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Re: Rookie going to Orlando (by Mary D.):

You are right that Summer Bay is now an RCI Points resort chain. We have visited them in Orlando and it is quite nice. Mention was made somewhere above that old owners could convert to RCI Points for a fairly hefty fee. However, this inquirer sold his original ownership and would be buying into Points directly--if he want to.

In that case, he should indeed buy at the location he plans to visit most of the time. Otherwise, he will be paying an exchange fee every time he goes anywhere via RCI Points. Admittedly, this is lower than the RCI Weeks exchange fee and the flexibility is greater but, personally, we much prefer owning in a multi-resort points system that allows us to exchange within that system with NO exchange fee in addition to being able to use RCI or Interval Weeks when necessary to reach additional locations. However, this type of resort points bought on the resale market sometimes do not count toward VIP levels based on the number of Developer points one owns--and the higher the VIP ownership level, the earlier one is often allowed to make a reservation for hard to get dates. The Devil is in the details, so ask lots of questions about the specific resort/chain under consideration.

The need to vacation only in the summer might make a Fixed Week attractive to Ramon if he can locate some resort he really likes on the resale market. A Red Season Floating week might also work, giving him a little additional flexibility but reducing the competition for summer weeks. Of course, he could still make standard exchanges as needed through RCI etc. The better his owned resort, the better the possible exchanges. MD