RCI TImeshare trade question

Trinity524

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
1,369
Not sure if this is the right forum, please move if not.

We usually stay on property, however, last week DH and I found an awesome deal at Wyndham. 259,000 points bought last week. YAY!

So, only issue is that we love the dining plan and being on property. I told a friend my dilemma and she said you can trade in your Wyndham points for RCI points and trade them for DVC. Is this really true? Has anyone done it? How many Wyndham points are equal to how much at Disney? Is this common or really hard to get?

TIA,
Annie
 
It's really difficult to say how hard it will be. During Peak times, it's almost a given you won't be able to to it as Disney probably won' t have much "deposited" into the RCI system. Even during non-peak times, there are a LOT of people who look to trade into DVC and have alerts and notices set up to give them a heads up that DVC is available so they can grab it quickly.

It also usually doesn't work on a wyndham point to DVC point process. You would make a deposit of X type week of a certain room type from wyndham into the RCI system. You would then try and trade your deposited week for a week someone else deposited into RCI. Unfortunately, from what I've heard, Wyndham doesn't usually have a very strong trade power in the RCI system... and there are a lot of other gotcha's that come up when trying to do an RCI trade....especcially into DVC. (For instance, I think DVC charges a $75 "Transportation fee" to anybody trading into the resort)

That being said.... Since you own Wyndham, I'd honestly say it's not worth trying to get into DVC. With any timeshare, the real value comes from using it within the internal system. (This is the points version of the old "Own where you want to go" wisdom). Wyndham has an EXTREMELY nice resort that is actually closer than some of the DVC properties to the parks in the Bonnet Creek resort. If you check out the "We Loooove Bonnet Creek!" thread, you can see where a LOT of people love the resort and feel it is the same as being on property (as in the views and proximity.). The rooms also tend to be larger than DVC.

As for the Dining plan, While it may help save you some stress by allowing you to prepay for your meals, You can honestly come out ahead and have a more enjoyable/relaxing trip since you are staying offsite by not tied to Disney Dining. If you have a car, you will be able to run off property and enjoy some of the nice dining options outside the Disney gates.... Or you could even run to the Grocery Store and stock up on supplies so that you can cook or prepare meals within your resort room since it has a full kitchen.

Another thing to consider if you are planning multiple Disney trips would be an Annual Pass. If you can fit 2 vacations into the year the pass is valid, it's often cheaper than buying tickets for each vacation. If you are someone who enjoys TS meals, the Tables in Wonderland card is often a better deal than the Dining plan since it also includes discounts on Alcoholic Beverages and you are free to order what you want without having to stay within the confines of the DDP. The free Parking also comes in handy since you are staying offsite.


Ultimately, you will discover that owning Timeshare and staying offsite will change some of the ways you are used to vacationing. The extra space and flexibility will open up a lot of options which if you were exclusively an onsite hotel room type of person just weren't available to you.
 
Thank you so much for explaining in depth!

We don't travel now during peak, but I see all of your points and they are all valid.

Thank you!!!
 
Since it sounds like you are new to timeshare ownership (and vacationing), it may not be a bad idea to check out the TUG forums, or even the Wyndham owners group. There are people there who can give you a better idea on how to make the most out of your timeshare ownership.
 

I appreciate the feedback. You are correct in saying that I am new to the timeshare experience as a whole. I signed up for that website and it seems as indepth as disboards is to WDW.

Thank you again!
 
Actually, Wyndham made changes January 11, 2011, on how Wyndham point owners trade in RCI. Yes, we now have access to ALL of RCI's inventory.

There's a special RCI portal that we access through Wyndham's site. A DVC one bedroom would take 143,000 Wyndham points and a two bedroom 224,000 during prime season. I've seen a few DVC one bedrooms for 121,000 points in high season (less points than prime season). You would also have a $179 RCI trade fee and then DVC charges a $95 fee for RCI trades at the WDW resorts.

The only thing I see in the Wyndham RCI portal for DVC right now are a couple of Saratoga summer studios. Those cost the same amount of points as a prime season one bedroom, though. If you're interested in Disney's Hilton Head resort, there was a one bedroom available for an October 7th check-in the last time I checked.

Of course, if you just bought Wyndham points resale, it will probably be three or four months before your resale ownership is completely closed and your account is active and ready to use. Our first resale purchase with Wyndham took almost four months to complete. And then it took even longer to get the RCI account up and running which allowed us to book Extra Vacations and Last Calls on cash. Our second purchase was a lot faster - about 7 weeks on that one (thank goodness). There's a big learning curve with Wyndham points and then RCI weeks system is a whole different system, but it's worth it to figure it out. Wyndham resale is a great value.

I'm not sure if I'll use my Wyndham points to trade into DVC through the new Wyndham RCI portal, though, because I can book Wyndham's Bonnet Creek internally online and usually within 60 days of checkin the points are reduced - it's such a good deal to stay at Wyndham Bonnet Creek versus paying the $179 RCI trade fee and the $95 DVC fee for trading into DVC onsite. That's almost $300 dollars extra for DVC. I can do a lot of shopping with that money. (Laughter)
 
Thank you so much! I will start looking as soon as I get on the sytem. If not Bonnet Creek looks beautiful!
 
Thank you so much! I will start looking as soon as I get on the sytem. If not Bonnet Creek looks beautiful!

As Wyndham owners, we have two ways to access RCi. The special RCI portal through Wyndham's site for using just our Wyndham points for RCI trades. And then we can log into RCI through www.rci.com (weeks) and book Extra Vacations and Last Calls (cash deals).

When you own Wyndham points, Wyndham pays for your RCI account out of your maintenance fees. But what's nice with Wyndham is I can deposit other weeks I own (not Wyndham) into that RCI account. That way I don't have to have two RCI accounts - one just for Wyndham points and one for my RCI weeks timeshare.

It actually took RCi a few weeks to get my Wyndham RCI portal working correctly - I kept getting a message that they couldn't find my account. RCI IT had to do some extra work to get my Wyndham portal to work.
 


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