Trading an RCI week to stay at DVC

[utahkennedys]

Did you see those weeks by searching for an exchange or looking at extra vacations? I see a whole list for extras but not when I try to search.

Thanks!
Goofygirl

This is what I see when I search for exchanges only using a July 2010 week.

 

[utahkennedys]

11 months is the earliest you'll see anything unless DVC deposits non member inventory.

I saw 84 WDW DVC weeks at 4 resorts earlier tonight, right now there are 87 at those same 4 resorts.

That is probably about right, I never count but there were quite a few, still less than a few weeks ago when there were well over 120, and it seems like RCI deposits them in bulk...

 

[Brian Noble]

Getting accurate information about trade power is surprisingly difficult. RCI treats it as a trade secret, though there's a lot you can learn by playing around with the system and comparing your results to what others see. The "new" search interface that was deployed in the last several months has made this a little easier.

Most RCI reps won't try to explain it to you, in part because most owners think that "gold crown/red" should mean they can get whatever they want, so it ends up being an argument. But, it's also in part because many of the folks at RCI don't really understand it either. On the other hand, an experienced and dedicated rep can pretty much tell you exactly where you stand without even looking, once they know what resort/week you have.

Goofygirl: I'm afraid we just don't have good news for you---if you can't see them in the Exchange tab by searching for, say, DV06 (SSR), then you won't be able to exchange for them with your current deposit.

There's a chance that, going forward, the trade power required will drop some, but I wouldn't count on it---it all depends on supply and demand.

 

[culli]

RCI is a mystery....long story but even the reps don't know how trade power works and everytime you call you get a different answer to include what you hear from a supervisor. I have the exact same week, unit size, resort etc as someone else........they see every DVC.........me? I can't see anything my trade power for the exact same thing is on the opposite side of the trade power spectrum I spoke with numerous supervisors and even sent in an e-mail..........WOW RCI really needs to get their stories straight. I know people love RCI but I have had to deal with them a few times and everytime it is a confusing mess. I have dealt with II and have never had issues. Ok ok enough with my rant but good luck with RCI, I for one can't figure them out.

 

[Brian Noble]

Did you deposit at the same time in advance?

 

[culli]

Did you deposit at the same time in advance?

They did deposit theirs a little earlier (within a few weeks of each other) but........same week 26 for 2010 (about 18 months out) PLUS they just deposited a 2009 week and can see everything. I gave RCI their info and multiple people cannot figure it out. The first answer is always their are no DVC in the system yet NOBODY is getting DVC trades........I don't want to turn this thread into why I hate RCI just hope people get better luck than I get with RCI. FYI - I was not just looking at DVC but other trades I was interested.

 

[Sparklin]

Yeah and I was even told that even if we bank our 2010 or 2011 it wouldn't have enough power to get a DVC property. Ugh.

 

[btrim]

Dean could you tell me where you own through RCI that has enough trade power for Disney? My DH and I are looking at picking up another timeshare (we own an II resort in Orlando and we own DVC) to use for trade to other places and that would also trade to Disney.

 

[RobDoc]

Dean could you tell me where you own through RCI that has enough trade power for Disney? My DH and I are looking at picking up another timeshare (we own an II resort in Orlando and we own DVC) to use for trade to other places and that would also trade to Disney.

We own a number of timeshare weeks and have been able to see DVC using our weeks in IN, GA and SC. There is a little variation, depending on when our weeks were deposited (some were only deposited the minimum 2 weeks before arrival and thus have a lower trade power and won't bring up any DVC resorts), but we were able to trade a 2BR in GA (White week) for a 1BR at SSR this coming fall. Right now, with a week banked from our HH (non-Disney) resort, we could get Studios, 1BRs, 2BRs at SSR, OKW, VWL, HH and Studios/1BRs at BCV, BWV and VB with dates thru the end of the year.

The resorts are Petit Crest (GA), French Lick Springs (IN) and Harbourside III (SC) , but we also own weeks at The Rushes (WI) and Tree Tops (Gatlinburg, TN) which we use to stay at those locations. We have not exchanged either of those thru RCI. Tree Tops is also part of Amber Vacations - another point based program with a small group for internal trades. We have used that program to exchane to Sunrise Ridge, in Pigeon Forge, TN - we can get almost 2 weeks of stays by trading our week at Tree Tops. Harbourside is a quartershare resort, where each owner has 13 weeks each year and those weeks also trade via RCI.

We also have weeks banked at these same resorts that are unable to see any DVC inventory - some of it depends on the dates of the weeks, the trading strength of the resort itself and how far in advance the week was spacebanked.

 

[btrim]

Thank you so much Webmaster Doc. I knew either you or Dean would have some great information. We were actually looking at some RCI locations in NC or SC because ould children live in that area and we love to visit them and we just love vacationing there. I think I will keep looking in that area. We have checked on TUG for resales and they seem to have several in the areas we would like.

 

[RobDoc]

Some RCI resorts are geared to allow RCI Points memberships which offer some more flexibility for reserving thru RCI. Dean is more familiar with that program and, I believe, owns a RCI Points membership. He has posted some great information about that option.

Some of our resorts do offer that as an option, but we decided to stick with the weeks program which meets our needs just fine at this time and involves no additional expense to switch to points. Some resorts are being sold on a points basis just like DVC.

The RCI Points membership works a little differently than RCI Weeks and I think is more like the DVC system where you "pay" for reservations using the points. I'm not as familiar with RCI Points, but we have been Weeks members for 16 years now.

We have a couple of weeks we have never used except as RCI exchanges (have never even seen the villa) and we have several that we only use for stays since we enjoy the resorts so much ("Buy where you want to stay!" )

 

[btrim]

I have always thought no matter what type of timeshare you own, you should purchase according to where you would like to stay. That way if you can't trade you won't be unhappy staying at your home resort. We own at SSR and AKV and we enjoy both resorts. We love having the option to try others, but we are never disappointed if we are staying at those resorts. That is why I was thinking if we bought along the east coast, we wouldn't be unhappy if we couldn't trade into Disney or any other timeshare. I do like the point system though and we are thinking of changing our Orlando II timeshare to the point system. I would like to know more about the RCI point system. Maybe Dean will post a link or some further information. I just want to say thanks for all you do for these boards. I always know I can trust the information you post and have used your resort layouts, etc many times.

 

[Dean]

They did deposit theirs a little earlier (within a few weeks of each other) but........same week 26 for 2010 (about 18 months out) PLUS they just deposited a 2009 week and can see everything. I gave RCI their info and multiple people cannot figure it out. The first answer is always their are no DVC in the system yet NOBODY is getting DVC trades........I don't want to turn this thread into why I hate RCI just hope people get better luck than I get with RCI. FYI - I was not just looking at DVC but other trades I was interested.

One thing about RCI is that it SEEMS that some portion of the trade power is set on checkin based on variables that change such as the number of units in the system at the time for a given resort, week and area. If you happen to deposit at the wrong time, you're just stuck. Also as I think it was Brian that mentioned, it appears that if you deposit too early you can also lose trade power.

Dean could you tell me where you own through RCI that has enough trade power for Disney? My DH and I are looking at picking up another timeshare (we own an II resort in Orlando and we own DVC) to use for trade to other places and that would also trade to Disney.

The only things we own that trade with RCI are our RCI points week and Bluegreen. With BG, we can deposit most any week, unit size and resort that we want with a few limitations on which units and some resorts that are loosely associated. That allows me to vary the cost and demand of any deposits by selecting the resort, week and unit size. If I want Orlando (other than DVC), I might deposit a cheap studio, for HI, DVC or similar, I go up the ladder to a 1 BR or even a 2 BR for a better and more costly week. I'm just about to do my own trade test by getting different weeks, unit sizes and resorts. I should end up with 5 different units that generally fit best with my thinking of what should be the best and cheapest. I'll put my interpretation to the test in about 4 months.

 

[Dean]

Thank you so much Webmaster Doc. I knew either you or Dean would have some great information. We were actually looking at some RCI locations in NC or SC because ould children live in that area and we love to visit them and we just love vacationing there. I think I will keep looking in that area. We have checked on TUG for resales and they seem to have several in the areas we would like.

I like BG for this situation as they trade with both RCI and II (lessor degree), RCI weeks is included and they are NOT in RCI points. They have great resorts in MB and one of 3 in the Charleston area. The advantage of having weeks at a NONE RCI points resort is that you can do points for deposit if you also have a RCI points membership (at least currently) which you can't do for a regular week at a RCI points resort if that week in not in RCI points. I was able to turn 50K RCI points into 550K points this way very cheaply overall. While I think it could be a good value, I don't think I'd do this just to trade into DVC. One thing to consider is how you'll use it overall and thus I wouldn't rule out Marriott or Westin even if it means not being able to trade to DVC.

What resort are you thinking of converting. You mentioned II, of course II doesn't have points. As a rule, it's cheaper to buy something else than to convert to a points system unless you do it as a purchase conversion.

I would generally agree it's better to buy something you can use but it depends on the relative cost of each. I think both Wyndham and BG offer a good balance of resort options, low price, fairly user friendly and a good value. One thing to note with BG is there is no home resort priority so unless you get a specific week you'd like to use such as race week or bike week, it doesn't matter unless the system falls apart.

 

[Goofygirl17]

Thank you everyone for the information and advice. I guess I'll leave my search in for now since we don't have any other plans and just see what happens. We figured it was worth a try since we still have 5 days left on our park tickets plus water parks etc.

Thanks again!
Goofygirl

 

[Brian Noble]

One thing about RCI is that it SEEMS that some portion of the trade power is set on checkin based on variables that change such as the number of units in the system at the time for a given resort, week and area. If you happen to deposit at the wrong time, you're just stuck.

Exactly. For example, if your resort happened to bulk-bank between the two deposits, the owner who deposited second loses.

This is one reason why it is advantageous to own at a resort that is no longer in active sales---it eliminates the chance that some clever sales manager decides to deposit a bunch of prime unsold inventory to generate fresh tour prospects.

 

[culli]

Exactly. For example, if your resort happened to bulk-bank between the two deposits, the owner who deposited second loses.

This is one reason why it is advantageous to own at a resort that is no longer in active sales---it eliminates the chance that some clever sales manager decides to deposit a bunch of prime unsold inventory to generate fresh tour prospects.

I totally understand that, none of these situaitons were the case. When they have the other account and searching with it and RCI can't figure out why, not even a hint except they did say your friends account appears to have a glitch That is the best they could come up with. Not that big of a deal because it has great power in II, it was just frustrating. The only thing we could think of is with my friends week for same unit/time they didn't need another one?

 

[btrim]

What resort are you thinking of converting. You mentioned II, of course II doesn't have points. As a rule, it's cheaper to buy something else than to convert to a points system unless you do it as a purchase conversion.

We were think of converting our Liki Tiki (Island One) II resort to points. They have their own point system with Club Navigo. Right now we are thinking down the road a couple of years when we want to come down for the month of January, we could get four weeks out of our 3BR unit instead of two. It will cost us some money, but they have come way down on the cost, so we think it is a good way to increase our flexibility. Also they have several other resorts that this will make available to us. I guess we just need to decide where we want to pick up another TS for go for it. It is just that I am much more familiar with the II system and feel a little inadequate about going into another system. We do love the points system though. I didn't realize that some resorts were both. I think I will get on the RCI website and see what I can find out. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Brian Noble]

When they have the other account and searching with it and RCI can't figure out why, not even a hint except they did say your friends account appears to have a glitch

Yeah, be careful. There are two ways they can "fix" the discrepancy.

 

[Dean]

What resort are you thinking of converting. You mentioned II, of course II doesn't have points. As a rule, it's cheaper to buy something else than to convert to a points system unless you do it as a purchase conversion.

We were think of converting our Liki Tiki (Island One) II resort to points. They have their own point system with Club Navigo. Right now we are thinking down the road a couple of years when we want to come down for the month of January, we could get four weeks out of our 3BR unit instead of two. It will cost us some money, but they have come way down on the cost, so we think it is a good way to increase our flexibility. Also they have several other resorts that this will make available to us. I guess we just need to decide where we want to pick up another TS for go for it. It is just that I am much more familiar with the II system and feel a little inadequate about going into another system. We do love the points system though. I didn't realize that some resorts were both. I think I will get on the RCI website and see what I can find out. Thanks for all your help.

I don't know much about that system but if it costs more than a minimal amount, I'd think twice. Good luck.