# HGVC preview offer



## Pompey Family (Mar 11, 2013)

My wife took a call from Hilton this afternoon offering us a 7 day stay at one of their Orlando resorts as part of a TS preview package.  They also included 4 week long Universal 2 park tickets.  All in all the package cost $499 and she took them up on the offer.

We've sat through several Marriott presentations (only bought once, the other resale) so I'm assuming Hilton will be on a par, no aggressive hard sell tactics etc?  

For us it suits our plans as we can tack the week onto our Marriott Harbour Lake week next Easter and for $499 plus the park tickets I'm more than happy to sit through a 2 hour presentation.

Can anyone recommend the best Orlando resort.  We have two boys, 8 & 6.  Proximity to Harbour Lake isn't a necessity as we'll have a car.  Good pool is a must.

Also, we're new to HGVC so can anyone give a brief overview of how it works, any similarities / differences to the Marriott system?

Many thanks.


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## marinskas (Mar 11, 2013)

Pompey Family said:


> We've sat through several Marriott presentations (only bought once, the other resale) so I'm assuming Hilton will be on a par, no aggressive hard sell tactics etc?



Just came back from a HGVC presentation Orlando. Did not purchase but overall was a very good experience (as much as it can be in the mandatory sales presentation). Salesman was Scott A. and was very personable and we had a great time - in fact such a great time that we spend 120 minutes in the presentation instead of 90 minutes required. I was upfront with Scott and within first five minutes politelly established that we will not purchase no matter what and gave a few reasons for it (purchasing resale was not one of the reasons). From that point it was more educational and just a friendly chat for the rest of the presentation. I know many of Tuggers dread tour experience but at leaast with HGVC I do not have bad experience, plus it is a small price to pay for the value and savings that it presents.



Pompey Family said:


> Also, we're new to HGVC so can anyone give a brief overview of how it works, any similarities / differences to the Marriott system?



Very timely question: I am new to Marriott so was going to ask for comparisons of HGVC and Marriott. Will eagerly wait for the experts here to chime in or to direct us to a thread with comparisons between these two, if there is one...


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## dvc_john (Mar 11, 2013)

No matter which of the 3 resorts you stay in, the presentation will be at Parc Soleil.


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## PigsDad (Mar 11, 2013)

If you can stay at any of the resorts, I would choose Parc Soleil.  Your boys will love the pool area there, which includes a water slide.

Kurt


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## Talent312 (Mar 11, 2013)

While some sales experiences border on okay, most are miserable experiences.
Whatever you do, do not let them cow you into buying direct, instead of resale.

I won't compare Marriott, but I will give a brief overview. HGVC is a hybrid deed-points system, wherein your deeded TS is retained by the "club" for its use. You don't get to use "your" unit. Instead, you get points representing it's value. Your points are the currency you use to hunt for bookings of 3 days or more. You can book a home-week at 12-months out, or any club or affiliated resort at 9 months out. You can make discounted cash bookings at 30 days out. You can book HGVC and RCI (thru HGVC's club account) online thru a members' website. Resale buyers get exactly the same perks as retail buyers, 'cept only for "elite" status which ain't all that.

Hopes this helps.
.


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## Tamaradarann (Mar 11, 2013)

*Hilton Does give you a Deed*



Talent312 said:


> While some sales experiences border on okay, most are miserable experiences.
> Whatever you do, do not let them cow you into buying direct, instead of resale.
> 
> I won't compare Marriott, but I will give a brief overview. HGVC is a hybrid deed-points system, wherein your deeded TS is retained by the "club" for its use. You don't get to use "your" unit. Instead, you get points representing it's value. Your points are the currency you use to hunt for bookings of 3 days or more. You can book a home-week at 12-months out, or any club or affiliated resort at 9 months out. You can make discounted cash bookings at 30 days out. You can book HGVC and RCI (thru HGVC's club account) online thru a members' website. Resale buyers get exactly the same perks as retail buyers, 'cept only for "elite" status which ain't all that.
> ...



I agree with everything you said here except the statement that the deed is retained by the club.  We own a number of HGVC weeks and have deeds for all of them. While the deed does NOT state the exact week we own it does say we own a week at that resort and we have been able to place that deed in our trust for inheritance purposes.


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## Talent312 (Mar 11, 2013)

Sorry to quibble, but I did not say that the "deed" is retained by the club.
When I said the "deeded TS is retained," I meant that the unit itself is retained.

IOW, you get a document that says "Deed" with ostensibly an ownership.
But the underlying TS is committed to use by the club.
.
.


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## drbeetee (Mar 11, 2013)

In other words its not titled as XL-week in xl unit so on and so forth.  I learned something new about HGVC today, great!


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## MaryH (Mar 11, 2013)

There may be some taxes on top of the $499 but that might just be Hawaii.

Availability can be thin if you try to book close in and might be more difficult near holiday weeks.  So if you already have your Marriott week fixed you should try to fix the date of the HGVC stay soon if you can fix your schedule in advance.

HGVC has less locations than Marriots.  They seem to be fixated on Orlando, Las Vegas and Big Island.


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## SmithOp (Mar 12, 2013)

drbeetee said:


> In other words its not titled as XL-week in xl unit so on and so forth.  I learned something new about HGVC today, great!



My deeds have unit / week numbers with inventory control numbers in the upper right corner.

ICN xxx-xx-xxxx (Unit 2423 Week 20)

But it's titled as ownership interest:

This document transfers to you one or more Vacation Ownership Interests, sometimes simply called an "Ownership Interest," in WBKL VACATION SUITES (the "Project").


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## PigsDad (Mar 12, 2013)

MaryH said:


> HGVC has less locations than Marriots.  They seem to be fixated on Orlando, Las Vegas and Big Island.


HGVC has been doing a quite good job (IMO) expanding during the last few years.  They are now up to 58 locations that can be booked through HGVC.

Just curious -- how many locations does Marriott have?

Kurt


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## marinskas (Mar 12, 2013)

Here is an observation regarding comparison of HGVC vs Marriott: right on this forum at any given time there are 3 times more people in Marriott than in HGVC (or at least on multiple ocasions that I have checked). Right at this moment there are 12 Tuggers in HGVC and 32 in Marriott.

Same is true for number of posts (35k HGVC vs 200k Marriott) and number of threads (3,6k HGVC vs 16,6k in Marriott). So Marriott discussion is much more active (or maybe it started earlier?). Not sure if one should conclude that Marriott TS are therefore better in any way, but that's what I would like to find out.

Still looking for a comparison between the two or at least a short description of Marriott since above is a short one about HGVC...


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## marinskas (Mar 12, 2013)

PigsDad said:


> HGVC has been doing a quite good job (IMO) expanding during the last few years.  They are now up to 58 locations that can be booked through HGVC.
> 
> Just curious -- how many locations does Marriott have?
> 
> Kurt



Somewhere there is a discrepancy as I just counted 52 resorts on HGVC 2013 resort season chart but www at the link above shows 58. Did they just recently add 6 resorts after the chart was published?


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## Pompey Family (Mar 12, 2013)

Talent312 said:


> While some sales experiences border on okay, most are miserable experiences.
> Whatever you do, do not let them cow you into buying direct, instead of resale.
> 
> I won't compare Marriott, but I will give a brief overview. HGVC is a hybrid deed-points system, wherein your deeded TS is retained by the "club" for its use. You don't get to use "your" unit. Instead, you get points representing it's value. Your points are the currency you use to hunt for bookings of 3 days or more. You can book a home-week at 12-months out, or any club or affiliated resort at 9 months out. You can make discounted cash bookings at 30 days out. You can book HGVC and RCI (thru HGVC's club account) online thru a members' website. Resale buyers get exactly the same perks as retail buyers, 'cept only for "elite" status which ain't all that.
> ...



Don't worry, we won't buy retail!  We've sat through four Marriott presentations and only bought once, the other times were simply to take advantage of the incentives they were offering.  On this occasion the incentive is a very good one and it fits in perfectly with our plans.  We haven't booked our Harbour Lake week yet but it can only be within a the two week Easter break so which ever week we book we'll choose the other week with HGVC.

Is the trading system similar to Marriott?  i.e. you book your week with Marriott and then deposit it with Interval International.  You then provide Interval with your choice of trade (they request three choices) and your dates and you wait for the trade to come through.  This can result in some nervous times ahead waiting for your trade however we have always been successful with our requests.  Marriott have moved over to the points system whereby you don't have to exchange a week however the points they were offering for our Harbour Lake were not sufficient to pay for a week there!  We are a family with young children so we can only travel during the school holidays and we like to go for two weeks so for us the Marriott point system doesn't work.

Does the HGVC system mean that I could book at any of the resorts using my points and not have to worry about trading?  Do different resorts cost different points?

What would I expect to pay for a resale that would enable me to enjoy a week at most, if not all, HGVC properties?


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## marinskas (Mar 12, 2013)

Pompey Family said:


> Does the HGVC system mean that I could book at any of the resorts using my points and not have to worry about trading?  Do different resorts cost different points??



Yes - points is the currency used in HGVC system. You use them as you wish - book any HGCV location based on availability and the number of points you have. 
There are four seasons (bronze to platinum) well there is also Holiday season but not at all resorts, and room sizes from studio to 3 bdrm penthouse - each room in the system cost an amount of points depending on the season and the room size. See my answer below for most popular options (one and two bdrms in Platinum season; Gold season would require less points and silver even less, but then you have to be very flexible as there are less weeks with Silver and almost none in bronze).



Pompey Family said:


> What would I expect to pay for a resale that would enable me to enjoy a week at most, if not all, HGVC properties?



I have been following the prices for a little bit and here is my opinion: 
- you can buy resale 4,800 Platinum annual points - which generally means 1 bdrm for 7 nights a year at most of HGVC locations except the few that cost more points (Kings Land Phase I, HNL GW, NYC W57, maybe few others) for anywhere from $1k to $2k (there is currently posting on Ebay for $1k in LV and posting on TUG for $2k in the Bay Club (HW)
- you can buy resale 7,000 Platinum Annual Points - which means 2 bdrm for 7 nights a year at most of HGVC locations except the few that cost more points (Kings Land Phase I, HNL GW, NYC W57, maybe few others) for anywhere from $5k to $7k (there are currently postings on Ebay for $5k, $6k and $7k). Obviously you can pay more on the same Ebay as well if you would like - there are postings for 7,000 asking for $13-14-15k.. 
There were threads where Tuggers bought 7,000 annual platinum for $4,500. I also saw ended auction on Ebay that sold for $4k, so these prices are also possible but appearantly harder to find. 
If I can find 7,000 annual points for $4k in LV or FL I would jump on it, but it may take some time to find such deal, however, not impossible...

BTW - maintenance fees are lower in FL and LV locations than HW that's why I am looking primarily at those locations.


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## buzglyd (Mar 12, 2013)

There are links to really good Hilton articles in the Hilton forum.

I bought a 7000 pt Waikoloa Beach Resort because we go to Hawaii every year and need to travel at peak times with a kid in high school. Home resort gets a 12 month booking window.

I recently picked up a 6200 pt Carlsbad Seapointe. I am flush with points now!


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## Ron98GT (Mar 12, 2013)

Talent312 said:


> While some sales experiences border on okay, most are miserable experiences.
> Whatever you do, do not let them cow you into buying direct, instead of resale.
> 
> I won't compare Marriott, but I will give a brief overview. HGVC is a hybrid deed-points system, wherein your deeded TS is retained by the "club" for its use. You don't get to use "your" unit. Instead, you get points representing it's value. Your points are the currency you use to hunt for bookings of 3 days or more. You can book a home-week at 12-months out, or any club or affiliated resort at 9 months out. You can make discounted cash bookings at 30 days out. You can book HGVC and RCI (thru HGVC's club account) online thru a members' website. Resale buyers get exactly the same perks as retail buyers, 'cept only for "elite" status which ain't all that.
> ...



To expand a little further:

An exception would be the Affiliates.  You do get a deeded unit/week.  You don't have to join HGVC, but you can and then either use your unit/week, exchange thru HGVC, deposit into RCI, or get HHonors Points, etc.

As far as comparing HGVC to Marriott:  Weeks or Points?  I can't speak for the points system, but with the weeks system you can use your Marriott week/unit (like an HGVC Affiliate) or deposit it into II for an exchange, which is like depositing your HGVC TS into RCI for an exchange outside of the HGVC system.

My understanding of the Marriott points system is that it is "similar"  to the HGVC system, in that you make your reservation thru Marriott, not II like the weeks system.  The points system is new and leaves a lot to be desired.

Between the 3-systems, I like HGVC's the best. But, Marriott has more TS locations outside the Mainland.  Besides Hawaii (Ko' Olina, Maui, and 3 Kauai locations), there's Phukit, Paris, Aruba, St Thomas, & St Kitts.  Since HGVC has the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Waikoloa, NYC, & Scotland, it's nice to own one of each:  a good Marriott lock-off week trader and a good HGVC trader with at least 7K points.


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## Pompey Family (Mar 12, 2013)

I'm doing a bit of research on HGVC at the moment and I noticed you can't qualify for Elite status if you buy resale.  A quick look at what Elite status entails brought my attention to complimentary internet access.  Am I to assume therefore that there is a charge for internet access for non Elite members?  This would be a deal breaker for me and in today's world there's no excuse for non complimentary internet access.  If I can receive free wi-fi on my bus, supermarket, coffee shop etc I don't see why a hotel chain such as Hilton cannot provide it particularly with the high MF being charged.


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## Talent312 (Mar 12, 2013)

AFAIK, all true HGVC resorts (built/bought by HGVC) have free high-speed internet.
There are a few "affiliates" (accessible to HGVC by contract) where that may not be true.

The free-internet "elite" feature pertains to stays at Hilton Hotels... not HGVC.
At many Hilton Hotels, internet is free if you hold a Gold or Diamond HHonors status...
_which is what "elite" status gets you._

But Gold HHonors status is remarkably easy to obtain with a HHonors AmEx card.
A no-fee version requires $20K in purchases. It's automatic with the "Surpass" fee-card.
.


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## Ron98GT (Mar 12, 2013)

Pompey Family said:


> I'm doing a bit of research on HGVC at the moment and I noticed you can't qualify for Elite status if you buy resale.  A quick look at what Elite status entails brought my attention to complimentary internet access.  Am I to assume therefore that there is a charge for internet access for non Elite members?  This would be a deal breaker for me and in today's world there's no excuse for non complimentary internet access.  If I can receive free wi-fi on my bus, supermarket, coffee shop etc I don't see why a hotel chain such as Hilton cannot provide it particularly with the high MF being charged.


I've had free Wi-Fi (Internet access) at all of the HGVC TS's and Hilton hotels that I've stayed in over the last couple of years.  I have no complaints with HGVC or Hilton.

So, I don't know what Elite buys you, but I know I'll never have it.


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## Pompey Family (Mar 13, 2013)

Thanks for clarifying the internet question.  Personally I'm not interested in reaching any of the Hilton elite status' as we're already Marriott Platinum and we don't want to lose that by staying in Hilton's.  Plus the benefits offered by Marriott are better than those offered by Hilton although there isn't that much in it.  Interestingly one of my wife's colleagues has just bought Hilton Gold status for $12 from eBay!  It is apparently legitimate so my wife is finding out more today.

Sorry, but there are more questions!

Maintenance fee's.....do you pay the fees on the 'week' that your own or on the number of points?  I've seen a NY Club resale that included 14,000 points.  From what I understand a platinum week would cost in the region of 7000 points at the majority of resorts therefore for 14,000 points I could have two weeks.  It would seem reasonable therefore to base the MF's on points.  If that was the case what is the purpose of 'owning' a week at a resort?


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## marinskas (Mar 13, 2013)

Pompey Family said:


> Maintenance fee's.....do you pay the fees on the 'week' that your own or on the number of points?  I've seen a NY Club resale that included 14,000 points.  From what I understand a platinum week would cost in the region of 7000 points at the majority of resorts therefore for 14,000 points I could have two weeks.  It would seem reasonable therefore to base the MF's on points.  If that was the case what is the purpose of 'owning' a week at a resort?



MFs are charged based on the size of the unit and resort location, not points...


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## MaryH (Mar 13, 2013)

Sorry forgot about HHV and NY came after I stayed at HWV and toured.  

Had there been an affiliate that was disaffiliated?  I seemed to recall there was something.

If you have very limited date range for the preview package travel i.e. Easter 2014, I would suggest you call and get a feel on availability before you finalize your Marriott week and thus fix only timeframe for the Hilton preview package.  I had found the Hawaii inventory a bit thin,  especially around holidays, after I got talked into an Big Island preview package a while back with 50% downpayment.


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## Talent312 (Mar 13, 2013)

marinskas said:


> MFs are charged based on the size of the unit and resort location, not points...



This is why within each size classification, 'tis better to own a platinum season unit than a gold or silver season.  A platinum unit will get more points, but pay the same MF as an identical unit in a lesser season.


_"Had there been an affiliate that was disaffiliated? I seemed to recall there was something."_

In 2009, Shell Island Beach Club, one of the smaller Sanibel affiliates terminated its management contract with HGVC.  It still describes itself as a HGVC affiliate, meaning owners can participate in HGVC and units booked by HGVC members.
.


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## MattnTricia (Mar 31, 2013)

We are an elite platinum member and haven't done an update in years. 

This is a great deal and might work for an upcoming trip to Orlando we are planning. 

I looked inside the HGVC website for my membership and couldn't find any preview deals.

I know these are targeted but I would think I would qualify. 

How would I find out about existing preview offers. 

God know Diamond calls me once a week


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## Tamaradarann (Apr 1, 2013)

*At HGVClub you get a Deed*



Tamaradarann said:


> I agree with everything you said here except the statement that the deed is retained by the club.  We own a number of HGVC weeks and have deeds for all of them. While the deed does NOT state the exact week we own it does say we own a week at that resort and we have been able to place that deed in our trust for inheritance purposes.



Hi Talent312

You took exception to my statement that I took exception to your statement that I have listed in the quote below. 

           " your deeded TS is retained by the "club"

The reason I took exception to the statement is that it gives the impression that you don't get a deeded timeshare with the HGVClub.  That could be confused with right to use weeks instead of deeded weeks.  We have deeds for all our HGVClub timeshares.  I could care less if it is week 1,2 or 4.  I probably will never use the weeks that would be deeded anyway.  But we have deeds for the timeshares that we own.


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## SmithOp (Apr 1, 2013)

mattnday said:


> How would I find out about existing preview offers.
> 
> God know Diamond calls me once a week



Call HGVC?


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## lbjen (Apr 2, 2013)

We did a preview last year, paid for the previous fall. When we didn't book our date within 60 days of paying, we were charged an additional $50 which i was not expecting. Another reason to book ASAP is that they hardly have any availability for preview guests in summer, some of the places I was offered initially were not what I was led to believe would be options when I accepted the preview offer. We eventually got a 2bed at I-Drive in early Aug. Make sure you call to book, don't go through their site. 

We actually fell for the sales pitch but rescinded the next day. I thought we were smarter than that


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## MichaelColey (Apr 2, 2013)

We went to a HGVC presentation Saturday and it was surprisingly low pressure.

From what I saw, it looks like it takes about $1150 in MFs for a week in most 2BRs.  Way more than it ends up costing us, exchanging in.  You also get access to last minute rentals ($700/week for a 2BR), but that's still expensive to us.  Did I miss something, or are there some better values to be had with HGVC through other techniques?

Our timeshare salesman basically said he couldn't touch the values we have, and showed us where to sign to get out of the presentation.


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## Talent312 (Apr 3, 2013)

MichaelColey said:


> ... From what I saw, it looks like it takes about $1150 in MFs for a week in most 2BRs.  Way more than it ends up costing us, exchanging in.  You also get access to last minute rentals ($700/week for a 2BR), but that's still expensive to us.  Did I miss something...?



The MF's (incl. taxes+dues) at our 2-BR at Seaworld is just under $1000.

Essentially, we're paying for a consistentlly high-quality environment.
_And a few minor perks, like:_
-- An exclusive home-week booking window for owners at hard-to-get resorts.
-- Use of HGVC's corporate RCI account to book without any T/S depositing.
-- A tie-in to Hilton Honors, less valuable now with the devalution of HH-points.

But if you get what you want by trading, I say stick with what works for you.
.


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