's the difference between a RCI explanation/answer and a Fairy Tale? The Fairy Tale starts with "Once upon a time".

I like your ideas on dealing with RCI in the future. Thank you.[/I][/I]

 

[Carolinian]

The main new strategy is to remember that RCI now effectively stands for ''Rental Condominiums International''. They do have some decent, some good, and some very good deals on rentals. Keep your membership and use them to rent. Give your exchange deposits to someone else. If a site with the same rental deals appears for non-members (SkyAuction doesn't seem to have the breadth of inventory) then use it and quit paying membership.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Tiron, call back again and speak to someone else, and yes, you absolutely can pull the week back right away, once you deposit it. Don't let them tell you that. One member here, Culli, pulled his week back after 2 weeks, when the trading power of his week went down from 166K total weeks available to 138K. They CAN do it, and THEY WILL do it. The only risk you run is that an ongoing search will pick up your week immediately, but I doubt that would happen so quickly.

 

[jdetar]

As a side comment, I agree RCI's ongoing searches seem to fill much slower. I don't know why but it appears the systems in Interval are different, and inventory is held back with them. I've had my requests filled two years in a row the first night of the search. And they were good exchanges into Marriott Ko Olina 2BR, and Marriott Aruba Surf Club 2BR with my Cypress Harbour sport week. But yet doing a manual search showed me nothing even close to my requests the day before. Surprisingly good.. but weird too!

 

[Carolinian]

Here is another non-points resort, Hotel Deutschmeister in Vienna, with a great location, 2 blocks outside the ring, in one of the world's great cities. Again compare rentals and exchanges. And look at the rental rates. If you are in the market for a rental, Rental Condominiums International comes through again! The rental price is below most timeshare owners m/f, without even considering the exchange fee.

meet your criteria Total Units Available: 14
Unit Type Max Occup
(Privacy) Kitchen Check-In Date Check-Out Date Price
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 17-Oct-2009 24-Oct-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 24-Oct-2009 31-Oct-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 31-Oct-2009 07-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 07-Nov-2009 14-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 14-Nov-2009 21-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 21-Nov-2009 28-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 28-Nov-2009 05-Dec-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 05-Dec-2009 12-Dec-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 12-Dec-2009 19-Dec-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 13-Nov-2010 20-Nov-2010 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 08-Jan-2011 15-Jan-2011 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 29-Jan-2011 05-Feb-2011 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 12-Feb-2011 19-Feb-2011 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 19-Feb-2011 26-Feb-2011 Exchange Fee Only

 

[Mel]

meet your criteria Total Units Available: 14
Unit Type Max Occup
(Privacy) Kitchen Check-In Date Check-Out Date Price
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 17-Oct-2009 24-Oct-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 24-Oct-2009 31-Oct-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 31-Oct-2009 07-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 07-Nov-2009 14-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 14-Nov-2009 21-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 21-Nov-2009 28-Nov-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 28-Nov-2009 05-Dec-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 05-Dec-2009 12-Dec-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 12-Dec-2009 19-Dec-2009 $440.99
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 13-Nov-2010 20-Nov-2010 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 08-Jan-2011 15-Jan-2011 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 29-Jan-2011 05-Feb-2011 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 12-Feb-2011 19-Feb-2011 Exchange Fee Only
Hotel 2 (2) No Kitchen 19-Feb-2011 26-Feb-2011 Exchange Fee Only

But there is only one unit in all of 2010, and none are during high demand times. While I can see there is very little availability, and I suspect a certain amount of demand, I don't see this particular resort as being a good example of RCI pludering. The weeks that are available as rentals are all hotel units, and with check-n less than 6 months away.

None of us know the history of requests for this resort - it may be that historical data shows requests for the off-season weeks don't usually come in less than 6 months out, particularly for hotel-size units. Perhaps the only requests they are likely to see for these units will be under 45 days, and they would rather see them rent to someone NOW for $400 than wait and "rent" it to a points member for 9000 points (which costs the point owner less than $400, and obviousl creates less revenue for RCI).

 

[Carolinian]

But there is only one unit in all of 2010, and none are during high demand times. While I can see there is very little availability, and I suspect a certain amount of demand, I don't see this particular resort as being a good example of RCI pludering. The weeks that are available as rentals are all hotel units, and with check-n less than 6 months away.

None of us know the history of requests for this resort - it may be that historical data shows requests for the off-season weeks don't usually come in less than 6 months out, particularly for hotel-size units. Perhaps the only requests they are likely to see for these units will be under 45 days, and they would rather see them rent to someone NOW for $400 than wait and "rent" it to a points member for 9000 points (which costs the point owner less than $400, and obviousl creates less revenue for RCI).

This resort has very little except hotel units. It is and urban timeshare in one of the world's great cities and rightfully red all year (like London, New York, Venice, San Francisco, Paris, Prague) and the only RCI resort there. As a weeks-only resort, two thirds of the avaibilitiy being rentals instead of exchanges and the rentals being the better seasons shows a very clear pattern.

But you seem to miss one thing. Rental Condominiums International has got some real decent rental rates here and at decent times. Why bother to own and exchange when you can rent like this! Have you noticed that in its press releases for a while, RCI has described itself as a ''rental and exchange company''? It is clear where their priorities are when they put rental first in that description.

 

[pranas]

Please count Carolinian's posts. I am afraid that I am going to be passed and I don't want to lose the title.

But Carolians's post are so much more substantive. I have learned a lot from reading his posts over the years including those in this thread.

 

[Egret1986]

Everybody's got an opinion on TUG!

But Carolians's post are so much more substantive. I have learned a lot from reading his posts over the years including those in this thread.

I definitely enjoy much of what Tombo has to say. He has provided me with help and information and enlightenment many times both directly and in reading his posts.

More "substantive"? I've found if you are open to what folks have to say, "substantive" is in the mind of the beholder.

I kind of expected to see a green toothy smiley face after your statement. Carolinian and Tombo are just two long-time TUGGERs agreeing to disagree, but both have something to say worth considering. You might not agree with what someone has to say, but it doesn't necessarily make it any less "substantive" IMHO.

 

[Jwerking]

If I recall, at the end of that discussion we decided that the Allen House deposit *was* seeing nearly everything that anyone else saw during its window----the reason it had a comparatively low number is that it could only search a shorter window.

I agree with Tombo. While I don't like losing trading power for my deposited RCI weeks any more than anyone else - my playing around online with my weeks yesterday generally shows fair trading power.

I own lockoff weeks in a Gold Crown Hilton Head week - one is in mid-May and the other is a July 4th week - always deposited about 2 yrs in advance as a studio and 1 Br. These weeks now show diff availability and correctly so - where before the enhancement, they all traded the same.

It is sad that my best week, the July 4th 1 br unit, will not likely allow me the upgrade to 2 BR units - which I always did in the past with no problem. I did searches yesterday for high demand winter Caribbean and Mexican beach resorts. I could see very few 2 BR units at the Mexican resorts - but no problems with seeing 1 br units at these prime and high quality resorts. With my July studio, I could not see the 2br units at all, but did see most of the 1 br units, but not all.

For my May weeks, the trading power was significantly less. Seeing almost nothing for my May studio in the Caribbean. But I did see very good winter units in Mexico beach resorts - which are more plentiful - but only hotel units or studios.

So basically, it is fair. It appears that I am able to trade into comparable resorts with comparable demand to what I own. No longer able to rob the RCI bank of all those larger 2 br units anymore. It was great the 15+ years I have been able to do this - but reality has set in. Let's admit, it was unfair that I was able to lock off a 2br with maint fee of $800 and trade each side for a 2br unit in a prime resort during prime season. We were all taking an advantage of a loophole in the RCI system - one that has been closed.

So Tombo is right - I don't sympathize with all those people that deposited even more mediocre weeks than mine and were robbing the RCI bank. No personal offense, Cindy, but I have heard about those Foxrun weeks here on TUG years ago and the recommendation to purchase because they traded well and were cheap. So let's admit, aren't summer beach weeks in higher demand than a mountain week? We typically have to pay higher prices to purchase those beach weeks and have higher maint fees. And all the hype with the South Africa weeks, honestly, I purchased some of those when they are the big topic on TUG and they did well for quite a while until Black Sunday - but they costs a few hundred dollars to purchase and had maint fees of $ 200 to 300. I certainly got my use out of them for my small investment and was lucky to sell them to a SA reseller for a few hundred $$ and recouped some of my original investment.

Believe me, when you deposit your Foxrun with II, it will certainly recognize it as a lesser demand week than a beach week. I own Marriott summer weeks at Park City, Utah, and believe me they do not trade great thru II. Much less trading power than my Marriott spring beach weeks at Hilton Head. Now for sure, Park City definitely is overbuilt versus NC mountains - so maybe your trading power will be higher, but I seriously doubt it.

So yes, maybe there is some truth that RCI did violate their rule that trading power is determined at the time of deposit - you have a valid point there. But from a technical perspective, it would have been costly if not impossible for them to implement an IT system to accomodate two different sets of criteria. As we can all see, they are having problems with what they have currently done.

Talk about unfair, I purchased my Marriott Hilton Head timeshares from the developer - mostly to have the Marriott rewards point option and they have made MAJOR revisions twice in that program in the past 10 years that have seriously undermined the value of those reward points. And we paid big $$ to purchase those timeshares and pay big maint fees to boot. So little sympathy from me.

So how can we fault RCI for setting up a trading system that is more equitable?

 

[Carolinian]

First, your comparision is a bit off. Mexico's supply / demand curve is not that great - certainly no where comparable to southern summer beach. A IBR July 4th HHI should get about anything in Mexico. I look at RCI's own availibility tables which are published in the European version of its directory, and which give overall availibility month by month for resort areas. NO month in Mexico falls within the two categories of the most limited inventory, while 9 months fall under the most wide open availibility and 3 months (Jan.-Mar.) under the second most open category of availibility. Given that, a studio HHI July 4th would likely outrank any 2BR in Mexico. You were never really ''upgrading'' when you look at the totality of factors in going from a 1BR HHI GC to a Mexico 2BR in winter.

And this is NOT about making a system more fair for members. It is all about slicing and dicing the system to harvest more ''excess'' for RCI to rent out. Having we learned what RCI is really all about? Their own press releases describe themselves as a ''rental and exchange system'' and the order they choose to put those two activities in speaks volumes.

The amount of maintenance fees have nothing to do with supply and demand. A January beach week pays the same m/f as a July week, yet their supply / demand curves are light years apart. Similarly when you look at foreign m/f's they are impacted by exchange rates and by costs of doing business where the resort is located, factors that have absolutely nothing to do with supply and demand in a timeshare exchange system. Australia was once a cheap place to buy and pay m/f's when the Oz dollar was in the toilet, and many points people took advantage of that, but then the Oz $ soared in comparision to the US $ and suddenly the shoe was on the other foot. Did that vast change in the exchange rate mean there was a vast change in supply and demand for Oz timeshare exchange weeks? Of course not!

I ask you, is it ''equitable'' for RCI to rent out exchange deposits to the general public when there are bona fide dues paid RCI members who would like to trade for them? That is exactly whose interests Rental Condominiums International is serving with this new scam of theirs. I hope they are getting a bit ahead of themselves. I hope that the judge in the class action suit rejects the outrageous sellout-settlement and the case goes to trial. This whole rental policy of RCI is a massive conflict of interest that causes them to knife their members in the back. TS4MS members have concluded that a minimum of 10,000 and a maximum of 20,000 of the better weeks simply disappeared in this ''enhancement'' (a word that is corporate speak for screwing customers) based on comparisions of regular searches. Where did they go? Can you say ''R-E-N-T-A-L P-O-O-L''?

I agree with Tombo. While I don't like losing trading power for my deposited RCI weeks any more than anyone else - my playing around online with my weeks yesterday generally shows fair trading power.

I own lockoff weeks in a Gold Crown Hilton Head week - one is in mid-May and the other is a July 4th week - always deposited about 2 yrs in advance as a studio and 1 Br. These weeks now show diff availability and correctly so - where before the enhancement, they all traded the same.

It is sad that my best week, the July 4th 1 br unit, will not likely allow me the upgrade to 2 BR units - which I always did in the past with no problem. I did searches yesterday for high demand winter Caribbean and Mexican beach resorts. I could see very few 2 BR units at the Mexican resorts - but no problems with seeing 1 br units at these prime and high quality resorts. With my July studio, I could not see the 2br units at all, but did see most of the 1 br units, but not all.

For my May weeks, the trading power was significantly less. Seeing almost nothing for my May studio in the Caribbean. But I did see very good winter units in Mexico beach resorts - which are more plentiful - but only hotel units or studios.

So basically, it is fair. It appears that I am able to trade into comparable resorts with comparable demand to what I own. No longer able to rob the RCI bank of all those larger 2 br units anymore. It was great the 15+ years I have been able to do this - but reality has set in. Let's admit, it was unfair that I was able to lock off a 2br with maint fee of $800 and trade each side for a 2br unit in a prime resort during prime season. We were all taking an advantage of a loophole in the RCI system - one that has been closed.

So Tombo is right - I don't sympathize with all those people that deposited even more mediocre weeks than mine and were robbing the RCI bank. No personal offense, Cindy, but I have heard about those Foxrun weeks here on TUG years ago and the recommendation to purchase because they traded well and were cheap. So let's admit, aren't summer beach weeks in higher demand than a mountain week? We typically have to pay higher prices to purchase those beach weeks and have higher maint fees. And all the hype with the South Africa weeks, honestly, I purchased some of those when they are the big topic on TUG and they did well for quite a while until Black Sunday - but they costs a few hundred dollars to purchase and had maint fees of $ 200 to 300. I certainly got my use out of them for my small investment and was lucky to sell them to a SA reseller for a few hundred $$ and recouped some of my original investment.

Believe me, when you deposit your Foxrun with II, it will certainly recognize it as a lesser demand week than a beach week. I own Marriott summer weeks at Park City, Utah, and believe me they do not trade great thru II. Much less trading power than my Marriott spring beach weeks at Hilton Head. Now for sure, Park City definitely is overbuilt versus NC mountains - so maybe your trading power will be higher, but I seriously doubt it.

So yes, maybe there is some truth that RCI did violate their rule that trading power is determined at the time of deposit - you have a valid point there. But from a technical perspective, it would have been costly if not impossible for them to implement an IT system to accomodate two different sets of criteria. As we can all see, they are having problems with what they have currently done.

Talk about unfair, I purchased my Marriott Hilton Head timeshares from the developer - mostly to have the Marriott rewards point option and they have made MAJOR revisions twice in that program in the past 10 years that have seriously undermined the value of those reward points. And we paid big $$ to purchase those timeshares and pay big maint fees to boot. So little sympathy from me.

So how can we fault RCI for setting up a trading system that is more equitable?