Please explain RCI

[Susan3tripp Member Find all posts View Profile Close Susan3tripp]

I went though RCI to get a place in Ft Walton next June, a mile from Gulf.

IN doing this, blue Green person asked me "how many points" do you want to depoist. being new at this, I had no clue and asked for help. Something like "if you use this many points you could get this kind of place or location.

She said How many, I finally said, 8,000 points.

we ended up with the place at Ft. Walton. Seems like a nice place.

my point is, how do you know how many points it takes to get a particular place?

If I miss a better place because it is 8,500 pts and I said 8,000, .....well, do you understand what I mean.

Is there a formula to make better judgement??

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

So, to clarify, you reserved 7 nights with BG using your points, then deposited the week with RCI, then exchanged it for the unit in Ft. Walton.

What you can get when exchanging with RCI all depends on the "trading power" of the unit you deposited. If you book a unit in red time it will have more trading power than white or blue time. Also factored in is the rating level of the resort where you booked the deposited unit. The BG reps can usually help with all of this.

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

Trading Power

As pointed out by "motomem", the "quality" of the week that you can get is determined by the "trading power" of the week that you deposit with RCI. Trading Power is an attempt by RCI to make the week deposited equal the week received in exchange. It is determined by a number of factors including:

1) The season and week that you are depositing. Red season has more Trading Power than white, etc. However, a 4th of July red week might have more Trading Power than a June 14th red week. As such, some owners call some red weeks "pink weeks" or "shoulder weeks". However, in a certain city or area, there may be an event that makes that particular week highly sought after thus increasing that week's Trading Power.

2) Demand for the resort or area. High quality resorts generally have more Trading Power than low quality resorts in the same area. Resorts on the ocean generally have more Trading Power than a resort two blocks away from the ocean. Resorts in areas with few timeshares generally have more Trading Power than resorts in areas which have too many timeshares.

3) Size of the unit. A two bedroom unit generally has more Trading Power than a studio all things being equal. That being said, it is believed by many that a 4000 point white studio at resort X might have more Trading Power than a 9000 point red two bedroom at resort Y due to the factors mentioned earlier.

4) The timing of the actual deposit. By this I mean the time between when RCI receives your deposit and the actual week of the deposit. Depositing 11 months out generally has more Trading Power than depositing 3 months out. Some people deposit 2 years out but we can't do that with weeks in the BG Vacation Club.

5) Other factors known by other timeshare owners (who hopefully will add to this list), as well, perhaps, as other factors known only to RCI.

The key is that you want to deposit a unit/week that RCI knows it can get rid of and still keep all the RCI members happy.

That all being said, how do you KNOW which unit/week at which resort is best for you to deposit so that you can get what you want. RCI won't tell you. The rest of us have ideas based on personal experience and the experience of others. However, It is not in the best interests of an owner to share such experiences. Why? If I find out that a 1 bedroom at resort Z trades very well and I announce it to the world, then RCI gets flooded with similar deposits and the Trading Power goes down. So you have to pick up bits and pieces of information here and there to determine what you want to deposit.

On the other hand, you may want a particular area, resort, unit, or week that others do not. As such you might deposit something with low Trading Power and get what is to you a fantastic trade but to me is a poor trade.

Have fun.

Charles

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

Charles gave you an excellent description for trading within RCI. I will only add a tiny addendum: Generally speaking, it takes more points to reserve a prime time/prime location resort to get a prime time/prime location resort. Supply and demand are the easiest indicators of TP needed/received but are a small part of the equation.

In all cases, deposit as soon as you can to maximize your TP.