# HGVC point usage??



## juls (Aug 13, 2007)

Hello anyone - I attended an HGVC presentation but opted to research further before buying.  Resales were the obvious choice.  Can anyone elaborate on how HGVC points usage?  If I owned in let's say Las Vegas, presumably points are interchangeable and usable at other resorts? Also can points be converted to Hilton's Honor club and be used for airfare, as well as hotel stays? Thanks


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## DEROS (Aug 13, 2007)

I am still a newbie but this is what I have learn from attending a HGVC sales presentation and almost buying one.  Actually I bought one but rescinded and went resale instead.

1.  You will purchase a Home resort.  Depending on the season, which they color code Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and the size of the unit, HGVC will give it a fixed point value.  The point value will never change.  For example a 2 bed room premier, platinum at Waikoloa is worth 9600 pts.

2.   You can book 12 months out for Waikoloa for the unit you own.  You can not downgrade room type of season type or you will have to wait 9 mths out.  Confused yet?

3.  If you want to stay at another HGVC managed or owned resort, i.e Las Vegas, you match up the type of room you want, the season and pay the points.  So, if Las Vegas 2 bedroom, Platinum Season cost 8400pts, you substract the 8400pts from your 9600pts leaving you 1200pts left.  You can then convert the 1200 pts for HHonors points, which I heard is 20 to 1 for current year.

4.  You converted the 1200 pts for 24000 HHonors points.  You then look at the HHonors reward booklet.  In the booklet it will tell you how many HHonors points it will take to get a free round trip ticket.  So if 24000 point is all you need for a round trip ticket to Las Vegas, then you have your self a free ticket, in a sense.  There are service charges for all these conversions.

Just so you now all the numbers above are use for demonstration purpose only.  I did not do in depth research on how many point it takes to stay in Las Vegas or how many HHonors points it takes to get a free ticket.

Hope this helps

Deros


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## juls (Aug 14, 2007)

*HGVC resales*

Thanks Deros, that explanation is helpful.  Follow up question on buying a resort, other than staying at your home resort at the time/season purchased, what are your thoughts on buying any 5000 pt gold, as I presumably can use an advance to get time, including platinum season, elsewhere?
I have been looking on eBay and am finding listings that seem to range from $1.4 per point and up for gold annual usage, about $1/point for bi-ennual. Platinum seem to run $2/pt +.  What's your advice on buying? Thanks again


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## Bill4728 (Aug 14, 2007)

Gold vs Platinum

Gold season have cheaper purchase cost per point. Platinum season has a cheaper mf cost per point. This is because maintance fees are base on the unit size not the number of points assoc with the unit. 

So, 5000 gold points will have higher MFs than 5000 platinum points because the platinum points are from a 1 bd unit and the gold points from a 2 bd unit. 

What you need to do is look at this difference in MF and compare that to the difference in cost to purchase. Sometime the payback in cheaper MFs can be as short as 5 years but sometimes as long as 20 years. You'll have to do the math. 

PS all this info is in the HGVC tug advice article which although written in 2004 is still pretty up to date.   TUG advice on HGVC 
Good Luck


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## juls (Aug 14, 2007)

*HGVC resales*

Thanks Bill! That reference and your explanations were great!


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## DEROS (Aug 14, 2007)

juls said:


> I have been looking on eBay and am finding listings that seem to range from $1.4 per point and up for gold annual usage, about $1/point for bi-ennual. Platinum seem to run $2/pt +.  What's your advice on buying? Thanks again




To me buying resale is just as scary as buying from the developer.  For such a large monetary purchase, I want to increase my comfort factor that everything would be in the up and up.  Even though ebay has a lot of great starting prices, I went towards a more established company, i.e a franchise of Re/Max http://www.timeshareresalepros.com/.  They seem like they have a lot of HGVC inventory and just like buying a house you can negotiate a price.  But, remember HGVC has ROFR.  So, if the owners agree to a lower price, HGVC may buy it instead because it is too low.  The waiting game on the ROFR is a little nerve racking.  I am still waiting on my ROFR and it has been almost 7 or 15 days.

Good luck in your purchase,

Deros


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## Bill4728 (Aug 16, 2007)

There are several well respected TS resellers which sell alot of HGVC.

 Judi Kozlowski at Timeshareresalepros is one of three which are often mentioned.  Seth Nock & Joann Peters are the other two. This isn't to say that there aren't lots of great people selling TS resale, but these three are the most often mentioned when talking about HGVC resales.


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## Jo Jo (Aug 29, 2007)

Hi Bill,

I noticed that you are an Intrawest member.  What are your thoughts on Intrawest in terms of quality and value?

Thx.

Dave.


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## PigsDad (Aug 30, 2007)

Just a note:  you can no longer trade HHonors points for airfare -- Hilton ended that option last year.

Kurt


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