HGVC Owners Web Site information dated

I'm a new HGVC member and after looking through the HGVC web site the last few weeks I was suprised to find how much 'dated' information there is throughout the site. For you long time HGVC members, is this a common problem or just a recent occurance?

Examples include numerous pages referencing 2006 dates, 2006 information, 2006 membership rules and pricing information. Even the page showing the resort seasons says '2006 only'. Do they not update this information regularly? It is almost May 2007!

Another question. When making a reservation at an HGVC resort, in order to find out which season any given day is in do I really have to jump back and forth between web pages to see if any given day is plat, gold, silver, etc? Why couldn't they simply show by color of day when you select the reservation days at a each particular resort? It just seems like I am having to jump back and forth to see that the seasons at a resort (ie Plat, gold, etc) and then I am picking certain days based on availability, but I can't correlate those days to the season without jumping to another chart.

Or am I doing something wrong here?

rkdahl said:

Another question. When making a reservation at an HGVC resort, in order to find out which season any given day is in do I really have to jump back and forth between web pages to see if any given day is plat, gold, silver, etc? Why couldn't they simply show by color of day when you select the reservation days at a each particular resort? It just seems like I am having to jump back and forth to see that the seasons at a resort (ie Plat, gold, etc) and then I am picking certain days based on availability, but I can't correlate those days to the season without jumping to another chart.

Or am I doing something wrong here?

Click to expand...

I'd open 2 windows, one with the seasons and one to look for available dates. Clicking between these will be easier.

I'm a newer member myself and have noticed the older dates too. I also found the site a little underwhelming until I caught on to the semi-circle tabs & color layers which appear as one works their way through the selections.

Re: seasons...I often open two browser windows...one with the reservation page and one to a chart I found from one of the resellers: http://ebay.tsxmls.com/HiltonEbayImgs/Seasons.pdf. It's also in the HGVC book they eventually send out.

The seasons however only really tell you how many points a reservation will cost...ex: platnum weeks take more points than gold, which take more points than silver.... So long as you have the points, you are not restricted from booking a higher level week with a lower level ownership. In otherwords, I can book platnum with a silver week provided I have the points needed. As has been said to me several times here...points are points.

rkdahl said:

Why couldn't they simply show by color of day when you select the reservation days at a each particular resort?

Click to expand...

I have wondered this as well -- it would be a huge usability improvement if they would make that simple change.

While we are on the topic of griping about hgvclub.com:

• Make it so using the "back" button doesn't screw everything up!
• Allow us to reserve affiliates (SW FL, Club Intrawest) online.
• Show Open Season dates for all resorts (including affiliates).
• Allow access to see a list of RCI last call / extra vacations (if you only own Hilton, you have no online access to RCI, period).

On the plus side, I do like the reservation matrix that it does give you for the locations that we can reserve online. And in general, the site is fairly fast and responsive.

Kurt

Another thing I've discovered on the HGVC web site. They put the latest Grand Times (the HGVC Newsletter) out there but the file name appears to always be the same. So when you go to download it, unless you change the name it overlays the previous issue. I'd suggest they change the name on each issue to reflect the issue date 'Grand Times Spring 2007.pdf' for example.

And it would be helpful if they would post maybe the last 6 issues as an archive for new members.

All in all I certainly appreciate the HGVC online capability for online reservations. I just think there is so much more they could do to make it much more user friendly. And keeping information timely and up to date is definitely a requirement no matter what type of site you are running.

Has anyone compared the HGVC site to others such as Marriott or Disney, etc as it relates to keeping information up to date and user friendliness?

hey rkdahl you should of used the online system years before and you would love todays. There is still room for lots of improvement though.

And to PigsDad, "Amen".