Does anyone buy "Extra Vacations" at RCI

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

The much maligned "Extra Vacations" at RCI has been the cause of law suits and very negative comments on this board. I fully support the negativity as banked weeks should all be made available to members for an exchange fee only.
The fact remains that RCI are taking the best banked weeks and selling them at a premium but it is also fact they wouldn't do this unless there was a market for it.
Has anyone bought an extra vacation, also do people think that RCI sell some of these vacations on to other tour operaters? I just don't see enough demand, from within RCI members, for the amount of "extra Vacation" holidays on offer.

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

A number of years ago, while my first TS was in the closing process, my sister got an EV for me through her membership. We went to Colonial Williamsburg in the off season and it was a very reasonable way to vacation at that time.

Sue

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I bought a week once. I believe that they sell weeks to vacation clubs, through skyauction and about a dozen RCI owned rental sites. It's a miracle that anyone can get a decent exchange. I think SFX also gets some weeks from them and I'm not sure what is given in exchange.

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

I have. The ones I have bought are not what I would call high season at all. I grabbed the last week of September on a "Last Call" for Vistana in Orlando and only used three days of it for the price I paid instead of booking a hotel.

I just picked up a mid May week 2 bedroom for Wyndham Smoky Mountains for $500 with tax - which we are splitting the cost with parents. Also purchased a Bonnet Creek Orlando 2 bedroom week (low season early May) for $500 with tax. I purchased both of the Extra Vacation weeks when I noticed they had dropped in price.

For Orlando I usually use II, though, and book their Getaway weeks at the Marriotts or Sheraton Vistana Villages. There's a ton of availability in the off season.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

In 20 years we have twice.

January, 1990, and a Spring Lake week before we bought a place at the lake.

I believe both were $99.

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

I confess that I cannot turn down some of the bargains like a week in the Greek islands in June for less than $200 and a pink week at one of my favorite timeshares in Europe for a bit over $200. As long as they are stealing our weeks we might as well take advantage of these bargains rather than letting non-timesharers get them. With their exchange system hopelessly corrupted by the rentals, the only reason I can see for keeping membership is to snag some of these bargains to make up for some of the damage they have done to us.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

We purchased one in the early 1990 - off season in NC.

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

We've bought a few--off-season in the Poconos, off-season in the Berkshires, winter in Atlantic City. They were always much less than the price of maintenance plus exchange fee.

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

I thought my exchange to Eagle Crest in Oregon next summer wouldn't come through, so I bought an midsummer 3BR week for $650 or so. It was cheap enough and easier than stressing about getting the exchange. In the past, maybe 4 years ago, I purchased prime demand time weeks at Grand Pacific Palisades and Mayan Palace for very cheap.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Re-reading the OP, how is it that EV has been the cause of the lawsuits?

I have never confirmed that Exchange deposits are being rented on EV, except for what could be argued to be excess inventory. That has been going on for as long as I have been with RCI, 20 years, and is generally regarded to be a good thing.

If it was not admitted that exchange pool deposits other than excess inventory are being offered for rent by RCI, EV would likely not be suspect. But, I don't know of any proof that EV is the rental vehicle.

If there are negative comments about EV, it would be because non-timeshare stuff is being offered at outrageous prices in instances where exchanges are not available. In my five years-plus of searching for where deposits are being offered for rent, I have not found any for areas I am familiar with.

I have been asking on these Internet forums for those five years for anyone to find stuff for areas I am familiar with that is being rented instead of offered as exchanges and no one has ever come up with something, let alone EV.

I have never found anything on EV at an RCI resort that was not also available as an exchange. That's not saying that there hasn't been stuff; it's saying I have never seen it for areas I am familiar with.

What I have seen is occasions when I could get the same stuff either from EV or as an exchange.

My feeling is that the good deposits that are not making it to the exchange pools are being rented somewhere a lot less obvious than EV.

Anyone else?

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

Re-reading the OP, how is it that EV has been the cause of the lawsuits?

I have never confirmed that Exchange deposits are being rented on EV, except for could be argued to be excess inventory. That has been going on for as long as I have been with RCI, 20 years, and is generally regarded to be a good thing.

If it was not admitted that exchange pool deposits other than excess inventory is being offered for rent by RCI, EV would likely not be suspect. But, I don't know of any proof that EV is the rental vehicle.

If there are negative comments about EV, it would be because non-timeshare stuff is being offered at outrageous prices in instances where exchanges are not available. In my five years-plus of searching for where deposits are being offered for rent, I have not found any for areas I am familiar with.

I have been asking on these Internet forums for those five years for anyone to find stuff for areas I am familiar with that is being rented instead of offered as exchanges and no one has ever come up with something, let alone EV.

I have never found anything on EV at an RCI resort that was not also available as an exchange. That's not saying that there hasn't been stuff; it's saying I have never seen it for areas I am familiar with.

What I have seen is occasions when I could get the same stuff either from EV or as an exchange.

My feeling is that the good deposits that are not making it to the exchange pools are being rented somewhere a lot less obvious than EV.

Anyone else?

Another possibility . . . get the affiliates, especially the big ones like Bluegreen, HGVC, Disney, etc., to see how detrimental it is to their owners, to them, and to their future operations, for RCI to be a rental company.

If TS owners cannot get comparable exchanges for their deposits, the industry has a problem they, not the TS owners, need to address.

RCI has always been concerned about themselves first, the affiliates second, and individual subscribers last.

JLB
The 3 paragraphs above are your response to the recent Lawsuit settlement with RCI and you are clearly calling RCI a rental Company, not an exchange company. So are you just playing devils advocate as to the original content of my thread???

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

My feeling is that the good deposits that are not making it to the exchange pools are being rented somewhere a lot less obvious than EV.

Maybe, but this doesn't seem to pass an important sniff test. If you want to rent out inventory, and get a good price for it, you want to have as many potential customers as you can reach. After all, more potential customers leads to more demand, and the microeconomists tell us that more demand leads to higher prices. Disposing of rental inventory in a way that none of us can find seems counter to getting a good price for that inventory. That's particularly true given the fact that timeshare *owners* are the ones more likely to want to rent timeshare *units*. We already know why 2BR condos are far superior to hotel rooms.

What's more, RCI firmly believes it has every right to rent out inventory, so why hide some of it (but not all of it) if your position is that you're entitled to do the renting?

Of course, anything is possible, some exclusions apply, and your mileage may vary.

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

......Of course, anything is possible, some exclusions apply, and your mileage may vary.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Another possibility . . . get the affiliates, especially the big ones like Bluegreen, HGVC, Disney, etc., to see how detrimental it is to their owners, to them, and to their future operations, for RCI to be a rental company.


I have done exactly that, in 2005, I believe, and just recently, and in both cases the affiliates, including big ones, have not been concerned about what I have presented them.


JLB
The 3 paragraphs above are your response to the recent Lawsuit settlement with RCI and you are clearly calling RCI a rental Company, not an exchange company. So are you just playing devils advocate as to the original content of my thread???

& what does that have to do with Extra Vacations?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

As I have been asking on these forums for five years, probably cuz I'm from the Show Me State . . . show me the rentals on EV, the ones that you know were deposited by owners into the exchange pool.

Better yet, since it will be something I will have some knowledge about, show me any HGVC SW FL resort week for any January through March . . . on EV or anywhere controlled by RCI.

Heck, since they have virtually all disappeared from the exchange pool as of 5/30, show me any SW FL HGVC week for rent anywhere controlled by RCI.