RCI changes= New strategies?

[cr4909]

Am I mistaken that on going search requests get priority and are filled as deposits come in? If this is in fact true why would there be a high demand deposit to see in a real time search?

Yes, the ongoing searches have not been part of the discussion. From what I understand what we see as available on RCI's websites are the leftovers. Any ongoing search will take 1st priority and we'll never see it as available on rci.com. So there may be some weeks in very high demand areas (UK summer, the aforementioned Allen House, etc, etc) that will never show up because the waiting list far exceeds those who actually deposit those very high demand weeks.

Unfortunately, we have no way of verifying this and RCI doesn't publish what was taken during ongoing searches. So all we can do is speculate. The best thing you can do is to look at last-minute exchanges (within 3 weeks or so of check-in). If you do this, you can see some very prime weeks that were cancelled at the last minute. So I can assume that there are cases where people can snag these very high demand weeks, but we never see them.

Trading power still comes into play with ongoing searches. You will be ignored and skipped right over with a request that isn't in your "league."

Of course this is true as well. If you do an ongoing search you are going in blind and don't know if your actual requested trade is simply impossible based on trading power. RCI should at least be upfront and tell you that you have no chance.

As for rentals, who knows? If we believe RCI these are developer weeks that they choose to put up as rentals for everybody to use. If we believe the detractors at TUG, they are skimming the best weeks that were deposited by exchanges. Either scenario is plausible.

That is why a points-based system (RCI, Wyndham, Worldmark, etc) is much preferable than an exchange system. In a perfect world, RCI would have just one big points system, where everybody's week would be given a points value and would negate the need to convert a week into points. But of course this would negate the need to cough up $$$$'s to the developer and put thousands of timeshare sales "people" (I'll be nice here) out of jobs because they won't be able to harass existing owners about converting their week into points.

 

[tombo]

Only sixteen one and two bedrooms are available in Summit County for July of 2010 at this moment, which is Breck, Dillon, and Frisco. NONE are Silver Crown, all are regular old resorts. I actually see more weeks in Colorado than you can see.

Don't underestimate the size of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. These different areas are hugely distant from one another, and Summit County is always in low supply and high demand.

This is what I can see in Breckenridge, Dillon, and Frisco:
Breckenridge [164]

Dillon [90]

Frisco [13]

267 total weeks.

This is ALL I can see for ALL HAWAII RESORTS:
Honolulu [14]
Kailua-Kona [59]
Kapaa [2]
Lahaina [38]
Lihue [20]
Princeville [71]
Waikoloa [32]
236 total weeks

June 2009 [1]
July 2009 [8]
August 2009 [2]
September 2009 [10]
October 2009 [6]
November 2009 [12]
December 2009 [28]
January 2010 [13]
February 2010 [4]
March 2010 [6]
April 2010 [11]
May 2010 [16]
June 2010 [7]
July 2010 [3]
August 2010 [10]
September 2010 [21]
October 2010 [18]
November 2010 [32]
December 2010 [19]
January 2011 [6]
February 2011 [2]


There are more weeks available in Summitt County using my trade than all of Hawaii combined. Even more telling is that there are 16 one and 2 bed rooms available in one county in Colorado for July 2010, but there are a total of 3 available in all of hawaii in July of 2010. In fact combining July 2010 with August 2010 give me a total availability of 10 in all of hawaii.
June 2010 [7]
July 2010 [3]


If you factor in all of Colorado (everyone doesn't have to visit Summitt county, (every now and then Vail and Aspen will get a visitor) there are 1593 available weeks in Colorado, versus 236 total weeks available in all of Hawaii using the same trade. Which is a harder trade for me to get, Hawaii or Colorado? Which should have a higher trading value?

I am glad that you have gotten many hawaii weeks for your Colorado weeks, but there never was any guarantee that those trades would continue. I can get peak times in colorado much easier than Peak times in Hawaii. i can get off season really easily in Colorado, but there really is no off season in Hawaii.
In all of the timeshare presentations I have attended I have never heard a salesman say that if i buy his week that I will be able to reade for Colorado in the summer. Every single salelsman has bragged that i could trade for the caribbean and hawaii with my purchase. Getting hawaii for almost anything other than a Hawaii deposit is a trade up IMO.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Yes, and my weeks are July 2010, also, and how many are there for Summit County?

 

[toby9116]

Trading power still comes into play with ongoing searches. You will be ignored and skipped right over with a request that isn't in your "league."

I have a request for a Wyndham Shearwater week for February, which I started two months ago, and at that time, I could see 166K+ available weeks. Now that same week sees far less, more like 144,000 today. I know I won't get my exchange until it is too late. The dates are important to me because it is my sister's 50th birthday, and this is her first trip to Kauai.

I may have to find a rental. I have SFX working on the exchange, and I am also watching Trading Places, TPMaui, and HTSE. I have another TUGger watching for me, too. I am getting a bit panicked, and it used to be me who assured people that 8 months was plenty of time.......... She would probably be okay with an exchange into Lawai Beach Resort, but I don't know about Pono Kai or something else for her dates.

Perhaps my Westin/ Hanalei Bay Resort search will come through with II. I can always hope, plus I have a friend who owns about ten Shearwater weeks.

I can maybe help with Pono Kai. If you can not get what you want.

 

[tombo]

Yes, and my weeks are July 2010, also, and how many are there for Summit County?

There are 84 total in colorado and 18 in Breckenridge and Dillon. There are only 3 available weeks in all of hawaii for July 2010 at 2 resorts which are both on the big island. None available for Mauai, none for Kauai, none for Oahau. If I was choosing limited availability i could compare 18 weeks available in Summitt county to 0 weeks available in all of hawaii (excluding the big island like you excluded all of Colorado but one county).

Getting hawaii with a summer Colorado week is as I just showed you a trade up.

-- Colorado

Date
July 2010

Search Type
Exchange


Filter By
City
Breckenridge [13]
Copper Mountain [4]
Dillon [5]
Keystone [1]
Mesa [4]
Silvercreek [13]
Steamboat Springs [4]
Vail [18]
Winter Park [20]

 

[rickandcindy23]

I see more in Hawaii than you can see, I guess. And when I could see 700 weeks in Hawaii, there were about the same number in Colorado that I see now. AND Hawaii covers much more area than the Colorado Mountains.

Seriously, why are we bickering, when we have all become victims of a change in RCI's policy:

Trading Power - The value assigned by RCI to Inventory upon a Member's Deposit and used by RCI when attempting to fulfill an Exchange Request. Trading Power may vary from deposit to deposit, since inventory is re-evaluated by RCI from time to time. Trading Power changes over time and is based on:
The demand, supply, classification grouping, and utilization of the Deposited Vacation Time, and the Affiliated Resort and geographic region associated with the Deposited Vacation Time.
The seasonal designation of the Deposited Vacation Time.
The size and type of the unit Deposited (i.e., number of bedrooms, kitchen type and Maximum/Private Occupancy of the physical unit).
The Comment Card Scores of the Affiliated Resort. RCI Comment Cards are solicited by RCI from Members as a means to gather information on each Affiliated Resort participating in the RCI Weeks Exchange Program.
The date of Deposit and the start date of the Deposited Vacation Time

They changed their policy from allowing us the same trading power to changing it at their discretion. How is that okay with anyone? I think we are all on the same side here, Tombo, don't you think?

 

[Carol C]

Tombo, you're so smart about how RCI works that it makes me really glad you hate Europe. That leaves more European inventory for me! Now, if only I could make you change your mind about your desire for southern USA beachfront vacations! Hmmm, don't you just hate the bugs outside, the terrible humidity and the jellyfish in the ocean? :rofl:

 

[bnoble]

I suspect we'll be going aroung this particular mulberry bush for some time, but the facts on the ground are simple: trading power has been recalculated globally. You can come up with some good arguments on both sides as to why, say summer Colorado is or isn't as desireable as, say, summer UK. Doesn't matter. It is what it is. You can argue that they shouldn't have changed trade power for deposited weeks, because they never did in the past. But of course they have done it before---it was done for SA weeks on Black Sunday. You can argue that they shouldn't be renting out weeks, and you can even try to sue them to stop it, except that that's been done, the suit is near its last gasp, and unless something very surprising happens, it will reaffirm RCI's ability to use its deposits in any way it sees fit.

Getting worked up in all of these what's-right/what's-wrong arguments will not help you. The right course for an educated timeshare owner is to (a) understand how RCI's policies and recent changes affect you, and (b) then decide how to allocate the weeks you own accordingly. You can pull out of RCI out of a sense of right vs. wrong, but I'd argue that that is not necessarily in your best interests if RCI still gets you trades you value more easily/less expensively than the alternatives.

That's the only question: do they come through for you in providing value to your ownership, or don't they. For some people other exchange systems, personal use, or renting out will provide better value. For others, RCI will still be an acceptable alternative.

From where I sit, as someone who owns weeks that were devalued in the recent adjustment, it is hard for me to be too upset---my weeks are nice weeks, but realistically they are not as valuable as summer oceanfront, downtown San Francisco, etc. So, it seems fair that my weeks don't pull quite as well anymore as some of those, even though they did pull every bit as well before the recalculation. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

Rather than spend so much time and energy kvetching about RCI's evils, we'd all be better servied by talking about the alternatives, and how to make the best of them. In the big picture, the rules of the exchange game are always changing, and each one of us has to make sure we keep up to get the best value we can.

 

[Carolinian]

The real key is working with our resorts to spread the word, both about what RCI has done, and about other options exchangers have. We need to be proactive to help grow the competition. When RCI has less of an oligopolistic grip on the industry, they will not be in the same position to steamroller members with shady practices.

 

[tombo]

Tombo, you're so smart about how RCI works that it makes me really glad you hate Europe. That leaves more European inventory for me! Now, if only I could make you change your mind about your desire for southern USA beachfront vacations! Hmmm, don't you just hate the bugs outside, the terrible humidity and the jellyfish in the ocean? :rofl:

Not claiming to be smart about RCI. I am simply using real examples to show that getting hawaii, DVC, HGVC, etc with some of our trades is something that takes hard work and luck. It is not something that we should expect to get whenever we want it with whatever trade we deposit. I will gladly admit that RCI is far from perfect, but it is better than any other trade company that the majority of my resorts can trade with right now IMO.

I understand people being upset that they no longer can see the availability they used to, but to have only the upset side heard with no opposing views from some overall happy RCI member(s) would make it appear to all TUGGERS (especially newbies and guests) that RCI wasn't worth joining. It is worth it to me. For those who don't agree it is simple to quit and they will give you a pro-rated refund.

Everyone feel free to complain about RCI, but just don't complain if I provide rebuttal to your complaints. I also will not be upset with follow ups to my rebuttals. Not trying to make anybody mad, just trying to show that many times people expect RCI to always be able to deliver better exchanges than RCI can possibly provide to each and every member.

Prime deposits are limited. Average and above average deposits not so limited. When most members want prime weeks, and few prime weeks are deposited, it is impossible for everyone who wants a prime week to get it. Of course everyone is proud of their resort and they feel they should get access to Gold Crowns in Hawaii even though they deposited a silver crown at a resort (or area) with much less demand. That equation will never work out where all will get the exact trades they want. Simple supply and demand.

As far as southerrn vacations I never have trouble with mosquitoes if the resort is Oceanfront because the offshore breezes keep them inland. High humidity is why I like ocean front. 98% humidity in the air is no match for the 100% humidity I enjoy when i jump in the ocean. Jellyfish aren't usually a problem, but when they are there is always the pool.

We'll make a deal. You can have all of the Europe weeks you can see and you leave me all of the Florida summer panhandle weeks you can see.

P.S. I can be talked out of going to southern beaches every now and then for a trip to the Smokies or Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

[tombo]

They changed their policy from allowing us the same trading power to changing it at their discretion. How is that okay with anyone? I think we are all on the same side here, Tombo, don't you think?

We are on the same side as far as being members of RCI and wanting to get the best trades we can for our deposits. I think I am more realisitic in my expectations. I can find a trade somewhere that I will like at a resort I will enjoy. I do not pick a top resort at a top destination for a specific week and get mad if I can't get exactly what I want. I have had many wonderful trades over the years and by not being too picky I can usually get the week I need in a nice resort, even if the resort is not my first choice.

I am going to Orlando in July. I have not seen one Disney week for the week I need. I have seen several DVC weeks I could have gotten but they were not for time I of the year I will be there. I was pleased to have seen any DVC inventory from my one bed room silver crown I deposited exactly 14 days before check-in because it didn't rent. I have not seen an HGVC week or a Bonnett Creek week that would work for me. I have seen some of those weeks but I need a specific week and none would work. Not mad. I have passed on Several Summer Bays, a couple of Sheraton Vistanas, and I have seen several OLCC's but I am unable to exchange thanks to 1 in 3 rule.

I finally booked a vacation Village at the Parkway. In hindsight I would rather have had the Sheratons I passed up or the Summer Bays, but I was holding out for HGVC and got burned. Am I bitter, no. HGVC would have been great but VV at the Parkway looks like a nice resort. It is Gold crown and I got it for a silver crown last minute deposit. With no RCI I would have simply eaten my silver crown week. Thanks to RCI I get something for it. I am happy. I make RCI work for me.


I am pragmatic. I know that if I owned a DVC or a Bonnett Creek, none of you would ever see a week I owned deposited with RCI unless it wouldn't rent or I couldn't use it due to an emergency. If I did deposit it it would be last minute. I am amazed when I see those highly desired weeks in inventory. Same thing with Hawaii weeks. I used to own 3 different Hawaii weeks (sold just before the bust in 2008 due to sheer luck). I never deposited one with RCI and never would have. I used them myself or rented them. From my perspective I can't imagine there being much inventory from the top resortsd available on RCI because I can't imagine why those people would ever even consider depositing them rather than using them personally or renting them. Obviously some people do but i would think that they are the minority of owners. Most every TUGGER here says buy cheaper weeks to trade, never trade the top dollar weeks hoping to get something great in return.

I guess that I just never expect to see many of those top rated weeks when I do a search with the non top rated weeks I deposit, so I am not disappointed. Heck all of my best trading weeks always rent, even in this economy, so I never see what they would get if deposited. I am pleasantly surprised when I do see DVC, HGVC,Maui,Kauai, etc from deposits I made last minute because the week didn't rent. I also am almost always pleased with the trade I finally make even though it is rarely one of the Holy Grails of timeshares..

Many of you expect (in fact become indignant when you don't get) the top resorts at the highest demand locations even when you deposit resorts that aren't top rated and often deposit resorts that are not even in great locations or at peak times of the year. Your expectations are IMO unreasonable.

Some of you are disappointed by any trade you can't get. I am happy for the trades I can get. This is our main difference.

 

[Charlie D.]

Tombo,

Thank you for pointing out some pretty logical conclusions in this thread. I have never done a weeks exchange with RCI so don’t know that much about how the system works but it should work a lot closer to how it appears to be working now. Put in a good week and get out a good week. I think I have learned more about exchanging following this thread than any others I can remember.

Charlie D.

 

[Laurie]

My strategy might be to sell some of what I own, and purchase elsewhere - I'll have to wait and see.

It wouldn't be the first time - I've done that several times already, when I discovered that my anticipated trade power didn't pan out the way I had hoped/expected - or it changed - expectations based on:
- past experience
- TUG lore of supply & demand
- RCI shrinking its definition of "prime summer" by one more week
- VEP too high

etc.

Owning timeshares to trade is like owning stocks, and I try not to feel attached.

 

[jamstew]

When the ''change'' seems to be hijacking exchange deposits for rentals, members have every right to be concerned.

Bingo! The loss of availability wouldn't bother me at all (or not nearly as much) if I didn't firmly believe that the lost exchanges went straight to the rental pool.

 

[jamstew]

Owning timeshares to trade is like owning stocks, and I try not to feel attached.

We bought where we wanted to stay, and did fairly regularly for the better part of 20 years, although we did trade several times. Week 31 was perfect until the kids were grown, but now there's no one who can use it. My daughter still lives 4 hours away and would if she could, but she's a collegiate Athletic Trainer, and her contract starts on August 1. I'd love to be able to work something out with the resort involving a week swap, but I can't get any response from them. I'd certainly be willing to pay something reasonable for an earlier summer week so my daughter and her family could use it.

I've added three DVC contracts, Christmas week in Vail, and an October beach week in Texas over the last year, all of which we'll use. The only thing left to trade is Sunbay. I don't have a plan right now for what to do next, but one thing it won't be is buying something strictly to trade.

 

[deejay]

Some of you are disappointed by any trade you can't get. I am happy for the trades I can get. This is our main difference.

Tombo, I couldn't agree with you more. So much of exchanging is timing. Like you, sometimes I gamble and win, sometimes I gamble and am not as lucky. But I don't think I ever lose. I have an outstanding trader that I was willing to pay for. And, I have an "ok" trader that i didn't pay a whole lot for. I've come to know their strengths, weaknesses and limitations. Believe me, when RCI is wrong, I let them know. But overall, I'm happy with the exchanges I get--both before, and even since the recent hiccups.

 

[tombo]

The loss of exchanges to rentals has been confirmed by an insider named anon. Anon won't reveal any details about himself, but we KNOW that this person has inside information because they told us so. We must all believe what he says to be the truth because people never lie on line.

I have a single friend who has internet dated quite a bit. So far he has online dated a beautiful 28 year old who ended up to actually be 50 when he met her. He has online dated a model who was 5' 11'' and weighed 115 pounds. Real life shrunk her by 6 inches and increased her weight by about 100 pounds. His online girlfriend that I like the best ended up to be a man in real life.

Anon might be for real. RCI might be renting weeks that were deposited for trade. Anon might simply be someone who hates RCI. We will probably never know for sure. I will take Anon and all other declarations about RCI stealing deposits to rent with a grain of salt. It might be true, it might not, but we will probably never know for sure.

Even if it is true that they are renting our weeks, you can live with it or quit. I will stay as long as I am getting trades that I like. If you don't want to remain with RCI on the chance that they are renting deposits, quit. If you no longer like what your deposits get for exchange, quit. If you decide to stay in RCI (like me), let's try to figure out what locations, resorts, and what times of year appear to trade the best for the average weeks most of us deposit.

My goal is to make RCI work for me the best I can. I don't expect to get everything I want, but as long as I get enough good trades to make me happy, I will stick with RCI.

 

[Conan]

ROLL TIDE ROLL

Congratulations Tombo, you have posted 16 replies to this one thread.

 

[tombo]

Congratulations Tombo, you have posted 16 replies to this one thread.

Why thank you vey much for congratulating me. Is that a record? Oops, now it is 17 posts.

 

[Carolinian]

There used to be a LOT more UK that showed up online, even for blue week deposits, than one sees now, even with prime deposits. Searches are NOT an explanation for what has happened.

Inside information from RCI employees about the shifts to rentals of weeks deposited by members is NOT speculation. See for example:

www.timesharetalk.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7761

RCI itself has even admitted moving exchange deposits they consider ''excess'' from the exchange pool to the rental pool. Of course, they are the only ones who define ''excess''. But guess what? If you monkey around with trading power, it is easy to suddenly and arbitrarily create a whole lot more ''excess'' that you can then rent. Do you understand the problem now?

Yes, the ongoing searches have not been part of the discussion. From what I understand what we see as available on RCI's websites are the leftovers. Any ongoing search will take 1st priority and we'll never see it as available on rci.com. So there may be some weeks in very high demand areas (UK summer, the aforementioned Allen House, etc, etc) that will never show up because the waiting list far exceeds those who actually deposit those very high demand weeks.

Unfortunately, we have no way of verifying this and RCI doesn't publish what was taken during ongoing searches. So all we can do is speculate. The best thing you can do is to look at last-minute exchanges (within 3 weeks or so of check-in). If you do this, you can see some very prime weeks that were cancelled at the last minute. So I can assume that there are cases where people can snag these very high demand weeks, but we never see them.


Of course this is true as well. If you do an ongoing search you are going in blind and don't know if your actual requested trade is simply impossible based on trading power. RCI should at least be upfront and tell you that you have no chance.

As for rentals, who knows? If we believe RCI these are developer weeks that they choose to put up as rentals for everybody to use. If we believe the detractors at TUG, they are skimming the best weeks that were deposited by exchanges. Either scenario is plausible.

That is why a points-based system (RCI, Wyndham, Worldmark, etc) is much preferable than an exchange system. In a perfect world, RCI would have just one big points system, where everybody's week would be given a points value and would negate the need to convert a week into points. But of course this would negate the need to cough up $$$$'s to the developer and put thousands of timeshare sales "people" (I'll be nice here) out of jobs because they won't be able to harass existing owners about converting their week into points.

 

[Carolinian]

Anon's bona fides were checked out by the owner of Timesharetalk, who asked Anon a series of questions about his own RCI account that only someone with access to RCI's computers could answer, and Anon came back with all of the correct answers. He is what is says he is.

But it is not just Anon. We had an RCI employee who posted here and on Timeshare Forums under the name Bootleg, who was quite helpful to many members here. Shortly after the class action lawsuit was filed he suddenly disappeared from both boards. Whether RCI was increasing its searches for employees who opened their mouths too much or whether he got caught, we will never know. An archive of Bootleg's posts on TUG would be far more valuable than the archive of posts from ''Madge''. When the issue of RCI rentals being taken from the exchange pool first came up, Bootleg initially defended the RCI party line, but as he was always a straight up guy, when he started seeing things that told him otherwise, he changed his position. He posted on TUG and TS4MS that he could follow lots of prime deposits through RCI's computers, see that they had nothing to do with cruises, PFD, etc. and that they went straight into the rental pool although they had been deposited for exchange.

Personally, with his longtime presence on the boards and tremedous helpfulness to many posters, and the fact that when he thought RCI was right he would defend them strongly, I always had a higher comfort level with Bootleg. But on this issue, the info from Bootleg and Anon is the same.

The loss of exchanges to rentals has been confirmed by an insider named anon. Anon won't reveal any details about himself, but we KNOW that this person has inside information because they told us so. We must all believe what he says to be the truth because people never lie on line.

I have a single friend who has internet dated quite a bit. So far he has online dated a beautiful 28 year old who ended up to actually be 50 when he met her. He has online dated a model who was 5' 11'' and weighed 115 pounds. Real life shrunk her by 6 inches and increased her weight by about 100 pounds. His online girlfriend that I like the best ended up to be a man in real life.

Anon might be for real. RCI might be renting weeks that were deposited for trade. Anon might simply be someone who hates RCI. We will probably never know for sure. I will take Anon and all other declarations about RCI stealing deposits to rent with a grain of salt. It might be true, it might not, but we will probably never know for sure.

Even if it is true that they are renting our weeks, you can live with it or quit. I will stay as long as I am getting trades that I like. If you don't want to remain with RCI on the chance that they are renting deposits, quit. If you no longer like what your deposits get for exchange, quit. If you decide to stay in RCI (like me), let's try to figure out what locations, resorts, and what times of year appear to trade the best for the average weeks most of us deposit.

My goal is to make RCI work for me the best I can. I don't expect to get everything I want, but as long as I get enough good trades to make me happy, I will stick with RCI.

 

[Carolinian]

Before we get too obsessed with ''crown'' status, maybe one should look up the requirements for this award status. It might surprise you. I provided a copy of the requirements, which RCI gives to its affiliated resorts, to TUG and it was posted in the advice section, with the help of another Tugger. Comment cards scores on things like ''Unit Quality'' are NOT considered in crown status but things like ''Check-In/Out'' and ''Resort Hospitality'' are.

If you are really big on crown status, the exchange company to go for is SFX.

If wish I had saved the special issue of the Seasons chain of European timeshares when they announced their jumping ship to II and fired a withering broadside at RCI over rentals and points in explaining their decision. There was a link that could be posted for a year or so, but then it rotated off of the list of newsletters that were online on their site. I would have liked to see you try to rebut that. They even quoted numbers of how many rentals of exchange deposits RCI was doing at that time. The article was extremely well written.

Not claiming to be smart about RCI. I am simply using real examples to show that getting hawaii, DVC, HGVC, etc with some of our trades is something that takes hard work and luck. It is not something that we should expect to get whenever we want it with whatever trade we deposit. I will gladly admit that RCI is far from perfect, but it is better than any other trade company that the majority of my resorts can trade with right now IMO.

I understand people being upset that they no longer can see the availability they used to, but to have only the upset side heard with no opposing views from some overall happy RCI member(s) would make it appear to all TUGGERS (especially newbies and guests) that RCI wasn't worth joining. It is worth it to me. For those who don't agree it is simple to quit and they will give you a pro-rated refund.

Everyone feel free to complain about RCI, but just don't complain if I provide rebuttal to your complaints. I also will not be upset with follow ups to my rebuttals. Not trying to make anybody mad, just trying to show that many times people expect RCI to always be able to deliver better exchanges than RCI can possibly provide to each and every member.

Prime deposits are limited. Average and above average deposits not so limited. When most members want prime weeks, and few prime weeks are deposited, it is impossible for everyone who wants a prime week to get it. Of course everyone is proud of their resort and they feel they should get access to Gold Crowns in Hawaii even though they deposited a silver crown at a resort (or area) with much less demand. That equation will never work out where all will get the exact trades they want. Simple supply and demand.

As far as southerrn vacations I never have trouble with mosquitoes if the resort is Oceanfront because the offshore breezes keep them inland. High humidity is why I like ocean front. 98% humidity in the air is no match for the 100% humidity I enjoy when i jump in the ocean. Jellyfish aren't usually a problem, but when they are there is always the pool.

We'll make a deal. You can have all of the Europe weeks you can see and you leave me all of the Florida summer panhandle weeks you can see.

P.S. I can be talked out of going to southern beaches every now and then for a trip to the Smokies or Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

[tombo]

Anon's bona fides were checked out by the owner of Timesharetalk, who asked Anon a series of questions about his own RCI account that only someone with access to RCI's computers could answer, and Anon came back with all of the correct answers. He is what is says he is.

But it is not just Anon. We had an RCI employee who posted here and on Timeshare Forums under the name Bootleg, who was quite helpful to many members here. Shortly after the class action lawsuit was filed he suddenly disappeared from both boards. Whether RCI was increasing its searches for employees who opened their mouths too much or whether he got caught, we will never know. An archive of Bootleg's posts on TUG would be far more valuable than the archive of posts from ''Madge''. When the issue of RCI rentals being taken from the exchange pool first came up, Bootleg initially defended the RCI party line, but as he was always a straight up guy, when he started seeing things that told him otherwise, he changed his position. He posted on TUG and TS4MS that he could follow lots of prime deposits through RCI's computers, see that they had nothing to do with cruises, PFD, etc. and that they went straight into the rental pool although they had been deposited for exchange.

Personally, with his longtime presence on the boards and tremedous helpfulness to many posters, and the fact that when he thought RCI was right he would defend them strongly, I always had a higher comfort level with Bootleg. But on this issue, the info from Bootleg and Anon is the same.

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 off 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.

 

[tombo]

Before we get too obsessed with ''crown'' status, maybe one should look up the requirements for this award status. It might surprise you. I provided a copy of the requirements, which RCI gives to its affiliated resorts, to TUG and it was posted in the advice section, with the help of another Tugger. Comment cards scores on things like ''Unit Quality'' are NOT considered in crown status but things like ''Check-In/Out'' and ''Resort Hospitality'' are.

If you are really big on crown status, the exchange company to go for is SFX. .

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 with mostly positive reviews 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 since 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.

 

[tombo]

Congratulations Tombo, you have posted 16 replies to this one thread.

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