The real Disney pulls through HUGE for us!

[Terk24]

After booking a RCI resort :sick: from an incentive certificate for adding on points over a year ago, I called to confirm everything today...it's a month away. ME "I need to make sure my 'guaranteed' request for a non-smoking is in the system" RCI "Sir, we don't have any non-smoking rooms, but people usually don't smoke in the room they just smoke on their balcony" After spending over 3 hours on the phone with RCI and DVC, my last call with DVC ended in 'TRUE' Disney fashion. I haven't seen this Disney magic in ages...We will be very happy for our upcoming trip! Thank you John Pierre:thumbsup:

[vizsla]

Glad to hear that everything worked out for you. Have a great time.

[DizneyRox]

What did they do? I can't imagine they hae control over smoking rooms at RCI resorts.

[DVC2004]

The RCI certificate for adding on was a huge problem- almost nothing was available when members called to book. I am glad to hear that after a year the situation was remedied.

[MinnieMommie]

Glad to hear you had a happy ending to your story. :mickey:

[Terk24]

The certificate was a nightmare from the get go. The anywhere, anytime was limited to a few months, a few weeks, a few hotels (all of which were pretty much times kids were in school). Disney did get involved at that point too to open it up to a much broader timeframe for many upset members. Then with the last issue, I said just get us close to Disney. He said we can't within 50 miles, it's in the contract with RCI, unless you want to stay on property. :thumbsup:Ah yeah :-) Perfection! We will be staying at Saratoga for a week in a 2 bedroom :secret:

[Aurora]

My parents have been RCI members for years, in addition to being DVC members. RCI is gamed so that its members can make multiple reservations up to two years in advance, thus clogging up the system and making it very difficult, if not impossible, for people to make meaningful reservations. My sister has been able to use RCI points by determining what's available and then deciding where her family is going to vacation -- a rotten way to have to plan, IMO.

Disney really needs to rethink its agreement with RCI.

[MidnTPK]

Interval International (the other big trade broker) isn't much better.

The problem lies in that timeshare trading is really a zero sum game...meaning everybody can't be better off by trading....if someone has a lousy week at a bad resort, then someone else with a good week at a nice resort might get stuck with the lousy.

And you DVC members have some of the best resorts out there. So there's not many resorts out there that you'd consider a trade-up or even a fair trade. It's mostly down.

I've said this on this board before, but I don't think I'd ever deposit my week at Harborside at Atlantis (Paradise Island-Bahamas) in the trading systems....there's just nothing out there that compares to the value of my week at Atlantis, where access to Atlantis is included in your week's occupancy..sort of like if park tickets were included at DVC. I'd consider a trade at a DVC resort, but I'd only do it directly with an owner where I knew exactly what I was getting before making the deal (but I'm not in the market for a trade right now).

[Aurora]

The problem lies in that timeshare trading is really a zero sum game...meaning everybody can't be better off by trading....if someone has a lousy week at a bad resort, then someone else with a good week at a nice resort might get stuck with the lousy.


That's true, but the additional problem with RCI is that even its own members can't get a ressie within a reasonable period of planning time. Reservationists at RCI actually encourage their members to make ressies two years out so they'll have SOMEPLACE to stay when they really want to vacation. To me, that's crazy.

[andreallybadeggs]

We've been satisfied RCI members for many years and yes, we have often made reservations for resorts well over a year in advance in order to go to some places we really wanted to visit-- Spain, Hawaii, Scotland, England, and Christmas in Orlando for over 20 family members just to name a few of our memorable holidays so, in my opinion, the reservations are meaningful and the system is quite workable. Not sure what was meant by "multiple" reservations-- you can not, for example, make 2 reservations using the same exchange and then decide which one you want to use down the road. And it costs to cancel a reservation unless you have insurance which is not cheap in the first place so we try not to do that and it has only happened once. Actually the advantage of booking so far in advance is that once it's on the calendar we start enjoying the planning and anticipation. That makes the upcoming vacation a huge priority; we are able to give friends and family lots of advanced notice that we've set those dates aside and honestly we just haven't experienced many unworkable conflicts. Since our children are grown it has become a little more difficult but we just tell them our plans. If it works for them, they are welcome to join us. If not, we can invite someone else or just enjoy more room in the condo for ourselves.
The main disadvantage of RCI for our purposes was that until recently there was no agreement between Disney and RCI and we like staying on Disney property. So we joined DVC, problem solved. Now whether that partnership remains or not, we're covered. :mickey: