I have recently become involved with RCI and I'm just learning the ropes here. We tfd. 2 of our weeks over to RCI because our timeshare co. doesn't offer places in Hawaii. So now that our deposit is in, I understand that we have to wait and see. Our purchase was basically a 'gold crown' place so as I see it I need to wait for a 5-star place to come up on either Maui, Kaui or Hawaii. Does anyone know about RCI. Does anyone have any pointers because if they call me, I have no idea what kind of a place they're offering me? In other words, I sure don't want to accept a 3-star place when we have paid for a 5-star place. I'm very 'green' about all of this so don't know anything about it and am a bit worried that I won't get to go to Hawaii this yr. We deposited our points on Aug. 20 and gave a window of 10 weeks - February through to mid April. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!!! Does anyone know of any 5-star places through RCI that are in Maui or Kaui? Thanks bunches!!

My in-laws own a place through RCI. If you get on RCI's website, you can search all of their properties in Hawaii. The property descriptions have photos. You can get a good idea about what each property has to offer.

There is a timeshare users group that can answer lots of questions. It's tug2.net. When we first bought our timeshare, I spent a lot of time on that site. I think it's $15 a year to join but I found it very helpful. Research every place that RCI offers so if you get a call, you know whether it's acceptable or not. We use Interval International. Don't be afraid to call and ask questions and then call back and ask the same question again of someone else! It is definitely a learning process. Good luck to you. It gets easier - it just doesn't start off as easy as it sounds.

You can do a search on the RCI site, specifying Gold Crown. Read the reviews on other sites also, as I have found several that were just as good as GC but don't have the label. I sometimes have better luck calling RCI directly as they can do a quick search over a longer period of time than you can online. You'll probably get some promotions in the mail from RCI that offer some places in Hawaii during slack season. I wouldn't panic over it right now.

Go to RCI.com, there is a resort directory that lists all resorts and gives you info & reviews. You should also be getting a hard copy by mail--did RCI tell you that you'd be getting that?

Here are great timesharing websites:

tugbbs.com/forums
timeshareforums.com

And, whoever your resort chain is might have their own timeshare users'group.

These above 2 sites have helped me tremendously. And, you will learn that there are other places you can most likely exchange your week rather than RCI.

If the timeshare you own is part of RCI (like Interval is) then you should have been given an RCI book which lists all there property worldwide. Think of RCI has the parent company. There is a separate book for points and another book for timeshare owners. You can look up the listings in the book to see whether they are Gold Crown, Global, etc. Bookmark your pages with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th choices of places you would like to go for when they call back. It is important to deposit early which gives you more bargining power.

If you don't have a book, call RCI an ask them to send you one. However, you will need your memebership number for that.

Definitely go to TUG (website mentioned above) & TS4M's (also above). If you join TUG, you can get into the 'members only' site and read reviews that other t/s owners and users have visited and own at. A GREAT source of information from them. You do not have to join TUG if you don't want to, but you can register and ask any questions you want. But the membership is worth it. I've been a member for over 10 years.

jumpy, you can also go to RCI's website and pull up a directory of resorts. The website directory has the resort designation on them.

Thanks for your responses. I don't have a directory yet which they have promised will be here by the end of August. Does anyone have any advice on my likelihood of finding a place for this winter in Maui, Kaui or Hawaii since I deposited them in mid August. The other thing I'm wondering - if something does come up, it could possibly be less than a 5-star and I might feel pressed to take it since there might not be anything else that comes up and then I feel a bit shortchanged. I'm wondering how long I should wait to see if something comes up - like I said, we really don't know a lot because the place we bought this through was not RCI, it's merely that we're transferring weeks at this point. From my perspective (and I need to read my directory on RCI ONCE it arrives - we've been waiting since April) it looks like transferring to points rather than weeks would give us more choice and flexibility ie we could get a place for 44,500 points that would be quite acceptable and then we'd have more points to put towards another vacation. Our resort co. that we bought transfers to approx. 103,000 points.

jumpy, you will do better to ask timeshare experts....

timeshareforums.com
tugbbs.com/forums

RCI has a question and answer place that you can access on one of the above forums. And, you should also go to RCI.com and email them or phone them yourself. Did you look at their online directory. There's as much info on the website as there is in your directory.

Icee has good advice. Their online directory is easy to use and you can start looking at resorts immediately.

We own t/s weeks, but I would not convert it over to points. We do not have points, but at some point would like to. We sat in a seminar about a year or so ago and the main theme was for them to convert us (those of us who had weeks) to points (of course for a fee!!!). This fee was pretty hefty and you would have to pay for closing costs again! It wasn't worth it. We thought it would be better just to purchase points at a later time when we can.
When exchanging you always have the option of refusing if it's not what you want. Call RCI directly and ask them for a book to be sent. They are usually very good about that. Just say you didn't receive your copy. Hope this helps

CherB, we also own a week and have been pressured to sell it and turn it into points. However, one honest salesman told me we were right to not change--we have a guaranteed week when we want to take it and we have an actual deed to the property. The resort owners win with points because they can tell you when to take your vacation, so they can have better occupancy. We're retired now and can adjust our vacation times, but when I was teaching, I had a small window of vacation time that meant that it was very hard to get a trade when we wanted one. As I understand points, it would be nearly impossible to get summertime, as everyone wants to vacation them.

Today, older and wiser, the only way I would purchase a timeshare is buying it on the secondary market. You save thousands and still have the same product.