New Limits for RCI Points Partners usage.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I just got the following message regarding RCI Points partners. It looks like they are severely limiting the amount of points you can use for Points partners. I guess they are having a hard time renting out units.

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Effective December 10, 2008, RCI® will be updating the RCI Points Partner Program. The updated program will reflect the feedback we have received from RCI Subscribing Members over the course of the year. Some of the value-added improvements to the RCI Points Partner Program include:

More Value for Your Points –
Get more bang for your buck every time you exchange your Points for discounts!

More Products and Services –
Major Orlando theme park tickets are back! Plus, book airfare, rent a car, or book a hotel anywhere in the world where RCI Points Partner products are available!*

More Flexibility to Choose Your Discount Level –
Fewer restrictions to the tiers within the RCI Points Partner Discount Grid!

In addition, we have made another important change to the program concerning the number of Points you can use per calendar year. You can now use up to (a) 33% of your annual Points allotment, or (b) 25,000 Points, whichever is greater. An upper limit of 250,000 Points per calendar year applies.

Here at RCI, we value your membership and we are committed to ensuring your vacation exchange experience is the best around. As we roll into 2009, we will strive to make this experience even better by bringing the RCI Points Partner Program online later in the year!

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Your RCI Points team

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I think this pretty much eliminates using RCI Points for Airline tickets. They are clearly targeting those who have lots of cheap weeks to deposit.

[mrspigdoc Member Find all posts View Profile Close mrspigdoc]

rci points changes

Am I interpreting this correctly?
If I want to use my RCI points for hotel reservations, I can only use 33% of my total annual points or 25K points? If I used 45K points for a reservation in the past, I can't do that any more if I have 90K points/year? useless...
Teresa

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Am I interpreting this correctly?
If I want to use my RCI points for hotel reservations, I can only use 33% of my total annual points or 25K points? If I used 45K points for a reservation in the past, I can't do that any more if I have 90K points/year? useless...
Teresa

That's how I read it. If you want to use up to 250,000 points, you must own at least 750,000 points.

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

RCI seem to do what they like with this program, back in February, I used 440,000 points to book 10 return flights but then I phoned at the end of June to book a hotel room in Niagara Falls only to be told that as of 3rd June the program had been capped at 60,000 points per year and that it was backdated to January 1st so I was maxed out.
Just two weeks ago I phoned RCI and asked if the program had changed and was told that it had not and was unlikely to in the near future. They don't seem to know what they are doing themselves.
With this new set of rules the vast majority of points holders are going to lose out bigtime.

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

They just screwed me over for our vacation this year with this and I posted an article about it here:

RCI Changes the Rules and Screws Over Their Customers During the Worst Economic Times - Writer's Corner: Travel Non-Fiction - Epinions.com

I have points now that I can't use and are going to expire in March and they gladly have their hands out for an additional $99 to roll them over so I can use them after all our careful planning to make this trip happen not just for us but also for another family that has suffered greatly the past three years who were accompanying us on the trip.

I wonder if there's any recourse since this was a selling point touted to us when we bought the timeshare?

And I'm not someone who dumped a bunch of cheap weeks into the system. I have one unit near Disney that I purposely didn't use the points on last year to save so I could make this happen this year.

Patti

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

I guess they are having a hard time renting out units.....I think this pretty much eliminates using RCI Points for Airline tickets. They are clearly targeting those who have lots of cheap weeks to deposit.

I guess they are having a hard time renting out units at anything above bargain basement prices and that's not paying them back for all the airline tickets, etc. DRI has always had a severe cap for large point holders for the same sort of reasons.

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

Moving the goalposts is a problem that is inherent in any points program. THis is not the first time RCI Points has done it and will not be the last. A points program can best be described as a shell game or ponzi scheme. Instead of RCI Points, they ought to call it RCI Ponzi.

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

Continual Disappointment in RCI

I would love to know which "RCI Subscribing Members" actually contacted RCI and asked then to restrict the flexibility of using points on points partner items as they claim in their December 10, 2008 letter. Now that I as an RCI Subscribing Member have contacted them and asked that they reverse their negative arbitrary decision, will they respond likewise to my request and remove these new restrictions? What a load of bunk!

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

Its like certain airlines - Delta comes to mind - which always seem to want to tell you that customers asked for it when they make an ''enhancement'' to their ff programs that leaves customers with less than what they had. Do some of these people think customers are dumb? That there are some out there constantly saying ''please take things away from our program''.

At least with a real timeshare week, you know what you have. With a points scam, they can and will move the goalposts at their whim.

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

Its like certain airlines - Delta comes to mind - which always seem to want to tell you that customers asked for it when they make an ''enhancement'' to their ff programs that leaves customers with less than what they had. Do some of these people think customers are dumb? That there are some out there constantly saying ''please take things away from our program''.

At least with a real timeshare week, you know what you have. With a points scam, they can and will move the goalposts at their whim.

Unfortunately, most customers ARE dumb.
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[Led Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Led]

Unfortunately, most customers ARE dumb.
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Gee, thanks. Way to make a new member feel welcome on this site, moderator.

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

Relax. I'm pretty sure Spence means "customers in general" not "you in particular."

[slim Member Find all posts View Profile Close slim]

They just screwed me over for our vacation this year with this and I posted an article about it here:

RCI Changes the Rules and Screws Over Their Customers During the Worst Economic Times - Writer's Corner: Travel Non-Fiction - Epinions.com

I have points now that I can't use and are going to expire in March and they gladly have their hands out for an additional $99 to roll them over so I can use them after all our careful planning to make this trip happen not just for us but also for another family that has suffered greatly the past three years who were accompanying us on the trip.

I wonder if there's any recourse since this was a selling point touted to us when we bought the timeshare?

And I'm not someone who dumped a bunch of cheap weeks into the system. I have one unit near Disney that I purposely didn't use the points on last year to save so I could make this happen this year.

Patti

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[slim Member Find all posts View Profile Close slim]

I read that in Mexico they sold huge points for a lot of money and now they can only use 60000 points for airfare and car rental. Please read my RCI crimes effects everybody in rci. Good luck
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