Convert from RCI points to a fixed week only?

[Anheiser]

I am interested in purchasing a resale time share for a specific week for an annual trip I like to take. For this reason I'm not really interested in the RCI point system and exchanging for other times and places. I just want to use my 1 week at the home resort every year and it would cost me more to do that with the points system. I have seen a few timeshares for sale in the week I want, but are points based. If I were to purchase the timeshare am I required to join RCI or is it an option to pay the transfer fee and join? Can I purchase a fixed week/RCI points timeshare and not join RCI, thus making it a fixed week timeshare and only having to pay the annual maintenance fee?

 

[Eric B]

Probably best to check with the resort management first, but it sounds ok to me.

 

[ronparise]

call RCI. I’ve done this with a week. They won’t believe you want to give up such a “valuable” benefit. And will want you to sign something saying you know what you are doing. But they will do it, not the resort..... at least that was my experience

 

[WinniWoman]

From what I have read in the past on TUG I believe you can convert a points week back to a fixed weeks week through RCI.

 

[Eric B]

There’ve been a few posts I’ve seen recently saying that some RCI points affiliated resorts have ceded reservation processes to RCI. I don’t have any experience with that personally, but think it could complicate things; that’s why I suggested talking to the resort.

As far as having RCI remove it from points and make it a plain RCI week goes, that wouldn’t fully meet OP’s need, which was to avoid the additional RCI cost and not go through them for reservations if the resort isn’t set up for that anymore. Best off to be sure everyone involved understands what is happening so the week isn’t automatically deposited by the resort when you really want to use it yourself.

 

[theo]

Seems to me that if OP is (as seems to be the case) zeroed in on using only a specific week each year, wouldn't it be best (and easiest) to just buy a fixed week / unit for that specific week --- and just skip the RCI / Points / reservation gyrations (and RCI membership) entirely? Am I missing something here?

This is precisely what we have done, having no interest in exchanging nor in RCI, RCI Points, or time consuming annual reservation machinations and exercises. To each their own, of course. YMMV.

On the other hand, if the "right" week at the "right" price comes along and happens to have RCI Points already attached --- and the owner is willing to deal with planning far ahead to book the desired underlying week long in advance, what's the harm? The attached RCI Points could be a selling "plus" down the road and once those attached RCI Points are abandoned, they cannot be retrieved (except at considerable out of pocket "conversion" cost).

 

[vacationhopeful]

RCI points was sold to the resort as a profit for sales ... usually, where the PRIME fixed/float weeks were sold out. The lesser season weeks got LESS RCI points to us, but if the owner had 2 off peak weeks, they were sold on the idea of getting the time at the resort they knew before the vast masses in RCI. Remember, they might use 2 years worth of points for 1 week plus an exchange fee to RCI.

RCI points has booking windows of HOME WEEK, HOME RESORT, HOME GROUP and all other RCI Points weeks.

For example, HOME WEEK was a FREE booking at 13 months out of YOUR deeded week season/unit. Own a FIXED WEEK 2/2 unit for week 26 ... that is what you should get when you reserve it. Can't downsize the unit to a 1/1 unit or a better view. You get what you own. And no reservation fee. But could get hit with a Guest Certificate fee via RCI.

HOME RESORT. Booked 12 months out of checkin with a 'smaller fee'. Unless you have 2 units or another PRIME season/points at THAT resort ... or you use LESS points (transact DOWN a season or UNIT size). Your point allocation for YOUR ownership determines WHAT season or unit size you can book. So a 2/2 unit in a lesser season, might have enough RCI Points for a PRIME 1/1 unit ... with a small booking fee AND if the owner did not reserve that unit (must be in RCI Points system, too).

HOME GROUP. Book 11 months out at FULL reservation fee. Whatever RCI points inventory is available, full exchange fee and IN your HOME GROUP (iike VRI resorts if your available RCI points are all VRI that you are using to reserve).

In my opinion, just using your points but paying a membership fee to RCI and then booking fees. All with the illusion, the inventory YOU think should be there will be there ... again, if ANOTHER owner is in RCI Points and does NOT reserve their fixed/float owned week and you got online before the other RCI Points members.

 

[JudiZ]

I am interested in purchasing a resale time share for a specific week for an annual trip I like to take. For this reason I'm not really interested in the RCI point system and exchanging for other times and places. I just want to use my 1 week at the home resort every year and it would cost me more to do that with the points system. I have seen a few timeshares for sale in the week I want, but are points based. If I were to purchase the timeshare am I required to join RCI or is it an option to pay the transfer fee and join? Can I purchase a fixed week/RCI points timeshare and not join RCI, thus making it a fixed week timeshare and only having to pay the annual maintenance fee?

This is exactly what I did last year. I only wanted a specific week in a specific resort and bought it from another Tug member. The resort rep tried to convince me to keep the points; RCI had no involvement at all but as noted previously, if the resort has turned it over to RCI, that's where it goes. We used our week last year and it was so nice - no fees, no GC, no hassle. We still have a week that we trade but that is in weeks and, again, if I choose to use it, it's there. The resort did make me sign a "disclaimer" that I was opting out of points and, now that I think about it, it went to RCI.

 

[Jan M.]

I would strongly advise against converting a points week back to a "weeks" week. Most people want points if you ever want to sell it and it is cost prohibitive to convert a weeks week to points so why give that up? Even with points you still have a week and at a certain number of months in advance you can declare your intent to use your week instead of the points. There is no exchange fee when you do that.

 

[Anheiser]

If I were to book my home week 13 months in advance, do I still receive points? Or do you only get points if your week is deposited in the system?

 

[vacationhopeful]

You get the points or you use the points to book your week .... not both.

 

[Eric B]

Actually, your week would be automatically deposited in RCI and you would be allocated the points. At the 13-12 months prior to your home week occurring, you could reserve it for no charge. I’ve also heard you can get a guest certificate for no charge for your home week as well, but haven’t tried it. Reserving your home week does cost the points you’ve been allocated.

Some resorts will let you book your home week for no charge at less than 12 months; that’s worked for me at Massanutten, but not at a different points one.

One thing to keep in mind is that while the transaction is free, you will still be paying the RCI dues, which are currently $124 per year US; there are lower costs for multiple years.

 

[Anheiser]

Thanks for clearing that up for me!

 

[Caligirlfrtx]

Actually, your week would be automatically deposited in RCI and you would be allocated the points. At the 13-12 months prior to your home week occurring, you could reserve it for no charge. I’ve also heard you can get a guest certificate for no charge for your home week as well, but haven’t tried it. Reserving your home week does cost the points you’ve been allocated.

Some resorts will let you book your home week for no charge at less than 12 months; that’s worked for me at Massanutten, but not at a different points one.

One thing to keep in mind is that while the transaction is free, you will still be paying the RCI dues, which are currently $124 per year US; there are lower costs for multiple years.

I am looking at Massanutten also but the contract come with RCI points. I have no clue what that means but thanks for clearing it up a bit. So I would have to reserve my home week through RCI, not Massanutten? and there'd be no charge for that other then the RCI membership? Does the amount of points matter in being able to reserve my home week? Is the home week the week that is on the contract even though it states Fixed week 23/Floating? It is a 4 bedroom lockoff, does this mean that I can break it up into 4 weeks of use somewhere else? What is the downside to having the points on the contract? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I would like to move forward with this deal but I don't want to end up with a life long contract of misery. Thanks

 

[Eric B]

You would have to reserve your home week through RCI. If you do that, the points don’t matter, but you’ve got to do it between 12 & 13 months prior to check in. In that case, there’s no charge for the reservation or for a guest certificate for that week. There’s a discounted reservation fee for using a week at your home resort on a different week; it’s currently $50. This means that if you wanted to use the two side on consecutive weeks you could reserve one for free as the home week and one for $50 the next week. As a 4 BR LO, it can be split into two 2 BR units; one with a full kitchen and one with a partial kitchen.

The fixed week floating unit means your home week is week 23, but you don’t own a specific unit there. That is, you don’t have a choice of what unit you get, but it would be week 23. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference in the Woodstone units there, though.

In my opinion, Massanutten gets a lot of points per $ of MF. I’m getting 137,000 points for a 4 BR LO Woodstone Luxury week - 70,000 for the full kitchen side and 67,000 for the partial kitchen side. Massanutten also has a program they typically run where they’ll give you the tail end of a weeks deposit good for a few months with a moderate TPU in RCI weeks so you can combine it with another deposit as a TPI boost in exchange for your paying your MF early by a certain date. I use my Woodstone unit as a trader and haven’t been back there in a while, typically getting 4+ weeks elsewhere through judicious RCI trades to Hawaii, Mexico, Florida, etc. it works fairly well for me.

The downside of points is that you’re locked into RCI. You won’t be able to exchange the weeks with other exchange systems or rent them out, unless you take them out of points, which is a possibility if you get tired of RCI. That’s a one way street, though, without paying a conversion fee to get back into points. If the cost is the same for a resale points or weeks unit, I’d go for the points one because taking it out costs nothing. Vacation Village, the parent company for Massanutten, quoted me a cost of $13,900 for converting in the context of trying to sell me something at a different resort in Florida this year; I didn’t pursue the discussion because I wasn’t interested, so I can’t tell you if it was the bottom line cost or puffery, though I suspect the latter.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Not all RCI point conversions transfer on sale. At one point I was looking at buying a Tahiti Village TS that was advertized on eBay with a whole bunch of points. I learned that upon sale that the TS would revert back to weeks. For the person who wanted to buy a so-called points timeshare to convert back to weeks, that would simplify everything. But for the people espousing keeping the RCI points, that may not be possible.

I think that the Grandview TS is one that transfers as points.

I'm wonder which RCI points timeshares transfer as points and which ones do not.

 

[Caligirlfrtx]

Not all RCI point conversions transfer on sale. At one point I was looking at buying a Tahiti Village TS that was advertized on eBay with a whole bunch of points. I learned that upon sale that the TS would revert back to weeks. For the person who wanted to buy a so-called points timeshare to convert back to weeks, that would simplify everything. But for the people espousing keeping the RCI points, that may not be possible.

I think that the Grandview TS is one that transfers as points.

I'm wonder which RCI points timeshares transfer as points and which ones do not.

I wonder how one would know before the purchase. The estoppel does say points if that matters.

 

[Caligirlfrtx]

You would have to reserve your home week through RCI. If you do that, the points don’t matter, but you’ve got to do it between 12 & 13 months prior to check in. In that case, there’s no charge for the reservation or for a guest certificate for that week. There’s a discounted reservation fee for using a week at your home resort on a different week; it’s currently $50. This means that if you wanted to use the two side on consecutive weeks you could reserve one for free as the home week and one for $50 the next week. As a 4 BR LO, it can be split into two 2 BR units; one with a full kitchen and one with a partial kitchen.

The fixed week floating unit means your home week is week 23, but you don’t own a specific unit there. That is, you don’t have a choice of what unit you get, but it would be week 23. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference in the Woodstone units there, though.

In my opinion, Massanutten gets a lot of points per $ of MF. I’m getting 137,000 points for a 4 BR LO Woodstone Luxury week - 70,000 for the full kitchen side and 67,000 for the partial kitchen side. Massanutten also has a program they typically run where they’ll give you the tail end of a weeks deposit good for a few months with a moderate TPU in RCI weeks so you can combine it with another deposit as a TPI boost in exchange for your paying your MF early by a certain date. I use my Woodstone unit as a trader and haven’t been back there in a while, typically getting 4+ weeks elsewhere through judicious RCI trades to Hawaii, Mexico, Florida, etc. it works fairly well for me.

The downside of points is that you’re locked into RCI. You won’t be able to exchange the weeks with other exchange systems or rent them out, unless you take them out of points, which is a possibility if you get tired of RCI. That’s a one way street, though, without paying a conversion fee to get back into points. If the cost is the same for a resale points or weeks unit, I’d go for the points one because taking it out costs nothing. Vacation Village, the parent company for Massanutten, quoted me a cost of $13,900 for converting in the context of trying to sell me something at a different resort in Florida this year; I didn’t pursue the discussion because I wasn’t interested, so I can’t tell you if it was the bottom line cost or puffery, though I suspect the latter.

Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate your time. The one I'm looking at is in Regal Vista and the MF's are a little higher and the points are only 30,000 so it's a tough decision. Im not sure what those points are worth. With these points, 30,000, would I be able to spit the 4 bedroom into 4 weeks?

I'm contiplating finding one with lower fees and then trading only if needed.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I'm not sure. But I believe that the So_leil resorts (several in Las Vegas - like Tahiti, Tahiti Village, Club de Soleil) that were converted to points do not transfer. Also, there are a bunch of Maui resorts managed by that same company (Sands of Kahana, Kahana Beach, Honokoa, the Gardens, Kahana Villas, Maui Beach, Maui Banyon, and the Kona Islander. I think that all of these were originally sold as deeded properties.

If it is possible to see a copy of the deed, that would confirm that you are dealing with weeks and not points.

I think that many of the Worldmark and Wyndham are true points resorts, so they would transfer.

If the estoppel says that it is points, I suspect that it might be true. I think that with most points resorts that transfer as points that there is no underlying deed, and no property taxes paid. In most cases, you don't really have a "home resort". You have points. You are buying into a collection of resorts making up a trust.

You asked a very good question. I hope that others - - smarter than me will comment.

 

[tschwa2]

Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate your time. The one I'm looking at is in Regal Vista and the MF's are a little higher and the points are only 30,000 so it's a tough decision. Im not sure what those points are worth. I'm contiplating finding one with lower fees and then trading only if needed.

I looked at that one. The points shouldn't be 30,000. The points should be 116,000 for week 23 for the 4 br unit.



https://www.rci.com/static/docs/en_US/points-grid.pdf
page 32

 

[Caligirlfrtx]

I looked at that one. The points shouldn't be 30,000. The points should be 116,000 for week 23 for the 4 br unit.



https://www.rci.com/static/docs/en_US/points-grid.pdf
page 32

Thanks for that very helpful link. I am just SMH over these points. The page attached to the estoppel clearly states 30,000 points I guess that's why it didn't sell.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Caligirl, Yes it appears (from some internet searches) that at least some of the Regal Vista TS is weeks based and some appear to be points based. So maybe the points do convey upon sale. I see that there were past discussions on the TPUs the RCI gives those weeks. When I looked on ebay past sales I saw both weeks based units and points based unit.

I wonder which resorts that may be listed on ebay as points don't really convey as points but reverts back to weeks. And I wonder how you can confirm that. Perhaps it is with the estoppel. Perhaps you can believe the estoppel?

 

[Caligirlfrtx]

Caligirl, Yes it appears (from some internet searches) that at least some of the Regal Vista TS is weeks based and some appear to be points based. So maybe the points do convey upon sale. I see that there were past discussions on the TPUs the RCI gives those weeks. When I looked on ebay past sales I saw both weeks based units and points based unit.

I wonder which resorts that may be listed on ebay as points don't really convey as points but reverts back to weeks. And I wonder how you can confirm that. Perhaps it is with the estoppel. Perhaps you can believe the estoppel?

Yes the estoppel is def. the only thing I go by and believe. I just had another agent think she would stiff me on a Hyatt deed in Puerto Rico, MF's were listed as $835 and she failed to mention that the Hyatt gave a temporary discount on fees due to the hurricane, they will go back to double that amount next year. I thank God that I'm a good researcher and caught her deception before I proceeded. Thank God for this website too.

 

[tschwa2]

Caligirl, Yes it appears (from some internet searches) that at least some of the Regal Vista TS is weeks based and some appear to be points based. So maybe the points do convey upon sale. I see that there were past discussions on the TPUs the RCI gives those weeks. When I looked on ebay past sales I saw both weeks based units and points based unit.

I wonder which resorts that may be listed on ebay as points don't really convey as points but reverts back to weeks. And I wonder how you can confirm that. Perhaps it is with the estoppel. Perhaps you can believe the estoppel?

Most rci points conversions do transfer. Soleil is one of the exceptions. The fact that you can't combine other RCI points into a Soleil account and there are slightly different rules attached to those vs traditional RCI points puts it in a different category. The resort negotiated its own rules with RCI which included the no transfer. That isn't the standard MO for points conversions with RCI.

That estoppel for the auction is wrong. Either it isn't week 23 annual or it isn't 30,000 points.

 

[Caligirlfrtx]

Most rci points conversions do transfer. Soleil is one of the exceptions. The fact that you can't combine other RCI points into a Soleil account and there are slightly different rules attached to those vs traditional RCI points puts it in a different category. The resort negotiated its own rules with RCI which included the no transfer. That isn't the standard MO for points conversions with RCI.

That estoppel for the auction is wrong. Either it isn't week 23 annual or it isn't 30,000 points.

I will call tomorrow because it clearly states annual week 23 and the broker verification request states 30,000 points for 2017,2018,2019