How Does Your Trade Value Compare?

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

The reason they did this is quite obvious; to encourage people to deposit after the time period where under the sellout / settlement of the class action they had to briefly make deposits availible for exchange before putting them into the rental pool. RCI changed there parameters to encourage people to deposit at a point where they could directly put the week into the rental pool without offering it for exchange.

If you have it handy, can you quote the part of the settlement that affirms that belief? As I recall it, there was no period where they could (legally) bypass the exchange pool altogether.

But, then, it was a lengthy document, in legalese, and, then, there's my ADD.

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

If you have it handy, can you quote the part of the settlement that affirms that belief? As I recall it, there was no period where they could (legally) bypass the exchange pool altogether.

But, then, it was a lengthy document, in legalese, and, then, there's my ADD.

Turns out I have it handy.

Under 3 C., Page 14, deposits made more than a year in advance have to be made available exclusively for exchanges for 31 days after the date of deposit, counting the day it was deposited.

Deposits made less than a year in advance first have to be made available to existing requests. There being none, they then can be made available to both rentals and exchanges, but not exclusively for rentals.

All that, of course, is having to trust disclosure provided by the defendant.

As if things were not heading the wrong way fast enough, do I need to remind us that the things forced by the Settlement Agreement expire August 12, 2012.

Is there anyone among us who does not believe that things will not change again at that time?

Time to slip out the back, Jack. No need to be coy, Roy.

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

**RANT ON**

Buying South African TS's because even though they have low demand and low MF's, they have High trade power is a scam...Expecting to trade a week two, White/Blue week for a summer prime, that's a bit of a scam....UK weeks in the middle of nowhere, expecting high Level Exchanges, Scam...These guys were taking advantage of mistakes RCI had made in the system...now that RCI has corrected the mistakes they want to spread venom about the whole system....That's just ridiculous...

They've got to learn to except that they're little loophole trades weren't going to last, eventually RCI would catch on to how unfair and uneven the trades were....

I don't work for RCI, BUT BECAUSE OF GUYS LIKE THESE, Trading in garbage weeks and taking the good stuff, RCI for a long long time only had Garbage left, i hope this correcting that fixed RCI's mistake also fixes that

**RANT OFF**

my turn sport. you've lost your mind. it was no scam, we gave up a 2br for studio or 1br at our own resort. and how could it be a scam when RCI makes all the rules? all I can do is play by them.

I'll give you that things change and so be it. but defending some of these business practices makes me question your ethics and integrity. I hope they pay you well. I don't think asking for transparency is asking for too much and the record shows that RCI hasn't done a very good job it.

I'm here to figure out what's best for us and if you had some worthwhile information to share, I'd be happy to consider it even if I disagree with your RCI point of view. instead, you choose to attack others consistently. feel better about yourself? I hope it's worth it to you one way or another.

[Ridewithme38 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ridewithme38]

You guys do realize Williamsburg was rated the #1 family vacation spot the last two years....Right?

[Ridewithme38 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ridewithme38]

What they have done is move the goal post so that it benefits your average Joe timeshare owner who has a two bedroom lock-off in Williamsburg or Orlando. Now Joe is a happy camper.

You can call me Average Joe, BTW, could it be the reason Williamsburg and Orlando have such high Trade Powers is that....The majority of people travel there EVERY YEAR....a trip to the UK or South Africa is like a once, maybe 3 times in a lifetime trip...Williamsburg and Orlando people tend to go to ALOT more since one or the other is usually within driving distance...

This explains why one or the other is usually rated the 'best family destination of the year' and that further explains the high TPUs

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

The only rationale I can figure for RCI totally abandoning supply and demand is that they are attempting to suck up to the most owners possible, to hang onto them as others jump ship.

Naturally,the most owners own in the most overbuilt/out of balance areas, so RCI comps them to keep them. Like someone else said recently, there are more RCI members in one Orlando resort than all SA resorts.

However, the values they gave Branson owners do not seem to be as upwardly skewed as Orlando, so that kinda dampens my theory.

They certainly seem destined to be the exchange company for owners in Orlando who want to trade to Orlando.

Those of us who have tracked areas and timeframes that more coveted because their supply/demand is not so out of whack have seen this coming for a long time. For me and my area/timeframe, the downturn began in January 2004 for January 2006.

There I am repeating myself again.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

The only rationale I can figure for RCI totally abandoning supply and demand is that they are attempting to suck up to the most owners possible, to hang onto them as others jump ship.

Naturally,the most owners own in the most overbuilt/out of balance areas, so RCI comps them to keep them. Like someone else said recently, there are more RCI members in one Orlando resort than all SA resorts.

However, the values they gave Branson owners do not seem to be as upwardly skewed as Orlando, so that kinda dampens my theory.

They certainly seem destined to be the exchange company for owners in Orlando who want to trade to Orlando.

Those of us who have tracked areas and timeframes that more coveted because their supply/demand is not so out of whack have seen this coming for a long time. For me and my area/timeframe, the downturn began in January 2004 for January 2006.

There I am repeating myself again.

That is the conclusion I have come to. They adjusted to make the most people happy and those would be the 2 places to target.

There are still a few of the old tigers that are still tigers.

They are also forcing behavior away from the deposits that are more than a year out. Ask for a goodly amount of places is far higher for summer 2013 than summer 2012 (if you can still find something you want in 2012).

You do that a lot.

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

I do a lot of things a lot.

As for the exchanging things I used to do a lot, the last turn had a Dead End Street sign on it.

Since I'm down to an 11 deposit credit, I can't get anything anywhere we'd wanna go, even if it does get 57% of everything in the Spacebank.

You know, I shouldn't say we can't get anything any more, because we never got a Deposit Credit before.

When I do search any more, it is not as an active customer. Just kinda a curiosity thing, often enough to satisfy myself that even if I decided to give em more it wouldn't help.

Two more weeks and our first extended SW FL vacation will be ending. We will be forced to change to different golf courses and different water to be on. I get to stop paddling the canoe and get back on the jetski.

I've been notified that our other yard needs mowing. I haven't had to mow this one yet.
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Any way, it is really a shame that they have decided to be so narrow, to focus and reward the places they have, when there are so many less-commercial, less-busy, very wonderful places to visit. As I think back to that first video many years ago (in the original OLCC clubhouse), that is what caught us, going some place other than Orlando.

Another thought that just hit . . . those are the few areas where some of the marketing machines have been able to limp through the recession and the areas most able to recruit more gullible suspects, so are the areas most likely to provide RCI more members, their next generation.

So, although it does not make common sense, it does make dollars and cents.

[Ridewithme38 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ridewithme38]

I

Since I'm down to an 11 deposit credit, I can't get anything anywhere we'd wanna go, even if it does get 57% of everything in the Spacebank.

You know, I shouldn't say we can't get anything any more, because we never got a Deposit Credit before.

When I do search any more, it is not as an active customer. Just kinda a curiosity thing, often enough to satisfy myself that even if I decided to give em more it wouldn't help.

Since you hate RCI so much why not give the Deposit credit to someone who can use it? I'll be happy to pay the transfer fee and take that credit off your hands!

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

The comment I made was about comparable availibility online. Some of the SA resorts are quite large, so in terms of total owners, there would be a lot more total timeshare owners at those ~200 SA resorts than the one mega resort in Orlando. I don't know what percentage of them are members of RCI, but I suspect that exchanging is quite big among timesharers there since both RCI and DAE have seperate offices in country to handle SA timeshare exchanging. Where the big difference can be found is the demand side of the equation. That is where SA shines and what results in the whole country having comparable online availibility as just one resort in Orlando.

The only rationale I can figure for RCI totally abandoning supply and demand is that they are attempting to suck up to the most owners possible, to hang onto them as others jump ship.

Naturally,the most owners own in the most overbuilt/out of balance areas, so RCI comps them to keep them. Like someone else said recently, there are more RCI members in one Orlando resort than all SA resorts.
However, the values they gave Branson owners do not seem to be as upwardly skewed as Orlando, so that kinda dampens my theory.

They certainly seem destined to be the exchange company for owners in Orlando who want to trade to Orlando.

Those of us who have tracked areas and timeframes that more coveted because their supply/demand is not so out of whack have seen this coming for a long time. For me and my area/timeframe, the downturn began in January 2004 for January 2006.

There I am repeating myself again.

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

We do have 53 TPUs at one resort for less than $1000.

That's probably a pretty good deal under the plan du jour.

But who gives a $#!+.
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Some people feel it necesaary to criticize those who have been around awhile, suggestiing we are way too crusty to go with the flow.

They don't realize how many times we have done exactly that, gone with flow. Each time in the past when things have changed, we have been able to adapt to get the system to work somewhere near the way it was represented.

11/16/10 it became a new system, one not even remotely similarly to what we chose to be a part of. Not only is it not remotely similar to what was represented to us, but it is a system that we elected to not be a part of for 10 years (http://www.tstoday.com/members/magaz.../rci%20GPN.pdf) , but it was forced on us against our will any way.

That, now, is the difference, why so many who have been so loyal and so forgiving for so long, no longer are.

[Ridewithme38 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ridewithme38]

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

For prime week owners, there is no reason to whine, Ride. The rational response is to just change exchange companies. Some may change their ownerships to something that fits RCI's game du jour, but that is likely to be a continuing process as RCI makes further changes. Maybe it won't change too much until in a few years they merge Points and Points Lite, at which time I would expect a fruit basket turnover.

For prime week owners, I would paraphrase a campaign slogan from a Bahamian parliamentary campaign I helped out in some years ago:
RCI - The problem
SFX - The solution
Although depending on where you like to go, DAE, HTSE, TPI, or PI could be substituted in the last line, or perhaps a group of them.

SFX still properly values the nice hard to get resorts. Ironically, regular RCI Points often values them properly, too, even if Points Lite does not.

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

We actually spoke with RCI on the phone about our current trade situation. They told us that TP is being calculated the same as always, but that we can see it now. The only change (according to RCI) is that when you were trading back to your home resort, TP wasn't considered, but now it is.

She also said that there's a big misconception regarding rental weeks. Stated that the rental weeks come from trades that were used for something other than a week (ie. cruise, air, etc).

Was curious if others have been given the same explanation? The rep was very nice and seemed to want to be helpful, but in the end didn't have much to help with. Her only suggestion was an ongoing search that would capture a week should its TP go down (which she said happens) based on demand. Kinda like a limit order in the stock market (my words, not hers).

Just thought I'd share our experience and what we were told. Again, she was very nice and we felt she tried to be helpful, even offering to unwind the last week we deposited and to refund our membership fees.

To our specific situation, I can combine weeks to get the extra point of TP I need for a 1br unit or I can rent a 2br unit for $1200 on the open market (same week). Combining isn't worth it but we have an ongoing search to see what happens. Guess we'll try this out to see how it goes this vacation season.

We appreciate helpful input.

raycin

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

RCI's lying does not help the situation. It only makes them look like bigger scoundrels.

They admitted in the class action that they take exchange deposits that are simply that with nothing else involved and put them into the rental pool. We used to have an RCI employee, Bootleg, active here, and he posted that he could see that on his RCI computer; prime deposits not connected to PFD, cruises, or anything, put straight into the rental pool. Another RCI employee, Anon, who participated on a European site posted the same thing, and even posted screen shots from the RCI computer to show it. Also, some people have found their own week in the rental pool and know darn well that they deposited it for exchange and nothing else.

As to trading power, they have admitted a change in trading power for SA weeks to some SA owners. But any knowledgable timesharer knows what his week used to trade for, and when it does not do so now, then there is no other explanation than that they altered trading power. My summer UK weeks used to outtrade my summer OBX week, for example, and now they get about 2/3 the points lite of the OBX week. And this is a UK resort that is extremely hard to get on exchange. You almost never see anything availible online and when it is it is only deep offseason. Management says most deposits with any exchange company are taken immediately for ongoing searches. Yet it has had its trading power severely whacked. Again, RCI is lying through their teeth, and it makes them look like even bigger scoundrels.

We actually spoke with RCI on the phone about our current trade situation. They told us that TP is being calculated the same as always, but that we can see it now. The only change (according to RCI) is that when you were trading back to your home resort, TP wasn't considered, but now it is.

She also said that there's a big misconception regarding rental weeks. Stated that the rental weeks come from trades that were used for something other than a week (ie. cruise, air, etc).

Was curious if others have been given the same explanation? The rep was very nice and seemed to want to be helpful, but in the end didn't have much to help with. Her only suggestion was an ongoing search that would capture a week should its TP go down (which she said happens) based on demand. Kinda like a limit order in the stock market (my words, not hers).

Just thought I'd share our experience and what we were told. Again, she was very nice and we felt she tried to be helpful, even offering to unwind the last week we deposited and to refund our membership fees.

To our specific situation, I can combine weeks to get the extra point of TP I need for a 1br unit or I can rent a 2br unit for $1200 on the open market (same week). Combining isn't worth it but we have an ongoing search to see what happens. Guess we'll try this out to see how it goes this vacation season.

We appreciate helpful input.

raycin