HGVC points: Is one better than another?

Hi:
I am sure you have heard/answered these questions many times before ~ and so I apologize in advance! I am new to time shares and to TUG. I am considering purchasing HGVC points. My question is this: What is the advantage of purchasing a higher priced resale of 5000 gold points (like a Hawaii based HGVC) versus one that is based in Las Vegas (which is cheaper both in resale price and maintenance fees for the same 5000 gold points)? I don't plan to go to Las Vegas to vacation but if the points can be used anywhere in the HGVC group, does it really matter what the home resort is? Also, how do the points convert to actual stays at Hilton hotels? I plan to be in Singapore later in the year and would like to use the points to stay there. How easy is it to use your points to stay at hotels and how easy is it to reserve a place in Hawaii at the HGVC there if your home based is in Las Vegas?
Thanks for your advice/help!

simple answer to your question: find points with the lowest maint. fees, and lowest up front cost. points are points, can be used anywhere. And you should have no problem getting into hawaii working 9 months in advance, granted its not week 51 and 52 and whatnot. If I wanted to buy hgvc points, I would buy vegas. read this, it will help.

http://www.tug2.net/advice/hgvc.htm

and a newer points chart that shows plus and premier rooms:

http://www.alltimeshare.com/HiltonPointsPerSeason.html

Thank you for your comments. I had read that particular site earlier and have spent many, many hours reading different threads. I know that points are points and you can use them anywhere with Hilton, and that it is one of the more flexible TS systems. What confused me however, was why anyone then would choose to pay $14K on EBay for 7000 platinum points with a home resort of Hawaii when they could get 7000 platinum points for far less and with cheaper maintenance in Las Vegas? Even if the risk was that you may not get exactly the weeks you wanted at another resort, you may still get a room if you made it via Open season or Club season reservations, and keep your points for another vacation. Maybe there is something I am not seeing?

Thanks.

Thank you for your comments. I had read that particular site earlier and have spent many hours reading different threads. I can't say that I understand it all completely, though! I know that points are points and you can use them anywhere with Hilton, and that it is one of the more flexible TS systems. What confused me however, was why anyone then would choose to pay $14K on EBay for 7000 platinum points with a home resort of Hawaii when they could get 7000 platinum points for far less and with cheaper maintenance in Las Vegas? Even if the risk was that you may not get exactly the weeks you wanted at another resort, you may still get a room if you made it via Open season or Club season reservations, and keep your points for another vacation. Maybe there is something I am not seeing?

Thanks.

Carmelie said:

What confused me however, was why anyone then would choose to pay $14K on EBay for 7000 platinum points with a home resort of Hawaii when they could get 7000 platinum points for far less and with cheaper maintenance in Las Vegas? Even if the risk was that you may not get exactly the weeks you wanted at another resort, you may still get a room if you made it via Open season or Club season reservations, and keep your points for another vacation.

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Seems to me as if you answered your own question. Besides the desire to be able to book at the 12 month window, which doesn't seem to be that imperative, I don't see why someone would opt for the same amount of points with higher MF.

Carmelie said:

Thank you for your comments. I had read that particular site earlier and have spent many hours reading different threads. I can't say that I understand it all completely, though! I know that points are points and you can use them anywhere with Hilton, and that it is one of the more flexible TS systems. What confused me however, was why anyone then would choose to pay $14K on EBay for 7000 platinum points with a home resort of Hawaii when they could get 7000 platinum points for far less and with cheaper maintenance in Las Vegas? Even if the risk was that you may not get exactly the weeks you wanted at another resort, you may still get a room if you made it via Open season or Club season reservations, and keep your points for another vacation. Maybe there is something I am not seeing?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you can travel anytime during the year then it probably doesn't make a difference (especially for stays in Orlando and Vegas since there are three HGVC locations in each of these destinations).
If you plan to visit the Big Island (not Oahu) then it probably doesn't make a difference. If you plan to visit Oahu during non-peak periods(whenever the kids are in school) then it probably doesn't make a difference as long as you plan ahead since this is a popular destination.

The Hilton Hawaiian Village on Oahu is very popular, the Lagoon and Kalia Tower are normally very difficult to reserve during peak season (July, August and Winter break when the majority of kids are out school) however due to the economy there has been more availability. The Lagoon and Kalia tower will book immediately once Club Season begins since these two towers are under the old point structure. NOTE: The new Grand Waikikian Tower is under a much higher point structure.

If you want to visit Oahu on a regular basis and your future travel plans will be based on a school calendar (peak season for family vacations), you have the following choices

(1) buy at the Hilton Hawaiian Village but in order to take advantage of your home resort you would need to book your reservations 12 months to 9 months before check-in in the exact unit size, unit view on the designated checkin day for the full week. Only have to compete with the other HHV owners that plan to stay at their home resort and are tied to a school calendar.

OR

(2) get up at midnight and book your reservation under Club Season as soon as your reservation period begins taking whatever is available in whatever tower is available(during peak season leftovers weeks may not be available in all unit sizes and views and you may have to change rooms if there isn't a single room available for the entire length of stay). At the 9 month mark all owners have an equal chance to book any size unit, in any view for any length of time (3 night minimum) therefore whoever books the quickest gets whatever is available.

Also Visit the HGVC forum on TUG

Carmelie said:

Hi:
Also, how do the points convert to actual stays at Hilton hotels? I plan to be in Singapore later in the year and would like to use the points to stay there. How easy is it to use your points to stay at hotels and how easy is it to reserve a place in Hawaii at the HGVC there if your home based is in Las Vegas?

Click to expand...

Hilton Grand Vacations Club (HGVC) and Hilton HHonors are two separate programs.

You have two options to use HGVC points with HHonors.

(1) Transfer your points from one program to another (HGVC points to HHonor points)
PROs: You get 25 HHonor points for each HGVC point.
CONS: You cannot transfer/convert HGVC points to HHonor points in the current year. You must plan ahead and request conversion before Dec 31 of the current year, for the following year's allocation of HGVC points. HGVC points are not deposited into your HHonors account until the first week of January of the following year.
NOTE: Converted HHonors points may not be converted back to HGVC points

(2) Make Hotel Reservations using HGVC points
PROs: You can use a combination of HHonor points and HGVC Club Points (from the current year and/or borrow from next year) to make your hotel reservation
CONs: You get 20 HHonor points for each HGVC point (less points for not planning in advance)
NOTE: HGVC points can not be returned to your HGVC account if you cancel your hotel reservations. They will be refunded as HHonors points

As HGVC Members, we are automatically given Silver VIP HHonor status. This qualifies us for the exclusive VIP–Only hotel rewards which allows stays of 4 to 14 nights at reduced hotel reward levels. The HHonors VIP-Only hotel award provides the best hotel exchange value. There's also an exclusive 4-night category 5, 6 and 7 hotel award available only for American Express Hilton card members which saves HHonors points.

Honors Hotel Rewards - http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/rewards/hotels.do


The best use of HGVC points is for timeshare stays.
All airline frequent flyer, credit card reward and hotel reward programs go through point devaluation and some are more frequent than others.

A great hotel exchange deal today may not be a great deal tomorrow due to the following
(1) Maintenance Fees will increase over time decreasing the exchange value
(2) HHONOR reward point requirement will increase over time which will eventually impact the number of hotel reward nights
(3) Per the HGVC Member Guide, the HGVC to HHonors conversion rate is subject to change without notice and the benefits available through these programs are subject to change, suspension or discontinuation at any time without prior notice.

It's better to take advantage of the hotel reward stays using HGVC convert points sooner rather than later.
The last point devaluation - http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113305&highlight=hhonors

Welcome to TUG

Just remember timeshares are a little different than booking a hotel room. All 52 weeks are sold (peak season and off season). There is sometimes an imbalance at some locations due to peak travel periods. For example at a ski resort most folks are going to want to go during the peak winter ski season and at a beach location most folks are going to want to visit during the summer.

Hilton Hawaiian Village (HHV) has as similar situation. HGVC has classified 42 weeks out of the 52 weeks in Hawaii as high season (platinum season) which includes the week that kids are out of school. This causes an imbalance for HHV owners with families that plan to travel to their home resort based on their school calendar. There are only a limited number of weeks that the kids are off from school and a limited number of rooms available. NOTE: Spring break varies throughout the US providing less competition especially if your school doesn't take off the week before/after Easter.

Make sure you understand availability at whatever timeshare you decide to purchase.

HGVC has developer built resorts and affiliate resorts. HGVC has developer built resorts in New York, Orlando, South Beach, Las Vegas, Oahu and the Big Island. HGVC currently has no plans to build outside their core markets (Hawaii, Las Vegas, Orlando and New York City). NOTE: The South Beach property is very small (52 units) and the New York property has a different reservation window (only available for internal trade 44 days before check-out).
Sadly, HGVC has more affiliate resorts than HGVC developed resorts. Since affiliate agreements can change/end, HGVC developer resorts are the only ones that will be available to HGVC members in the long run. Most of the HGVC Club Partner Perks (cruises, etc) are not setup to save you money. It just allows members to apply some of their HGVC expense towards other vacation options.

Here's an old post regarding the limited availability at some Affiliated Resorts - http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showpost.php?p=474720&postcount=4

Good Luck

Thanks so much for your detailed explanation! That really helped me understand the pro and cons to owning an LV versus Hawaii HGVC.

I agree that getting the cheapest MF is important BUT anyone who has taken even simple Finance 101 will tell you that you need to do breakeven analysis.

Paying $4000 extra to save $200/year in Maintenance Fees means that it will take anywhere from 20 years (at 0% interest) to forever. If you were able to get 5% on your $4000 from some type of investment, then the interest every year ($200) makes up for it plus you get to keep your money.

Just today, I watched the Ebay world let the Hilton Bay Club 1 Bedroom EOY go by at $10!!!! $10???? Sure, the $1000 MF is high, but even the lowest Vegas TS has a $700-$800 MF and they are going for THOUSANDS of dollars. I honestly don't understand.

Don't be fooled by the asking prices on eBay - click on the menu on the left and look at the closing prices. Most Las Vegas timeshares on eBay aren't selling at all.

Of the last 50 LV auctions:

RedDog,

The Bay Club on the Big Island is a really nice property (especially post Special Assessment), but the MF's are high for a 1BR or a 2BR and you can't access the pools at the other HGVC properties that are close by (or the hotel). I think those HGVC and hotel amenities are really nice and lack of access is a negative for Bay Club.

Thus, it routinely sells for bottom dollar -- also it's an HGVC affiliate, not a purpose built HGVC, thus the rules could change if HGVC ever decides to no longer affiliate with the property.

Good luck!

DeniseM said:

Don't be fooled by the asking prices on eBay - click on the menu on the left and look at the closing prices. Most Las Vegas timeshares on eBay aren't selling at all.

Of the last 50 LV auctions:

23 were listed for $0-$100

31 had no bids

6 sold for $2 or less

6 sold for $110 or less

3 sold for less than $500

Only 4 sold for more tha $1,000​

Click to expand...

Denise,

I am talking about the LGVC Properties only. The Vegas LGVC properties are going for quite a bit. I watch every single one of those auctions. Also, for some reason, the Tahiti Village is getting strong bidding. I watch those all of the time. Yesterday, the one I was watching went from $1 to $2550 in less than one hour. It is a great unit, but people are stupid to pay that much for Tahiti Village when you can get Tahiti for $100. Sure, the village is nicer, but the trading power is the same, and it is SUPER easy to trade from Tahiti to Tahiti Village.

Anyways, we are off track. Today, an HGVC property worth 5000 points in Hawaii went for $10. I don't understand why.

Every Vegas HGVC property that I see went for well over $1000 for 3400 points, and well over $2500-3000 for 5000 points.

Carmelie:

Welcome to TUG. HGVC has many advantages over some of the other hotel based timeshare systems in that points purchased resale are treated the same as points purchased directly from HGVC, with the exception of Elite Status. The Elite status benefits are nice but are really not worth the additional expense of purchasing direct. However, HGVC does not build new resorts with the intent of selling them resale. The new resorts are only built with the intent of selling direct. The fact that HGVC treats the resale owner so well has helped maintain the property value for people who purchased direct, such as me.

If you plan to go to Hawaii every year, then purchasing in Hawaii may justify the increased MFs. However, if you only go to Hawaii once every four or five years, you would be much better off purchasing in Orlando or Las Vegas in my opinion. I have never had a problem booking in Hawaii and all my points are in Orlando.