RCI, the world’s first and currently leading time-share vacation exchange program, is commemorating its 50th anniversary, according to Martin Price, co-founder and former Senior Vice President.
Price and Jon DeHaan of Ramada Inns created and launched the initiative the same year in Price’s real estate office in McLean, Virginia, with an announcement (and call for developers to participate) during the ARDA (the Association of Resort Developers) convention at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
Price, who was also a Vice President of ARDA at the time, had a positive reaction to the innovative marketing technique, and he and DeHaan signed up for the first vacation resort projects where time-share units were marketed to the general public.
RCI now has 3.8 million members in 100 countries and employs over 4,000 full-time employees.
RCI, now known as Group RCI, was sold in 1996 to New Jersey-based HFS Incorporated (Hospitality Franchise Systems), which also controlled Howard Johnson, Ramada, and Avis, among other hotels and rental car firms.
HFS was believed to have paid more than $350 million in cash and shares for the company.
About Martin Price
Martin Irving Price was born in Holbrook, New York, in 1939 and is an American real estate developer, business consultant, marketer, salesperson, and entrepreneur.
He served in the United States Army Security Agency from 1959 to 1962, was the campaign manager for Seymour Spellman for Congress in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in 1966, and afterward worked for Air India in Washington, DC as a Senior Sales Representative.
In addition to conceptualizing and launching RCI, Price developed Hannah-Barbera, Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park campground lot sales program, and Camp-Coast-to-Coast, as well as being the founder and operator of WeBuyHouses.com.
