posted 12-20-2004 03:58               

A few days ago I needed to cancel an internal exchange at a small resort I own in Palm Springs. Just to satisy my own curiosity, I checked both the availability for an exchange and the bonus week/rental section online right before I called and released the unit. Before...my unit did not appear in either a search or rental..after I released it..VOILA!!!- there was the week as a rental..within minutes!!!

My question is this...I am currently looking for a week in Las Vegas. There are MANY rental weeks, but no exchanges available. Does RCI ever switch from the rental section to an exchange as the date gets closer and no rental occurs and a member has an online search going on for the resort that appears as a rental? RCI seems to have no problem taking members weeks and making them rentals, so does it work the other way???

Oh. by the way...after seeing the above for myself...that will be the last week I ever deposit a week in the RCI system. Add me to the long list of dissatisfied customers who feel RCI is engaging in dishonorable business practices.

posted 12-29-2004 10:17            

Rental units that are not confirmed are indeed rolled into the exchange program as travel dates get closer - usually less than 7 days before travel.

I've addressed the issue of rentals on TUG many times and expect it will continue to be a topic of interested discussion. It is difficult for me to comment on a specific scenario I did not witness and cannot verify for myself. However, it is possible for what you described to happen.

When members exchange their weeks for cruises or use Points Partners transactions, RCI rents space to cover the costs of those services. Since those members deposited inventory with RCI Weeks or RCI Points, but aren't taking a corresponding vacation back out, RCI has rental "credits" based on what the members deposited. These credits may or may not be redeemed in the form of the same units that were deposited.

For example, a member who took a cruise exchange may have deposited his week a year prior and it would already have been assigned to someone for exchange. In that case, we would use something comparable to his unit for the rental credit. Comparability is based on the same guidelines as Trading Power. Or, we might use something that would provide similar rental value, but would be less scarce in the exchange program. That way, the unit in higher demand for exchanges would be kept in the exchange system.

From a reconciliation standpoint, RCI actually has a surplus of rental credits at the moment. So, to date, the exchange system has actually benefited from the fact that more members have exchanged into non-exchange inventory than we have taken back for rental.