R. C. I.

froliger wrote:

phill12 wrote:

jeffw129 wrote:

It's not RCI that's the problem it's people who don't take the time to understand the program and how it works. If ya take the time to get to know the program and how to make it work for you u'll be much better off.

After reading all your post telling us we don't understand how Rci works I have to think you work for Rci.

You don't need to come on here and lecture us owners on how this company is great and the screw ups are the owners fault for being stupid! We allready have jayjay to handle that job!

I can't talk for others but we are not new to timeshares and do know how the game works. This is reason we left Rci 12 years ago and three of our friends finally quit within last three years.

We have been with II for seven of the last 12 years and they work the same way but don't screw the members like Rci.

I agree. I deposited my week with RCI and even paid $ 199.00 fee , so they could try to exchange my week to Aruba back in Oct 2006. We're looking to go in April 2008. I think that's plenty of notice you think.

Have you tried exchanging online or just over the phone. I've had better luck going online and exchanging myself. Just go tto the exchange tab after you log in. Then click on the week that you have to exchange. You'll get a screen with exchange options that you select (dates, where, what resorts etc...) Just keep modifying your search until something you want hits. Like always, you still have to be flexible. Lenny

jeffw129 wrote:

bryanw21 wrote:

phill12 wrote:

jeffw129 wrote:

It's not RCI that's the problem it's people who don't take the time to understand the program and how it works. If ya take the time to get to know the program and how to make it work for you u'll be much better off.

After reading all your post telling us we don't understand how Rci works I have to think you work for Rci.

You don't need to come on here and lecture us owners on how this company is great and the screw ups are the owners fault for being stupid! We allready have jayjay to handle that job!

I can't talk for others but we are not new to timeshares and do know how the game works. This is reason we left Rci 12 years ago and three of our friends finally quit within last three years.

We have been with II for seven of the last 12 years and they work the same way but don't screw the members like Rci.

Phill12,

I have to agree with you on Jeffw129 seeming like a mole for RCI. I've taken the time to learn the RCI system, I've taken extra vacations for cheap, that is something I agree is a good deal, if you are flexible on where you want to go and when.

I have what all the RCI telephone salespeople claim is a hot- redweek resort with "powerful" trading clout. Who hasn't heard this line before? I even tried to get a resort two years in advance, put a deposit on an active search, checked back all the time and ran my own searches but got nowhere.

I even tried it with the caribbean sailing week exchange and finally called them directly. They told me that they don't have any openings for the next 3 years. Booked solid with a waiting list. How can RCI promote that you can get an exchange with them at all? Maybe Jeffw129 can tell us.

I read his response (and replied to it) to the thread about mandatory meal plans, and he was the same way, really defending the ugly underbelly of the resorts money machine. It is like he just came from an Amway meeting or something, all idealisitic and naive and gushing about how great an all-inclusive plan is.

After reading this thread all I can say is: jeffw129 either say something factual and useful or just lurk please.

Say something factual and usefull?? I am speaking of my own experiances. What could be more factual than that? That's what these forumns are for, i say what i think and you say what you think!! I just have 1 question for who ever wants to answer it.. How come me and many others are satisfied with our exchanges and then others aren't?? I personally think it's either you don't know how to work the system or it wasn't explained properly!! Because honestly? Do you think the operaters at RCI just like me and that's why i get what i want? Heck no!! I Asked the right questions to operaters i felt knew what they were talking about. But i don't know maybe i've had a lucky streak for the last i don't know how many years!! But if it bothers all you negative people out there that i am successful with RCI than i will gladly stop posting and trying to help!! And for anyone who would like to share tips and pointers about how to make it work than let's keep posting and start getting rid of the complainers.

I have to admit, my remark was somewhat antagonistical. I apologize for that, but now that you mentioned sharing tips and pointers is what you are here for, but then it seems like you want us to beg you for your secrets.

"I just have 1 question for who ever wants to answer it.. How come me and many others are satisfied with our exchanges and then others aren't?? " ANS: because maybe some of us are more particular than others on what they expect for service and promises, and are more particular on where they want to stay.

Since you possess a user satisfaction level that some of us can only hope to achieve, please help us by sharing your tips and pointers. Why don't you just tell us: Who explained the "system" properly to you? Surely it wasn't the timeshare sales guy. "What the right questions to operators? "What criteria you use to decide if the operators know what they were talking about? What is it, exactly that they would be talking about that would require a level of knowledge beyond the ordinary? Aren't we to expect the RCI operators to know what they are talking about? or is that an exception to the typical experience? How do you get rid of an operator that you believe does not know what they are talking about and replace them with one that does? How do you get the operators to stop trying to sell membership renewals?

nancy181 wrote:

michaeln61 wrote:

gheck wrote:

Is anyone else having problems with RCI? Very slow response by E-mail or written questions. Extending magazine renewal subscriptions with out permission and so on. Does RCI still operate out of Indianapolis,In? If they do does anyone have a phone number that will get me there? It seems the last six months or so everytime you call RCI you go to Mexcio. Used to be you might go any place in the world. Thanks Geeheck

I've got nothing good to say about RCI. I've had a timeshare for over 15 years and like the other posted messages I can never get a decent trade or response. I recently sold a palm springs resort that was ranked in the middle of the pack for requests 2600 out of the 5000 + resorts available, even though it was a gold crown resort, for a top 10 resort, per a letter from RCI, and I still can't get a decent trade, I can't even get my own resort!

Have you noticed that you can't get a decent trade but you can always buy an extra week in almost any resort RCI has to offer. You make the connection.

Why do we have to pay to belong to RCI then have to pay to make an exchange. Almost $300 a year

When we bought the new timeshare they gave us 10 years advance membership in RCI. I don't use them because I don't want to go the victorville, ca (desert) or Palm Springs (desert) in the middle of the summer.

If I do use them, it's to buy a week in a place I want to go.

Find an alternative way of trading, you won't have the frustration.

I have owned my timeshare for nearly 11 years and while I am upset with the ever increasing costs such as maintenance fees and RCI dues and exchange fees, I have no complaints about the exchanges I've made. I have exchanged for 2 weeks in Hawaii on three different occassions (most recently in Jan. 2007) and 2 weeks in Italy plus a couple of exchanges in the carribbean-all have been very nice. The trick is that you have to bank your unit and request the exchange a long time in advance-usually about a year, especially if you want a popular area. It is a pain to plan that far in advance but I have found it pays off with very nice exchanges. NJK in Mpls.

Maybe the Aruba owners are holding on to their deposits until they can get exactly what THEY want, as we've been advised by some posts! Still, if you have a continuing search going with RCI, you may luck out. I got New Orleans that way when New Orleans was a hot ticket.

MD

froliger wrote:

nancy181 wrote:

michaeln61 wrote:

gheck wrote:

Is anyone else having problems with RCI? Very slow response by E-mail or written questions. Extending magazine renewal subscriptions with out permission and so on. Does RCI still operate out of Indianapolis,In? If they do does anyone have a phone number that will get me there? It seems the last six months or so everytime you call RCI you go to Mexcio. Used to be you might go any place in the world. Thanks Geeheck

I've got nothing good to say about RCI. I've had a timeshare for over 15 years and like the other posted messages I can never get a decent trade or response. I recently sold a palm springs resort that was ranked in the middle of the pack for requests 2600 out of the 5000 + resorts available, even though it was a gold crown resort, for a top 10 resort, per a letter from RCI, and I still can't get a decent trade, I can't even get my own resort!

Have you noticed that you can't get a decent trade but you can always buy an extra week in almost any resort RCI has to offer. You make the connection.

Why do we have to pay to belong to RCI then have to pay to make an exchange. Almost $300 a year

When we bought the new timeshare they gave us 10 years advance membership in RCI. I don't use them because I don't want to go the victorville, ca (desert) or Palm Springs (desert) in the middle of the summer.

If I do use them, it's to buy a week in a place I want to go.

Find an alternative way of trading, you won't have the frustration.

I have owned my timeshare for nearly 11 years and while I am upset with the ever increasing costs such as maintenance fees and RCI dues and exchange fees, I have no complaints about the exchanges I've made. I have exchanged for 2 weeks in Hawaii on three different occassions (most recently in Jan. 2007) and 2 weeks in Italy plus a couple of exchanges in the carribbean-all have been very nice. The trick is that you have to bank your unit and request the exchange a long time in advance-usually about a year, especially if you want a popular area. It is a pain to plan that far in advance but I have found it pays off with very nice exchanges. NJK in Mpls.

I banked my week already and have put an exchange request in Oct 2006 to go to Aruba in April 2008. RCI says that they can not find me anything. I think I gave them pleny of notice.

I e-mailed RCI for comment on the problem of exchange possibilities that seem to disappear en mass from the website at times. They mailed back and confirmation that the question was received and again that they needed my member number. I'm hoping to get something substantive eventually.

However, since my previous search, I gotten 10 pages of possible October and November '07 dates within a 5 week period for southern Portugal and Spain. My 1 bedroom White time Silver Crown Branson was bring up Gold Crown, Silver, et al in everything from studios to 2 bedrooms. At least part of this time period was Red for these locations. Some of the November may be White. Not a bad selection! I know this is not their busiest season, but many traveler comments indicated that this may actually be a great time to go. MD

adahiscout wrote:

While I have good luck with RCI on the whole, I have run into an odd thing with doing visible searches on their website.

Last night, for example, I was looking into what was available for October in Spain or Portugal. Since I allowed a 5 week search span, I got a lot back on early November plus a smidgen in late October. Not bad.

But then I looked again for a rather wide open search in August and got nothing whatsoever. Maybe summer is already gone. Or maybe the website gets sick and tired of me playing around with it after midnight! This has happened before on other searches. Reams of weeks I saw earlier disappear.

Do they re-do the website in the middle of the night? If so, wish they would say Goodnight.

MD

jeffr92 wrote:

if it bothers all you negative people out there that i am successful with RCI than i will gladly stop posting and trying to help!! And for anyone who would like to share tips and pointers about how to make it work than let's keep posting and start getting rid of the complainers.

Hi Jeff! I am fairly new to this board and have to agree it is full of complainers! I frequently visit another site made up of timeshare users and they ARE helpful and knowledgeable; I was hoping this would be more of the same. Unfortunately, most of the posters here seem like they zone in one one resort they want and when they can't get it....wah!wah!

If you want, send me a private message and I will tell you the address of the other board.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Would love to hear the other name of the board you use for timeshare discussion. There is no way to contact you, the name you use here is a User name. You can email me at bethonly@hotmail.com. Thanks, Beth

adahiscout wrote:

I e-mailed RCI for comment on the problem of exchange possibilities that seem to disappear en mass from the website at times. They mailed back and confirmation that the question was received and again that they needed my member number. I'm hoping to get something substantive eventually.

However, since my previous search, I gotten 10 pages of possible October and November '07 dates within a 5 week period for southern Portugal and Spain. My 1 bedroom White time Silver Crown Branson was bring up Gold Crown,Silver, et al in everything from studios to 2 bedrooms. At least part of this time period was Red for these locations. Some of the November may be White. Not a bad selection! I know this is not their busiest season, but many traveler comments indicated that this may actually be a great time to go. MD

adahiscout wrote:

While I have good luck with RCI on the whole, I have run into an odd thing with doing visible searches on their website.

Last night, for example, I was looking into what was available for October in Spain or Portugal. Since I allowed a 5 week search span, I got a lot back on early November plus a smidgen in late October. Not bad.

But then I looked again for a rather wide open search in August and got nothing whatsoever. Maybe summer is already gone. Or maybe the website gets sick and tired of me playing around with it after midnight! This has happened before on other searches. Reams of weeks I saw earlier disappear.

Do they re-do the website in the middle of the night? If so, wish they would say Goodnight.

MD

Good news! RCI actually PHONED to try to discover why I was having some problems on their site when looking at possible exchanges. Julio thinks it may be because I have a Mac, not a PC, but followed up the phone call with some suggestions on e-mail. Hope they work!

MD

I have also found that RCI is not what it used to be, nor is their website. You used to be able to see what condos are available for rent and the $ amt. Not anymore! Also, they used to have a community bulletin board and we could rate resorts. Not anymore! They call you and say their RCI and don't give their names until you ask. That's not how I was taught in business school. You are not RCI or the company, you only work there. I waited 2 years for Hawaii, and two months before the 2 year expiration period was up after depositing my Gold Crown Resort, some RCI agent called me to notify me that they found accommodations in Hawaii. The resort did not sound familiar to me and I asked her what page in the RCI book it was on. Sure enough, it ended to be in Mexico! I didn't want Mexico, I wanted Hawaii and waited 2 years! I spoke to a supervisor and she explained to me there is a different marketing team and they are trying to expedite your desired vacation with a similar destination. Good thing I doublechecked. I would have had a place in Mexico with an airline ticket to Hawaii. I wasn't happy but she did finally accomodate my request and I did go to Hawaii. She was nice but they are hiring people that don't know anything and are not taught correctly.

carolynf59 wrote:

I have also found that RCI is not what it used to be, nor is their website. You used to be able to see what condos are available for rent and the $ amt. Not anymore! Also, they used to have a community bulletin board and we could rate resorts. Not anymore! They call you and say their RCI and don't give their names until you ask. That's not how I was taught in business school. You are not RCI or the company, you only work there. I waited 2 years for Hawaii, and two months before the 2 year expiration period was up after depositing my Gold Crown Resort, some RCI agent called me to notify me that they found accommodations in Hawaii. The resort did not sound familiar to me and I asked her what page in the RCI book it was on. Sure enough, it ended to be in Mexico! I didn't want Mexico, I wanted Hawaii and waited 2 years! I spoke to a supervisor and she explained to me there is a different marketing team and they are trying to expedite your desired vacation with a similar destination. Good thing I doublechecked. I would have had a place in Mexico with an airline ticket to Hawaii. I wasn't happy but she did finally accomodate my request and I did go to Hawaii. She was nice but they are hiring people that don't know anything and are not taught correctly.

Amen! Amen! Amen!

We just found this web site www.TimeshareRevealed.com and it is too bad that we did not know about it before we bought our timeshare from Point To Point Destinations. If we knew all the facts instead of listening to their sales presentation, we would never buy it to begin with. We are very disappointed with Point To Point Destinations (West Coast Timeshare or PTP Destinations). We sent them the following letter but there was no reply other than a short phone call telling us that there is nothing they can do about anything.

=======================================

"TO: Point to Point Destinations / RCI

To Whom It May Concern:

Dear Sirs:

I would like to bring to your attention the following points and I would like you to address it to the right person to provide me with a prompt response.

I just returned from a vacation in Hawaii and these are my comments and concerns:

-I used my points to pay for a one bedroom in a “Gold Resort” category, Kahana Falls and to my surprise it was only a “Silver Resort”. I was not notified of the change nor given a refund for the difference in points. -I paid a fee for the use of the condo at the time of booking. -I paid membership fee of $118 August 30, 2007. -I paid my annual maintenance fee or strata fee of $239 for the year, which is supposed to cover maintenance, electricity, power etc. -Then to my surprise I had to pay another a fee of $114 for electricity on top of the regular charge for the use of the condo electricity at my check out time. -By the time I was done paying all the fees for the use of one week I would have been better off renting a beach front condo for the same amount and without all the hassle of having to book 1 year in advance. -January 1/2007 the fee went up from $239 to $276.25 this is a 17% raise. -January 1/2008 the fee went up again another 12% to $309. -I bought this points to ensure I could vacation in my old age as a pensioner. In the next 20 years by my retirement date this fees will be up over 320% or more? This is absolutely ridiculous and I would call it a s**m. -I do not record voting or proxy voting to increase strata fees. Strata fee increases in BC have to be voted on by all owners. -In August 2007 I booked another short vacation in the Okanagan and to my surprise I was not in a Resort, I was in a “Trailer Park”. There was no beach access and the Trailer park was located in a no-swim lake. This is not my kind of vacation resort.

For all these reasons I would like to have someone contact me as soon as possible to discuss the back purchase of my points or to sell them since I am not happy with the RCI system and is not going to be useful to me in the future. I am very disappointed."

adahiscout wrote:

adahiscout wrote:

I e-mailed RCI for comment on the problem of exchange possibilities that seem to disappear en mass from the website at times. They mailed back and confirmation that the question was received and again that they needed my member number. I'm hoping to get something substantive eventually.

However, since my previous search, I gotten 10 pages of possible October and November '07 dates within a 5 week period for southern Portugal and Spain. My 1 bedroom White time Silver Crown Branson was bring up Gold Crown,Silver, et al in everything from studios to 2 bedrooms. At least part of this time period was Red for these locations. Some of the November may be White. Not a bad selection! I know this is not their busiest season, but many traveler comments indicated that this may actually be a great time to go. MD

adahiscout wrote:

While I have good luck with RCI on the whole, I have run into an odd thing with doing visible searches on their website.

Last night, for example, I was looking into what was available for October in Spain or Portugal. Since I allowed a 5 week search span, I got a lot back on early November plus a smidgen in late October. Not bad.

But then I looked again for a rather wide open search in August and got nothing whatsoever. Maybe summer is already gone. Or maybe the website gets sick and tired of me playing around with it after midnight! This has happened before on other searches. Reams of weeks I saw earlier disappear.

Do they re-do the website in the middle of the night? If so, wish they would say Goodnight.

MD

Good news! RCI actually PHONED to try to discover why I was having some problems on their site when looking at possible exchanges. Julio thinks it may be because I have a Mac, not a PC, but followed up the phone call with some suggestions on e-mail. Hope they work!

MD

I have experienced the same phenomena, however , after a few hours the weeks return. I think RCI has a "bug" in their software. I contacted them by email the first time it happened, but did not get what I consider a satisfactory answer. Stan.

langdonmic wrote:

froliger wrote:

phill12 wrote:

jeffw129 wrote:

It's not RCI that's the problem it's people who don't take the time to understand the program and how it works. If ya take the time to get to know the program and how to make it work for you u'll be much better off.

==============

I have to agree with the suggestion that making your own exchange with RCI on line is often best. (Or at least the most fun.) You can see exactly what is available in exchange for your deposit at any given time and check out alternatives. As always, the rule is "If nobody put what you want in the pot, it ain't there." After reading all your post telling us we don't understand how Rci works I have to think you work for Rci.

You don't need to come on here and lecture us owners on how this company is great and the screw ups are the owners fault for being stupid! We allready have jayjay to handle that job!

I can't talk for others but we are not new to timeshares and do know how the game works. This is reason we left Rci 12 years ago and three of our friends finally quit within last three years.

We have been with II for seven of the last 12 years and they work the same way but don't screw the members like Rci.

I agree. I deposited my week with RCI and even paid $ 199.00 fee , so they could try to exchange my week to Aruba back in Oct 2006. We're looking to go in April 2008. I think that's plenty of notice you think.

Have you tried exchanging online or just over the phone. I've had better luck going online and exchanging myself. Just go tto the exchange tab after you log in. Then click on the week that you have to exchange. You'll get a screen with exchange options that you select (dates, where, what resorts etc...) Just keep modifying your search until something you want hits. Like always, you still have to be flexible. Lenny

adahiscout wrote:

langdonmic wrote:

froliger wrote:

phill12 wrote:

jeffw129 wrote:

It's not RCI that's the problem it's people who don't take the time to understand the program and how it works. If ya take the time to get to know the program and how to make it work for you u'll be much better off.

++++++ This is odd. I wrote part of what is printed above under the last "=============" and then it turns into someone else's comment, snarking at Jeff. This may be because I suddenly could not scroll down to finish and sign my note. Sorry about that. ...Ahaa! I get a chance to edit this and separate myself from the other posting.That is below. Seems hard to get messages to come up in the intended place sometimes. MD I (MD) DID say: "I have to agree with the suggestion that making your own exchange with RCI on line is often best. (Or at least the most fun.) You can see exactly what is available in exchange for your deposit at any given time and check out alternatives. As always, the rule is "If nobody put what you want in the pot, it ain't there."

Somebody else wrote: After reading all your post telling us we don't understand how Rci works I have to think you work for Rci. You don't need to come on here and lecture us owners on how this company is great and the screw ups are the owners fault for being stupid! We allready have jayjay to handle that job!

I can't talk for others but we are not new to timeshares and do know how the game works. This is reason we left Rci 12 years ago and three of our friends finally quit within last three years.

We have been with II for seven of the last 12 years and they work the same way but don't screw the members like Rci.

I agree. I deposited my week with RCI and even paid $ 199.00 fee , so they could try to exchange my week to Aruba back in Oct 2006. We're looking to go in April 2008. I think that's plenty of notice you think.

Have you tried exchanging online or just over the phone. I've had better luck going online and exchanging myself. Just go tto the exchange tab after you log in. Then click on the week that you have to exchange. You'll get a screen with exchange options that you select (dates, where, what resorts etc...) Just keep modifying your search until something you want hits. Like always, you still have to be flexible. Lenny

Shouldn't there be an end to how long a posting stays on this board? We find ourselves accidentally answering time sensitive questions that are over a year old! The string of comments gets so long that one can hardly decide who said what, let alone why. Some Yahoo sites have archives for old topics, so that one can, if necessary, go back and look, but generally we would be better off keeping comments current. Not long ago RCI wiped its old resort comments and started new because many old comments were no longer accurate or fair. Things do change.

This endless display of a comment also give the impression that many people hold that opinion. There may actually be only one or a few, but soon their idea becomes "everybody is saying that....." If "everybody" really IS, the topic will come up again. If not, let the issue die in peace. That includes MY postings! MD

I have been a member for 15 yrs. Though I have not exchanged as much recently, I have exchanged in Tobago, Cayman, Bahamas, St Martin, Dominican Republic, Mexico , Spain, England, Scotland and numerous places in the U.S. It takes planning. You must give yourself a year head start if you want places in the Carribean. I always look on line to see what is available. Once I got a July week in Cape Cod when browsing through in April. You don't Know what will be available. My husband has used the last call weeks to go skiing in Canada many years. Planning and flexibility is the key. Many people just use their time share every year so you can't trade what's not available.

l think that l may have discovered an answer to this vexing problem. it will take some real advance planning. make your request as far in advance as possible i.e. if the say one year in advance do it 364 days before. if they still give you BS,then you have proof the whole system is a sham. charlietuna

Personally, I think that BOTH of the preceding two recent posts of 11/03/08 fail completely to understand and / or acknowledge the simple fact that RCI (right down to its' actual ownership) has simply changed --- radically, dramatically and relatively recently. Just to cite a few relevant facts as very specific examples:

RCI is now thoroughly owned by Wyndham (not Cendant, as previously, nor by the original RCI founders, before Cendant).

RCI has openly described itself IN WRITING in recent press releases as a "rental and exchange company" (note that rental is listed FIRST). Previously, RCI was ONLY an exchange company. That constitutes a major sea change, folks...

Within just the past year (or 14 months, to be exact) RCI has bought controlling interests in SnapTravel and Leisure Link, both of which businesses are for RENTALS! Guess where much of the inventory for those rentals originates.

In summary, with all due respect, talk of "great advance planning" simply ignores the fact that the RCI business model has changed a whole lot since "yesteryear". The "advance planning" practices and successful results of yesterday are simply no longer applicable, relevant, or remotely the same for TODAY --- the game has changed. Currently, RCI would rather rent out prime deposits directly to the general public for big bucks, rather than make those prime deposits available as "exchanges" to RCI members for a paltry $170 exchange fee (I may be off by a very few dollars on the current exchange fee). Do the math! $1700 in collected rent is TEN TIMES the amount of a $170 collected exchange fee. From the RCI standpoint, that's just plain good business. The unfortunate but fundamental fact is that the "advance planning" practices of yesteryear simply won't yield the same results with the RCI of TODAY! Don't take my word for it --- try it for yourself TODAY and compare it for yourself to the old news, obsolete results of "yesteryear"...

I may be over simplifying things, but how hard is it for a resort to change its allegience from RCI to Interval? A simple vote by the board of directors? I know some are affiliated with both, if this is easy to do, why aren't more doing it? I know in the beginning of my time-share odyssey, I was kind of jealous of RCI members, their exchange book seemed twice the size, more choices, better company I thought. Only in recent times does it look like I might be better off with Interval. I don't know what's involved in associating with one trading company or another, or both, but I certainly would want my resort to look at other options if I wasn't happy with one company. I wonder what people do who have a choice...RCI, II, both, or neither.

daves250 asks in part: >>... how hard is it for a resort to change its allegience from RCI to Interval? A simple vote by the board of directors? I know some are affiliated with both, if this is easy to do, why aren't more doing it? << ======================================

You've asked a good question, but the answer is not simple. The affiliation (...it's certainly much more than just an "allegiance") between a resort and an exchange company is a contractual (i.e., legally binding) relationship. As in all valid contracts, there is a defined term (a beginning and ending time period for contractual performance). What a representative time period for such a contractual affiliation between a resort and an exchange company is I do not know --- but it's certainly a fair number of years at a stretch (i.e., not just from one year to the next). I'm also sure that neither the resort nor the exchange company could "jump ship" before contract expiration, except in instances of egregious breach of contract; it's hard to imagine any such circumstances.

Additionally, keep in mind that an exchange company must first be willing to even have its' name associated with a particular resort in the first place. Over the years, many people have openly claimed that Interval Intl would never allow its' name to be associated with a "lower end" timeshare facility of lesser quality, whereas RCI would gladly affiliate with anything, anyone, anywhere, anytime. Whether there is actual merit to this belief, I don't know --- exchanging has never really been of much interest to me. I have belonged to both RCI and II in the past (and to both simulataneously for a while) but have chosen to "exchange" only a few times over the years, regardless of the particular exchange company used.

In fairness to RCI, reading through forum discussions on various timeshare sites also reveals some dissatisfaction among some Interval Intl members as well. While RCI is the much bigger entity that so many people apparently just "love to hate", Interval members are not necessarily all happy, smiling souls either. But....at least II has a "search before deposit" option, as opposed to the RCI "deposit, then hope" practices with which so many people are now so frequently and so deeply dissatisfied. That dissatisfaction runs so deep that a class action lawsuit (Murillo vs. RCI) was filed against RCI in April, 2006. Since then, the case has progressed steadily (albeit slowly) and is now much closer to an end than to its' beginning.

In view of the uncertainties, costs, and "man behind the RCI curtain" mysteries of RCI trading power (and now lawsuits against RCI), I've come to hold the personal opinion that people probably should NOT buy any timeshare which they are not able, willing and happy to use, even if they never later seek or acquire an "exchange". Exchange should be regarded only as a possible, occasional side benefit --- NOT as a primary objective or purpose in ANY purchase. That's just my own personal view and opinion, evolved over two decades of timeshare experience (most of it good, some of it not). In the end, to each his /her own, I guess....