Article contributed by long-time TUG member Larry Hayden, President and
founder of
Timeshare Resales Worldwide
in Carlsbad, CA
Last update: 28-March-2006
What is new in the world of timeshare? RCI Points!
But it is not really new since RCI Points has been around for several years
now, but to many timeshare owners it is little understood, if understood at
all.
I am a timeshare broker with a signed agreement with an RCI Points resort to
sell RCI Points and I own RCI Points myself.
While I don't believe that the RCI Points product is the cure all or answer
all for every single timeshare owner's needs, it is the primary product being
offered at new RCI resorts today, so it is certainly something every timeshare owner
should at least know something about to see if it is of interest. I offer this
article to help you understand RCI Points.
RCI Points offers participants the flexibility of using points for shorter
mini-vacations, as well as travel-related RCI Points Partners products,
including airfare, cruises, car rental, hotels, and
theme park and golf activities.
RCI has assigned a points value for every size unit and every time frame for
every one of it's over 3,700 resorts worldwide, and RCI Points members receive
a hard copy directory of all the resorts and points values. The points values are also online at RCI.COM
An RCI Points owner owns a certain number of points attached to a particular
"home resort" and the annual allotment of points can be spent like
dollars at other RCI Points resorts or non-points
resorts worldwide.
RCI Points is by far the largest timeshare points system.
If you own RCI Points at an RCI Points affiliated resort, you can use those
points to vacation in any RCI resort, be it a traditional RCI "weeks"
resort, or an RCI Points resort.
If you don't spend all your points in the first year, the points
automatically can be used in the second year. They do not carry over to the
third year.
We have a great
example
scenario on our website so you can easily visualize how you can use the
points for various functions. The RCI Points values chart for the world is on
our
RCI Points main page.
All timeshares involve ownership and therefore maintenance costs for upkeep.
The good news about RCI Points though, is that unlike the older timeshare
product where you only get one week for that annual maintenance fee, with RCI
Points it is very easy to get more than one week or even several weeks of
vacation, still for only that one annual maintenance fee. This is done by using
the RCI Points for short notice "Last Call" vacations which require
only 9,000 points for a full week in any size unit worldwide.
Since you can get so much time out of your RCI Points for just one
maintenance fee, your expense is far lower, only a small fraction of what it
would cost you to rent a comparable accommodation.
I own RCI Points and I am very happy with them.
I have been watching and studying RCI Points for years, and while I believe it
is an excellent product, I really believe that there is a good reason and a
good argument for ownership of both types of vacation timeshare, RCI Points as
well as the traditional one-week type of timeshare.
What one has to understand about RCI Points is that unless you use your
points in your home resort, you are relying on being able to confirm an
exchange into the resorts you request.
RCI owns no resorts, it is merely an exchange company, and an excellent one at
that, but I seem to have better luck in exchanging, using my RCI Points.
But for certain locations where someone wants absolute 100% assurance of
staying in a particular resort at a particular time, that person can only
achieve that 100% guarantee by owning in that resort during the week(s)
desired.
On the other hand, there is a very sizable number
of timeshare owners who desire to go somewhere different each year, for one of
two day stays, in various size units, and for varying times of the year. For
those people, RCI Points is an excellent choice.
Probably the least known thing about RCI Points is that traditional
timeshare "weeks" owners may have the opportunity to use what they
already own, not as weeks, but as RCI Points, by using the RCI Points For
Deposit program. I use this program myself to be able to use RCI Points with my
ownerships in non-points resorts.
If you would like to be emailed information about how you might be able to
use your non-points ownership as RCI Points, just
send
me an email, and I will explain how I go about it myself.
Some TUG Member questions which have come up in the past:
1. What are RCI
points?
Answer: RCI Points
is a type of timeshare ownership in an RCI affiliated resort, where RCI has
assigned a point value for all RCI resorts, assigning a certain number of
points for a vacation stay of one night or more, for any size unit and any time
of the year.
The points can be
exchanged through RCI for shorter or longer vacations in any unit size desired,
as well as for travel-related products, including airfare, cruises, car rental,
and hotel reservations.
If you want to stay somewhere there is no timeshare,
you can use your points for hotels. Or, maybe you just want to use your points
for cruises or airline tickets, or car rentals, or any combination thereof. The
flexibility is really pretty exciting.
The points can be spent just like dollars and every
year you get your new annual allotment of points to spend.
Let's say you own 36,000 points a year If you use
your points on RCI Instant exchange (45 days of less in advance of travel
date), it only takes 9,000 points to stay a full week in a two or three bedroom
condo with full kitchen.
If you used all of your points on instant exchange,
you could take FOUR WEEKS of vacation accommodations. If your maintenance fee
is $400 for the year that means your cost for the four weeks vacation is $100
per week. ($400 divided by 4).
Now you know why RCI Points are so popular.
2. How do I use them?
Answer: To use your points, you simply call the RCI
Points toll free number and tell the RCI Guide what you want to do.
3. What if I want to
stay at my own resort?
Answer: Any use of
RCI Points involves being able to confirm an exchange EXCEPT for use in your
own resort. In your own resort you can make reservations 12 months in advance, whereas
anyone not owning in your resort can only make an exchange request 10 months in
advance.
4. How do I use
Points for non-timeshare products?
Answer: A simple
phone call to the RCI Points toll free number.
The term for
non-timeshare products is RCI Points "Partners". The Partners charts
and all RCI Points fees
are displayed here.
5. What fees do I pay
if I am a Points member?
Answer:
See
RCI Points Fees Chart which has all RCI Points fees.
6. What happens if I
own both Points weeks and non-Points weeks?
Answer: You will
have two RCI accounts but only one annual membership fee. One RCI weeks account
and one RCI Points account.
You can use your weeks account and your points
account as separate transactions. Also if you own your weeks in certain resorts
that
qualify, you may be
able to deposit your weeks and use them as RCI Points.
7. What if I want to drop out of RCI Points and return to my old
membership?
Answer: This question makes
an invalid assumption that the only way to own RCI Points is to
"convert" a weeks ownership to a points ownership.
For ownerships and
resorts that
qualify,
another way is to keep your weeks ownership and simply become an owner of a
small RCI Points account, and then you can take advantage of RCI's points for
deposit program and obtain RCI Points for your RCI Weeks deposit. As I
explained earlier in this article, I believe it is wise to own both RCI Weeks
AND RCI Points for the reasons already stated.
RCI Points is a very
broad and involved topic. This article barely touches the surface, but
hopefully it helps, and my guess is that many more questions will come up, so
it will probably be necessary to answer more questions as they come up and add
them here-in.
Article contributed by long-time TUG member Larry
Hayden, President and founder of
Timeshare
Resales Worldwide in Carlsbad, CA
