Another Interesting Post on Ask RCI!

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

There is another interesting Ask RCI Post on TUG.

Walt

Timeshare Units for Travel Agents to peddle

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Madge - I have a few questions I'd like for you to answer, please.

I am a travel agent (& a TS owner). In the October 2 issue of 'Travel Agent' magazine, there was an article that told of how RCI is now making condos, villas, & houses available to travel agents to rent to their clients. In order to get 1st hand knowledge of how wonderful the timeshare condo experience is, RCI is giving travel agents a 25% discount off rental fees if units are rented for themselves. Lastly, through the end of 2006 and during special promotions thereafter, travel agents can make 20% commission on rentals they arrange.

I logged onto the website listed in the article and sure enough, it was timeshare resorts that were listed for rent. These were not excess inventory: Hawaii any time of year, coastal So CA in the San Diego area during Del Mar race season, coastal FL any time of year, etc. The rental fees for these units were reasonable.


My questions to you, Madge, are:
1. From what inventory are these weeks being made available from? Spacebanked weeks program? Points program?
2. Why, as a timeshare owner requesting an exchange into Hawaii, am I told by an RCI VC that there is a 2 year wait, but as a travel agent, I can book a week for the spring of 2007 and at a 25% discount to boot?
3. Why is RCI not honoring what they promised their paying members - namely, the availability of units in desirable locations when they spacebanked their weeks for the use of other MEMBERS?


http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34285

[nursetanya1973 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nursetanya1973]

Hmmm, no reply yet. Is it just a normally slow answer rate, or are they stalling/ignoring? I would not expect a forthright answer to this. Isn't there a lawsuit on these issues?

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Isn't there a lawsuit on these issues?

Yes there is.
You will not get a real answer from Madge on this one. Not that most of her answers are on the Up and Up anyway.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Hmmm, no reply yet. Is it just a normally slow answer rate, or are they stalling/ignoring? I would not expect a forthright answer to this. Isn't there a lawsuit on these issues?

Madge typically takes several weeks to reply to questions, and this was apparenlty just posted on Tuesday. Questions are normally answered from oldest to newest, so adding comments to questions sometimes results in the question going to the bottom of the reply queue.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

It doesn't matter. You'll just get some blather from Madge about this being acquired inventory blah blah blah. The most pointed questions get the least informative responses.

[Arkansas Winger Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Arkansas Winger]

Yes, it will be interesting to see how RCI Spins the answer......

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Poor Madge is in a horrible spot as she is representing Cendant so what can she do? She has to reply the way her company wants her to reply. If I were her, I wouldn't want to work for this company but she may have invested too much time with Cendant already and doesn't want to let her retirement benefits go out of the window.

At our timeshare owner's weekly meeting this week, I mentioned that I hated what Cendant is doing to RCI and it's members and that I heard that it is getting more and more difficult to make a good trade. I also mentioned that many resorts do not let their owners trade with another exchange company either but with RCI only. Our manager told us that owners of any resort can trade with all exchange companies or do with their week whatever they want to do with that week. It seems to be that some resorts are stopping the owners from making these exchanges so they need to educate their HOA board because they are the ignorant ones.

Our resort is managed by "Fairfield" which is now "Wyndham" which is owned by Cendant so it is Cendant who is telling us indirectly that we can trade with any exchange company. I have seen this resort in the II directory as well as on SFX.

However, it is very unfair if these deposited weeks go to timeshare rentals and not to the members who would like to exchange to these resorts.

[Carol C Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Carol C]

Poor Madge is in a horrible spot as she is representing Cendant so what can she do? She has to reply the way her company wants her to reply. If I were her, I wouldn't want to work for this company but she may have invested too much time with Cendant already and doesn't want to let her retirement benefits go out of the window.

How do you know they even get retirement benefits? And if they do, like other pension programs in jeapardy these days, there's no guarantee that their Cendant pension program (if any) will be around when they retire.

Nope, I think Madge stays with RCI/Cendant because it pays ok, she's put down roots where she is, and there aren't many factories or auto plants to work at anymore in Indiana.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I suppose it's time to repeat this refrain.

I'm often amazed by how many people persist in hooking RCI up with the timeshare business. The sooner you quit doing that, the better off you will be.

RCI is in the leisure travel and accommodations business, not the timeshare exchange business. Handling timeshare exchanges is simply an entree into that market.

The leisure travel and accommodations business dwarfs timeshare exchanging. To the extent RCI/Wyndham is successful in building their market share in that bigger business, timesharing becomes less important.

***

I think that RCI does not see II, DAE, etc. as significant competitors. I think RCI sees ResortQuest as it's biggest competitor.

If my premise is correct, RCI's objective is to have the leading brand where people go to obtain a vacation condo. It will be immaterial whether that condo came from timeshare ownership or a whole ownership.

And if an owner puts something into the system they will be able to take something back out without being limited to timeshare product.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

How do you know they even get retirement benefits? And if they do, like other pension programs in jeapardy these days, there's no guarantee that their Cendant pension program (if any) will be around when they retire.

Nope, I think Madge stays with RCI/Cendant because it pays ok, she's put down roots where she is, and there aren't many factories or auto plants to work at anymore in Indiana.

Someone we know works at Cendant and has a pension plan program today. They are a very big company and I hope and trust that they will honor the pension benefits that their employees have accrued so far. Yes, pension plans may not be there anymore tomorrow for new employees.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

There is another interesting Ask RCI Post on TUG.

Walt

Timeshare Units for Travel Agents to peddle

Yep, I saw it and did not like it one little bit. Not surprised though.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Hopefully, the class actions lawyers have picked up on this and will make it fodder for some of their discovery.

If you want to see where RCI would be in a few years if the class action is not successful, look at where European independent exchange company Timelinx has gone. Their website now barely mentions that they do exchanges. Like RCI, they were bought up by someone with a different agenda. RCI is just not as far down the road as Timelinx.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

RCI takes in about 500 million dollars a year in exchange fees alone. I would think that would make the exchange business of some importance. The over 2 million exchanges also generate other travel business such as transportation and the like, feeding their travel business.

[opkansas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close opkansas]

Yes there is.
You will not get a real answer from Madge on this one. Not that most of her answers are on the Up and Up anyway.

The 4 law suits filed against RCI have been consolidated into one action. www.classcounsel.com

Thank you for contacting our firm about your experiences with RCI. Green Welling filed a class action against RCI in February 2006. Through its Weeks Program, RCI offers its members the option of depositing their vacation week in a spacebank to exchange it for a comparable week from the spacebank. RCI states that the vacation weeks deposited into the spacebank are maintained in the spacebank for exchanges. Plaintiff alleges that RCI actually rents out the most desirable and highly demanded vacation weeks from the spacebank, thus depleting the most desirable options available to Weeks Program members who seek exchanges.

If you are or were a RCI Weeks Program member you are automatically a member of the purported class and do not need to do anything to participate in or "join" the class action. A class member may decide to provide documents to help us in our investigation in the case, but is not obligated to do so. If a successful conclusion is reached in favor of the plaintiff, all class members will receive a Notice of Settlement informing them of the terms of the settlement and instructing them how to claim their benefits.

A class representative is a person named in the complaint who participates actively in the lawsuit, and may be asked to testify at deposition and trial, answer written interrogatories, and keep generally aware of the status and progress of the lawsuit. To become a class representative, we would first have to review your documents and specific situation. It is often beneficial to have several lead plaintiffs. Thus, if you are interested in this level of involvement, we encourage you to contact us to discuss it further.

Lastly, it will help us get a recovery for RCI members if we can add you to our RCI contact database and collect information about your experiences. The contact database will be kept strictly confidential. It will allow us to contact you in the event we distribute information related to this lawsuit. To be added, please provide the following information:

(1) Your contact information (i.e. name, address, email, phone number, etc.)

(2) Are you a member of the RCI Weeks Program Member? If yes, please provide the dates of your membership.

(3) If no, which RCI program are you a member of?

(4) Please detail the nature of your problem (i.e. difficulty in finding adequate exchange weeks).

(5) If you own a timeshare week, what is the designation of the week (i.e., red, white, blue)?

Please check out our website at www.classcounsel.com and feel free to email us with any questions or call us toll-free at 1-888-610-4768. Again, thank you for taking the time to contact our firm.

Gary V. Casavant
Paralegal


GREEN WELLING LLP
Tel: (415) 477-6700
Fax: (415) 477-6710
www.classcounsel.com

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

The classaction investigators would be remiss in not working these boards, following up on posts like the one pointed out. To my knowledge they are not.

I don't feel sorry for Madge. She is doing what the rest of us are doing, reading and posting, but she is getting paid for it. Public relations people get paid to put a nice spin on those who pay them.

The rules for that forum prevent it from being very meaningful, but if those rules were not there, RCI would not be wither.