Rci points and lg vs small contracts

[rinkfamily]

We are thinking about doing a resale contract in the next year or so. I'm wondering about the RCI points and if anyone has had any positive/negative experiences or words of advice about using RCI or going to any specific locations through them. It would influence our choice whether to buy a small contract and go every other year with different vacations in between or buying a larger contract and using the RCI pts to go to new places when we are 'Disney-ed Out'.

Also, if we did a smaller contract we could afford to do BLT or BCV. If we did a larger contract, we would need to choose between SSR, OKW, or maybe VBR. We live in a tiny town and the closest major airport is a five hour drive. Our vacation times would be mainly be determined by the cost of airline tickets and the kids (oldest is kindergarten, youngest is 10 months) school vacations. As much as I love WDW, I cannot see us doing more than five additional trips after purchasing DVC but I love traveling and hate planning and researching resorts which is why the RCI exchange sounds intriguing. Any thoughts?

 

[Msmithmd]

Buy DVC to stay at DVC resorts. Buy other systems or rent from members at other resorts to stay outside the DVC system. You will gain flexibility and simultaneously save money if you don't use DVC points outside the DVC system.

If I read your post correctly that you don't imagine doing more than five additional trips EVER to WDW, then in my opinion you should not even consider buying DVC. That's analogous to buying a new car with the intention of only driving it 5k miles before you sell it. Fun to think about, but a likely financial disaster.

In this use plan circumstance, I would suggest you simply rent from other owners. That way you don't have the big up-front financial commitment. Also, as long as you plan well in advance, in renting you can take advantage of the home booking window at every resort.

And using RCI trade-outs takes so much more planning than just picking a destination and reserving a cash room at that location, that it's honestly funny that you would find it intriguing. Waaaaay more simple to just pick a destination and go on cash. Timeshare trades can save you money with diligent planning, but they don't reduce planning requirements- they increase them.

 

[jmail048]

If I read your post correctly that you don't imagine doing more than five additional trips EVER to WDW, then in my opinion you should not even consider buying DVC.
In this use plan circumstance, I would suggest you simply rent from other owners. That way you don't have the big up-front financial commitment. Also, as long as you plan well in advance, in renting you can take advantage of the home booking window at every resort.

And using RCI trade-outs takes so much more planning than just picking a destination and reserving a cash room at that location. Timeshare trades can save you money with diligent planning, but they don't reduce planning requirements- they increase them.

I agree with the above comments, Buy Dvc to stay at Dvc. Also buy at the resort you want to stay at for the 11 month booking window. Another thing to look at is the continued cost of ownership. Check the Maintenance Fees for each resort I think VBR is pretty high and those fees add up over the lifetime of the contract.
Trading out to RCI might be nice every so often but I would not go in planning to trade into RCI regularly. If you want RCI did you look into a small RCI contract if possible being you may only want to stay at Disney a few more times.

 

[disneynutz]

Buy DVC to stay at DVC resorts. Buy other systems or rent from members at other resorts to stay outside the DVC system. You will gain flexibility and simultaneously save money if you don't use DVC points outside the DVC system.

If I read your post correctly that you don't imagine doing more than five additional trips EVER to WDW, then in my opinion you should not even consider buying DVC. That's analogous to buying a new car with the intention of only driving it 5k miles before you sell it. Fun to think about, but a likely financial disaster.

In this use plan circumstance, I would suggest you simply rent from other owners. That way you don't have the big up-front financial commitment. Also, as long as you plan well in advance, in renting you can take advantage of the home booking window at every resort.

And using RCI trade-outs takes so much more planning than just picking a destination and reserving a cash room at that location, that it's honestly funny that you would find it intriguing. Waaaaay more simple to just pick a destination and go on cash. Timeshare trades can save you money with diligent planning, but they don't reduce planning requirements- they increase them.

I also agree.

Bill

 

[suemom2kay]

I echo the others. We "bought" our Wyndham Timeshare for free. We use our Wyndham points to stay other places. We also trade into DVC with our Wyndham points via RCI. We are in the process of buying our first 25 DVC points. We will use these points to add a night or two to our RCI week at Disney. DVC is not a good value trading out. But RCI is a GREAT value (if you are a WDW fan) trading in.

 

[JimMIA]

First of all..."Keep Calm - Skate On!"

Rule #1 - As others have stated, buy DVC ONLY for DVC stays. That's where the value is. If it doesn't work for that purpose, it doesn't work.

If you don't like to plan far in advance, DVC is not for you. In fact, probably no timeshare is for you.

If you only plan to use DVC for a few years, it's really not for you. You are going to lose money doing that. IF you buy direct from DVC, you will lose a LOT of money.

Rule #2 - In ANYone's system, exchanging usually means trading lesser accommodations for a desired location.

You can use DVC points - whether you buy direct or resale - for RCI exchanges, but you need a much broader understanding of RCI before you consider that a benefit. DVC may not be the worst RCI exchange vehicle...but I would bet it's in the worst three.

First of all, DVC owners are NOT RCI members. You have to do your exchanges through DVC and you only have access to about 20% of the RCI resorts and none of the other RCI benefits...which are significant.

If you want to exchange through RCI, buy something else.

Bottom line - based on what you've told us, I would certainly look at MANY other options before I considered DVC.

 

[littlestar]

Since you want to travel other places and you need school vacation times (you and lots of other families!), cash may be your best bet. If you said you home schooled and could vacation whenever you wanted to, I'd say try renting at RCI's public rental sites:

http://www.endlessvacationrentals.com/

And for military or government employees:

http://www.afvclub.com/

I wouldn't buy DVC for trading.

 

[Dean]

We are thinking about doing a resale contract in the next year or so. I'm wondering about the RCI points and if anyone has had any positive/negative experiences or words of advice about using RCI or going to any specific locations through them. It would influence our choice whether to buy a small contract and go every other year with different vacations in between or buying a larger contract and using the RCI pts to go to new places when we are 'Disney-ed Out'.

Also, if we did a smaller contract we could afford to do BLT or BCV. If we did a larger contract, we would need to choose between SSR, OKW, or maybe VBR. We live in a tiny town and the closest major airport is a five hour drive. Our vacation times would be mainly be determined by the cost of airline tickets and the kids (oldest is kindergarten, youngest is 10 months) school vacations. As much as I love WDW, I cannot see us doing more than five additional trips after purchasing DVC but I love traveling and hate planning and researching resorts which is why the RCI exchange sounds intriguing. Any thoughts?

I'll agree with the above but add a few thoughts. Trading DVC is not a simple task nor is getting top options in RCI. I'd say that roughly 50-60 options on the previous DVC list were worth considering from a value standpoint. My definition of a reasonable value is somewhere roughly as desirable as DVC that I can't rent for under around $8 per point for the same or similar. Now that DVC has expanded the RCI list, the number of truly desirable options really didn't change much. Add to that you need to plan at least around a year out and preferably closer to 2 years out and it's simply too much risk, too much uncertainty and too large a chance of failure or worse, a poor exchange value. You'll see people talk about how great a time they had at X, Y or Z resort but if you used 270 points for something you could have rented for $600, you didn't get a good value for your DVC points no matter how much you enjoyed the stay. Here's an extreme example. Our last trip to MX we stayed 2 weeks at a resort in RCI's registry Collection. Total costs maybe $600-$650 IIRC and it would have been 1500 DVC points for a trade using DVC.

IMO buying to trade is an absolute answer with no exceptions, don't do it, it's NEVER a good idea and never has been. Owning and deciding to trade or looking to cherry pick but being willing to hold out for only the top options can be a reasonable option for those who own already.

 

[bakerworld]

This question confuses me
When I've looked - which I admit has been twice - I've seen availablity both AK and SSR. A co-worker just did this last year with his RCI and my sister has a co-worker who uses redweek.com and has also been successful.

Why purchase the higher $$ DVC when you can purchase the lower $$ RCI and trade into SSR or AK fairly easily??

 

[supersnoop]

This question confuses me When I've looked - which I admit has been twice - I've seen availablity both AK and SSR. A co-worker just did this last year with his RCI and my sister has a co-worker who uses redweek.com and has also been successful. Why purchase the higher $$ DVC when you can purchase the lower $$ RCI and trade into SSR or AK fairly easily??

What are their up-front and recurring costs for their Timeshare ownership and RCI membership? My understanding is that you need a very high value RCI property in order to get a DVC trade.

 

[Dean]

I'll agree with the above but add a few thoughts. Trading DVC is not a simple task nor is getting top options in RCI. I'd say that roughly 50-60 options on the previous DVC list were worth considering from a value standpoint. My definition of a reasonable value is somewhere roughly as desirable as DVC that I can't rent for under around $8 per point for the same or similar. Now that DVC has expanded the RCI list, the number of truly desirable options really didn't change much. Add to that you need to plan at least around a year out and preferably closer to 2 years out and it's simply too much risk, too much uncertainty and too large a chance of failure or worse, a poor exchange value. You'll see people talk about how great a time they had at X, Y or Z resort but if you used 270 points for something you could have rented for $600, you didn't get a good value for your DVC points no matter how much you enjoyed the stay. Here's an extreme example. Our last trip to MX we stayed 2 weeks at a resort in RCI's registry Collection. Total costs maybe $600-$650 IIRC and it would have been 1500 DVC points for a trade using DVC.

IMO buying to trade is an absolute answer with no exceptions, don't do it, it's NEVER a good idea and never has been. Owning and deciding to trade or looking to cherry pick but being willing to hold out for only the top options can be a reasonable option for those who own already.

It's not too easy to do so plus you lose options, control and have more risk if DVC is the endpoint. It can be cheaper and for those who want to go occasionally and use timeshares for other things, it can be the best way to go but one would have to look at each situation to decide. Truthfully, it would be the best choice for many but they don't have the knowledge or comfort to pull the trigger for that choice.

What are their up-front and recurring costs for their Timeshare ownership and RCI membership? My understanding is that you need a very high value RCI property in order to get a DVC trade.

High value doesn't automatically mean high cost (up front or yearly) and the reverse is true as well. Historically I've averaged about $400 per week trading in (all costs and fees including up front) and should be at about $650 per week going forward. However this approach is highly variable and as I noted above, has negatives. Unless someone truly wants both, it's likely not a good approach.

 

[bakerworld]

What are their up-front and recurring costs for their Timeshare ownership and RCI membership? My understanding is that you need a very high value RCI property in order to get a DVC trade.

Have one sister whose TS annual dues are $500 for a fixed week at St. Petes - 2BR. Her initial cost for her TS was $2200 via resale market. The other sister who routinely trades out her TS thru RCI w/ fees runs her a bit under $700 annually for a 'red week'. She married into her TS so initial costs . Her husband doesn't remember the cost. He said he just kept saying no until they trotted out the facility no one wanted even for Red Weeks. They own DE and PA TS - not 'gold crown' but they are 'red'. She's only been able to trade into SSR or the AK however she's trading into a 2BR.

 

[littlestar]

Why purchase the higher $$ DVC when you can purchase the lower $$ RCI and trade into SSR or AK fairly easily??

I would't recommend purchasing a timeshare based on being able to trade it. Things change all the time with trading and resorts. You could end up with a special assessment on your "deal" timeshare that ends up turning into a big fat nightmare. Plus, when you purchase a timeshare, you have to think about your exit strategy. How are you going to exit paying those dues and your obligation? Easier said than done. At least with DVC I know I can sell it and get something out of it.

I'm not saying I haven't bought another timeshare system - I have (Wyndham points). But only resale and only something that I plan on using because I like their resorts. I did a lot of research before I bought into that system - probably a year's worth of research. Didn't want to get stuck with an albatross around my neck.