?DVC membership

[disneybass]

Originally Posted by ELMC

Great analogy!

I agree!

[Dean]

Originally Posted by JimMIA

If you are just looking at current availability, you indeed will spend a LOT of time looking. You will have to be both patient and lucky.

Your odds of finding what you actually want will be greatly improved if you use an "ongoing search," which is basically RCI's version of a waitlist.

However, if you initiate an ongoing search, you pay the $95 and the points are gone forever. If you don't find a match, you can change your search criteria completely and still use the deposited points, but you don't get the points back if you find nothing.

DVC/RCI users should also understand that you pay additional $95 charges if you change an exchange reservation in any way.

If you really want something that's high demand, it's very unlikely to get it without an ongoing search. One thing Jim, if I read your post correctly, the points are only taken and gone if you match, not when you start the search. The $95 fee is also refundable if you don't match or cancel prior to a match. You can even have an existing reservation then use those points if you match and this is a good approach for many interested in an exchange.

[PirateJohn]

Someone please correct me if i am wrong. I just joined the DVC myself. However, I did so after many years of contemplation. So many in fact, that I would have already broken even if I had just gone on and done it to begin with. Anyway, after speaking with some other members, they suggested renting out the points and then purchasing a stay with cash. They all said that they use their points for DVC stays or cruises only. As i understand it, many of the RCI units are either booked regularly or aren't up to standards when compared to Disney. I am planning a trip to Yellowstone and have found the RCI property is 25 miles from the park. However, I can rent my points and stay inside the park for a little less money and save the $95 exchange fee. Can anyone else shed some light on this for me?

[Dean]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Someone please correct me if i am wrong. I just joined the DVC myself. However, I did so after many years of contemplation. So many in fact, that I would have already broken even if I had just gone on and done it to begin with. Anyway, after speaking with some other members, they suggested renting out the points and then purchasing a stay with cash. They all said that they use their points for DVC stays or cruises only. As i understand it, many of the RCI units are either booked regularly or aren't up to standards when compared to Disney. I am planning a trip to Yellowstone and have found the RCI property is 25 miles from the park. However, I can rent my points and stay inside the park for a little less money and save the $95 exchange fee. Can anyone else shed some light on this for me?

It sounds to me like you could teach the class. IMO, the only adjustment I'd make to your thoughts for one looking to buy in is to simply buy less points and not buy extra points to rent out (or use) for these type of exchanges. That way you don't have to worry about renting or the costs, risks and aggravations of exchanges.

[k3chantal]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Someone please correct me if i am wrong. I just joined the DVC myself. However, I did so after many years of contemplation. So many in fact, that I would have already broken even if I had just gone on and done it to begin with. Anyway, after speaking with some other members, they suggested renting out the points and then purchasing a stay with cash. They all said that they use their points for DVC stays or cruises only. As i understand it, many of the RCI units are either booked regularly or aren't up to standards when compared to Disney. I am planning a trip to Yellowstone and have found the RCI property is 25 miles from the park. However, I can rent my points and stay inside the park for a little less money and save the $95 exchange fee. Can anyone else shed some light on this for me?

Sounds like you completely 'get it'. For my family, however, I don't want to go through the additional step of renting my points. I would be very stressed out about someone I didn't know staying on my points (even if the great majority of them are successful transactions) so for making life less stressful, I will happily pay that 95 dollar transaction fee.

[JimMIA]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Someone please correct me if i am wrong. I just joined the DVC myself. However, I did so after many years of contemplation. So many in fact, that I would have already broken even if I had just gone on and done it to begin with. Anyway, after speaking with some other members, they suggested renting out the points and then purchasing a stay with cash. They all said that they use their points for DVC stays or cruises only. As i understand it, many of the RCI units are either booked regularly or aren't up to standards when compared to Disney. I am planning a trip to Yellowstone and have found the RCI property is 25 miles from the park. However, I can rent my points and stay inside the park for a little less money and save the $95 exchange fee. Can anyone else shed some light on this for me?

As with most national parks, at Yellowstone, you are WAY ahead staying inside the park if you are there during the summer. Yellowstone is the second biggest park in the lower 48 states and there is quite a bit of driving within the park from one venue to another. 10 miles inside the park can be an hour or more drive time if there is a bear or bison jam. Adding 25 miles each way outside the park will make for some really long days.

I was looking at the possibility of lodging at the Worldmark in West Yellowstone -- just outside the park -- and decided against it in favor of staying "onsite."

[JimMIA]

Originally Posted by Dean

One thing Jim, if I read your post correctly, the points are only taken and gone if you match, not when you start the search.

I must have misunderstood. I've never done an ongoing search, but I thought you had to deposit your points into RCI first. If you can start the search without depositing, that is a much better alternative than I thought.

[k3chantal]

Originally Posted by JimMIA

I must have misunderstood. I've never done an ongoing search, but I thought you had to deposit your points into RCI first. If you can start the search without depositing, that is a much better alternative than I thought.

We 'searched' without depositing and we did not pay our 95 dollars until we decided which resort we wanted when we went to Hawaii. If you deposited your points into RCI first, you wouldn't know how many points to deposit. Some resorts and condos take 160 and some take more.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by JimMIA

I must have misunderstood. I've never done an ongoing search, but I thought you had to deposit your points into RCI first. If you can start the search without depositing, that is a much better alternative than I thought.

You can do deposit first but the request first is one of the few real benefits compared to other systems. Of course there's some question as to how it works. My guess is they put in an ongoing request for the weeks side and search manually on the points side just like you and I do but I do not know for certain. Deposit first can be a good option, esp since it was reported recently (I haven't tried to confirm otherwise) that they credit you with the points and you can use them in increments as if you hadn't deposited them.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by k3chantal

We 'searched' without depositing and we did not pay our 95 dollars until we decided which resort we wanted when we went to Hawaii. If you deposited your points into RCI first, you wouldn't know how many points to deposit. Some resorts and condos take 160 and some take more.

See my previous post. Unlike with II, it looks like you could adjust your points later even if you did a deposit first. I haven't confirmed that you could deposit say 160 points and then add an extra 110 for a 2 BR later but this appears to be the case from the other info reported here. The only way to search without the fee is to do so manually, a far less efficient way to search with a much lower chance of success.

[PirateJohn]

Thanks for the extra confirmation.

[k3chantal]

Originally Posted by Dean

See my previous post. Unlike with II, it looks like you could adjust your points later even if you did a deposit first. I haven't confirmed that you could deposit say 160 points and then add an extra 110 for a 2 BR later but this appears to be the case from the other info reported here. The only way to search without the fee is to do so manually, a far less efficient way to search with a much lower chance of success.

I did go on the DVC website and try to do it the way we did before in 2010. They must have changed how it works which is unfortunate.

I know that when I called MS for our Hawaii trip, we explored our options without any financial commitment both over the phone and online and it wasn't until we were sure of the resort we wanted that we paid our deposit and committed our points.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by k3chantal

I did go on the DVC website and try to do it the way we did before in 2010. They must have changed how it works which is unfortunate.

I know that when I called MS for our Hawaii trip, we explored our options without any financial commitment both over the phone and online and it wasn't until we were sure of the resort we wanted that we paid our deposit and committed our points.

There was a time when they did not charge until you accepted a match. There was also a time when you could say yes or no even if you matched. I think these issues changed around the same time but it's been several years.