RCI Exchange Use
RCI Weeks Enhancement
RCI launched its new ‘Weeks Enhancement” program in November 2010.
The major points of the new program are:
~ The possibility to receive a Deposit Credit if a ‘lesser’ exchange is accepted
~ The ability to combine Deposits & Deposit Credits to request an exchange of higher value property
~ The ability to see your Deposit Trading Power & Exchange Trading Power
One of the great mysteries of RCI for many members had been TRADING POWER. There are five main components that determine an interval’s Trading Power. Though this new program makes no changes to Trading Power, it will now be more transparent to members. Members will now be able to see their Deposit Trading Power upon deposit of their unit as well as how much Exchange Trading Power is needed to go to a desired destination resort.
Five Components that determine TRADING POWER
1. Supply, Demand and Utilization of the resort and region
2. Unit Size and Type
3. Season Designation
4. Comment Card Rating
5. Date of Deposit PRIOR to Check In/Start Date
Date of Deposit Prior to Check in (Start Date) – % of Trading Power Retained
2 years to 9 months – 100%
9 months to 6 months – 95%
6 months to 3 months – 90%
3 months to 1 month – 80%
30 days to 15 days – 60%
14 days or less – 45%
Of the five components that determine Trading Power, the owner can control just ONE. That component is the DATE OF DEPOSIT PRIOR TO THE CHECK IN/START DATE. To maximize your unit’s full deposit trading power, you will still need to deposit your week 2 years to 9 months prior to the check-in date. This is the start date of the week at Sea Mist assigned to you for deposit. Please review the above chart for percentage of trading power received for later deposit of your time.
Though unit size and type, season and comment card ratings do have some impact on trading power, it is minor compared to the impact from supply, demand and utilization. Supply ~ how many similar deposits are in the RCI system for your geographic region, Demand ~ how many members are requesting vacations for your ownership location and deposited time, Utilization ~ at home resort and in the geographic region. NOTE: The Exchange Trading Power (TP) issued upon deposit of the week may increase if the demand for the specific interval increases, however the E=TP will never go below the initial TP assigned. To date Sea Mist’s TP rates have ranged from a low of 10 (blue) to a high in the mid-20s to 30 for some limited RED season weeks.
Tips for making successful exchanges:
Plan early: Make sure to deposit your week (2 yrs – 9 months prior to start date) and request an exchange as early as possible. Starting early helps increase your vacation options.
Be flexible: The more options you’re open to, the more likely you are to find a great vacation more quickly. Remember there are 4500+ RCI affiliated resorts worldwide.If you can only travel one specific week be open to a search for multiple resorts and/or locations. If you desire to travel to one specific destination open a search for multiple dates and/or resorts in that location.
Request a comparable exchange: Make your request for a comparable unit size and comparable demand season. Understand that if your ownership is in a low demand period and your request is for a high demand period and a larger unit type than your ownership type, it is going to be a more difficult for RCI to match your exchange request.
START AN ONGOING SEARCH: If your desired exchange was not available be sure to request or initiate and ONGOING SEARCH. Your request will be compared against newly deposited weeks as they enter the exchange system 24/7.
Know your deposit & travel window: Deposit 2 years to 9 months PRIOR to receive the full potential of your trading power
Travel as early as 1 yr PRIOR and as late as 2 yrs AFTER to the start date of your week
Weeks can also be EXTENDED or COMBINED to extend the travel window. (RCI fee will apply)
RCI Subscription & Maintenance Fees: Keep your RCI subscription membership and resort maintenance fees current and paid through your desired future travel dates.
RCI Call Center: 800-338-7777 or 317-805-8000
Weekdays: 7 am – 8 pm
Weekends: 8 am – 5 pm
RCI Travel, For Airline, Hotel & Car Rental: 800-654-5000
Online: www.RCI.com
Features to see: Bank & make exchange requests
Inside RCI – understanding your membership
RCI TV & Member Perks:
~ Vacation Offers
~ Extra Vacation Getaways
~ Cruises
~ Last Call Vacations
~ Nightly Stays
More on RCI Exchanges
Additional Information & Tips for making successful exchanges:
ONGOING SEARCH: We cannot emphasize enough the importance of initiating an ongoing search with RCI. This option allows the RCI database to search for your desired travel destination 24/7/365. Inventory is constantly being added to the RCI inventory database. If you do not take advantage of the ongoing search option you are limiting your search window to the few minutes you are on the phone with the call center or online with RCI.com.
COMBINE DEPOSIT/DEPOSIT CREDITS: New with the Weeks Enhancement Program is the ability to combine your deposited weeks and/or left over deposit credits from confirmed exchanges. If you find you have not traveled on a banked week and are about to lose the week because you are unable to travel before its expiration date, you may now combine the week that is about to expire with a current week and have 24 months from the date of the combination to travel against the total exchange credits. This option also allows you to combine multiple weeks to gain access to an exchange that might otherwise not be available due to your ownership season ETP. You may also combine ETP to travel against a future year deposit earlier than the traditional 1-year prior travel window. The current fee to combine weeks/credits is $154.00 or 2 years for $231.00 paid directly to RCI. As always, RCI still allows you to simply extend the expiring week by 1 month ($49.00), 3 months ($89.00), 6 months ($119.00) or 12 months ($139.00). The best value is the new option to combine your deposits/credits. (rates as of 3/12/2021).
RCI.COM: The exchange fee is currently $289.00. Take advantage of the many search options you can use online. You can search by resort ID, Region, State, City, Date or Date range. If you do some broader searches you may find some travel destinations you might not otherwise have thought of traveling to. Don’t forget about Vacation Offers for when you’re ready to travel but might not have a week available or the credits you need. Extra Vacations Getaways, Last Call Vacation and Nightly Stays don’t require exchange credits. You can find these features under the Air, Car, Cruise & More tab on the RCI.com homepage.
SHORT NOTICE TRAVEL: If you are able to travel with short or little notice you can take advantage of some great deals. The exchange credits needed to get into unconfirmed weeks at many resorts will often decrease the closer it gets to the check in date. RCI’s main goal is to fill the open exchange. If they have units that are not being confirmed they will drop the exchange credit required to book that open exchange.
Biennial year owner (EVEN years only or ODD years only), receive a week assignment and pay a maintenance fee payment only during years of ownership (EVEN years [2024, 2026, 2028 etc.] or ODD years [2023, 2025, 2027 etc.]).
REMINDER: Owners with active RCI memberships can always take advantage of Extra Vacation Getaways and Last Call Vacations. These exchanges do NOT require a banked week and can be found when initiating an exchange search on RCI.com as well as through the RCI call center, toll free at 800-338-7777.
Early Assignment Requests:
Sea Mist Resort does allow for early week assignment requests. Sea Mist follows along with THE ‘24 Month Prior’ RCI guideline for early deposit. If you wish to receive a future year week assignment early for deposit with RCI, own use, guest use or private rental, it is required that the maintenance fee payment be submitted for each year requested in order for Sea Mist to generate a future year week assignment. The fee amount collected for early assignments will be based on the current years maintenance fee rate. The fee for the future year will not be set until the fall of the preceding calendar year. If there is a change of maintenance fee rate on any future year pre-payment, you will be invoiced/credited accordingly based upon the approved budget for that year of ownership.
If you wish to make a request for early assignment, please contact Stacy Lane to receive an early invoice:
Phone: 877-352-4812 toll-free, 239-418-0701 direct, 239-418-1835 fax or email: [email protected]
Mail: P O 61639, Fort Myers, FL 33906-1639
RCI Early Assignment/Deposit Guidelines:
Weeks may be deposited as early as 24 months prior to the start date at the home resort, for travel as early as 12 months PRIOR to the Start Date at the home resort. Travel may take place as late as 24 months AFTER the Start Date at the home resort. This early deposit option can offer as much as a three (3) year Window for travel against any week deposited to RCI. Early Deposit requires maintenance Fees to be paid for each year being deposited. Fees are based on the ‘Current’ Years maintenance fee, and will be adjusted once the fees for the pre-paid year are set at the Annual Budget Meeting.
You may also make requests for early assignment of Own Use/Guest Use or Private Rental weeks up to 24 months prior to the start date of the week assignment. However the actual access of the Own Use/Guest Use or Private Rental week must fall within the calendar year of ownership as previously outlined.
RCI 3-Year Window of Use Timeline Example:
Timeline for a 2022 Week #20 assignment with a May 20, 2022 ‘Start Date’ thru RCI: The owner is eligible to deposit their May 2022 week as early as May 21, 2022 (depositing this early offers the owner the highest possible trading power for the week). However they could wait unit as late May 4, 2022 (14 days before the start date) to deposit the week. Once the 2022 Week is deposited, the owners may request and exchange against the week and can travel any time between May 2021 and May 2024. This timeline may even be extended further if needed with purchase of an extension or a week/exchange credit combination option with RCI.
