Suggestion to RCI Newbies

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

I assume that if you are a member of RCI that you are planning on exchanging your ownership for other resorts (services, etc.).

I suggest that you not rely on the word of anyone. Not whoever you purchased from. Not anyone at RCI. Until you know what you are talking about, do not listen to a Guide, because you don't know enough to know whether it is a good Guide or a bad Guide.

Not anyone.

I suggest you find out what you have for yourself. It is easy. It is free.

Register at www.rci.com.

Search in whichever system for the areas and timeframes you may desire. Find out if and when and what is available.

Find yourself a mentor on one of these internet boards. Match up and have them do the same searches with deposits they are familiar with. Have them evaluate yours, by comparison.

If you are not seeing what you want when you want, try the same searches using the first available start date, so that you are searching in the 45-day window. If you can see stuff then that you can't see in the future, at least in Weeks, well . . .

I have always been available for help in Weeks.

[jackio Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close jackio]

That is good advice Jim. Hopefully if someone has already found their way to this board, they are on their way to making educated exchanges. The majority of owners just call up RCI and make a request. Sometimes they get it, sometimes not, and sometimes have to settle for less.

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

Do all weeks, no matter how badly they trade otherwise, see the availability last minute? This has been my experience with a blue week, but I was not sure if blue weeks traded differently or not.

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

In theory, but not necessarily.

So the story goes, the trading power necessary to get a certain week drops as the time to check in decreases while the trading power of the week you deposited is fixed for the life of that deposit. This is my understanding of it, anyway.

I don't think this affects VEP, so that will always be an issue. VEP is also in play for Last Call and EV. VEP has to do with your account number and not the week you are trading. If you think there are weeks you can't get, make the phone call and ask for VEP to be waived. They may or may not play ball, but it's worth an ask.

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

I don't recall anyone saying they can't see 14-45 Day window stuff. We've had quite a few discussions about it concerning places like Hawaii, which has historically had a significant 45-day Window, and still does.

RCI used to promote it, but then de-emphasized it.

As late as the 2001-2002 Directory it read: "RCI Instant Exchange. . . At 45 days before the start date of each available vacation week in the SPACEBANK poll, certain exchange restrictions (such as Trading Power) are waived."

As of the first RCI Community Guide, c 2003, that was gone. Madge commented that the focus had been changed to early deposit-early exchange. I can see their point as it was self-defeating to all but the better weeks. If you deposited a week early and it could not see anything until 45 days out, and if you deposited it late and could still see good stuff at 45 days out, why deposit early?

The 14-45 Day Window still exists and there is still evidence that at least some trading power restrictions are waived, but it is now for each person to determine exactly what they can see in the 14-45 Day Window.

I have been toying with the possibility that as good trading power is stripped from more and more deposits (for whatever purpose that serves RCI, and I have a few in mind), that if the better resorts still are being deposited (which is a big if), we will just have to book our vacations at the last minute. We will either get them and go or not get them and quit timesharing.

Again, that will affect everyone differently so it is important that everyone knows what they have and what it will do. In our case, if I stop seeing anything that will work by searching 24 months out, then the only choice will be to pick stuff up at the last minute. The way things are going, I am seeing that as a real possibility in the next 18 months.

Even since just 2003 there have been a lot of changes in the Last Minute Exchange area. Bonus Vacations have become Extra Vacations, and Last Calls have been added.

Do all weeks, no matter how badly they trade otherwise, see the availability last minute? This has been my experience with a blue week, but I was not sure if blue weeks traded differently or not.

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

Which, if true, is a bummer and totally unfair. Where you first owned (thus your account number) has nothing to do with what you deposit.

In our case, we first bought at Mr. Seagull's place, just before he PO'd Ms. DeHahn and RCI. We jettisoned those weeks, without giving them a parachute, long ago, so we should not be strapped with the likely ill will he created for us.

VEP has to do with your account number and not the week you are trading.

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

Agreed - totally stinks.

Madge had mentioned that one of the 'coming features' was to be able to select which deposit to ACTUALLY search with, so you could test the vep of your various weeks.

yeah, yeah, and once the sparkly dust is sprinkled on it we'll all join hands and sing...

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

Where do you get the sparkly dust?

All of ours is that non-descript sorta-gray kind. But we do have plenty of it. I've always wondered where it all comes from, and if there's some way we could market it.

Perhaps we could market it as an empty container, name it some catchy name, Not-Real-Fast Instant Dust, with simple instructions. Open package. Leave lying around anywhere. Wait until dust appears.

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

It's called Fairy Dust and it is all over Disneyworld and Disneyland.

JLB, I know of a resort in Colorado that has blue weeks with maintenance fees of only $212 per week. Now that would be a cheap Hawaii trip, wouldn't it? Points aside, because with these weeks, a person could get any points resort with those weeks. So you could grab a three bedroom Bali Hai or Shearwater for $212. Also, I see lots of Bay Clubs and Sunterras too! Now there is a great way to get something really grand for a pittance. It is a great idea, don't you think?

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

Where do you get the sparkly dust?

I'm in IT, it's standard issue when you get your magic wand and hair grease.

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

I'm in IT, it's standard issue when you get your magic wand and hair grease.

Geeze in NT it's called "FM"....


About that 14-45 day window, it's looking more and more like just 14 these days. We'll have to dig deeper when we get the chance but that is my current experience.

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

Good thing VEP is not so Static

Which, if true, is a bummer and totally unfair. Where you first owned (thus your account number) has nothing to do with what you deposit.

In our case, we first bought at Mr. Seagull's place, just before he PO'd Ms. DeHahn and RCI. We jettisoned those weeks, without giving them a parachute, long ago, so we should not be strapped with the likely ill will he created for us.

I borrowed the following from the FAQ's provided by RCI over yonder

A. Does RCI have a rating system?


RCI does not rate resorts, however, our members do, and we track that information . We compile VEP scores for the sole purpose of matching resorts in quality for exchanges in our program.



B. Can VEP scores be displayed online?


VEP scores are used behind-the-scenes to help us determine value-for-value exchanges. When you confirm an exchange vacation, our system has determined that the comment card data of the deposited resort is comparable to that of the requested resort at that time. Because VEP scores change continuously, it's possible that the VEP score of a resort will be higher or lower than it was at the time of confirmation. VEP scores are proprietary and will not be publicly posted. Resorts are at liberty to provide their VEP scores to owners at their discretion, bearing in mind that these scores are subject to change.



C. Does the VEP of the underlying resort matter in RCI Points?


Yes. When Points members use the Weeks system for Bonus Vacations and exchange vacations, quality guidelines are applied, just as they are for Weeks members. By applying these guidelines based upon member comment cards, we provide the greatest number of resort options possible, while still protecting the overall vacation experiences by preventing resorts with lower quality from matching to Points requests.



D. Bonus Weeks and VEP


I'll have more coming on the VEP topic, but for now I wanted to reassure you that when you request Bonus Vacations, our system will filter for VEP DOWN only. If it's surplus availability, we want everyone to have a chance at it as long as the quality will be at least as high as it is at your home resort -- within a fairly wide range. But resorts of higher quality are still available.



For standard exchanges, VEP is considered as a component of Trading Power, and wide differences upward from your deposited resort can result in a match later in the process (45 days or less).

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

OK, someone been telling you where we own and how we do it?

JLB, I know of a resort in Colorado that has blue weeks with maintenance fees of only $212 per week. Now that would be a cheap Hawaii trip, wouldn't it?

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

I don't think stuff like trading power and VEP are intended for us mere mortals. Sometimes my crystal ball has started going into VEP. Seems like I've heard stuff like the closer you get to check-in date, the better the chances are of getting a resort, one you could not get further out.

Well, I start searching two years out and searching every day until you can't, and have only once detected a last minute surge, and that was at 14 days out. But that was only once and certain not anything you could expect or count on.

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

Just for the heck of it I searched the next 20 weeks for Caribbean: No All - Inclusive.

We are talking very low season for the last 10 weeks of the search. <Cn you say hurricane season?>

One very choice week pulled 26 resorts.

Every other option I used and they weren't blue swamp weeks pulled 6.

The connection I'm on is too difficult for me to work with for long but I will certainly put some more effort into this when I'm back on my DSL.