How many RCI points would be a good amount to purchase?

[thebigkrumm Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thebigkrumm]

I'm totally new to timeshare and I'm just starting the info-gathering process.

I see lots of deals on resale sites (ebay, etc.) for points, and I was wondering how many would be a good amount to own. What I would typically want is a 2-bedroom unit with decent but not extravagant amenities and decent availability in good locations.

I have some other questions:

• How far in advance do you typically have to book reservations?
• Do points roll over year after year, or do you have to use them in the year they're purchased?
• How many points does it usually take to rent cars?
• Is RCI the best company to purchase through, or is there a better company? (I see RCI everywhere, but someone told me Wyndham was better.)

Thanks for much for helping a newbie!

[Kentonmag Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kentonmag]

This is an example
I do own 280,000 RCI points per year from a resort in Mexico but I also own at the Grandview in Las Vegas, which is in a great location. I own it as a weeks resort but in my last 2 visits they have tried to get me to switch to points (at an extra cost).
As a points resort a one bedroom is 48,000 RCI points and a 2 bedroom is 96,000 RCI points. I have seen both advertised on Ebay and they appeared to go for very little money. A 2 bedroom is 2 x back to back self contained units, so you could use one and bank the points from the other with RCI if you wanted.

As for your other questions
1. The maximum you can book in advance at a points resort is 10 months. If you book using your points at a RCI weeks resort it is a maximum of 2 years from the aniversary day your points become available at your home resort.
2. Your points have to be used within 2 years with RCI, you can pay approx $115 to RCI for a 3rd year but then if not used they're finished.
3. Renting cars comes under RCI Points Partners and most owners are able to use one third of their points up to a maximum of 60,000 points per year for Points Partner products, which include flights, car rentals, theme park tickets etc. I have always got great deals on car rentals and wouldn't consider using RCI points for it. I do use points for flights however.
4. Unfortunately I've never used any other exchange Company other than RCI so I can't answer your last question.

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

1. The maximum you can book in advance at a points resort is 10 months. If you book using your points at a RCI weeks resort it is a maximum of 2 years from the aniversary day your points become available at your home resort.

If you book an RCI Weeks reservation, you can book two years from the current date.

[thebigkrumm Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thebigkrumm]

Wow, that's very informative and you put a lot of effort into it - I appreciate it!

I've decided that points are definitely the way to go for my needs. My only concern is that I don't know how many I would realistically need; I don't want to buy too many and then have excess maintenance fees, or buy too few and then not have enough. Would 100,000 cover a week's stay at most resorts for a decent 2-BR? Would 150,000 be better?

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Would 100,000 cover a week's stay at most resorts for a decent 2-BR? Would 150,000 be better?

Yes, 100K will get you that at most resorts in most places. Hawaii and the Caribbean may take a little more but most 2 bdrs are in the 60K to 80K range. There is a great points deal in the classifieds right now for 91.8K in Australia. I reserved a 2bdr in Carlsbad, CA for 62K recently. I reserved a 1 bdr on the coast of Maine for 40K.

You can get a general idea of what point values are charged for what using this RCI Grid.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

And the biggest benefit IMO is the 9000 point exchanges for last minute stuff. I've gotten alot of mileage staying in 2 bedroom resorts for just 9000 points and the exchange fee.

Admittedly I'm more of an opportunistic traveller than most, so don't really plan too far in advance, but I think this is the best part of RCI points.

It's not unusual for me to get 8 weeks of vacation from 75,000 points.
I get my 75K as 25K a year since it's a triennial so I generally do 3 trips a year with it but it carries forward if I don't use them all which hardly ever is
a problem.

[wandering gnome Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wandering gnome]

What is the exchange fee for RCI points? Is it the sane as RCI weeks?

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

The fees to exchange for something in the weeks pool are the same. The fees for standard points reservations vary with the number of nights you reserve, you can see the points fees here.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

How many you need is entirely dependent upon how many you will use and how much you want certain resorts. Since my trading power tanked on my RCI weeks,and I have a lot of them, I am using more and more points, and we like certain resorts that are easy to get with points. We love Southern Cal and Hawaii (particularly Kauai resorts), so we have to own enough points to get what we need each year. We also love Disney.

We use Points for Deposit now with all of our weeks, and it works out okay for us. The same week that won't pull DVC anymore gets us enough PFD for a 1 bedroom, and that is all we need.

I have used last minute points, 9K or less, three times now, and it works great, but you really have to watch all the time, if you want something good.