Image : http://www.flickr.com
Resort Condominiums International (RCI) is the world’s largest timeshare vacation exchange company. In addition to regular fixed week timeshares, they now offer the RCI Points program which allows you to be much more flexible in how you use your vacation time. The growing popularity of points-based timesharing programs, such as RCI, Worldmark and Fairfield, means that you are no longer limited to a single Sunday to Saturday week for your vacation. If you really want to spread your vacation around, you don’t have to use your vacation in week-long segments. You can take a day, or several days, or even several weeks. You also get to select what day of the week you’d like to begin your vacation rather than always having to arrive on a Sunday.
Since RCI has timeshares in more than 100 countries around the world, it is frequently one of the best options for a points-based program. What this means is that if you have RCI points, you can really pick and choose where you want to vacation this year. RCI Points let you choose the time, destination and duration of your vacation as well as allow you to trade Points for other services such as airfare, tours, cruises, and car rentals. You can save your Points for next year. You can transfer your Points to someone else. You can even rent points for about 2 cents a point.
If you own a vacation week at an RCI Weeks Resort, you can convert your vacation week into RCI Points. Or if you already have points, you can also deposit additional vacation weeks in exchange for points if you need more during a particular year. This gives you the ultimate flexibility because you can use your RCI Points in a much more flexible manner than a standard RCI Weeks membership. This does not mean that you are giving up ownership of your timeshare if you convert your RCI Weeks to RCI Points. All you are doing is adding a new option to your current RCI vacation plan.
If you are not an owner at a Points affiliated resort, you can buy a timeshare at a resort that has already been converted to RCI Points through RCI or through any timeshare reseller. Ebay is a great place to find deals on RCI Points as well. RCI Points works somewhat differently than a points-based timeshare like WorldMark. With RCI Points, you will still own at a specific resort and hold a priority booking window at that resort between 11 and 13 months out for your original week. With WorldMark you don’t own at a specific property, but can just book anywhere within their system and it works on a first-come, first-served basis.
There is an assigned RCI Points value for all RCI units and time frames. You can use your RCI Points for an RCI Weeks vacation spot, as well as using it at resorts that are already within the Points-based system. The number of point needed for a RCI Week vary according to location but a ball park figure is about 50,000 RCI Points for a gold 2-bedroom unit.
RCI Points membership has an annual fee attached which covers the exchange privileges. For a membership of 1 or 2 years duration, the fee is $99 (USD) per year. For a longer membership, up to 5 years, the fee is $93 (USD) per year. This fee is in addition to your maintenance fee at your resort and naturally maintenance fees vary based on where your timeshare is located and what amenities it offers. So if you are looking to purchase your first RCI Points membership, then it makes sense to shop around for a deal featuring the most number of points for the lowest maintenance fee you can find, especially if you don’t intend to vacation at the same resort every year.
You can find great deals on RCI Points, WorldMark points or Fairfield Timeshares at: http://www.timesharingauctions.com/
Emma Martin currently owns at DVC and Royal Holiday Club.
No comments:
Post a Comment