RCI to DVC...What seems to be the easiest on-site resort to trade into?

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

Weeks eligible to deposit can change, up until the point at which you deposit them. Once you deposit, the trade power is fixed. RCI does have language allowing them to *increase* trade power granted to a deposited unit, and it has been reported a few times, but it is rare. And, there is no corresponding language allowing them to *decrease* trade power grated.

Naturally, they control the rules, so this could change. But, I doubt that it will.

[coachb Member Find all posts View Profile Close coachb]

I do know a week can be reduced/increased depending on WHEN it's deposited. A week deposited a year before it's actual usage will be greater than if it were deposited 2 months before it's actual usage. Once it's deposited it should then be set.

[coachb Member Find all posts View Profile Close coachb]

looks like RCI has adjusted the TPU's needed for a DVC property:

22 TPU's for a Studio
32 " for a 1BR
36 " for a 2BR

Is it me or is that a steal for a Studio? Also, for someone w/enough TPU's and who wants a 2BR (like me) this should make more available. To me, this looks like welcome news.

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

I too have utilized the "trade up" strategy, and it has worked well.
For $79 it is a cheap insurance policy and when you do cancel, RCI crdits back to you a portion of you cost in the form of a credit good for use toward future exchanges.
I was able to get into the House at Summer Bay last August with a 2BR Gold Crown exchange, it was luck, but because I had purchased the protection, I switched from a 3BR condo into a 3BR house with our own private pool!

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

looks like RCI has adjusted the TPU's needed for a DVC property:

22 TPU's for a Studio
32 " for a 1BR
36 " for a 2BR

Is it me or is that a steal for a Studio? Also, for someone w/enough TPU's and who wants a 2BR (like me) this should make more available. To me, this looks like welcome news.
Reply With Quote

I too have noticed the increase and was upset. I went to a lot of effort to deposit a week and paid to combine it with credit time I had available to get up to the 25 they were looking for all year long, right up til July, and then started an "active search".
I called RCI and asked why they changed the trading power and they replied it was a case of supply and demand.
The supply of DVC weeks had diminished therefore the cost of what they had was now higher.
I understand that business is business, but to switch the price of a known commodity after a customer makes the proper arrangements to basically put a "down payment" on something they are intending to purchase is just shady business practice.
They assured me that what I was looking for (2 BR at any DVC resort for week 44 Nov 2-4 2012) should be available and for the amount I planned for.
Welcome news for those with a lot of time available, but for those on a budget, and only so much time at their disposal, it is distressing to see this kind of bait and switch tactics.
I do believe however that the "price" will come down in the Fall and Winter time, when people arent planning as hard core as at other times of the year, but even that I am not sure about....but hoping.

[coachb Member Find all posts View Profile Close coachb]

I see your point. I'd be upset too if I entered into an RCI agreement with a certain TPU in mind. I could see the "rate" going down in less than high demand weeks. Best of luck.

[coachb Member Find all posts View Profile Close coachb]

Bnoble,

WOW you weren't kidding about the data on the sightings board. Thanks for posting. Looks like inventory shows up about the 7 or 8 month window.

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

Everyone needs a hobby.

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

Most hobbies are not so helpful. And few can demonstrate such consistency.

[coachb Member Find all posts View Profile Close coachb]

Hobby. I like it, that's what I'll tell my wife. She's convinced, when it comes to timeshares, I have OCD!

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

Hobby. I like it, that's what I'll tell my wife. She's convinced, when it comes to timeshares, I have OCD!

Hehe, I guess I'm not alone then! OCD, yep, and a little AD/HD to go with it for me, especially when it comes to WDW....I feel so sad for my wife!

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

looks like RCI has adjusted the TPU's needed for a DVC property:

22 TPU's for a Studio
32 " for a 1BR
36 " for a 2BR

OK, so here is what I have learned via a conversation I had yesterday with an RCI "Supervisor".
I was kind, but pointed with my questions about the increase for all DVC resorts. I had tracked all Winter and Spring long the TPU price for ALL DVC units (Studio and 1BR/2BR) was 25, then suddenly the price jumped to 36 for all units in late June. About a week later they revised the TPU price to the current amounts as posted above.
Ok, when I pressed the "supervisor" about the increase, and the fact that another "supervisor" told my that they believed that it was a supply and demand issue and the price would come down, and I would be fine, just to wait it out, well the "supervisor" I spoke to yesterday then told me that they believed that the price was not going to come down. She believed that maybe when the "newness" of DVC wears off the price may come down, but right now people are paying what they want, so why reduce your price, right?
She did tell me some interesting information however. She told me that a rule with the DVC contract states that anyone who owns at a resort within a 30 mile radius of DVC cannot trade into DVC.
Just an FYI I never knew.

So, it looks like, at least for the time being it will remain:
Studio 22
1BR 32
2BR 36

I dont know what everybody else thinks, but I really dont like the fact that an owner deposits their week, is credited with say 19 TPU, but then RCI then turns around and offers it for more. If RCI wants to do this, wouldnt it be fair then to credit that owner with an increase in their TPU?
I mean arent the exchange fees, membership fees, Insurance fees, upgrade to Platinum fees, Guest fees, etc. , etc. enough?
Now they are ( or maybe have always been and now its just more visible) profitting directly off of you deposited time by charging more for it then they give the owner credit for it.
Shady!

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

I'd wager that there are fewer than a half-dozen people in all of RCI that can do more than guess at what DVC valuations will do going forward. The chance that you ever speak to one of them on the phone is essentially zero.

For now, they are what they are. I'm sure that over time they will change again. Over the past three years, there have been several changes that radically changed the DVC playing field: the switch from II to RCI at the end of '08; the global revaluation/tightening on 5/30/09; a DVC revaluation (loosening) in early summer '10; the debut of the TPU system and the across-the-board 25 point floor in November '10; and now this new three-tier floor.

How they will change going forward is anyone's guess. This is yet another reason why it is a fool's game to try to chase one *specific* exchange target.

She told me that a rule with the DVC contract states that anyone who owns at a resort within a 30 mile radius of DVC cannot trade into DVC.
Just an FYI I never knew.

This is well-known and stated in the Urgent Information for each WDW DVC resorts. (And, it only applies to the WDW properties, none of the others.) In practice, anyone with a Points account cannot own at any Orlando resort and exchange into a WDW DVC property; any one ownership taints the whole account. In Weeks, specific deposit lines are tracked---any deposit line with (part of its) TPUs accruing from an Orlando-area resort cannot be used to exchange into DVC.

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

This is yet another reason why it is a fool's game to try to chase one *specific* exchange target.

I appreciate the input.
I do agree with the premise about searching for something in particular, if you have no back up plan. That is why I always grab something I would be happy with, unless of course I get what I exactly want right away, but we know that is rare with RCI. I then will start an active search for what I would LOVE to get, knowing that I probably wont get it, but hoping. In the past with the one for one policy you could get something above what you're trading with, but now its so different and adjustments must be made. Usually with active searches I start at least 1 1/2 years out and all the while searching for other resorts that would be an upgrade....thats how I got into the Houses at Summer Bay last year, guess that'll never happen again!
Also, this year they were offering to start an active search for free when in the past you had to pay the exchange fee up front.
I am just frustrated with the fluctuation in cost.
Used to be you knew what you were up against when exchanging (deposit at least 1 year in advance for best trading value, deposit early, search early etc.) but now its a new ball game.

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

I am just frustrated with the fluctuation in cost.

But those fluctuations were always there. Trade power to get into DVC changed at least twice in major ways between their re-affiliation in January '09 and the debut of the current system in November '10. The difference now is that you *see* those changes right away rather than having to infer them by daily trade tests using a variety of different deposits.