Timeshare Points vs. Weeks

Points can allow some flexibility, but the best bet is if you buy them within a resort family. Fairfield points works well within the Fairfield, now Wyndham) system, but do't do much outside. Shell Vacation Points only work within the Shell Vacation properties which are few. AND, if you already own a week with any of the SVC resorts, you almost have to buy your unit again to convert to points and you do not have a needed interest any more. They are tricky. If you have weeks and they are working for you, stay with that. If you like the flexibiity of points within a certain family of resorts, i.e Hilton, Starwood, Marriott then you truly have a good deal. Otherthan that, I'd stay away from points.

Agreed. The bigger and better your resort GROUP, the more points can be a benefit. We own with Wyndham and Bluegreen. Between them,there are more total locations than we are likely to need in a lifetime! We can, of course, still use an exchange company to get something very specific which is outside our ownership.

Fixed week ownership is dandy if you actually can always be available on that week and love where you own. If you own a hard to get spot and time like March on the west coast of Florida, a switch to points would be a BAD idea. If you can't go one year, it should certainly exchange or rent very well.

Floating time is a third timeshare style. It is usually flexible within a Season such as Blue, White, and Red. Translation: low usage, moderate, and popular. Owners of Red time can go any time of year. White owners may choose White or Blue time. Blue owners are....well...blue. (At least they will usually find it easy to get a reservation!) That said, I'll admit to swapping a White week in a Silver Crown resort for a Blue Week in an unrated resort because it was exactly where and when we needed it to be. (Well, we did get two bedrooms for our one.) Worked out well. MD

As an owner of time shares with both systems, it is my opinion that there is more flexibility with the points system. That flexibility extends to time of year as well as size of unit.

Hi could somebody contact me about converting my 4 weeks aat a resort in south Africa into the points system?

Kind Regards

Linda lindaparry@iinet.net.au

Is your South African resort in a resort group which uses a points system of its own or is an RCI Points related resort? If not, you cannot just convert it to a points system independently. Sorry. MD

II is "Interval International". They provide members with excellent exchanges and services. http://www.intervalworld.com

Ok so maybe my high school edgemakation keeps me from understanding the whole Points v.s weeks concept. I may be interested in getting in on RCI points because i like the variety of going to different places, can somebody explain the who concept and how can i get into a plan?

jakavosp wrote:

Ok so maybe my high school edgemakation keeps me from understanding the whole Points v.s weeks concept. I may be interested in getting in on RCI points because i like the variety of going to different places, can somebody explain the who concept and how can i get into a plan?

You'd be well served by reading up on the subject (I strongly suggest the TUG site http://www.tug2.net), as the various nuances and complexities make it hard for anyone to just type you out a "short and simple" explanation of a relatively complicated issue and its' many details. Fingers would soon get tired of typing all that info...

The short version is that you would FIRST have to buy into a resort which is RCI Points based, by which action you would receive a known, associated annual RCI Points allocation. You'll then have annual mauintenance fee obligations at that facility, just like any and every other owner (whether owning fixed weeks or points). You can use those points to book the underlying deeded week at your home resort (or a different week at that resort, if available) if done sufficiently in advance. Or, you can instead apply your allocated points to book time at another RCI facility --- **as space might be available**. Remember that "availability rules" and it supercedes all else. You won't necessarily "get" something just because you might "want" it. There must first be AVAILABILTY.

Tired of typing, as suggested already, I recommend that you go to the TUG site and read, read --- and then read some more. Good luck.

One thing to be careful about the RCI Points resorts. Just because the resort participates in RCI Points doesn't mean the unit you buy participates. Make certain when buying the seller confirms the specific unit is already participating. It's not as common now as it was 4 years ago, but I had a seller tell me to contact the resort to do due diligence when I asked if the unit was participating in RCI Points. The resort confirmed they were an RCI Point participating resort ... but when I became the owner I was only a weeks owner. I hope when you read this you can see that on the surface the statements all appeared to be proper and correct but upon critical inspection the seller did not say yes or no about the participation and the resort did not confirm the specific unit was participating.

Also, even if the unit is participating in RCI Points, if the seller doesn't fill out the RCI Points transfer form, you'll end up with a weeks unit. This form is submitted to RCI after you are recognized by the resort as the owner, but you should status the closing company or owner to ensure this is completed.

charlest66 wrote:

Sunterra Sun Options have more value and are much more flexible. A week at a Sunterra Resort in prime time any time full week is only 5,500 - 6,000 points. You get your exchange more readily with II (not through RCI - we always had bad luck with RCI and switched to II - they are more quality Resorts. No exchange fee through Sunterra and your free II Membership gives you the same choice to swap a week or a few days at a minimal amount of points. You always have too many points to use. It is the greatest way to go economically more sound for your money to stay in First Class Resorts$ You pay for what you get!

Not any more since taken over by Diamond Resorts

there still Sunterra memberships in operation? I thought they were all sold to Diamond.

Hi.

I have a dilemma. I'm hoping someone can advise me. I've been a weeks owner of Vacation Village for five years. Just this past August I vacationed to Orlando, Florida stayed @ Summer Bay Resorts. There I was introduced the points system. Both husband and I thought it sounded more beneficial than weeks. They had an alternative benefit called Market Place that is exclusive to Summer Bay members. Market Place is an online shopping at discounted prices of brand name things. At the time we were suckered in and wanted to convert. We thought let's see what the the cost would be first. So they got us the $$$cost. To purchase it along cost $25 000. There was another option of points every other year which cost about $8000ish. Then we asked what would be the cost if we traded our week in. Our week is worth $11 000. (Something really weird about our week which I did not mention is-we own the second week of the year gold crown resorts and had no problem exchanging for anywhere or any time. Initially, the agent said we are blue and would be hard to get what and when I want, but this is not true. We had no problems.) Anyway, on with the deal, so in order to cut down cost of buying points we had to sell our weeks ownership which would leave us a balance of $14 000 to pay off and with 75 000 points for travel. In hindsight and now back from vacation with a clearer mind, I feel uncertain about my trade in. I had no problems with my weeks. I sometimes get extra weeks from RCI and I'm not talking about the 45 day window free week when you deposit to RCI. I decided to finally get to the truths about points and weeks. And boy do I feel like I've scamed especially in the trade in amount. The ones that traded only traded for a few thousand dollars and I've traded for tens and thousands of dollars. Contract is signed though I have not initiated Vacation Village to release the sale of my week. Please help ASAP.

Are you saying Summer Bay was willing to take your original week as a credit against the new purchase? But you have not yet released it to them? How long ago was this?

Was your original location Vacation Village in Orlando near Arabian Nights? We have been there. Isn't that an RCI Points resort? I though Summer Bay was also. We've been to both sales presentations, but it's been a while. Puzzled by your statement about having traded for "tens of thousands". Do you mean Exchanged? Rented out? Guess I have more questions than answers. MD

Yes, that's right. They applied the value of of my week ownership to this new points ownership purchase. I have not yet officially released it. It's just been this past month.

It's Vacation Village in Weston (Fort Lauderdale.) You see the sales agent told us that weeks ownership will eventually become less and less as people convert over to points ownership. She said it was due to a big class action lawsuit against RCI of the fees and allowing only their owners first priority. Anyhow they applied the value of the week ownership towards the points ownership purchase.

The RCI directory shows Vacation Village at Weston as a Gold Crown resort and Red Season all year round. The season color depends on location, not resort, and Westin in is southern Florida. January is dandy. The Villas at Summer Bay Resort in Kissimee are Silver Crown and just plain Summer Bay Resort in the same area is Gold Crown. They too are Red all year, but not quite as desirable for exchange in winter. Orlando can get pretty chilly. I can't tell whether Summer Bay has any indoor pools. They should, but most Florida resorts live with the illusion that they are not needed. It is my understanding that Summer Bay is in the RCI Points program.

Many resort groups have an internal Points system which lets owners exchange within their own chain at any time of year and for a variety of unit sizes and lengths of stay. Those groups may be members of RCI Points or they may use their own points system internally and exchange outside their own group through the RCI Weeks program. It is my understanding that you have been exchanging outiside Vacation Village through RCI Weeks. Not clear whether you had flexibility within the assorted VV resorts or always had to use the same week at the same resort.

In any case, you are way beyond the date for rescinding your contract with Summer Bay. Have they pressed you to complete the transfer of your VV property? We have had dealings with a Mexican resort which was willing to give us credit for a US resort--which they would use as a tax loss. They didn't seem to care a lot whether they ever got it.

Ugh! I`m so upset I typed almost a whole page and accidentally deleted it.

Thanks so much for the information. You told me a lot that I didn`t know.

I didn`t realize it`s a silver crown. My papers also say imperial don`t realy know what this means. When you say red season all year round what does it mean because the agent said I was in blue season but I had no problem with my week ownership or exchange with RCI. By the way I own Bonaventure at Vacation Village Weston.

There are circumstances but that would mean forfeiting my $2355 deposit. What do you advise I do.

I will have to tell you in more detail next time as I don`t have much time left to for all the details. Thanks so much again.

As you know, Red season (RCI's term) is best and can be exchanged for any lower season. White is medium and blue is least popular. To be kind, maybe your salesman just moved in from somewhere winter dates really could be Blue time. The last week of November and first 2 weeks of December are Blue up in the Panama City area, but all year is Red farther south. Do you think you are in the Silver Crown part of Summer Bay? Some of it is Gold Crown.

Am I correct in thinking it is in the RCI Points program? I'm sure we were told that a couple of years ago when we visited. That lets you exchange through RCI at a lower fee than the Weeks program and also allows you to choose shorter or longer vacations, not just even weeks. I'm not sure how you go about exchanging among various Summer Bay resorts. Unless you definitely plan to vacation at the Orlando location, it is my understanding that they automatically give your week to RCI as a deposit for you. I hope someone who owns in a RCI Points resort can chime in and explain that better than I can. MD

sharonc196 wrote:

I personally would never invest any more of my hard earned money to purchase points. 22 years ago we bought a red week at Orange Lake Country Club when it was a baby.....now the resort is absolutely magnificent. We know that we plan a one week vacation every year, so we either stay our week, exchange at OLCC, or exchange for anywhere we want. I've exchanged prime holiday weeks without any hassle. I've upgraded from my 2BR to a 3BR without a problem. If I want to get away for a long w/e or another week, RCI has always been great at finding a place for a very affordable price. So, if I need so spend $500.00 for any extra week a year, I can do that for 26 years and still only spend $13,000.00. If I want to extend my week, I may need to move to another unit, but in the long run, the money is in my investment account, earning interest and I can spend it the way I want. I am a commited Timeshare Week person.

sharonc196

We are also owners at Orange Lake--this is a bit off topic, but I was wondering how much your maintenance fees have increased over the years as well as have you ever been assessed special fees . . .any info would be appreciated.

Thank you!