# Hyatt Maui Timeshares tour



## vacationtime1 (Nov 28, 2013)

We toured the new Hyatt timeshare property on Maui last week.  A few thoughts and observations, in no real order:

The construction is now five stories high and progressing rapidly.  The project will be twelve stories when finished – ten stories on each end and twelve in the middle.  It won’t block the views from Marriott’s adjacent Lahaina villas as much as many thought because it is set back considerably from the beach.

  It will have about 130 units, of which about 100 are two bedroom *non-lockoff* units.  There will be a dozen three bedroom units and the remainder will be one bedroom.

  All of the two bedroom and three bedroom units are ocean view, although the guest bedroom in the two bedroom units faces the mountains (and possibly in the three bedroom units as well; those were not on our radar screen).  All ocean view units will look out over a large pool complex, the beach, and the island of Lanai.  I could not be certain, but from the way the project is situated, I don’t think any unit will have a view of Molokai.  

One stack of one bedroom units is ocean view; one stack is mountain view and faces the mountains entirely.  

  The quality of the finishes appears to be extraordinary – comparable  to or better than Westin and Marriott.  The kitchen appliances and dinnerware are high end; the dining table seats six. 

The ocean facing lanais are enormous.  They will have dining tables with chairs and chaises longues.  The glass wall looking out from the living room will slide away, making the lanai an integral part of the living room.

  Hyatt is selling everything as fixed weeks – and every week is categorized as Diamond season.  So every two bedroom week is worth / costs 2200 points; every one bedroom week is 1450.

Prices depend on the unit size, deeded week, and floor.  We focused on two bedroom units (all 100 of which are ocean view); *prices for the two bedroom units range from $43,900 for week 48-50 on a low floor to $124,000 for week 52 on a high floor*.   We were assured that these pre-construction prices will increase steadily as the project sells out.  Initial MF’s will be approximately $2,400.

Current purchase incentives were 150,000 Hyatt points and a certificate good for a week's stay (I don't recall all of the options for where, but we were offered Carmel).

Occupancy and MF's will begin January, 2015.


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## herillc (Nov 30, 2013)

Thanks for an update!
Looking forward to book there when availabilities show up.


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## wilma (Nov 30, 2013)

Interesting, thanks for the info. What did you get for doing the tour, did you sign up at the Hyatt hotel?


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## vacationtime1 (Dec 1, 2013)

wilma said:


> Interesting, thanks for the info. What did you get for doing the tour, did you sign up at the Hyatt hotel?



We were snatched by the body snatchers while doing our morning walk (we were staying at our WKORV unit).

We got 10,000 Hyatt points for our trouble.

We were told that Hyatt will soon be mailing those "Four nights in Hawaii for $750 [or whatever]" offers very soon.

I should add that this presents a nice opportunity for those with Hyatt points; there will be a lot of availability for Hyatt point exchanges in 2015 as they almost certainly will not be sold out and the units should be finished.


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## bdh (Dec 1, 2013)

vacationtime1 said:


> this presents a nice opportunity for those with Hyatt points; there will be a lot of availability for Hyatt point exchanges in 2015 as they almost certainly will not be sold out and the units should be finished.



I expect current HRC owners wish all of that was true. There will be lots of available units in 15 as it wont be sold out, but Hyatt will rent those open units on a nightly basis like a hotel - and what units have been sold will be occupied by the owners (if they're spending 50 to 125K, an owner is not going to exchange the first couple of years).   

It will be several years for HKB owners to deposit their week into the system before a non-HKB HRC owner can exchange in.  However, the positive is that there are 130 units at HKB (unlike Hyatt Siesta Key where there are only 11 units available to exchange into) - so there should be some units that HKB owners don't use or rent out that will make it to the exchange program.


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## optimist (Dec 1, 2013)

I am surprised and encouraged  that they did not increase the points requirement to beyond diamond (2200).


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## ondeadlin (Dec 1, 2013)

optimist said:


> I am surprised and encouraged  that they did not increase the points requirement to beyond diamond (2200).



I will be surprised if that doesn't happen rather quickly.

The week 52 that they're selling for $100k plus gets the same point as a 2BR they're selling for $40k?  I know it has happened before, but it doesn't seem like where they've been headed of late, revaluing Carmel, etc.


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## Kal (Dec 1, 2013)

vacationtime1 said:


> ...We were told that Hyatt will soon be mailing those "Four nights in Hawaii for $750 [or whatever]" offers very soon.
> 
> I should add that this presents a nice opportunity for those with Hyatt points; there will be a lot of availability for Hyatt point exchanges in 2015 as they almost certainly will not be sold out and the units should be finished.



Don't confuse the Hyatt Hotel program with the timeshare program as both are totally independent of each other. Then consider the fact that the property is owned by the developer, not Hyatt. Hyatt provides a marketing and brand services to the developer's asset.

The real issue is access to unsold inventory. The developer (thru Hyatt marketing) will get those units occupied in the most profitable way possible. All this is to the general public thru incentives to buy a timeshare unit (i.e. 4 nights in Hawaii), direct rental as a hotel unit, or other means. 

The unsold inventory DOES NOT become available to the HVC where an HVC member uses their own points to cover occupancy. The only time share availability to HVC members using points is when an Maui owner gives up their unit to the HVC and uses their points elsewhere. Highly unlikely to buy a Maui unit for $50-$125K, not use it, and use the points elsewhere. The owner can rent it out for considerably more than the MF. (Take a look at rental rates in Maui for a 2 BR property with full kitchen, dining room, big pool, etc. on the beach).


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## vacationtime1 (Dec 3, 2013)

Kal said:


> The only time share availability to HVC members using points is when an Maui owner gives up their unit to the HVC and uses their points elsewhere. Highly unlikely to buy a Maui unit for $50-$125K, not use it, and use the points elsewhere. The owner can rent it out for considerably more than the MF. (Take a look at rental rates in Maui for a 2 BR property with full kitchen, dining room, big pool, etc. on the beach).



Starwood and Marriott each have comparable high end properties on Ka'anapali Beach  -- Starwood's WKORV/N and Marriott's MOC.  The Starwood and Marriott  properties are generally available through their respective internal  exchange programs (StarOptions and Marriott's DC) except during summers  and school holidays; the Starwood properties can even be had through  Interval during off season weeks. * I agree that it makes no economic  sense for an owner to relinquish a week for which s/he paid $80,000 + $2,400/year of MF's and which has a fair rental value of  $2,500 - $4,000 to do an internal exchange into a less expensive  property -- but it happens all the time.*  It may not happen during an  owner's first year or two of ownership, but it will over time.

Hyatt is not Marriott or Starwood, but its Maui location, its timeshare  units, its price points, and the demographics of its buyers will be  virtually identical.  I have to believe those buyers will use their  units similarly to how Marriott and Starwood owners use theirs.

Whether Hyatt will seed its internal exchange pool with unsold 2015 weeks for its existing owners in order to create interest in the property is an open question.

I agree that the $750/four night sales package will be a garden view Hyatt Hotel room, not a timeshare suite.


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## wilma (Dec 3, 2013)

People on flyertalk have started getting the postcard offering $849 for 5 nights in the Hyatt hotel, and 10,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points if you book by Dec 31, 2013.


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## peas (Dec 4, 2013)

vacationtime1 said:


> I have to believe those buyers will use their  units similarly to how Marriott and Starwood owners use theirs.



Thanks for the update.  I agree with your assessment.  What I found surprising was that the 2 bedrooms were non-lockoffs.  With 112 units requiring at least 2200 points, that only leaves 18 (maybe 30 if the 3br locks off?) units available to book for the vast majority of club members who have less than 2200 points.  Since the current hyatt system doesn't allow banking and has restrictive borrowing, I'll be watching to see if it may be easier to get into a peak season Hawaii 2br for those who have 2200 points.   I guess only time will tell, but I'll be watching with interest and having fun speculating while waiting.


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## gomike (Feb 7, 2014)

peas said:


> What I found surprising was that the 2 bedrooms were non-lockoffs.



What I was told years ago is Maui is not allowing more lock off units as traffic is already a huge issue getting to Lahaina


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## RichardL (Feb 8, 2014)

*Lock offs*

What I was told by a Marriott Preview Rep was Marriott will no longer do lock-off
because if hurts future sales when an owners splits and gets a second vacation "free" ha ha


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## Bikeguy (Feb 20, 2014)

The building is now 12 stories, although no walls yet.  The salesperson I briefly talked to said all the really cheap weeks (like 40 to 50) were mainly sold, along with Christmas.

He was using the "same points as an expensive week" argument to sell the cheap weeks .

All they have is a doll house model and a bunch of photoshopped pictures with "artists rendering" on them.

Would have liked to see a full size model.

Spent less than 5 minutes with the salesperson.


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## Kal (Feb 20, 2014)

Hyatt told me the Maui property is considered by the Company as their _"Crown Jewel"_


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## taffy19 (Feb 20, 2014)

Deleted.  Not a Marriott thread.  Sorry.


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## vacationtime1 (Feb 20, 2014)

Bikeguy said:


> The building is now 12 stories, although no walls yet.  *The salesperson I briefly talked to said all the really cheap weeks (like 40 to 50) were mainly sold, along with Christmas.
> *
> He was using the same points as an expensive week argument to sell the cheap weeks .
> 
> ...




We were told that weeks were being released for sale in groups and that only a fraction of all weeks were currently available for purchase.  Makes no sense to me, but if correct, more off-season weeks will become available downstream.

We were also told that relative pricing was set locally (i.e. Hyatt set the overall retail price, but the local sales force hierarchy  allocated the overall retail price between the various units, setting the specific prices for each week and floor).  So if correct, when more weeks are released for sale, the off-season weeks could become more expensive relatively and the prime weeks could become less expensive (or at least not increase in price as much).

None of this implied any negotiability on price; it's just how the non-negotiable prices are being set.


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## taffy19 (Feb 20, 2014)

Marriott did something similar.  They sold every other floor so when better views and the best weeks were running out, they could add more but charge a higher price.  Some weeks and views really went up in price a lot (I kept all the price sheets from the very beginning) and others didn't.  

 Then the market collapsed and they reduced the prices by 25% one day after we did an update.  This was a big blow to the people who had bought a few weeks earlier.  I will never forget it what they did to some of the owners so am very bitter.


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## Venter (Feb 20, 2014)

*Yeah that was rough.*



iconnections said:


> Marriott did something similar.  They sold every other floor so when better views and the best weeks were running out, they could add more but charge a higher price.  Some weeks and views really went up in price a lot (I kept all the price sheets from the very beginning) and others didn't.
> 
> Then the market collapsed and they reduced the prices by 25% one day after we did an update.  This was a big blow to the people who had bought a few weeks earlier.  I will never forget it what they did to some of the owners so am very bitter.



I bought in Orlando and while paying my second instalment of the deposit they did the 25% off deal.  I contacted them and said if I upgraded to a superior 2 bedroom(Lakeshore) could  I get the discount and they agreed so fortunately for me I got a better unit(can now lock of with two one bedrooms) and paid less.  I think they thought maybe they would lose the entire sale if they said no...


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## Bikeguy (Feb 21, 2014)

vacationtime1 said:


> We were told that weeks were being released for sale in groups and that only a fraction of all weeks were currently available for purchase.  Makes no sense to me, but if correct, more off-season weeks will become available downstream.



Salesperson said the cheapest 1 bedroom weeks were going for $22K, but they are sold out.  They still have 23.4K weeks.  Floors 2-4 are one price.  Floors 5-10 are roughly 2 to 10K more, depending on the week.


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## vacationtime1 (Mar 6, 2014)

Bikeguy said:


> Salesperson said the cheapest 1 bedroom weeks were going for $22K, but they are sold out.  They still have 23.4K weeks.  Floors 2-4 are one price.  Floors 5-10 are roughly 2 to 10K more, depending on the week.





iconnections said:


> Marriott did something similar.  They sold every other floor so when better views and the best weeks were running out, they could add more but charge a higher price.  Some weeks and views really went up in price a lot (I kept all the price sheets from the very beginning) and others didn't.





vacationtime1 said:


> We were told that weeks were being released for sale in groups and that only a fraction of all weeks were currently available for purchase.  Makes no sense to me, but if correct, more off-season weeks will become available downstream.



Which means that if you really want to buy a low floor, one bedroom, mountain view unit, you can buy one the next time Hyatt releases units for purchase -- but for $23K, or $26K, or $29K, or whatever Hyatt thinks is its appropriate price relative to the other (re-priced) units.

At least some of the Hyatt sales staff formerly worked for Marriott (selling Napili and Lahaina Towers), so iconnections's observation is more than a coincidence.


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## thinze3 (Mar 6, 2014)

wilma said:


> People on flyertalk have started getting the postcard offering $849 for 5 nights in the Hyatt hotel, and 10,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points if you book by Dec 31, 2013.



We got this mailer about a week ago.  I'm still contemplating it, as I'm trying to talk DW into a kid-free trip to Hawaii for next February or March.  I actually have an II trade request ongoing now. 

Anyone can get a similar offer here.
http://www.hyattresidenceclub.com/hvc/en/properties/kaanapalibeach/mauiweboffer.html


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