# Elite status



## rebels (Sep 18, 2015)

I know that you folks say that Elite status is not worth what you pay HGVC. I agree. But I found a way to get great price per point and get Elite status.  I purchased 5,000 points resale from the HGVC rep at Club Regency (I had 7,400 before). The price was as good as resale and it counted for Elite status.  The whole process took three weeks.  They added the old and new points and now I am Elite with HHonors Gold status. So I got the best of both worlds.


----------



## Tamaradarann (Sep 18, 2015)

rebel94 said:


> I know that you folks say that Elite status is not worth what you pay HGVC. I agree. But I found a way to get great price per point and get Elite status.  I purchased 5,000 points resale from the HGVC rep at Club Regency (I had 7,400 before). The price was as good as resale and it counted for Elite status.  The whole process took three weeks.  They added the old and new points and now I am Elite with HHonors Gold status. So I got the best of both worlds.



I like your idea and have purchased points from an HGVC rep in the past and have Elite Status.  However, you say you have 7400 points and purchased 5000 points more.  That is only 12400 points.  YOu need 14000 points to get Elite Status.


----------



## Helios (Sep 18, 2015)

I was looking into the Elite benefits, it seems the second level would be the beginning of benefits that would have some value.  What's your take on that?


----------



## presley (Sep 18, 2015)

moto x said:


> I was looking into the Elite benefits, it seems the second level would be the beginning of benefits that would have some value.  What's your take on that?



To a very minor extent, that is true. However, when you look at the overall buy in, I'd still say the second level isn't worth it. The third level looks more interesting, but if anyone buys that many points, Hilton should really roll out a red carpet whenever they show up at a resort. 

The nice benefits of elite are in the hotels and not in the timeshares. I get 2 bottles of water when I check into a hotel and sometimes cookies or a snack. I get free breakfast if it is hotel that has breakfast. When I check into the timeshares, once in a while, they give me room keys that say I am elite. Most of the time, they don't.


----------



## Helios (Sep 18, 2015)

presley said:


> To a very minor extent, that is true. However, when you look at the overall buy in, I'd still say the second level isn't worth it. The third level looks more interesting, but if anyone buys that many points, Hilton should really roll out a red carpet whenever they show up at a resort.
> 
> The nice benefits of elite are in the hotels and not in the timeshares. I get 2 bottles of water when I check into a hotel and sometimes cookies or a snack. I get free breakfast if it is hotel that has breakfast. When I check into the timeshares, once in a while, they give me room keys that say I am elite. Most of the time, they don't.



Interesting, Starwood works similarly.  Highest level Elite is what is really worth getting.  And, most of the benefits are in the hotel side.  However, it seems like Starwood 5*Elites do have an edge over Hilton Elites in the TS side.


----------



## rebels (Sep 18, 2015)

Sorry I used the wrong number for my before.  It was 12,400 which gave me 17,400 and Elite status.  BTW the before number included a 2,400 Eagles Nest that I bought from the resort.  Later a HGVC sales rep in Orlando said that only one resale from SW resort would work for Elite status and I needed to buy from him to get Elite status (of course at a high price and I did not bite).  But as we say never believe a timeshare salesman.  The second resale from Marco worked to get me Elite status.


----------



## rebels (Sep 18, 2015)

I did not buy for the Elite status,  I wanted more time on Marco.  But the Elite status comes with some benefits.  I get HHonor Gold status, no fee on 7 day reservations, reduced fee on other reservations and 10% discount on Open season.  Oh and a BIG benefit of a SPECIAL Elite phone number!


----------



## Helios (Sep 19, 2015)

rebel94 said:


> I know that you folks say that Elite status is not worth what you pay HGVC. I agree. But I found a way to get great price per point and get Elite status.  I purchased 5,000 points resale from the HGVC rep at Club Regency (I had 7,400 before). The price was as good as resale and it counted for Elite status.  The whole process took three weeks.  They added the old and new points and now I am Elite with HHonors Gold status. So I got the best of both worlds.



Is it typical for HGVC to offer resale points to upgrade your current ownership and obtain Elite Status?


----------



## gkbiiii (Sep 19, 2015)

moto x said:


> Interesting, Starwood works similarly.  Highest level Elite is what is really worth getting.  And, most of the benefits are in the hotel side.  However, it seems like Starwood 5*Elites do have an edge over Hilton Elites in the TS side.




But on the Flyertalk Board, it is a common thought that their is little difference between Gold & Diamond.  Gold is a great thing, with upgrades and free breakfast.  I got this with my Founder's Card membership for $395 annual fee.  It seems cheaper to me, than getting it through timeshare ownership.


----------



## gkbiiii (Sep 19, 2015)

But on the Flyertalk Board, it is a common thought, that there is little difference between Gold & Diamond.  Gold is a great thing, with upgrades and free breakfast.  I got this with my Founder's Card membership for $395 annual fee.  It seems cheaper to me, than getting it through timeshare ownership.

Anyway, food for thought!!


----------



## Helios (Sep 19, 2015)

gkbiiii said:


> But on the Flyertalk Board, it is a common thought, that there is little difference between Gold & Diamond.  Gold is a great thing, with upgrades and free breakfast.  I got this with my Founder's Card membership for $395 annual fee.  It seems cheaper to me, than getting it through timeshare ownership.
> 
> Anyway, food for thought!!



I agree, if you can get it via a $395 CC fee, then what's the point of offering it if you spend several tens of thousands...:hysterical::hysterical:


----------



## MichaelColey (Sep 19, 2015)

There's not much difference between Hilton Gold and Hilton Diamond.  I'm a Hilton Diamond (based on hotel stays), but most of the perks I get are also available to Hilton Golds.  My favorite perk is breakfast at Hilton Garden Inns.  With Starwood, on the other hand, there is a pretty substantial difference between Gold and Platinum.

Also, you can get Hilton Gold MUCH cheaper and easier than $395/year.  If you get the Citi Hilton Honors Reserve card for $95/year, you automatically get Hilton Gold status.


----------



## 1Kflyerguy (Sep 19, 2015)

moto x said:


> Is it typical for HGVC to offer resale points to upgrade your current ownership and obtain Elite Status?



It usually only the affiliate resorts that have a "resale" program that markets resale units.  HGVC tends to just roll them back into their regular inventory and sell them.


----------



## 1Kflyerguy (Sep 19, 2015)

MichaelColey said:


> There's not much difference between Hilton Gold and Hilton Diamond.  I'm a Hilton Diamond (based on hotel stays), but most of the perks I get are also available to Hilton Golds.  My favorite perk is breakfast at Hilton Garden Inns.  With Starwood, on the other hand, there is a pretty substantial difference between Gold and Platinum.
> 
> Also, you can get Hilton Gold MUCH cheaper and easier than $395/year.  If you get the Citi Hilton Honors Reserve card for $95/year, you automatically get Hilton Gold status.



I am also Diamond through work travel, and I actively work to maintain it each year.  I find there are few additional perks for Diamond, but most are on the soft side, like better access to the executive lounge, maybe better treatment... I like having it, but agree it may be better ways to obtain hotel status...  

With all travel elite program the more you travel the more valuable it is...  I am also Gold with Marriott Hotels, but only spend a few nights a year with them, so its not worth much to me personally...


----------



## presley (Sep 19, 2015)

moto x said:


> Is it typical for HGVC to offer resale points to upgrade your current ownership and obtain Elite Status?



Not really typical. There are a couple ways people do it. One way is that to use your resale to trade in towards a developer purchase. That is the most common way. The other, more backdoor way is like how the OP did it and how I did it. Basically, I owned affiliates that weren't converted to Hilton already. I asked about getting them converted and was told if I made a developer purchase, they would convert all of my other weeks. Since I bought all the other weeks for prices of $1. - $1,000 each, it was still a significant savings to buy the developer week rather than dump all my weeks and buy resale HGVC. They totaled up to a point amount that ended up being elite. I did it to convert my weeks and not to gain elite status, which I didn't care about at all.


----------



## Helios (Sep 19, 2015)

OK, so there is a difference between buying a resale HGVC developed property and an affiliate.  What happens if you own a resale affiliate and you don't convert it?  Does that prevent you from making reservations outside your home resort?


----------



## SmithOp (Sep 19, 2015)

moto x said:


> OK, so there is a difference between buying a resale HGVC developed property and an affiliate.  What happens if you own a resale affiliate And you don't convert it?  Does that prevent you from making Reservations outside your home resort?




Yes, you would not get HGVC points to use at other HGVC resorts.  You could trade it in other systems though, for example I own a Seapointe week that is not converted, I can exchange it in GPX or RCI.


Sent from my iPad using the strange new version of Tapatalk


----------



## Helios (Sep 19, 2015)

Interesting, the more I learn about HGVC the more convinced I am that they work very similarly and are very complementing property wise.


----------



## tschwa2 (Sep 19, 2015)

rebel94 said:


> I know that you folks say that Elite status is not worth what you pay HGVC. I agree. But I found a way to get great price per point and get Elite status.  I purchased 5,000 points resale from the HGVC rep at Club Regency (I had 7,400 before). The price was as good as resale and it counted for Elite status.  The whole process took three weeks.  They added the old and new points and now I am Elite with HHonors Gold status. So I got the best of both worlds.



When you say the price was as good as resale, what was the price?  On ebay 5000 points weeks have gone for $1300-$4000 in the completed listings.


----------



## Talent312 (Sep 19, 2015)

moto x said:


> Is it typical for HGVC to offer resale points to upgrade your current ownership and obtain Elite Status?



HGVC itself does not operate a resale program. Only points acquired at full-freight from HGVC-sales, or acquired thru an independent-affiliate when a buyer affirmatively elects to activate a HGVC account, are counted toward elite status. Thus, independent affiliates can provide a back-door alternative to paying HGVC's retail prices.


----------



## Helios (Sep 19, 2015)

Actively elect to activate means that you buy more points and as part of the purchase you activate your affiliate points, right?


----------



## presley (Sep 19, 2015)

moto x said:


> Actively elect to activate means that you buy more points and as part of the purchase you activate your affiliate points, right?



It did in my case, but people often buy The Bay Club for a couple hundred dollars and then convert to Hilton with no other purchase. It depends on the individual rules of the affiliate. They are all different.


----------



## Helios (Sep 19, 2015)

Does the Bay Club have reasonable MF?


----------



## Jason245 (Sep 19, 2015)

moto x said:


> Does the Bay Club have reasonable MF?


1 br costs about 1200 per year.  

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


----------



## rebels (Sep 19, 2015)

I paid $2,250 for 5,000 points.  No worry about ROFR because it was with HGVC and the paperwork only took three weeks.  Like I said what I really wanted was the points so we can spend more time on Marco Island.  The Elite status was just an extra with a few benefits.


----------



## frank808 (Sep 20, 2015)

presley said:


> Not really typical. There are a couple ways people do it. One way is that to use your resale to trade in towards a developer purchase. That is the most common way. The other, more backdoor way is like how the OP did it and how I did it. Basically, I owned affiliates that weren't converted to Hilton already. I asked about getting them converted and was told if I made a developer purchase, they would convert all of my other weeks. Since I bought all the other weeks for prices of $1. - $1,000 each, it was still a significant savings to buy the developer week rather than dump all my weeks and buy resale HGVC. They totaled up to a point amount that ended up being elite. I did it to convert my weeks and not to gain elite status, which I didn't care about at all.


All of rebels resale weeks were bought from the affiliate.  I thought he/she bought one week from the affiliate and they requalified his external resale weeks (ie bought from ebay or private seller).  Still of a cheaper way to get elite status but not the same as how presley got to convert his hgvc weeks via gpr years ago.


----------



## TheWizz (Sep 21, 2015)

frank808 said:


> All of rebels resale weeks were bought from the affiliate.  I thought he/she bought one week from the affiliate and they requalified his external resale weeks (ie bought from ebay or private seller).  Still of a cheaper way to get elite status but not the same as how presley got to convert his hgvc weeks via gpr years ago.



I did the same several years ago.  I purchased a fixed week GPR 2BR on EBay for practically nothing that "could" be worth 8400 HGVC points.  I then purchased a 1BR from the GPR resale department (discounted $$) that "could" be worth 6200 HGVC points and was able to convert both to HGVC points giving me >14K HGVC points each year since I purchased "direct" from the GPR resale dept.  So I have HHonors Gold via that.  I don't think they are able to do that any longer, but not certain.  Haven't checked in years.  I also joined the Grand Wailea Elite Program in Maui and that gives me HHonors Gold too in case I ever sell one of my GPR properties, I'll still have HHonors Gold.  But it sounds like the cheapest way to go is via the CC that only costs $95 per year if you want Gold status in HHonors.


----------



## Martha83 (Dec 20, 2015)

I am Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Silver and Starwood Gold from hotel stays or credit cards.  I am new to timeshares and just stayed at Marriott Cypress Harbor.  I was surprised that they asked for my Marriott number which I gladly provided.  What do they do with this?  I did not think Elites received any benefits when staying at a timeshare?  Does it help in getting better rooms?  

When I checked in at Cypress Harbor, our room was not ready and they mentioned the room that was assigned...I said that I was really hoping for a remodeled room...he went away for a few minutes and found a remodeled room I could check in immediately to.  I was not sure if my status made a difference or he was just being nice...I think he was just being nice but wondered.  This was my first timeshare exchange.


----------



## sfwilshire (Dec 20, 2015)

tivolady said:


> I am Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Silver and Starwood Gold from hotel stays or credit cards.  I am new to timeshares and just stayed at Marriott Cypress Harbor.  I was surprised that they asked for my Marriott number which I gladly provided.  What do they do with this?  I did not think Elites received any benefits when staying at a timeshare?  Does it help in getting better rooms?
> 
> When I checked in at Cypress Harbor, our room was not ready and they mentioned the room that was assigned...I said that I was really hoping for a remodeled room...he went away for a few minutes and found a remodeled room I could check in immediately to.  I was not sure if my status made a difference or he was just being nice...I think he was just being nice but wondered.  This was my first timeshare exchange.



Since Marriott Silver is as low as it gets, I doubt your status had an impact.

By providing your Marriott number, you'll get the usual check-in bonus for your status. You will also probably get nights credit, which might help you gain status for the next year.

Sheila


----------



## MichaelColey (Dec 23, 2015)

tivolady said:


> I am new to timeshares and just stayed at Marriott Cypress Harbor.  I was surprised that they asked for my Marriott number which I gladly provided.


You'll earn night/stay credit for your timeshare stay.  Platinums also earn 500 points arrival bonus.  Generally, you won't get anything else on a timeshare stay from having hotel status.

But those night stays can be a big benefit.  I earn 15 nights a year from the credit card, then often 28-35 nights or more from timeshare stays.  It's fairly easy for me to hit Platinum status as a result.


----------



## Martha83 (Dec 26, 2015)

MichaelColey said:


> You'll earn night/stay credit for your timeshare stay.  Platinums also earn 500 points arrival bonus.



This is excellent.    

I provided my Marriott number at the Marriott Harbor Cypress earlier in December, but did not receive night credit.  Is there something else I should have done?

Do you know if Hyatt does this as well?


----------



## MattnTricia (Dec 30, 2015)

My wife and I are Elite Premier members and are fortunate enough that we got in without ever having to have bought at a dedicated HGVC resort. All of our resorts are affiliates. 

I get very little out of the Diamond benefit but absolutely use the reduced reservation fees benefit through HGVC. This is by far is the most important benefit of Elite for me. 

We also find the 12 month preferred resort window has little benefit for us also thus far. 

We love the program and look forward to the day when we can use all of the points we have to vacation every year.


----------



## MichaelColey (Jan 4, 2016)

tivolady said:


> I provided my Marriott number at the Marriott Harbor Cypress earlier in December, but did not receive night credit.  Is there something else I should have done?


That should have been enough.  You can fill out a missing stay report.  (I've found it more effective to call and talk to customer service, though.  They'll usually credit it while you're on the phone.)

I usually call and have my MR# added in advance.  If you can see it on your account, you should get credit for it.


----------



## ameerishaan (Jul 5, 2016)

South beach Miami location also sells resales on site. With it being s true Holton property, would they buy back the resale towards purchase of another property with lower MF


----------



## JPETERS (Jul 25, 2016)

Thanks to Tug many more Hilton Club Members are finding out about obtaining Elite Status when you buy from a GVRealty Agent. It's a great way to pick up the few needed points to qualify for the various levels. The Beach Properties are always in high demand. Sanibel Island has some great resale prices.


----------



## JPETERS (Jul 25, 2016)

Thanks to Tug many more Hilton Club Members are finding out about obtaining Elite Status when you buy from a GVRealty Agent. It's a great way to pick up the few needed points to qualify for the various levels. The Beach Properties are always in high demand. Sanibel Island has some great resale prices.


----------

