are 1300 HYATT Points really not enough...

[phatpharm]

if we can (and often do) travel off season and are able to manage nicely in a studio or 1 bedroom would 1300 points still be disappointing? I read Kal's advice regarding the disadvantage of the lower number of points. We own @ Disney with the lowest number of points (150) and we have always been happy with availability and accomodations. Not sure if Hyatt has the same banking and borrowing as Disney does. We have taken advantage of that and it helps in managing our points year over year. As always, thanks in advance for any info.

 

[jerseygirl]

I looked at all the unit/season options before I made the plunge. I wanted to buy enough points to be able to book at least a one-BR unit any week of the year, including during peak (diamond) season. The magic number was 1450, and I thought this would work well for us since it also allows you to book 2-BR units in silver (or lower) season.

Upon further research, I found that 3 of the resorts (High Sierra in Tahoe, and Beach House and Windward Pointe in Key West) only have two-Bedroom units, so 1450 wasn't going to be enough points to visit during gold, platinum or diamond season.

After much searching, I finally decided to stick with my original plan --but then couldn't find any 1450-point weeks. So, I finally settled on a 1400 point week, which *almost* meets my original goal (we'll have to settle for a studio if we want to travel during diamond season and have to live with the fact that we can only visit the 3 "2-BR only" resorts during silver or lower season). But, the price was right -- I found a lot more availability and ability to negotiate with the 1300 and 1400 point weeks.

Bottom line -- study the season and unit size charts carefully and make sure you can make do with a 1300 point week. 1400 points gives you a lot more options. I would have like 1880 even more, but couldn't justify the price differential when all was said and done.

Good luck!

 

[jerseygirl]

Oops -- forgot to answer your banking/borrowing question. It's a little tricky .... best information can be found here:

http://www.bywindkal.com/HVC.htm

 

[mesamirage]

Bottom line -- study the season and unit size charts carefully and make sure you can make do with a 1300 point week. 1400 points gives you a lot more options. I would have like 1880 even more, but couldn't justify the price differential when all was said and done.

Good luck!

We originally purchased a 1400 point unit at Beach House and after owning for ~8 months or so we sold our 1400 point unit on Ebay and purchased an 1880 point unit at Tahoe. Our difference in price was less than $2,000 to move up to the 1880. I do think we got good pricing on both sides, so in fairness I think the spread is more like $4,000 but I personally think the price difference is justified in usage and resale price. I think the spread in price from 1880 to 2200 is even larger! Of course with the 2200 point weeks being all the high demand weeks that adds more value than just the fact that its more points.

I have to agree with you that the 1300 and 1400 point units are a buyers market... 1300 really being a VERY soft market for sellers. I would likely offer a seller a 20-30% discount or more of their asking price since I know the 1300 point units are hard to move.

To the original question, I think you can pull some very nice vacations with Hyatt by owning a 1300 point week. Last month in Hyatts Destinations magazine they profiled a 2200 point week owner who go 68 nights in Hyatts last year out of his points! Wow... so it can be done.

BUT if you can find a price you feel comfortable purchasing on an 1880 point week I would still highly suggest going with the larger point week. (remember its really what you pay for a week and what you sell it for that is your net cost of owning that week, yearly fees are all the same) Hyatt is starting to bring some VERY nice locations/resorts online that I think will be mainly Diamond weeks... New York, Hawaii, and more.. so I think your desire for more points will continue to "TUG" at you.

Steve

 

[benjaminb13]

What would you consider a fair price for 1400- 1880- and 2000 points

 

[jerseygirl]

Steve -- I agree with you that 1880 is much better, but I couldn't find anyone willing to come down to a price that was anywhere close to a $4000 differential, let alone a $2000 differential. You did great! I think we'll be okay with our 1400-point week. We own enough other weeks to fill up the diamond weeks we can't get through Hyatt (unless we take a studio), so it's just one piece in our vacation puzzle, which helped with my decision process. Having said that, I would definitely advise a new buyer to go for more points if they can find the right price.

Benjamin -- I'm definitely not an expert on pricing. If you watch ebay, there have been quite a few 1400 point weeks offered for right under $10K with no bids. Maybe others will chime in, but I would also suggest you join the Yahoo group and ask there. It's a pretty active group, with a lot of long-time owners willing to share information. I have read that Hyatt will exercise ROFR if the price is too low, but don't have first hand information. I thought I got a great price (didn't expect it to pass ROFR, but it did, so maybe I paid too much! )

 

[dvc_john]

I have a smaller point Hyatt week, and I usually get three 4-day mid-week stays per year This year it's a 4-day 2br, a 4-day 1br, and a 4-day studio.

The only problem I have is trying to use up a small amount of leftover points. (I really hate to lose points!) This year I have 80 leftover points. The options for using up a few points are pretty minimal:

Use in Colorado in 'mud season' when point prices are really low. (difficult for me as I usually travel to Florida in May and October).
Borrow from the next year (difficult since you have to pay an estimated next year mf, and can only book 60 days out).
Use in the 6 months after your week and combine with the next years points (but you can only book 60 days out, and if you can't find somthing in those 6 months, you lose the points).
Turn them into II points (you have to do this 4 months before your week, and this extends their use for 2 years. But they can only be used for II exchanges into non-Hyatt resorts, and will have to be supplemented with additional points in the next two years to really get anything, which of course means giving up one or more Hyatt stays in those two years.)

If anyone has any better suggestions for using up leftover points I'd like to hear.

 

[Floridaski]

Plan and Bank in II

Plan how you are going to use your points and bank the left over in the EE in II. I have about 150 points that are good until July 2009. So, I more then likely will have left over points again this year, since we have already gotten more points. I just booked a one bedroom at Marriott Grande Vista for Presidents week in 2008 with left over points. We are only staying 5 nights, but for this high demand week, it still made sense. So, I am just very careful with my planning and I do not miss my deposit window for II with points that will be left over.

With the EE program with II, they always use the oldest points first. So actually the Marriott II exchange used the remaining oldest points first. So, if you have even 80 points left over - just do not miss your deposit window. They are still valuable within II for additional vacations! If you save those points for a 2 years, you could get another nice vacation. The II exchange value for Hyatt is great and you can still get nice resorts. I do not waste one point if I can help it!

 

[mesamirage]

What would you consider a fair price for 1400- 1880- and 2000 points

I would consider a fair/good price for a 1400 unit to range from $8500 to $9500 and a GREAT price anything under $8500, keeping in mind that if you can pick up a week with banked points and/or current years usage included it has that much more value. (seems fairly typical that sellers have stopped using their timeshares for a couple years prior to selling and that is one of the reasons they want to get rid of it to shed the yearly fees, thus the banked or unused weeks that many resales come with)

A fair price IMO for an 1880 point unit would be $11000 to $13000 and anything under $11K being an outstanding price.

I don't know what a fair price for 2000 points is... the 2000 and 2200 point weeks typically can demand a higher price per point since they are high demand weeks at each resort. Maybe $16-$17k for 2000 maybe a bit more... I really don't have a target price for those weeks, instead we are likely going to add a 1300 point week (hopefully at a rock bottom price) instead to our 1880 point week to get us to 3180 points! Just trying to find that 1300 point unit at the right price. Hyatt lets you combine the points as long as the deed is in the exact same name.

I know some will feel my prices are too low but I think that is the whole purpose of resale hunting to find the fantastic deals!! We were able to find both of our Hyatt weeks for less than the low end I quoted. But that came with ALOT of offer rejections before we found them.

I wouldn't worry to much about Hyatt ROFR, I think it is overblown, I personally think Hyatt mainly targets high point weeks that they know they can resale. I haven't heard of Hyatt exercising ROFR on any resales recently. If someone has I would really like to know where that price point is at.

Good luck and happy hunting!!

 

[duke]

I think you need to be a bit careful with this....

Some of the Diamond weeks for a 1 br are 1450 points.
This makes me think that a 1450 point week has a higher value..

What do you think?

 

[mesamirage]

I think you need to be a bit careful with this....

Some of the Diamond weeks for a 1 br are 1450 points.
This makes me think that a 1450 point week has a higher value..

What do you think?

I agree that a 1450 diamond week has a higher value since you are locked into a diamond 1 bdrm week at one of the resorts. Your locked in diamond week will allow to use your deeded week without competing with anyone for that week, you are guaranteed that week with the Hyatt system as long as you reserve it outside of 6 months of your deeded week. I think the Hyatt system has a step up on Starwood when you own a high demand week at a resort you like. Nothing like knowing that unit is yours for that week vs calling at 6am, 12 months out to try and get a good time stamp on your reservation!

I also own Starwood so I know the pain the Starwood owners go thru. Plus the Hyatt online reservation system, which allows you to search across all resorts at the same time is IMO the best reservation system of the Hotel based Timeshares at this time.

 

[Floridaski]

Points are points

I think most Hyatt owners will agree with me on this - points are points. That being said, before you could get that diamond week that someone else owns, they would have to decide to go somewhere else - or perhaps they determine they want to go a different week. It is very hard to go to the same resort, the exact same week every single year. Some folks do in fact go to their home resort, in the exact unit they purchased. But, many people give that week up for another Hyatt, to extend their point value in a different season or they just need to go a week later. No matter the reason, once that owner has gone past their 6 month window - it is open to other Hyatt members. It does not matter if I own at Aspen or Key West.... Granted, I do not think many Aspen owners are letting go of ski weeks. But, I have seen quite a few Aspen weeks available outside of ski and high summer. So, that being said - decide if you want a specific unit or the points. But, to make the Hyatt system work for you - you must take the time to fully understand their time periods. Anyway, I have found that Hyatt treats their owners like no other TS company and regardless of where you purchase, you will be happy!

 

[benjaminb13]

thanks for the info Mesamirage
One qustion - adding a 1300 to your 1880 week - Is it worth it when you consider MFs? What about another 1880 every other year?- Just a thought.

Ive researched and found Hyatt del Mar to be the most inexpensive points. When I asked about del Mar in the HYatt forum- I was told to be cautiousb4 purchasing there- Any insights?

 

[mesamirage]

thanks for the info Mesamirage
One qustion - adding a 1300 to your 1880 week - Is it worth it when you consider MFs? What about another 1880 every other year?- Just a thought.

I've researched and found Hyatt del Mar to be the most inexpensive points. When I asked about del Mar in the HYatt forum- I was told to be cautiousb4 purchasing there- Any insights?

I believe the issue at Hyatt Hacienda Del Mar is that the Cerromar Hotel, which was right next to the Hyatt Vacation Club resort, CLOSED and Hyatt had a shared services/right to use type of agreement that allowed Hyatt owners used the Pool, dining, and Casino at Cerromar. Now that the Hotel has closed Hyatt owners feel that their ownership value has dropped and/or that the quality of the stay has dramatically changed. Thats the tidbits of what I know, I haven't followed the issue very close. I know the concern for all the other Hyatt owners is that we have to absorb many of those owners deciding to trade into other Hyatts instead of going to Puerto Rico to stay at their deeded week. It really seems like this is something Hyatt really needs to address because from what I have read the location is fantastic!!

IMO I think Hyatt has to much at stake with the owners in general to not get a handle on the issue and try and make everyone happy, I don't know what that means in terms of a solution, but I think Hyatt will step up at some point and offer a solution. Maybe its a good time to swoop in and buy a cheap Del Mar week??

As far as my 1300 point week purchase vs an 1880 point week, legit question because I ONLY believe in taking on higher point weeks since the yearly fees are the same, its just that I have a 1300 point week lined up at such a price reduction (ROFR level so it should be a good test) that if it comes thru I have to purchase it...... I think I have heard that from many of the TUG addicts before!