RCI Timeshare Trading Power


RCI does use a trading power rating scale for its resorts. RCI takes into account a number of factors when determining trading power including:

  • Number of requests for a particular location.
  • Ease of access to the resort location.
  • Resort’s popularity amongst RCI owners and non-owners.
  • Amount of competition in the area.
  • Type of unit.

These four RCI criteria play a major role in determining what kind of trading power you will have if you decide to exchange your week. First we will look at ‘number of requests’ and its effect on timeshare trading power. You will have an easier time obtaining the resort of your choice if the timeshare week you are exchanging is highly sought after. Location makes a big difference – Hawaii is RCI’s number one trading location, if you are exchanging your deeded week in Hawaii you will be able to travel to virtually any other resort you desire because there is a high demand for Hawaii timeshare.

‘Ease of access’ in determining trading power refers to the physical location of the resort and transportation required to travel to the resort. Also included in ‘ease of access’ is the accessibility of amenities including attractions, dining, and entertainment. A resort over 50 miles from the nearest airport will have lower trading power than a resort that has a shuttle to take vacationers 3 miles to the nearest airport. Similarly, a resort in Las Vegas located in the middle of the strip will have a higher trading power than one located 5 miles south of the strip.

Popularity is key in determining trading power and although it is similar to the ‘number of requests’ it is slightly different because a ‘resort’s popularity amongst RCI owners and non-owners’ is taken into account (when applicable). In the case of popularity and trading power, it seems that RCI international resorts do better as a whole than RCI domestic resorts. Both internationally and domestically the more people that have heard of a resort, the higher the trading power; a resort in Ketchum, Idaho will have substantially less trading power than a resort in San Francisco, California.

The ‘amount of competition in an area’ will assign greater trading power to RCI resorts that are more exclusive. More exclusive resorts located in popular areas will have higher trading power, whereas resorts surrounded by numerous others, whether in a popular area or not, will have less trading power. It is better to go with one of the few resorts in Madrid, Spain than one of the many resorts in Orlando, Florida.

‘Type of unit’ breaks down as follows: two bedroom units trade better than one bedroom units. If you are still considering buying timeshare, opt for the two bedroom unit if you decide to buy, even if you do not need two bedrooms. You can always trade into a fancier one bedroom with a two bedroom unit.

As you can see, timeshare does not simply trade for other timeshare. When RCI takes in your timeshare week you are assigned a rating based on the five criteria above. The rating system works as follows: when a request is put in to reserve a location, whomever has the highest starting rating will have their preference in reserving that spot. The RCI rating system is important because the highest numbers will get the week.

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20 Comments

  1. as a long time member of RCI I see the “end of days” for RCI coming soon. I do believe they still cherry pick the best units and rent them (keep them out of the trading pool). If you have a floating week that you own your home resport picks the week they depoist and for me (tahoe) that could be very good or very bad. If I can’t control the process I think we will all be better off just renting our own units on EBAY and then using the money to rent where we want. The exchange system the way RCI is cooking the books is no longer functional.

  2. It is criminal that RCI accepted timeshare banked weeks in past years with no trading power restriction. Now that they have our banked weeks they impose trading power restrictions that limit our selections and won’t even let us book resorts that are available as we could before. I can see changing the rukes for new bookings, but previously banked weeks should be grandfathered to the old rules.

  3. It used to be if they had a week available, sitting there in inventory, it was yours for the taking – no matter what you had on deposit. Now you can’t have it because they want to rent it? This is criminal!

  4. It is very hard to exchange your week for when and where you want to go. It is much easier to find great deals online nowadays for much better prices by the time you compare your maintenance fees and RCI membership…. We’re trying to go to Hawaii in April and it is very difficult to find an exchange in Kona. I have spent so many hours on the phone as well as online to find something with no luck whatsoever:

  5. So, how can I get a actual print out of what trading power my resort (Tahoe) has? Seems like it should be set by week, by unit, and time deposited (the longer in advance the better)?

  6. The answer is easy. According to what I was told when trying to switch our Kauai Beach Villas over to points, Wyndham owners can trade for RCI but RCI cannot trade for Wyndham. Repeated certified letters asking that they confirm or refute to all three companies have been ignored. I would be astounded, even though they lost the class action suit (settled for squat – $5/ owner or something – lawyers made out) if they are NOT renting out units rather than trading them. Hay – maintenance fees + rent = lots more $$. I was told by a representative of Kauai Beach Villas that there was no way I was going to be able to trade our wk/year to get 2 weeks every other year. Basically, they have changed the situation so we are unable to use it. Sleazy for sure probably illegal or fraud.

    We need to join forces and withhold maintenance fees till they fix this – assuming you have a resort owned by Wyndham.

    I bet this gets removed today.

    Jefrado@netscape.net

    1. How about exchanging among us? I own in Cabo San Lucas (Pueblo Bonito Rose)and also,at Puerto Vallarta, but would like to travel to Ohao or New York..etc.etc. We can save some money in exchange fee. Maintenance fees are getting out of hand. 🙁

      1. We have a timeshare in the US at Eagle Crest Resort that we are going to in April for a week. It is lovely. We banked it last year and now have 14 pts we need to use before Nov 14. We are very disappointed at the system. I am sorry I ever banked it last yr and didn’t just deal with trading myself. BUT now we are stuck with the points…and the transfer fee! We want to go to Puerto Vallarta in October, or perhaps Ixtapa. We have been to PV every year for over 10 yrs. We live on a beautiful 18 hold golf course resort at Alderbrook Golf and Yacht Club in Union WA, about an hr via ferry to Seattle WA. Our home is large and on the 5th tee. We would trade it for a week in exchange for one in Mexico?? You could golf and use our hot tub and cart for a week. There is an awesome casino about 20 minutes from here that you can see at littlecreekcasino.com Look the golf course up online also, it is really nice. Let me know if anyone has a week for us in PV or Ixtapa, please. THX much!

  7. My husband and I have a timeshare in Florida for over 10 yrs. We were able to exchange to Honolulu,Hawaii; Cayman Island; St. Thomas; Key West; Norweign Alaska Cruise. Since we change (last year) our timeshare week into the points system our trading power has diminished . Can anyone tell me why?

  8. Everyone is always complaining about the poor service they have recieved from RCI. This is always odd to read, due the fact I've always gotten exactly what I was looking for, in all the areas I wanted. Granted, I don't go looking for a holiday weekend, in Maui. Considering all millions of memebers are also looking for the same thing, the same time, at every other timeshire service globally. I don't think people consider that areas like Maui,or any other resort are not JUST for their timeshire exchange business. It's for every other timeshire service as well. Customer service or "Guides" seem to get a lot of bad reps as well. I call with a warm voice I guess, as everytime I do, each guide always comments "Its nice to hear a friendly voice for a change" I don't think they're just cold, I think the frustrated ignorant consumers make them have to stand their ground for something they have nothing to do with the situation. It's never the person on the phones fault that a resort isn't available. When you go to a restaurant, and there's no more booths, do you grab the waiter and scream at him, and complain that the restaurant is the worst theyve ever dealt with? Or if the library doesn't have a book you want, threaten to sue that librarian? Doesn't make sense.

  9. I agree that it is very hard to make an exchange. I spent hours recently trying to trade in to a resort that showed available even on their website. Every time I selected it it said due to on-line activity no longer available. I called the next morning only to find that it is available, just not to me. I was told by the guide that my time-share, which happens to be the same company, does not hold the trading power to exchange even though it is available. I feel like I am getting the run around several of you are mentioning.

    I am looking for someone that would be willing to trade RCI weeks just because I have a feeling that if I were using any other week, I would be able to make the exchange. I almost feel like I am being blocked because the time-share Mayan Palace won't allow me to go there on exchange as the already have my money i.e. they are looking for more suckers.

    Please contact me if you are interested by email (phone number moderated).

  10. I’m a bit confused. We own points in Worldmark, NOT a specific resort. How does that work when we want to exchange with RCI?

  11. We own a week at the Manhattan Club and a week in Manzanillo, Mexico and we have not noticed the availability of resorts to be any better with a Manhattan Club exchange, which is in very high demand, as opposed to Manzanillo, where demand is much lower. All RCI employees will tell you the same about trading power but it just is not true. The fact is that it is more and more difficult each year to find a decent exchange, regardless of the so called trading power of your week.

  12. Very good system if you own in a good place in the right time … absolutely no problem with it, we own in a RCI resort for 20 years and never had problems

  13. Perhaps you could explain the class action lawsuit in process – http://rcivip.com/2008/rci-class-action-lawsuit-murillo-vs-rci/ – and numerous customer complaints related to this “simple” process. I understand how “simple” it looks on paper, but it is another thing entirely when you are actually a customer trying to make a trade, and are constantly being given the run-around as to why you can not have a particular week/place/room/etc. Maybe “WE ALL think it is so hard to figure…” because the RCI exchange system has treated us poorly, and we feel as though we have been lied to by RCI sales representatives regarding our ability to trade for other resorts, weeks, cruises, rental cars, and the like. The system is flawed. Telling customers they are unable to figure out how to trade is a poor position for RCI, the company you represent, to have.

    1. RCI does not really have sales people, it is an exchange company, they own NO resorts. This is why most people think timeshare sales people all lie ( they don’t). most people either don’t pay attention or just hear want they want to or have no clue what they are talking about or get on a forum and vent because something didn’t go their way.

      Bottom line if someone paid $50,000 for a 2 bed week in Hawaii, and someone else paid $20,000 for a 2 bed week in Gatlinburg TN, do you really think it’s going to be easy to make that exchange in RCI? Probably not, maybe if you are lucky. Most people think their resort has great trading power, they do not. When the above post was made it was 2008, since then in 2010, all owners can now see their trading power rating. It is no longer a secret.

  14. i work at rci and its this simple. The demand on your week that you are exchanging ie; feb on the west coast of florida very high in demand – low in the supply we get – if you are trading something equal say ski week in colorado for feb march you are likely to get your exchange =extreme example – you own manhatten club in new york city – very high demand – that owners week trades very well – you are tradings lets sat a red (high demand) week from hilton head july you are equal – you are trading a red week say hilton head in september not so high. One of the easiest things you can do is ask for a rental sheet from a particular resort – the weeks which hold the highest trading value will also rent for the most money. lets say an owner owns a week on the cape in the summer and its a studio for only for people – that too has very high trading power because demand is very high – and our supply of weeks we get are very low – so you need to be giving up something just in as high in demand – why do you all think it is so hard to figure..dah….????

  15. This has honestly never worked. Everytime we want to exchange a week. It's impossible and we are always given another excuse followed by several more. Not happy at all with international exchange. Seems a bit of a con…..

  16. I couldn't understand some parts of this article eshare Trading Power, Timeshare Exchange, How to Trade Timeshare, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

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