posted 04-28-2005 15:14               

SA ranks high in demand relative to supply, and indeed outdoes FLorida, the Caribbean, and Cancun, the only western hemisphere resort areas in the table.

The numerical designators are:
1 - limited availibility / very highly demanded
2 - less availibility / highly demanded
3 - good availibility
4 - very good availibility

SA is given a 1 for five months (Feb., May, June, Sept., Dec.),
a 2 for three months (April, Oct., Nov.), and a 3 for four months (Jan., March, July, Aug.). It receives no 4's.

In comparision, Florida receives two 1's, three 2's, four 3's, and three 4's.

The Caribbean receives three 1's, four 2's, four 3's, and one 4.

posted 04-29-2005 04:59               

RCI US will send you one for a fee if you do not have a connection in Europe.

I just checked and the fee to receive a European version of the RCI Directory is $15 plus shipping. The US office of RCI can arrange to send you one.

posted 05-01-2005 12:30               

For example, I own a peak week 1, in January. According to this European guide there is good availabilty, but December and January are mid summer in SA there is a lot of local demand for certain regions.

posted 05-01-2005 20:44               

quote:

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Originally posted by Carolinian:
Since this table is designed for RCI members to assess what weeks they have the best chance of trading into, basing it on only European demand would not make any sense. To be of any use for its intended purpose, it must be based on supply and demand in the overall RCI system. Realistically, the biggest driver of demand in SA is logically from the South Africans themselves, not Europeans, Americans, or any other foreginers.

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Well, if the biggest driver of demand is South Africans (and I agree) then the European availability chart is close, but not that precise. Check out http://www.crisa.co.za/default.php It is the largest vacation club in SA and lists point values for each resort. Scroll down and click on points table. What you will see is that points values peak consistently, with some regional variation, in line with SA school vacation weeks...December, the first two weeks of January, a week or two in September, a week or two around March or April. and the last week of June, first week or so of July. These, not coincidentally, are the fixed peak weeks that you can buy.

I have to believe that if the U.S. and S.A. computerized trading systems are ever integrated, we will see better values in those weeks...and that the U.S./European system now just doesn't reflect the SA demand accurately.

posted 05-02-2005 10:31               

SA Avaliability Grid

I did not study it carefully but a quick read indicated there is not much difference from month to month. I am not sure how RCI Europe came up with its numbers.

I do note a significant difference from region to region. Some always have good availability while others never have good availability. If this RCI chart is accurate, I would guess where you want to go in SA is a bigger factor than when you want to go.

Edited to add: I just noticed there is a link below the chart which links to a grid for International Exchange Availability. It displays a similar chart for US, Mexico and Europe.

posted 05-03-2005 22:56               

quote:

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Originally posted by Carolinian:
I just checked and the fee to receive a European version of the RCI Directory is $15 plus shipping. The US office of RCI can arrange to send you one.

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