Buying an RCI points timeshare

[CMVer]

It appears that the timeshare through which I get RCI points is going bankrupt. To continue RCI points evidently I need to get another points timeshare. In past posts I thought I read of temporary ownerships (?). What's the most cost effective way to get back into RCI points when you're almost 70 and not planning to do this for more than 5 or 10 years?

 

[AwayWeGo]

What's the RCI Points timeshare that's going bankrupt ?

PS: I'm pushing 77 & still not ready to quit timesharing.

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

 

[CMVer]

Several years ago Rayburn Country in Texas was a great buy with inexpensive maintenance fees. Maintenance fees doubled a couple of years ago and it's been down hill since then. Actually, I'll be happy to be rid of it assuming they do go bankrupt (they have filed I guess). The only reason I want an RCI points account is for points for deposit using my CMV UDI. We use exchanging to do 3 months in Florida every winter and some weeks I can only get using RCI points.

 

[JohnPaul]

We own at Oakmont Resort in Pigeon Forge, TN. MF for our two bedroom are a ridiculously low $420 or so and have gone up not more than $5 or so a year. I believe we get 45,000 RCI points for this.

I'm sure they have HOA owned units for sale.

 

[sfwilshire]

We own at Oakmont Resort in Pigeon Forge, TN. MF for our two bedroom are a ridiculously low $420 or so and have gone up not more than $5 or so a year. I believe we get 45,000 RCI points for this.

I'm sure they have HOA owned units for sale.

It has been several years, so things may have changed, but in the early days of RCI Points, Oakmont and Tree Tops (sister resorts) wanted a substantial sum to convert a standard ownership to RCI Points. I got into Points with two Sheraton Vistana units. At the time, they only charged a couple of hundred dollars to enroll when everyone else wanted thousands. YMMV.

I agree with John Paul's assessment that the maintenance fees for the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge resorts have been very stable while the quality has been well maintained. I was especially surprised that our Tree Tops weeks generated no special assessment after the tragic fires and fees again just went up the usual $10 or so that year. We wound up with a practically brand new resort and didn't even lose the use of our week that year, since the resort negotiated with RCI to honor all our deposits even though the resort was closed. Amazing!

Sheila

 

[JohnPaul]

The week we own had already been enrolled in RCI. We paid very little for it even though it's a fixed week that is often the 4th of July.

 

[rapmarks]

I think Lakewood Resort inosage Beach switched to points and the weeks would be cheap. The nice thing about the resort, if you go there or if you rent it out, owners get ten hours of free boat time, and these are nice boats, this perk just about covers the maintenance fee cost.

 

[CMVer]

I've seen a lot of chatter about Grandview in Vegas. An every other year could generate about 50k points. Would that be a good option or might it be an iffy proposition getting out of it when the time comes?

 

[rapmarks]

I remember the ones in Weston offering a triennial

 

[AwayWeGo]

I've seen a lot of chatter about Grandview in Vegas.

Our sole remaining timeshare is a triennial Grandview 1BR points unit, good for 16,333 points annually. That's not much, but it's a toe-hold into RCI & the points system & (so far) it works for us. Naturally, we use Last Call & Extra Vacation Getaway reservations more than straight-points exchanges, which is the reason it works.

Our current points balance stands at zero. Our only January 2020 Florida timeshare reservation (so far) came via RCI Extra Vacation Getaway. We'll be relying on that plus Last Call for the rest.

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

 

[FrancaBernal]

I remember the ones in Weston offering a triennial

What is triennial?

 

[dayooper]

What is triennial?

You get your points/week every 3rd year.

 

[AwayWeGo]

You get your points/week every 3rd year.

Our use year comes up 1 year out of every 3 -- i.e., a use year followed by 2 off years when we don't get to use our timeshare unit.

Regardless, we get 1/3 of our points every year. Likewise, we pay 1/3 of our use-year maintenance fee every year. (Our previous triennial points timeshare charged the full maintenance fee for our use-year & nothing for our off years -- i.e., we paid our full maintenance fee 1 year out of 3. Go figure.)

RCI lets us save last year's points & use this year's points & borrow ahead for next year's point, meaning we can do a full-points exchange (on a triennial basis) if we want to.

The way we actually prefer using our points, however, is 10,000 points at a time (& sometimes less) when we make the reservation 45 days or so ahead of check-in. That's why the paltry 16,333 annual points we get from our triennial timeshare unit work out all right.

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

 

[FrancaBernal]

You get your points/week every 3rd year.

Thanks for your answer. I'm new here and trying to learn. Am I understanding this right that having points gives you a lot more flexibility than any of the other types of ownership? Also, if you buy a certain amount of points at a resort where the maintenance fees are low, can you use those points on a resort that charges more for maintenance?

 

[stevio99]

I would say don't buy anything.
You can keep your RCI points account by just keeping it current. It doesnt matter that your original resort is going under.
Then just buy RCI points on ebay. I assume they still allow point transfers (double check , I havent looked into RCI points in a while)

 

[dayooper]

Thanks for your answer. I'm new here and trying to learn. Am I understanding this right that having points gives you a lot more flexibility than any of the other types of ownership? Also, if you buy a certain amount of points at a resort where the maintenance fees are low, can you use those points on a resort that charges more for maintenance?

I believe so, but I don’t own an RCI points account. I own with HGVC and that’s what I did, I bought at The Flamingo. It’s not the lowest (one of the lowest, though), but the buy in price was very good. I can go anywhere in the system at 9 months, as long as there is availability.

 

[rapmarks]

Don’t know if you are still interested, but someone just posted giving away a one day points ownership at silver lakes

 

[rapmarks]

I would say don't buy anything.
You can keep your RCI points account by just keeping it current. It doesnt matter that your original resort is going under.
Then just buy RCI points on ebay. I assume they still allow point transfers (double check , I havent looked into RCI points in a while)

I just saw that points transfers are free to rci platinum members

 

[jpkjr1]

I would say don't buy anything.
You can keep your RCI points account by just keeping it current. It doesnt matter that your original resort is going under.
Then just buy RCI points on ebay. I assume they still allow point transfers (double check , I havent looked into RCI points in a while)

When I go to renew my RCI Points, RCI checks with my home Points resort to verify I still own there. If your resort closes, they we not be able to verify your continued ownerships.