Wow...dose of reality. Thankful for my DVC

[randomiam79]

As Dean noted above, you won't able to trade your Blue Tree for DVC at WDW -- however you could trade it for DVC Hilton Head or Vero Beach. (Both VB and HH are frequently offered in RCI Weeks.)

I played around with RCI Weeks' Deposit Calculator for the 2BR unit at Blue Tree. Depending on what week you can secure for exchange, it trades somewhere between 18-56 TPU on a scale of 1-60. Week 52 (Christmas) was the high point at 56 TPU (OUTSTANDING trade value), summer weeks were in the low 30's. If you can control which week is assigned for trading, and pick carefully, you'll do well in RCI Weeks.

As for the RCI membership fee ($89), I tend to purchase my membership subscription in large blocks (3, 5 or 10 years) to receive a discount. Periodically RCI offers special rates -- these tend to be at RCI's 5-year anniversary marks. My current membership is paid through 2020 and I recall paying $39/year. Some years I do nothing with that membership .. but most years will see multiple transactions of exchange and 'getaway' (rental vacations).

The individual exchange fee ($219) is also discounted slightly once you start booking your exchanges online w/out phoning a rep. Before accepting an exchange always check to see if you could have booked the same reservation via cash (RCI's Bonus Vacations and related rental inventory). Sometimes I've booked the week on cash for rates very close to the exchange fee and thus saved my deposited week!

Wow! thank you so much. this is really helpful information. As someone so kindly noted above I really do not understand the system, and I know that, and I'm trying to figure it out. Thank you for doing that research for me and sharing those tips!

 

[randomiam79]

Why? Her post was about how much she liked DVC more than RCI.

Yes. It turned a little from there, but the original post was appreciating our DVC. I'm glad to be learning more about the timeshare system, though. Glad there are always people on the DIS that are friendly and willing to help.

 

[Dean]

She was talking about her Blue Green timeshare and not DVC.

Wyndham and BG furnish a full RCI account for members, not just the limited one that DVC offers. For BG points one should be able to look directly into RCI without any cost unless an exchange is accepted just like DVC but with more options.

 

[randomiam79]

Wyndham and BG furnish a full RCI account for members, not just the limited one that DVC offers. For BG points one should be able to look directly into RCI without any cost unless an exchange is accepted just like DVC but with more options.

Sorry, it was Blue Tree, not Blue Green. Blue Tree Resort is a little older timeshare property just outside Disney property. They pretty much gave me a confirmation number to use, but said I'm on my own when it comes to exchanging lol. I guess that's normal too though. Why would they want me exchanging and going somewhere else? No benefit to them to help members learn the ropes of exchanging.

 

[Dean]

Sorry, it was Blue Tree, not Blue Green. Blue Tree Resort is a little older timeshare property just outside Disney property. They pretty much gave me a confirmation number to use, but said I'm on my own when it comes to exchanging lol. I guess that's normal too though. Why would they want me exchanging and going somewhere else? No benefit to them to help members learn the ropes of exchanging.

I'm familiar with the resort. Those of us who own other timeshares are often willing to look at availability in II or RCI to help other DVC members or fans who also own non DVC timeshares when we can. I'd suggest you consider an independent exchange company such as SFX or similar. As a rule there is an economy of scale, paying a membership fee to trade 1 week a year for another single week is usually not worth paying membership fees for.

 

[randomiam79]

I'm familiar with the resort. Those of us who own other timeshares are often willing to look at availability in II or RCI to help other DVC members or fans who also own non DVC timeshares when we can. I'd suggest you consider an independent exchange company such as SFX or similar. As a rule there is an economy of scale, paying a membership fee to trade 1 week a year for another single week is usually not worth paying membership fees for.

Oh. Ok, i was mistaken then. Someone said Blue Green and i didn't know if they were talking about some other resort or company. Thanks for the insight, we would be paying for a membership to trade 1 week for 1 week, so i believe you're right with that statement, that was my original objection. If we had multiple weeks to exchange, we would probably do it no problem.
Blue Tree is definitely not our favorite resort, hence the desire to trade out, but it's working for us for one week a year for now. It gives us a week to do the rest of Orlando, since we usually don't leave WDW when staying DVC.
Thank you for your help

 

[Dean]

Oh. Ok, i was mistaken then. Someone said Blue Green and i didn't know if they were talking about some other resort or company. Thanks for the insight, we would be paying for a membership to trade 1 week for 1 week, so i believe you're right with that statement, that was my original objection. If we had multiple weeks to exchange, we would probably do it no problem.
Blue Tree is definitely not our favorite resort, hence the desire to trade out, but it's working for us for one week a year for now. It gives us a week to do the rest of Orlando, since we usually don't leave WDW when staying DVC.
Thank you for your help

Bluegreen and Bluetree are different, both were mentioned. There are several independent exchange companies that would be better, most don't require a membership fee, often the exchange fee is less and they work best for the occasional trade whether it be DVC or other. If you're not happy with the resort, you may want to consider is to join either II or RCI (BT is in both) and trade every year for a better resort. That'll add maybe $250 per week to your costs but for a full week in a much nicer unit/resort and maybe even trading up, it may be worth it. For that purpose RCI may be better in this situation but both are reasonable to do this. As noted, it largely depends on your deposit options and that I do not know for BT. The other question is whether you have an internal trading preference to Westgate resorts or any internal trading options, I really don't know how this works since Westgate came into the picture later (I'm assuming they're still related).

 

[randomiam79]

Thanks
Westgate owns some of the buildings/
units at Blue Tree, but not ours. "Our"interest at BT is managed by SPM. If we knew then what we know now we may not have accepted the week. Sounds like we'd almost be better off without out, joining RCI or II, and purchasing getaways or sell-off weeks.

Better not go too much farther with this conversation though, since it is not Disney-related anymore someone is bound to pull the plug on this thread lol

 

[randomiam79]

Bluegreen and Bluetree are different, both were mentioned. There are several independent exchange companies that would be better, most don't require a membership fee, often the exchange fee is less and they work best for the occasional trade whether it be DVC or other. If you're not happy with the resort, you may want to consider is to join either II or RCI (BT is in both) and trade every year for a better resort. That'll add maybe $250 per week to your costs but for a full week in a much nicer unit/resort and maybe even trading up, it may be worth it. For that purpose RCI may be better in this situation but both are reasonable to do this. As noted, it largely depends on your deposit options and that I do not know for BT. The other question is whether you have an internal trading preference to Westgate resorts or any internal trading options, I really don't know how this works since Westgate came into the picture later (I'm assuming they're still related).

BTW we own week 28 at BT in a 2 bedroom in addition to our DVC points.

 

[bwvBound]

Thanks
Westgate owns some of the buildings/
units at Blue Tree, but not ours. "Our"interest at BT is managed by SPM. If we knew then what we know now we may not have accepted the week. Sounds like we'd almost be better off without out, joining RCI or II, and purchasing getaways or sell-off weeks.

If it makes you feel any better, you could not have joined either RCI or II w/out first owning an affiliated timeshare that permits its owners to open an exchange membership. (I word it this way as you cannot join RCI based on your DVC membership. In this case, DVC's is a corporate membership with RCI and certain features such as membership, rental weeks and others are not conveyed to the individual.)

Edited to add: Look -- we are back to "DVC-related" conversation. The thread remains legitimate.

 

[bwvBound]

BTW we own week 28 at BT in a 2 bedroom in addition to our DVC points.

If you can indeed book and bank a 2BR unit for week 28 you can expect 33 Trade Power Units (TPU) through RCI Weeks. That is a reasonable number to work with and you should get some very nice trades for that week. You might even pull off two vacation weeks from a single deposit if you travel in off-season.

Do consider that RCI Weeks allows you to combine multiple deposits together to build up your TPU balance and gives change back if you book a week that doesn't exceed your available TPU. TPU acts like a mini-point-system but with full-week inventory.

Just to keep you interested ... I've seen lots of DVC HH inventory (in low season) starting at just 7 TPU! And Vero, in summer, for 18 TPU!

 

[randomiam79]

If you can indeed book and bank a 2BR unit for week 28 you can expect 33 Trade Power Units (TPU) through RCI Weeks. That is a reasonable number to work with and you should get some very nice trades for that week. You might even pull off two vacation weeks from a single deposit if you travel in off-season.

Do consider that RCI Weeks allows you to combine multiple deposits together to build up your TPU balance and gives change back if you book a week that doesn't exceed your available TPU. TPU acts like a mini-point-system but with full-week inventory.

Just to keep you interested ... I've seen lots of DVC HH inventory (in low season) starting at just 7 TPU! And Vero, in summer, for 18 TPU!

Thanks so much. All of this is very helpful in learning the ins and outs of trading.

So if our week netted 33 points, for example, and we booked a week that cost 18 tpu (like DVC VB), we could book another vacation with the other 15 points if there was something available? How long before the 'points' expire?
TIA

 

[randomiam79]

So what I've learned so far is to appreciate my DVC for its simplicity and what it allows us to do, but there are far more options that i can explore with the other companies.

 

[bwvBound]

So if our week netted 33 points, for example, and we booked a week that cost 18 tpu (like DVC VB), we could book another vacation with the other 15 points if there was something available? How long before the 'points' expire?
TIA

Right! A deposit in RCI Weeks is valid for a 3 year window based around the original check-in date of the deposit: 1 year before through 2 years following. If you combine various deposits (or combine a new deposit to old "change") -- the combined result is valid for 2 years following the date you performed the transaction of combining.

Of course ... there are fees to combine and an exchange fee for each vacation booked from your available TPU. No fees, at this time, to deposit or to simply peruse the inventory online.

 

[SilverMickey]

I tried to get the information for my question with reading this up to date thread, but it seems it has me even more lost. You guys are so knowledgeable about this stuff and well I AM NOT!

First off I'm stealing this thread and if i should not please tell me where to post these questions!!! (If you use abbreviations tell me what they mean)

MY brother has had RCI for forever and does not use it very often now that he is divorced and kids are grown and gone so he offered me a week for vacation. He said he isn't really interested in the work behind it but will help me out when he can, but I would have to do the resort search. He has weeks to exchange not points?
His resort is in North Conway, New Hampshire for a 2 bedroom? Not sure of the color of the week. (We will get together in the next few weeks)
He has let me rent weeks from him before and I have stayed in some really nice places...
How do I find out the power his unit had to trade?
How far in advance can/should I start looking?
In a perfect world we would spend a week at Animal Kingdom resorts. It will be either 3 or 4 of us. And it would happen the 2nd week in December 2015. (yes 2 long long long years away)

Thanks for anyones input. DIS always gets me on the right track for great vacations!

I assume DVC has different caliber exchange rates for its different resorts. Where does the Animal Kingdom resorts fall... High or low or plum down the middle?

 

[randomiam79]

I tried to get the information for my question with reading this up to date thread, but it seems it has me even more lost. You guys are so knowledgeable about this stuff and well I AM NOT!

First off I'm stealing this thread and if i should not please tell me where to post these questions!!! (If you use abbreviations tell me what they mean)

Steal away! People have been very helpful on here and I feel like i have a little bit of a handle on my question, at least enough to get started researching.

I'll keep watching the thread and interested to see what else i can learn. Thanks everyone

 

[bwvBound]

MY brother has had RCI <snip> he offered me a week for vacation. He said he isn't really interested in the work behind it but will help me out when he can, but I would have to do the resort search. He has weeks to exchange not points?

His resort is in North Conway, New Hampshire for a 2 bedroom? Not sure of the color of the week.

How do I find out the power his unit had to trade?
How far in advance can/should I start looking?

In a perfect world we would spend a week at Animal Kingdom resorts. It will be either 3 or 4 of us. And it would happen the 2nd week in December 2015. (yes 2 long long long years away)

I assume DVC has different caliber exchange rates for its different resorts. Where does the Animal Kingdom resorts fall... High or low or plum down the middle?

Welcome to the thread!

If your brother really wants to stay clear of the 'work' - inquire if he might share his RCI login with you? Once logged in, you (and he) might review the past deposit history to see what specific weeks were deposited from his home resort to RCI. Note the resort #, the week #, the unit size, etc. You can then plug similar data into the Deposit Calculator to determine the "trade power" of future deposits. It will also warn you if your deposit is "too late" to receive the full Trade Power (thus being penalized as a "late deposit"). For best results, be sure to get that deposit in at least 10-12 months from the deposit's check-in date.

Once you have a week on deposit, you may search for exchanges going out 2 years from the deposit. The results may be limited by a number of factors including: (a) the RCI membership expiration for your brother's account; (b) available inventory in the RCI pool of exchanges. Related thought: DVC tends to deposit their inventory to RCI Weeks about 7 months out -- so don't be discouraged if you don't see AKV a year out!

As for Trade Power Units (TPU) needed for AKV -- the values swing wildly based on supply/demand more than 'caliber.' Generally speaking, the DVC properties at WDW require higher TPU values than DVC at Vero Beach or DVC Hilton Head. Within the WDW properties, it may be easier to exchange into Saratoga Springs (SSR) or Old Key West (OKW) than Beach Club simply based on the number of units available. In this sense, AKV is "middle of the pack": more plentiful than Beach Club but more scarce than SSR.

As for recommended strategy:

a) Explore your brother's RCI account history and the Deposit Calculator. Work with him to get one or more weeks from his home resort deposited to RCI Weeks.
b) Join The Timeshare Users Group (TUG, $15 for first year) to gain access to their "Sightings" board. Study that board for past reports of DVC exchanges. Monitor how many TPU were required for various exchanges at/near the time of year you wish to travel.
c) If the numbers justify -- combine multiple deposits from your brother's home resort to get 40-50 TPU in a single deposit line item. (Determine the number of TPU required based on your research in TUG's Sightings board.)
d) Create an RCI Weeks "Ongoing Search" (OGS) for your intended travel. The OGS will specific the location (by either geography or specific resort list) and date range. You will be asked to pay the exchange fee when you open the OGS. BTW, get the OGS opened as early as possible. I tend to open my (almost annual) OGS for DVC BWV about 51 weeks in advance of travel.
e) Wait. Oh, bother -- STALK. While you are waiting for that exchange to "match" -- stalk the TUG Sightings board to "watch" the rolls of DVC inventory hitting RCI. From this you can predict the earliest date for your possible match and can also monitor the current trends in TPU needed for exchange. You might also fire up RCI's website and run casual queries to see if you see interesting alternatives.

Good luck!

 

[SilverMickey]

Welcome to the thread!

If your brother really wants to stay clear of the 'work' - inquire if he might share his RCI login with you? Once logged in, you (and he) might review the past deposit history to see what specific weeks were deposited from his home resort to RCI. Note the resort #, the week #, the unit size, etc. You can then plug similar data into the Deposit Calculator to determine the "trade power" of future deposits. It will also warn you if your deposit is "too late" to receive the full Trade Power (thus being penalized as a "late deposit"). For best results, be sure to get that deposit in at least 10-12 months from the deposit's check-in date.

Once you have a week on deposit, you may search for exchanges going out 2 years from the deposit. The results may be limited by a number of factors including: (a) the RCI membership expiration for your brother's account; (b) available inventory in the RCI pool of exchanges. Related thought: DVC tends to deposit their inventory to RCI Weeks about 7 months out -- so don't be discouraged if you don't see AKV a year out!

As for Trade Power Units (TPU) needed for AKV -- the values swing wildly based on supply/demand more than 'caliber.' Generally speaking, the DVC properties at WDW require higher TPU values than DVC at Vero Beach or DVC Hilton Head. Within the WDW properties, it may be easier to exchange into Saratoga Springs (SSR) or Old Key West (OKW) than Beach Club simply based on the number of units available. In this sense, AKV is "middle of the pack": more plentiful than Beach Club but more scarce than SSR.

As for recommended strategy:

a) Explore your brother's RCI account history and the Deposit Calculator. Work with him to get one or more weeks from his home resort deposited to RCI Weeks.
b) Join The Timeshare Users Group (TUG, $15 for first year) to gain access to their "Sightings" board. Study that board for past reports of DVC exchanges. Monitor how many TPU were required for various exchanges at/near the time of year you wish to travel.
c) If the numbers justify -- combine multiple deposits from your brother's home resort to get 40-50 TPU in a single deposit line item. (Determine the number of TPU required based on your research in TUG's Sightings board.)
d) Create an RCI Weeks "Ongoing Search" (OGS) for your intended travel. The OGS will specific the location (by either geography or specific resort list) and date range. You will be asked to pay the exchange fee when you open the OGS. BTW, get the OGS opened as early as possible. I tend to open my (almost annual) OGS for DVC BWV about 51 weeks in advance of travel.
e) Wait. Oh, bother -- STALK. While you are waiting for that exchange to "match" -- stalk the TUG Sightings board to "watch" the rolls of DVC inventory hitting RCI. From this you can predict the earliest date for your possible match and can also monitor the current trends in TPU needed for exchange. You might also fire up RCI's website and run casual queries to see if you see interesting alternatives.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for your insight! This raises one more question... What is "a) the RCI membership expiration for your brother's account"

I think I can get a handle on all this and also I think my brother will share is login stuff with me.

Again thank you.

 

[bwvBound]

Thanks so much for your insight! This raises one more question... What is "a) the RCI membership expiration for your brother's account"

Your brother's RCI account might be "perpetual" (the membership being maintained through this home resort's dues and cost structure) or it might be "year by year" (with membership dues paid directly by the individual, your brother). If his membership is, as mine is, "year by year" -- then it has some fixed date that it expires. He determines that expiration date based on paying for one or more years of membership in advance.

You cannot search for an exchange that reaches beyond the RCI account expiration date.

 

[SilverMickey]

Thank you again!