RCI for Europe?

[Happy99]

We are thinking of doing a Europe trip in 2014. Not sure yet of where we will be visiting. We have been to Europe before and trying to decide where we want to go next.

My question is how far in advance should I / could I book an RCI hotel with DVC points for Europe?

Are they only available for weekly stays or can it be nightly? We tend to stay about 3-4 nights in one location before moving on to a different location

Is one better than the other? Looking at RCI now through the DVC link it doesn't show much in Europe at all but not sure if I am looking in the correct area

Thank you

 

[amym2]

I don't have any experience booking trips through RCI, but we are also thinking about a Europe trip in a couple of years (probably Germany, Italy, France) so I played around with the DVC/RCI page yesterday and there were only a few resorts anywhere near where we want to go, and those had very limited times available. Most of the resorts I checked were for nightly booking and didn't require a full week. If you put in the location and month, it should tell you what is available and how many points per night or per week, depending on which they offer. Pretty much looked like we'll have to go a different route to be able to stay where we want to.

Where are you thinking of going?

 

[abdgeek]

I haven't booked a European RCI stay yet, but I've booked a couple US RCI stays. All of the European ones are weekly stays only. You should start looking now for 2014. I tend to go to the RCI resort through DVC daily and it is interesting to see how the availability changes. If you have a specific week you are looking for, it may take a while for someone with that week to give it up. Good luck!

 

[Anal Annie]

I was disappointed to find only weekly stays in Europe when we went in 2011 (for Paris & Barcelona). We only wanted about 3-4 nights in any 1 spot.

 

[Dean]

We are thinking of doing a Europe trip in 2014. Not sure yet of where we will be visiting. We have been to Europe before and trying to decide where we want to go next.

My question is how far in advance should I / could I book an RCI hotel with DVC points for Europe?

Are they only available for weekly stays or can it be nightly? We tend to stay about 3-4 nights in one location before moving on to a different location

Is one better than the other? Looking at RCI now through the DVC link it doesn't show much in Europe at all but not sure if I am looking in the correct area

Thank you

You can book the Club Cordial options for less time potentially through BVTC.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I now live in Europe as an expat and take the high speed to Paris about every other month.

There are plenty of nice hotels, both expensive and budget in Paris. Why use points unless you have tons to spare, even then I would rent them and get the $$ to use in Europe.

We thought to use our DVC points for Disneyland Paris but even that is a poor point use and then there was the rule of four problem.

Good luck and let me know if I can share any information about western Europe.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I now live in Europe as an expat and take the high speed to Paris about every other month.

There are plenty of nice hotels, both expensive and budget in Paris. Why use points unless you have tons to spare, even then I would rent them and get the $$ to use in Europe.

We thought to use our DVC points for Disneyland Paris but even that is a poor point use and then there was the rule of four problem.

Good luck and let me know if I can share any information about western Europe.

is there some unwritten rule on the DIS?

"RENT POINTS" is the response to just about any question it seems like

Some of us didn't buy them to run a small business.

 

[Dean]

is there some unwritten rule on the DIS?

"RENT POINTS" is the response to just about any question it seems like

Some of us didn't buy them to run a small business.

I think that's because that for all cash type exchanges renting is often the best option, it's certainly the most cost effective for almost all such situations.

 

[Lynne M]

is there some unwritten rule on the DIS?

"RENT POINTS" is the response to just about any question it seems like

Some of us didn't buy them to run a small business.

I dunno, making one phone call to MS and sending 3 e-mails to the renter didn't seem much like running a small business to me.

Renting points is not 'the answer', but it's a perfectly valid alternative to using exchanges,and I think it's helpful for the OP to be able to make their decision with as much information as possible.

IMO, the minimal effort involved in renting points would give me a much larger choice of hotels and resorts, much more flexible cancellation polices, and the ability to book on my own schedule, not two years out. I don't want to have to plan my vacation around where I happen to be able to find an RCI reservation.

 

[Anal Annie]

is there some unwritten rule on the DIS?

"RENT POINTS" is the response to just about any question it seems like

Some of us didn't buy them to run a small business.

I think that the point requirements at DLP in particular are just simply absurd. The hotels there are not of the same standards and quality as what we are used to in the US and for the number of points they charge to stay there it's just a waste. You can get a room there on cash (obtained by renting points out) for so much less than what you would spend in points. I don't think anybody suggested running a business. We're just saying that unless you have money to burn & points to WASTE then it's a better value to use cash at certain places (like at DLP).

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

You did do the taxes right on that rental income?

LOL!

Seriously, it's like the response to a question is not "information" the poster asked but the automatic rent point

I don't rent. I don't use a broker.

And since my points are "paid" for, cost effective seems a little strange. Of course I never viewed them as an investment. To me the only bad use is one I didn't want to do. (AKA as rentals LOL!)

 

[Lynne M]

The OP is noting that there's not a large selection of RCI resorts available to us in Europe. Cost is not the reason I was discussing renting. It's flexibility and resort choice.

For instance, let's say I want to vacation in Germany. There's precisely one RCI resort DVC members can exchange to in Germany. It's in Oberstaufen.

What if all the things I want to see and do in Germany are in Frankfurt, four hours from Oberstaufen? Do I just book there because I bought these DVC points, and by golly, I'm gonna use 'em? Even if it's a four hour drive each way to the things I'm going to be doing? Even if there are a ton of nice hotels in Frankfurt that are within walking distance of my planned activities?

Nope. I'm booking a hotel in Frankfurt.

So now I've got these DVC points I can't use, because Germany will be the only trip I take this year and I can't bank for some reason. Am I just going to let these points that are worth $1500 on the rental market expire in my account?

Of course not. I'm going to rent them and use the money to pay for a big chunk of my trip to Germany.

If it so happens that there's an RCI resort where I want to vacation, and I've got enough lead time to get the exchange, and the resort has sufficiently good reviews, sure, I'll take it. But the odds of that happening for a European vacation are pretty slim, given the limited number of offerings there.

 

[Anal Annie]

The OP is noting that there's not a large selection of RCI resorts available to us in Europe. Cost is not the reason I was discussing renting. It's flexibility and resort choice.

For instance, let's say I want to vacation in Germany. There's precisely one RCI resort DVC members can exchange to in Germany. It's in Oberstaufen.

What if all the things I want to see and do in Germany are in Frankfurt, four hours from Oberstaufen? Do I just book there because I bought these DVC points, and by golly, I'm gonna use 'em? Even if it's a four hour drive each way to the things I'm going to be doing? Even if there are a ton of nice hotels in Frankfurt that are within walking distance of my planned activities?

Nope. I'm booking a hotel in Frankfurt.

So now I've got these DVC points I can't use, because Germany will be the only trip I take this year and I can't bank for some reason. Am I just going to let these points that are worth $1500 on the rental market expire in my account?

Of course not. I'm going to rent them and use the money to pay for a big chunk of my trip to Germany.

If it so happens that there's an RCI resort where I want to vacation, and I've got enough lead time to get the exchange, and the resort has sufficiently good reviews, sure, I'll take it. But the odds of that happening for a European vacation are pretty slim, given the limited number of offerings there.

What she said! The OP was asking about RCI exchanges for Europe and somehow this turned into a rental thread with some of us explaining the benefits of renting to use the cash instead of points or RCI and some of us bashing the whole idea of renting.

To stray back to the topic a little bit I would point out that the RCI offerings are even more limited for short-term stays of less than 1 week. Often when people make a trip to Europe they're planning to visit more than 1 city or country which makes wanting to rent an entire week in 1 city even less desirable. The whole idea of using RCI in Europe is pretty discouraging. The offerings are slim .

 

[rosanab1031]

We are thinking of doing a Europe trip in 2014. Not sure yet of where we will be visiting. We have been to Europe before and trying to decide where we want to go next.

My question is how far in advance should I / could I book an RCI hotel with DVC points for Europe?

Are they only available for weekly stays or can it be nightly? We tend to stay about 3-4 nights in one location before moving on to a different location

Is one better than the other? Looking at RCI now through the DVC link it doesn't show much in Europe at all but not sure if I am looking in the correct area

Thank you

Funny thing is I actually bought DVC after speaking with my now vacation guide about a long time coming trip to Italy.

If you find a resort that you are interested in I would call member services ASAP and put in a waitlist request. I put my request in for June 2014 in January and just received my confirmation about 2 weeks ago.

Unfortunately ALL European trips booked through RCI are weekly. They used to offer nightly stays but it does not appear to be the case anymore :/ Would have been the preferred way but we are making it work for us.

We will be staying in the Rome area for our week stay then paying OOP for one night in Venice and ending our trip in DLP with a 3 night stay using points

RCI only shows what they currently have available. I would definitely call Member Services to help you with figuring everything out. They are very nice and helpful! Good luck!

 

[Dean]

Unfortunately ALL European trips booked through RCI are weekly. They used to offer nightly stays but it does not appear to be the case anymore :/ Would have been the preferred way but we are making it work for us.

RCI still offers stays other than 7 days for Europe. Several of the resorts on the DVC-RCI list potentially do so being RCI points resorts. From what I can see, RCI has NOT made a decision to not allow less than 7 days for Europe. More likely what is going on is that those 24 RCI points resorts (of the 66 total) have little or no availability, esp on the points side. This is a phenomena that we see across all RCI, that even though a resort may be a member of RCI points, that doesn't mean they will have any deposits for less than a week. DVC does the same thing. ASAMOF, it seems the resorts that have much availability for less than a week are often those that have less demand plus a few that are accustomed to having shorter stays anyway such as Wyndham resorts. That's the very reason I've cautioned against putting any faith in this option.

 

[rosanab1031]

RCI still offers stays other than 7 days for Europe. Several of the resorts on the DVC-RCI list potentially do so being RCI points resorts. From what I can see, RCI has NOT made a decision to not allow less than 7 days for Europe. More likely what is going on is that those 24 RCI points resorts (of the 66 total) have little or no availability, esp on the points side. This is a phenomena that we see across all RCI, that even though a resort may be a member of RCI points, that doesn't mean they will have any deposits for less than a week. DVC does the same thing. ASAMOF, it seems the resorts that have much availability for less than a week are often those that have less demand plus a few that are accustomed to having shorter stays anyway such as Wyndham resorts. That's the very reason I've cautioned against putting any faith in this option.

Could you please explain this statement then? I am finding this all very confusing.

"If you are searching RCI Points® affiliated resorts located in Europe, please note that reservations are allowed only in 7 night increments (7, 14, 21 nights)."

This was pulled from when I went through the member services DVC site and then went to the RCI website.

 

[Dean]

Could you please explain this statement then? I am finding this all very confusing.

"If you are searching RCI Points® affiliated resorts located in Europe, please note that reservations are allowed only in 7 night increments (7, 14, 21 nights)."

This was pulled from when I went through the member services DVC site and then went to the RCI website.

Maybe DVC has decided to limit members to 7 nights only, I can't speak to their decisions. RCI however, still allows the option. I get 16 resorts for less than 7 nights on an RCI search. DVC has a history of not allowing limited options such as not including resorts with limited availability. IMO it really doesn't matter because even if it's an option, the chances of getting something that works out for Europe would be very small. It's fairly small for the US even for most situations.

 

[Dean]

"If you are searching RCI Points® affiliated resorts located in Europe, please note that reservations are allowed only in 7 night increments (7, 14, 21 nights)."

Exactly where did you pull this from so I can double check on the RCI points side.

 

[rosanab1031]

Exactly where did you pull this from so I can double check on the RCI points side.

I clicked on a resort to view availabilty after being transferred over to RCI's website via DVC member site.

 

[Dean]

I clicked on a resort to view availabilty after being transferred over to RCI's website via DVC member site.

I was finally able to reproduce this, thanks for the additional info. This does not appear on the RCI points account listings plus there is at least one RCI points resort in Europe that is available for less than 7 nights. Thus it would appear, as I speculated, that this would be a DVC issue rather than an RCI one. I also suspect, as I mentioned earlier, that it's due to the lack of availability for such items in general. At the end of the day I don't think it makes any difference due to lack of availability of good options for less than 7 days anyway.