Do RCI Weeks get better with age?

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

I just deposited a 2008 week 27, 2BR into RCI. I have a Sept 06 2BR week from the same resort that expires Sept. 2008.

When I do a search with both weeks, the older deposit will see more resorts than the newer deposit. So my question. Do RCI Weeks get better with age?

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I just deposited a 2008 week 27, 2BR into RCI. I have a Sept 06 2BR week from the same resort that expires Sept. 2008.

When I do a search with both weeks, the other deposit will see more resorts than the newer deposit. So my question. Do RCI Weeks get better with age?

I hope so because I am in the same boat as you.....the week that is in my account now is not trading well - while the earlier week traded great!

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

Once upon a time it was noted that recently deposited weeks did not seem to have their full trading power at RCI. After a month or so and a confirmation of the deposit, most had their full power.

[joycapecod Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close joycapecod]

I am having the same problem. I deposited a week 27 beach resort, OK,. it's a studio, but week 27b nd beach...on the beach. I also had an Orlando unit deposited 65 days before check in and a 2 bedroom, Memorial Day week. It was (I say was because I traded it) better than my red hot week 27 on the beach deposited 13 months in advance.

The week 27 is still seeing crap and it has been deposited over 30 days. So, I think many of our deposits have been devalued.

By the way it my own experience the week is not available for trade on line until the resort has verified the deposit so I don't think the verification has anything to do with it.

Joy

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

The trade power is established at the time of deposit, so it's possible something has changed. Possibly the demand for the resort or for the area have changed. It's also possible RCI has changed it's "magic" formulas.

Sheila

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

My 2008 Dik week is trading much better than my 2007 week (which is a horrible trader).

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

I just deposited a 2008 week 27, 2BR into RCI. I have a Sept 06 2BR week from the same resort that expires Sept. 2008.

When I do a search with both weeks, the older deposit will see more resorts than the newer deposit. So my question. Do RCI Weeks get better with age?

Once RCI has confirmed with your resort that you can bank your week, in my experience they don't change with age - except once that did happen to me, months after I banked it, when I believe they figured out that my week was an Easter week and its trade power suddenly increased.

Are the additional resorts seen by your older deposit rated or unrated?

I just compared a 2008 to a 2007 week deposit at same resort, same week. Results were close, except that the 2008 saw a few gold crown resorts not seen by the 2007. My conclusion is that my resort's VEP went up a bit since last year. But seeing more resorts could also mean a lowering of VEP, depending upon what they are. They probably do adjust for that constantly, and I'm guessing would also make trade power adjustments from time to time.

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

Trading power is established at the time of deposit according to the secret formula, which is stored in a mayonaise jar under Funk and Wagnall's porch.

In what is commonly referred to as the gold ole days, when weeks were weeks and it did not take an advanced degree to determine how to use your timeshare, trading power did not fluctuate much from year to year. I know because I have been searching with the same week(s) (from different years) almost every day, for the same destination and time, for several years.

In recent years trading power has fluctuated quite a lot from year to year, mostly down. Supply and demand does not appear to be the reason. My Crystal Ball once said that things tend to work out over time, meaning that eventually what should always have been a poor trader will become one, and vice versa, I guess, buy I don't hear much of the vice versa.

In typical RCI-speak, it sounds like just so much double-talk, stuff like "as our ability to transmit and receive data improves, so does our real information" , but it means that things are getting worse.

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

I have continued to play and test the 2 weeks I posted about in my OP. This is my conclusion about the 2 weeks I have deposited.

The older week (ends 9/08) sees many more resorts in total number.

The newer week (ends 7/10) sees less resorts in total number.

However, the newer week sees all of the higher rated resorts that the older week sees. It appears that the older week is picking up resorts that may have a lesser rating. The newer week may be filtering these out.

Does this make sense?

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

It sounds as though the VEP of this week got raised between deposits.

[Hounddog01 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hounddog01]

Sorry I am new, What is VEP? Also how can you tell how well a week will trade before buying it? I understand the general principal but can you only trade even? ie Red for Red, Blue for Blue 2br for 2br etc.

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

Sorry I am new, What is VEP? Also how can you tell how well a week will trade before buying it? I understand the general principal but can you only trade even? ie Red for Red, Blue for Blue 2br for 2br etc.

Sorry Hounddog01 I nearly missed this as it was buried in a thread...

What is VEP?

VEP is the Vacation Exchange Profile. VEP is compiled from the feedback forms provided to RCI after the exchange is completed. These questions are regarding "Service", "Accomodations" and "Overall Experience" and are on a scale of 1 to 5. The comment cards are used to award Gold and Silver Crown as well as Hospitality Awards to various resorts.

It is supposed to be a "regulator" on what you can exchange into with RCI. For example if Mike's deposited resort had an "upgrade" in VEP between his 2007 deposit and his 2008 deposited weeks, it would explain why the newer week can "see" less resorts but sees the higher quality ones than the older one.

Technically you can have VEP waived and trade "downward in quality". RCI doesn't want you to do that without warning you of the difference in VEP because they don't want you to trade into something the scores show you might be unhappy with.

how can you tell how well a week will trade before buying it?

Experience and not even that can guarantee things in a going forward basis. Usually you would want a moderately rated resort in a high demand time and area that has little supply. Historically examples have been primetime summer coastal resorts or President's Week at ski resorts.

How far in advance the deposit is made will have a lot to do with trading power as well.

can you only trade even?

No. There have always been and continue to be instances where trading up in "color" and/or unit can be accomplished. These scenarios are ever shifting but I will give a couple pointers. The 14 Day Window. Bulk Spacebanks.

This is one of the factors that has most people fretting. The 14 day window used to be the 45 day window. VEP, unit sizes and trade power no longer matter. There are very limited scenarios where this is useful as I see less and less for say coastal SCal or eastcoast summer resorts. It can still work for places like Hawaii.

Bulk spacebanks are monstrous deposits by resorts/developers. Some span all year, others 3 to 6 months. When they first appear in the system the "power" that is required to "see" them becomes skewed in favor of lesser resorts. There are less of these occuring now and not in a manner which can be easily predicted.

The exchange opportunity board is a great place to get a "heads up" on what's available.

Unit size. See my answer to your second question. A studio in one of these places will easily pull larger units.....for now.

As to the OP question of whether a deposit gets better with age I say NO. Once the confirmation process of deposit is completed you are done in 99.9% of the cases.

[BigPapa Member Find all posts View Profile Close BigPapa]

Ok so I guess I am confused, but learning more. As I have recently posted, I am new to timesharing. I bought at Orange Lake in Orlando at a great price. I own a fixed week 27.

Now, I do not have a mambership at any exchange company yet because I am going to use my home resort next summer. But based on what you guys have learned, how can I maximize my trading power with, say, RCI? Do any of you know how well my unit would trade? I own in the North Village.

Thanks.

Big Papa

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

Ok so I guess I am confused, but learning more. As I have recently posted, I am new to timesharing. I bought at Orange Lake in Orlando at a great price. I own a fixed week 27.

Now, I do not have a mambership at any exchange company yet because I am going to use my home resort next summer. But based on what you guys have learned, how can I maximize my trading power with, say, RCI? Do any of you know how well my unit would trade? I own in the North Village.

Thanks.

Big Papa

Big Papa,

The confusion is intentional, at least where RCI is concerned.

The good news is you bought to use.

Orlando would not be a resort I would suggest buying for trading purposes. There is a HUGE supply of resorts and your MFs are high. Makes adding +/- $250 for a membership and exchange fee pretty dear for one week's vacation cost at least IMHO. The GOOD news is you own in July when everybody is off from school and summer vacations are in full swing, so there would be some demand.

There may be other options available to you that may be more viable than RCI. Why don't you start another thread on the general "Exchanging Board". Stating what you own, as you have here, as well as size of your unit. We would need to know WHERE you would like to go and at what time you need to go. Maybe RCI would serve your purposes best, maybe not. It depends on your answers.

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

Sorry I am new, What is VEP? Also how can you tell how well a week will trade before buying it? I understand the general principal but can you only trade even? ie Red for Red, Blue for Blue 2br for 2br etc.

Lawren gave a more complete answer, but if you are looking for a very basic answer, "VEP" is RCI's term for resort quality. "Color seasons" such as red, blue, etc. are mostly marketing tools used by the resorts. A few of the smaller, indepedent exchange companies make trades based on color seasons, but RCI and II evaluate each week individually, regardless of what color they have assigned it. There are some "red" weeks that trade poorly (for example, Orlando is red all year, but has a big oversupply most of the fall). There are also some white weeks, and maybe even some blue weeks, that are moderate or better traders. I own a week that is blue in RCI and yellow (midseason) in II, and it is a strong trader in II.

As for how to tell how well a week will trade, that isn't easy. But, there are a number of threads around that discuss this topic.