Points vs. Cash for RCI

[wbl2745]

We own 210 DVC points at the VGC. We've only stayed there once (loved it!) and are staying the AKV from 12/1 to 12/7, which we are looking forward to. But here's my question, my wife would like to go to Cape Cod next fall and since the DVC points are paid for I thought that we'd trade points into RCI and stay "for free."

Once I look at the resorts available, I'm not so sure this is a good idea. One the one hand I have to pay the maintenance on my DVC points regardless, so it is a sunk cost. But the RCI property we're looking at seems to be a little outdated. The pictures show a 1980s or 1990s property and the cost of renting the units in October, when we want to go, would be about $900 for a week. Well, that's less than my maintenance costs for VGC. Oh, the number of points needed for one week in October is going to be around 240 points (if memory servers me).

So how do people think about this? On the one hand the points costs are fixed and I have to pay them whether I go to Cape Cod or not. On the other hand it seems like I'm spending a lot on a Cape Cod vacation that I could pay less for. Also, if I spend all these points on an RCI property I can't use them at Disney!

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[tomandrobin]

I would pay cash. You are going to Cape Cod off-season and the cash rates will be very reasonable.

I would either rent your extra points or bank them and take a great vacation the following year at Disney.

 

[JimMIA]

The other option would be to rent a stay from an owner of one of the resorts.

Go to the RCI site and look for likely prospects in the part of the Cape where you want to stay (DVC only has access to a little less than 10% of the overall RCI inventory). Then do some research on those individual resorts on TUG or other resources.

TUG, Redweek and other sites have owner-rental listings just about anywhere you want to go.

 

[kmsimone]

We have had zero luck through RCI. Need to book very much in advance. Best best might be to rent your points and use the cash to book on your own. If you are not looking for a prime week there are deals everywhere.