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

[randomiam79]

Just made my first attempt at timeshare exchange with our 'other' timeshare week. Didn't realize what a headache it was trying to deal with RCI, II, etc. this fee, then that fee, blah blah blah. I didn't know you can't even look and see what's available without paying the $89/year membership fee. Then $219 per exchange.
I guess I've just gotten spoiled with DVC and how (relatively) easy it is to go different places, though I haven't exchanged with RCI or II through DVc either (why would we want to do that? Ha)
Sorry, just a little rant.
Makes me appreciate DVC, even with its inadequaciesa t times, it is still better than other timeshare, exchange companies, etc. IMO

 

[robinb]

Just made my first attempt at timeshare exchange with our 'other' timeshare week. Didn't realize what a headache it was trying to deal with RCI, II, etc. this fee, then that fee, blah blah blah. I didn't know you can't even look and see what's available without paying the $89/year membership fee. Then $219 per exchange.
I guess I've just gotten spoiled with DVC and how (relatively) easy it is to go different places, though I haven't exchanged with RCI or II through DVc either (why would we want to do that? Ha)
Sorry, just a little rant.
Makes me appreciate DVC, even with its inadequaciesa t times, it is still better than other timeshare, exchange companies, etc. IMO

I'm sorry that you ran into some issues trading your other timeshare. Did you at least get what you wanted? I guess I don't quite understand your objection to the membership fee and the exchange fee. That is how it's done in the timeshare industry. Even DVC charges an exchange fee when trading with RCI. FWIW, I tried to exchange twice through DVC (once to France and once to Hawaii) and I came away empty handed.

 

[bwvBound]

Makes me appreciate DVC, even with its inadequaciesa t times, it is still better than other timeshare, exchange companies, etc. IMO

DVC is exceptional at some things. I also consider my other timeshares as exceptional at some/certain things, too.

• Need to stay within an easy walk of the Dolphin Conference Center? DVC is the ticket! No other timeshare makes that happen!
  
• Want to stay just outside Yellowstone National Park's gate? Worldmark makes it happen at the West Village gate.
  
• Want to drive up the Pacific Coast with a one night stay after a reasonable day's drive moving point to point from Baja to Vancouver? Again, Worldmark.
  
• Want to visit Disneyland? Worldmark offers me two properties within walking distance! I can often get 'last minute availability' at one of them.
  
• Want to visit a local resort just for 'day use' to use the fitness center, the sauna, the pools, or hot tubs? That won't be DVC's Grand Cal (although an easy drive from home) -- but I am welcome at my Grand Pacific Resort property.
  
• Want to board the horses at a lovely location with miles of trails, golf course, tennis, hot springs, private air strip and more? Oh, well -- we had that but it is now gone. (Not all timeshares are forever!)
  
• Want two weeks back to back in South Africa? RCI exchanges pulled that off easily with one visit to their website.
  
• Want a week at DVC WDW without using your DVC points? RCI is sending me again later this month!

We've been trading in RCI for nearly 14 years and II for almost the same. Both have been excellent tools for our purposes. Timeshares are a game ... learn the ropes and have fun with them. Game on!

 

[robinb]

DVC is exceptional at some things. I also consider my other timeshares as exceptional at some/certain things, too.

• Need to stay within an easy walk of the Dolphin Conference Center? DVC is the ticket! No other timeshare makes that happen!
• Want to stay just outside Yellowstone National Park's gate? Worldmark makes it happen at the West Village gate.
• Want to drive up the Pacific Coast with a one night stay after a reasonable day's drive moving point to point from Baja to Vancouver? Again, Worldmark.
• Want to visit Disneyland? Worldmark offers me two properties within walking distance! I can often get 'last minute availability' at one of them.
• Want to visit a local resort just for 'day use' to use the fitness center, the sauna, the pools, or hot tubs? That won't be DVC's Grand Cal (although an easy drive from home) -- but I am welcome at my Grand Pacific Resort property.
• Want to board the horses at a lovely location with miles of trails, golf course, tennis, hot springs, private air strip and more? Oh, well -- we had that but it is now gone. (Not all timeshares are forever!)
• Want two weeks back to back in South Africa? RCI exchanges pulled that off easily with one visit to their website.
• Want a week at DVC WDW without using your DVC points? RCI is sending me again later this month!

We've been trading in RCI for nearly 14 years and II for almost the same. Both have been excellent tools for our purposes. Timeshares are a game ... learn the ropes and have fun with them. Game on!

Can you tell me the names of the timeshares you own?

 

[DVC Sue]

We love our DVC. It has really enriched our vacations and allowed us to stay in much better accommodations than we have otherwise. Color us happy!!

 

[randomiam79]

I guess I'm just cheap lol.
We didn't join either company so we'll be sticking with our week in Orlando off- property.
I don't object to fees, but was a little naive to what exchanging entailed. Its so easy with DVC to pick a resort and go (though i haven't tried to trade out of dvc yet) I've just gotten used to it being easy.
DVC advertises a $95 exchange fee, but i was previously unaware that other companies charge that amount for the mere opportunity to trade, plus another couple hundred to complete an exchange.

I'm sure I'll get made fun of for not doing my research, etc, etc, but here's the deal
We were given a timeshare week that was paid of and up to date on mf's and took over the yearly maintenance fees. At that tine we were told we could trade out whenever we wanted for around a $95 exchange fee. I just wasn't expecting $300. We are fortunate that we like our resort and location so don't really need to trade out.

 

[randomiam79]

Is it easy to trade into DVC via RCI. We have a floating week, do you have to have RCI points to trade into DVC?

 

[bwvBound]

Its out (not?) easy to trade into DVC via RCI. We have a floating week, do you have to have RCI points to trade into DVC?

I'm trading in using RCI Weeks against various fixed week timeshare and a points-based mini-system (still through RCI weeks). None of my home resorts trigger RCI's restriction against trading into DVC WDW properties.

Can you tell me the names of the timeshares you own?

We currently are down to these three: Worldmark the Club (points-based mini system; trades through RCI / II with 'confirm first'); Grand Pacific Palisades (fixed summer week in SoCal coastal region; trades through RCI); and DVC. We supplement this with a non-owner position in Wyndham through WinPointVIP.

Sadly, we no longer own Warner Springs Ranch (San Diego mountains) or Seapointer (South Africa, on the coast near Cape Town). WSR was my very favorite spot in all the earth but it was closed in 2012 and sold. Seapointer was a great trader in RCI until it wasn't and it too was closed and sold. (I got lots of great RCI trades off that little week in SA including DVC BWV and Vero Beach in high season!)

 

[bwvBound]

I guess I'm just cheap lol.
We didn't join either company so we'll be sticking with our week in Orlando off- property.
I don't object to fees, but was a little naive to what exchanging entailed. Its so easy with DVC to pick a resort and go (though i haven't tried to trade out of dvc yet) I've just gotten used to it being easy.
DVC advertises a $95 exchange fee, but i was previously unaware that other companies charge that amount for the mere opportunity to trade, plus another couple hundred to complete an exchange.

I'm sure I'll get made fun of for not doing my research, etc, etc, but here's the deal
We were given a timeshare week that was paid of and up to date on mf's and took over the yearly maintenance fees. At that tine we were told we could trade out whenever we wanted for around a $95 exchange fee. I just wasn't expecting $300. We are fortunate that we like our resort and location so don't really need to trade out.

Timeshare exchanges are a bit like gambling or maybe like playing the stock market. If you care to invest some time in personal education and if you enjoy the 'thrill of hunt' you might find that it becomes a very pleasant pastime.

For me (and many others) it is .. ummm ... an addiction. (I just had to warn you!)

 

[abdgeek]

Just made my first attempt at timeshare exchange with our 'other' timeshare week. Didn't realize what a headache it was trying to deal with RCI, II, etc. this fee, then that fee, blah blah blah. I didn't know you can't even look and see what's available without paying the $89/year membership fee. Then $219 per exchange.
I guess I've just gotten spoiled with DVC and how (relatively) easy it is to go different places, though I haven't exchanged with RCI or II through DVc either (why would we want to do that? Ha)
Sorry, just a little rant.
Makes me appreciate DVC, even with its inadequaciesa t times, it is still better than other timeshare, exchange companies, etc. IMO

You're not alone. My sister owns both RCI and DVC. She got RCI points a couple of years ago so that she had more choices of where she could go closer to home. She's been down to WDW a couple of times, but now prefers to do long weekends and wants to be within a three hour drive of home. She uses her DVC points every year, but was frustrated with RCI. When she noticed she hadn't gotten her maintenance fee statement, she finally called them and found out how it really works. You would have thought they would have shared the info or it would have been in her paperwork.

What she found out is that she can only stay at her home resort during odd years(I don't remember which one). If she wants exchanges with RCI during even years, she has to pay the other fees. Now that she knows how it works, she says that's what she'll do.

Don't be afraid to do DVC RCI exchanges. They are very easy to do using the DVC RCI website. So far I've done HGVC@Flamingo in Las Vegas and have Maui Lea and Kona Coast Resort in Hawaii this summer. I will warn you that it takes planning and you may need to start looking about a year out to get what you want. That has worked for me and I have other RCI places that are on list of places to stay.

 

[SpectroMan71]

I've only had DVC for about a year. Whenever I try to look up RCI properties in Europe, there's zero availability, yet I've tried some of the hotel's direct websites and there's rooms coming out the wazoo. Is it next to impossible to use DVC for RCI trades in Europe?

 

[DebbieB]

I haven't looked at rack rates for Disney hotels in awhile and I almost fell over when I did last week. Thankful for DVC!

 

[randomiam79]

At this point, with young kids, we aren't really interested in trading into RCI using our DVC points. If we want to go somewhere besides WDW we usually go to VB or HH.

Our other property is a 2 bedroom floating week at Blue Tree Resort which is nice enough and a convenient location if you can't stay on WDW property, but we aren't that impressed (doesn't compare to DVC properties). It is rated Interval Select and RCI gold if anyone can tell me if that's good/bad/ugly as far as trading? What I'm saying is I can't imagine we would be able to trade into DVC for our week at Blue Tree, but maybe I'm wrong?

 

[randomiam79]

I haven't looked at rack rates for Disney hotels in awhile and I almost fell over when I did last week. Thankful for DVC!

Yes! We always look at the rates. Even though we could get FL resident deals we have long since passed our break even point.

And...we certainly do more with it than stay within walking distance to the Dolphin's convention center

 

[Dean]

Just made my first attempt at timeshare exchange with our 'other' timeshare week. Didn't realize what a headache it was trying to deal with RCI, II, etc. this fee, then that fee, blah blah blah. I didn't know you can't even look and see what's available without paying the $89/year membership fee. Then $219 per exchange.
I guess I've just gotten spoiled with DVC and how (relatively) easy it is to go different places, though I haven't exchanged with RCI or II through DVc either (why would we want to do that? Ha)
Sorry, just a little rant.
Makes me appreciate DVC, even with its inadequaciesa t times, it is still better than other timeshare, exchange companies, etc. IMO

Simply your lack of understanding of the system. Overall and even with the yearly membership and higher exchange fees, trading non DVC is a lot cheaper than trading DVC is most situations plus yo have a lot more and better options than when trading DVC as a rule.

Is it easy to trade into DVC via RCI. We have a floating week, do you have to have RCI points to trade into DVC?

For you it sounds like it'll be impossible because not only does DVC block trades for resorts within 30 miles, they also block RCI points trades that stem from Orlando Ownerships. They have not thus far blocked trades from mini systems that have Orlando resorts but when they blocked RCI points trades, a system normally exempt from regional or 1 in 4 type restrictions, I don't think anything is safe. It's usually easier to find trades to DVC on the RCI points side but there has been plenty of RCI weeks availability the last few years.

 

[bwvBound]

At this point, with young kids, we aren't really interested in trading into RCI using our DVC points. If we want to go somewhere besides WDW we usually go to VB or HH.

Our other property is a 2 bedroom floating week at Blue Tree Resort which is nice enough and a convenient location if you can't stay on WDW property, but we aren't that impressed (doesn't compare to DVC properties). It is rated Interval Select and RCI gold if anyone can tell me if that's good/bad/ugly as far as trading? What I'm saying is I can't imagine we would be able to trade into DVC for our week at Blue Tree, but maybe I'm wrong?

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!

 

[thundermouse]

Just made my first attempt at timeshare exchange with our 'other' timeshare week. Didn't realize what a headache it was trying to deal with RCI, II, etc. this fee, then that fee, blah blah blah. I didn't know you can't even look and see what's available without paying the $89/year membership fee. Then $219 per exchange.
I guess I've just gotten spoiled with DVC and how (relatively) easy it is to go different places, though I haven't exchanged with RCI or II through DVc either (why would we want to do that? Ha)
Sorry, just a little rant.
Makes me appreciate DVC, even with its inadequaciesa t times, it is still better than other timeshare, exchange companies, etc. IMO

Really??

I can browse all the RCI properties that are available for booking without paying, even booked one with no issues, of course there is a $95 fee - but that is expected.

You are doing something wrong.

 

[robinb]

I'm trading in using RCI Weeks against various fixed week timeshare and a points-based mini-system (still through RCI weeks). None of my home resorts trigger RCI's restriction against trading into DVC WDW properties.


We currently are down to these three: Worldmark the Club (points-based mini system; trades through RCI / II with 'confirm first'); Grand Pacific Palisades (fixed summer week in SoCal coastal region; trades through RCI); and DVC. We supplement this with a non-owner position in Wyndham through WinPointVIP.

Sadly, we no longer own Warner Springs Ranch (San Diego mountains) or Seapointer (South Africa, on the coast near Cape Town). WSR was my very favorite spot in all the earth but it was closed in 2012 and sold. Seapointer was a great trader in RCI until it wasn't and it too was closed and sold. (I got lots of great RCI trades off that little week in SA including DVC BWV and Vero Beach in high season!)

Thanks! I feel like our family is starting to outgrow DVC. We do like the idea of a timeshare (even though DVC is different than others) so I am thinking of looking for another cheaper timeshare that will trade well.

Really??

I can browse all the RCI properties that are available for booking without paying, even booked one with no issues, of course there is a $95 fee - but that is expected.

You are doing something wrong.

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

 

[thundermouse]

Thanks! I feel like our family is starting to outgrow DVC. We do like the idea of a timeshare (even though DVC is different than others) so I am thinking of looking for another cheaper timeshare that will trade well.

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

Ah ok - the OP should be posting this in TUGBBS then

 

[robinb]

Ah ok - the OP should be posting this in TUGBBS then

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