# Mariott vs Hilton vacation clubs?



## seema (Nov 22, 2007)

I own a Marriott time share week in Aruba (Surf Club) - during Easter break week (it is a Platinum plus week). I am quite happy with it - I usually exchange within the Marriott system, and use the accomodation certificate, which I use 50:50 within and outside of the Marriott system.

I was last week at one of the Hilton Vacation Club resorts in Las Vegas - I was impressed about their presentation and benefits. If I were to buy into Hilton, I would probably buy somewhere else - perhaps in downtown Honolulu, or on the Big Island.

Does anyone own  in both systems? What about other benefits, between the two vacation club chain of properties?


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## dougp26364 (Nov 23, 2007)

We own in both Hilton and Marriott. 

HGVC has a slick presentation but, most of the resorts are "affiliates" with limited inventory. HGVC is great if you want to go to Hawaii, Vegas or Orlando. The point system is flexible for exchanging but I'm not so fond of their website and online exchanging. HGVC exchanges through RCI and they use a mandatory corporate account. This account does not give you full access to RCI and doesn't allow you online access to make exchanges through RCI. The HGVC website is, for all intents and purposes, worthless to me. If I want to exchange through RCI I end up having to call HGVC and tell them what I want to do. Compared to other systems it's a PIA. 

The one good thing about HGVC is that internal exchanges are pretty easy to come by. I don't think I'd pay Hawiian prices or Hawiian MF's just to go to Hawaii. Hawaii has good availabilty through the club reservation window. In the Hilton system, points are points. The only asvantage to owning in Hawaii is that you can book your reservation 12 months out. BUT, you have to book your entire unit AND it has to be for a full 7 nights AND it has to be in the season you own. So if you own a 2 bedroom platinum season unit you can only book a 2 bedroom platinum season unit for a full one week during your home resort reservation window. If you want to LO your unit, stay less than a full week or stay in a season other than the one you own you still have to wait for the club reservation window that opens up at the 9 month window. IMO this really sucks. 

Personally, if I wanted to own in Hawaii I'd own one of the Marriott weeks. If I wanted relatively easy access to Hawaii I'd own in the Hilton system but I'd probably buy a week in Vegas. the reason I'd buy in Vegas is right now Vegas has some of the lowest MF's (I think Vegas is the lowest) in the HGVC system. Since points are points why pay a higher amount to buy the unit and then pay higher MF just to be a member? The only good reason is if you absolutely have to have that resort in that season and you're willing to use your entire unit and stay for the full week. Otherwise Hawaiian points have no more exchange power than the HGVC resorts in Orlando.


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## Cathyb (Nov 23, 2007)

doug - thank you for a very clear description of the pros and cons of buying in a high priced area like Hawaii vs. lower fees in Vegas.  It finally makes sense to me.


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## applegirl (Nov 23, 2007)

We own Marriott and like the 24 day priority that all Marriott owners on deposited weeks with II. Since we prefer to stay in the nicer properties like Marriott, we will be using this when we strat exchanging more.


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## californiagirl (Nov 23, 2007)

Doug, I'm curious.  I traded into the Club Casa Dorado timeshare in Cabo San Lucas a couple of years ago.  (The one affiliated with Hilton and not the one that has a nearly identical name but changed to an all-inclusive.)  As a Hilton owner, can you use your points to exchange into that property?  Is it a "Hilton" timeshare?  That property is one of the nicest we have ever stayed at.  

We have never gone to a Hilton timeshare presentation before and was interested in your comments.  I think there is no perfect timeshare program.  There are pros and cons of each.  When looking to buy I think one needs to evaluate their own travel style and standards and choose the plan that fits them best.


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## derb (Nov 23, 2007)

As has often been posted, HGVC points are available and included in resale units.  If you choose hilton, go resale.


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## radmoo (Nov 23, 2007)

*Marriott Trading Power*

We purchased platinum week at Marriott's Canyon Villas in Phoenix.  Traded 2007 for points and locked-off 2008 week.  Deposited 1 br to II and reserved studio for Oct 2008.  Already have received a/c for II deposit so we booked week at Grande Vista in March.  Not sure what well do with II deposit but will probably rent Oct studio and recoup our 2008 maintenance fees.
Any idea of rentability and/or tradeability of Canyon Villa resort?


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## short (Nov 23, 2007)

*HGVC has the superior system.*

I own both.  In my opinion HGVC has the superior internal exchange system while Marriott has more resorts in more locations.  Thats why I own both.

As a personal preference, I do not like to be locked into specific checkin dates, specific size units and always 7 days reservations.  It is for this reason that I try to keep my Marriott costs down so I can arrive late or leave early from my 7 week exchange as it suits my purposes.  I enjoy going to Palm Desert but not for 7 days(I live within 3 hr drive).  I have to go for a 2 bedroom just incase I want to bring friends or kids.  Sometimes we just leave the lockoff empty.  Seems like a waste but thats what I have to do with Marriott to accomplish the same thing I do with HGVC for less money.

JLB has documented the decrease in availability in SW Florida in January.  If I wanted to go there I am sure I could get some time at the many resorts under HGVC umbrella in January.  I checked a year ago for a friend and this was definately doable through HGVC.

I am not a big fan of RCI mostly because I do not like to look for exchanges 2 years out.  After getting my own seperate account with other nonHGVC weeks and searching RCI myself I now realize that what I might want in higher demand weeks will have to be obtained by ongoing searches anyway.

Given the choise,  I would keep or expand my HGVC holdings and rent at the Marriotts if and when I wanted to go for the exact time and size unit I wanted with only a few days cancellation penalty to worry about.

Short


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## dougp26364 (Nov 23, 2007)

californiagirl said:


> Doug, I'm curious.  I traded into the Club Casa Dorado timeshare in Cabo San Lucas a couple of years ago.  (The one affiliated with Hilton and not the one that has a nearly identical name but changed to an all-inclusive.)  As a Hilton owner, can you use your points to exchange into that property?  Is it a "Hilton" timeshare?  That property is one of the nicest we have ever stayed at.
> 
> We have never gone to a Hilton timeshare presentation before and was interested in your comments.  I think there is no perfect timeshare program.  There are pros and cons of each.  When looking to buy I think one needs to evaluate their own travel style and standards and choose the plan that fits them best.



There are no HGVC built timeshares in Mexico. That is one of the affiliates. Hilton affiliates should all be of Hilton quality. Perssonally, I haven't been to any of the affiliated resorts. Most are in FL and we own our Marriott week in FL. FL's nice but once a year is generally enough for us. 

There is definately no perfect timeshare but, IMO with the advances several of the mini-systems have made over the last few years and Hilton's inablility to build any of their own resorts anywhere other than Orlando, Vegas and Hawaii they've fallen down on my list of prefered mini-systems. They have two more HUGE towers to go at HGVC LV Strip yet this year they felt the need to anounce yet a fourth resort to be built in Vegas. They have two huge resorts in Orlando yet feel the need to build a third. Hilton doesn't care about current owership so much as they care about selling timeshares. They'll build additional locations only through affiliates and then charge the owners at those affiliates a fee to become HGVC members. So the affiliates may or may not have a decent supply of weeks. In looking through the last member guide I have many of the affiliates show "limited availability". 

If Marriott had a points based reservation system like Hilton's or Hilton had all of Marriott's locations that system would be king of the industy IMO. Unfortunately, could you just see owners at Marriott's with terribly expensive MF's only getting the same number of points as owners at less expensive resorts? The owners of the more expensive resorts would be literally screaming that they're getting ripped off. With all points being equal there's little incentive to purchase into the higher priced resorts so long as there is availability.

Which leads me to one other point that would solve a problem for Marriott. In weeks based exchange systems like Marriott's, owners control what inventory is deposited for exchange. Platinum week owners at very popular, high demand, high exchange value resorts will get on the phone early, book the most popular dates then deposit them with I.I. just for the added exchange power. Owners that would actually like to stay at the property during that time may actually have to exchange back into their own property to do so. 

With points based reservations the developer controls what inventory is deposited and owners get the "average" of the value of all weeks for exchange strength. In this way the popular times/weeks remain available to owners in the system rather than exchangers at I.I. or RCI. HGVC determines what is held by them for members and what is deposited with RCI for exchange. That's why you don't see a lot of complaints by Hilton members that they can't get a particular popular holiday week at their home resort. Hilton holds those weeks and doesn't give them to RCI. Instead they give RCI the weeks Hilton owners don't want as much and, they wait until after Hilton owners have had a good opportunity to reserve the weeks they want. I've have heard, but can not prove, that Hilton generally doesn't deposit some of their weeks into RCI until 6 month before check in dates. That would give not only home resort advantage to owners of the resorts but also enough time for owners of other HGVC resorts to make their reservations in the club reservatoin window. Thus there is generally good availability at the 9 month mark to make a reservation in Hawaii for HGVC members rather than deposit and pray you have enough exchange power to pull it as with Marriott.

Hilton is good for some things and travel to Hawaii is one of them. Their system is set up as members first, exchange company second. If they'd only open up and build in more locations that the big three (Orlando, Vegas and Hawaii) they'd be a very tough system to beat. As it is they're beating themselves down by not branching out into other popular tourist destinations and they're allowing the likes of Bluegreen, Wyndham, DRI/Sunterra and Starwood to beat the pants off of them. But, that's just my opinion of course.


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## seema (Nov 24, 2007)

I am confused. Are the Hilton resorts in Hawaii (next to the Hilton Hotels in Honolulu and on the big island) full members, or affiliate members?


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## nonutrix (Nov 24, 2007)

The HGVC Lagoon Tower and Kalia Tower at Hilton Hawaiian Village on Oahu are Hilton developed properties, as is the HGVC at Waikoloa on the Big Island.  The Bay Club is an HGVC affiliate.

nonutrix


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## dougp26364 (Nov 24, 2007)

Hawaii is one of the big three. As mentioned above those are Hilton built and developed properties as are the HGVC's in Vegas and Orlando. There is also a HGVC developed property in S. Beach Miami. I believe all the rest are affiliates.

Availibility of units for exchange at HGVC developed properties has always been very good for HGVC members. Hilton manages all the units at these properties. It's the affiliate properties where Hilton manages only those weeks where members have paid a fee to become part of the Hilton system that can be tougher than what a salesman will tell you. 

Hawaii, Vegas and Orlando are the strongest area's for Hilton and are relatively easy trades for HGVC members. If you're wanting to exchange into those area's on a regular basis, as it stands now it's not to difficult. If you want to exchange through RCI using you HGVC points it's not to difficult and HGVC has very good exchange power within RCI. If you're counting on always having availability at one of Hilton's affiliate resorts the you'll have to do some leg work to find out how many units Hilton manages at the resorts your interested in to calculate how easy/difficult it might be to get the week and unit you desire.


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## JimC (Nov 25, 2007)

We looked at Hilton and decided against their program for several reasons.  Item one is based on ongoing travel experiences so is pretty current.  Items two and three were when we evaluated the program back in 1998.

1. My experience with their hotel properties is that they stretch refurbishment to the point that many have a tired somewhat run down appearance.  I enjoy their better properties, but Hilton lacks the consistency that Marriott offers.  In fact it was a three island all Hilton Hawaii vacation that really impressed upon me that they can do it well. 

2.  The system was too small, not enough locations and many were affiliates.

3.  The sales process was obnoxious and unworthy of a quality outfit such as Hilton.  This was one straight out of the text book of how *not* to do it.


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## seema (Nov 25, 2007)

dougp26364 said:


> We own in both Hilton and Marriott.
> 
> HGVC has a slick presentation but, most of the resorts are "affiliates" with limited inventory. HGVC is great if you want to go to Hawaii, Vegas or Orlando. The point system is flexible for exchanging but I'm not so fond of their website and online exchanging. HGVC exchanges through RCI and they use a mandatory corporate account. This account does not give you full access to RCI and doesn't allow you online access to make exchanges through RCI. The HGVC website is, for all intents and purposes, worthless to me. If I want to exchange through RCI I end up having to call HGVC and tell them what I want to do. Compared to other systems it's a PIA.
> 
> ...



Outside of Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Orlando, are most of the rest only "affiliates". In terms of the Vegas presentation, they indicated that they have 41 resorts. The only ones they indicated were affiliates were the Club Intrawest ones in Canada (ie Whistler, Mt. Tremblant). However, it was not clear to me what benefits one had by being an owner of points of the main Hilton VC properties, vs being an owner at one of the affiliates (eg Intrawest).

I do not understand your point about exchanging with RCI. I got the impression that one is automatically a RCI member (ie no annual exchange fees); one can then exchange within the RCI system directly (ie without going through HGVC). Is my impression wrong? Are you saying that one does not get membership with RCI, but one can exchange through RCI by going through HGVC. What do you mean that this process limits your exchange ability through RCI - are the better properties not accessible to exchange, or the poorer properties not accessible to exchange? I was particulary interested in the properties in India (there are at most 2 properties in India accessible through II).

A few things I liked about Hilton, that Marriott should replicate - it gives you HHonors lifetime membership - silver level if you buy 7000 points, Gold level if you buy 14K points, and Diamond level if you buy (I believe) 35K points. With 14K points, you become an Elite owner - you have additional priviliges, including access to lounges in the HGVC properties (equivalent to the lounges in the Hilton Hotels - available for Gold and Diamond HHonors members).

I was also told that one can get rent a unit at a special discount, if you are a HGVC member. You must rent within 30 days of arrival. For example, one owner rented around the New Year period earlier last year/this year - at $100/1 bedroom unit.


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## dougp26364 (Nov 25, 2007)

seema said:


> Outside of Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Orlando, are most of the rest only "affiliates". In terms of the Vegas presentation, they indicated that they have 41 resorts. The only ones they indicated were affiliates were the Club Intrawest ones in Canada (ie Whistler, Mt. Tremblant). However, it was not clear to me what benefits one had by being an owner of points of the main Hilton VC properties, vs being an owner at one of the affiliates (eg Intrawest).[/Quote)
> 
> The only other resort that I'm aware of that is not an affiliate is the HGVC South Beach Miami, FL. All the others are affiliates with varying degree's of those resorts owners participating in the HGVC program.
> 
> [Quote}I do not understand your point about exchanging with RCI. I got the impression that one is automatically a RCI member (ie no annual exchange fees); one can then exchange within the RCI system directly (ie without going through HGVC). Is my impression wrong? Are you saying that one does not get membership with RCI, but one can exchange through RCI by going through HGVC. What do you mean that this process limits your exchange ability through RCI - are the better properties not accessible to exchange, or the poorer properties not accessible to exchange? I was particulary interested in the properties in India (there are at most 2 properties in India accessible through II).



You are automatically a member or RCI. Part of you maintenance fee's pay for the corporate account HGVC has for RCI. It is NOT a full access membership and you will not have online access to RCI. Instead you'll have to call HGVC or go through HGVC's website to arrange RCI exchanges.

You WILL still have to pay RCI exchange fee's. Those are NOT included in your HGVC membership.

The agreement between HGVC and RCI does limit the resorts you can exchange into. There is the RCI book for general members and then there is another book for HGVC members. Salesmen will often show the RCI book that includes all the resorts. HGVC's agreement sets a certain minimum standard that must be met in order for that resort to qualify for HGVC members to exchange into. Foriegn resorts are the most affected. There might be 20 resorts in New Zealand in the general members RCI book but in the HGVC version that number could be much lower (2 to 5). 



> A few things I liked about Hilton, that Marriott should replicate - it gives you HHonors lifetime membership - silver level if you buy 7000 points, Gold level if you buy 14K points, and Diamond level if you buy (I believe) 35K points. With 14K points, you become an Elite owner - you have additional priviliges, including access to lounges in the HGVC properties (equivalent to the lounges in the Hilton Hotels - available for Gold and Diamond HHonors members).
> 
> I was also told that one can get rent a unit at a special discount, if you are a HGVC member. You must rent within 30 days of arrival. For example, one owner rented around the New Year period earlier last year/this year - at $100/1 bedroom unit.



Don't get overly excited about those owners lounges or Elite benefits. In order to gain that level you must buy from Hilton. You can save yourself thousands of dollars buying resale. I've seen the Elite lounge and, IMO it's nothing to write home about. There's no way I can drink that much soft drinks, eat that many pasteries or enjoy that many horsdevores to make up the differenc between developer pricing (think $30,000 and up) and resale pricing (think around $15,000).

Unless you spend a lot of nights in hotels I doubt you'd get that much usage from Silver, Gold or Platinum membership in the HHonors system. I know I don't get a lot of benefit out of it. Yes it's nice to have but, if you take out the Marriott Visa you'll automatically become a Silver Elite member in the Marriott Rewards program and you don't even have to own a Marriott timeshare. 

Don't get me wrong. Hilton is a good program. I own both Hilton and Marriott. You ask for my preference and, if I had to get rid of one or the other I'd get rid of the Hilton unit for the reasons I've already stated. Hilton does have a better internal exchange program but, that's where any advantage Hilton has over Marriott ends. Marriott has more resorts that they've built, even if you count the affiliates. Marriott has more locations that Hilton, even if you count the affiliate. Marriott unit quility is just a tad higher than Hiltons IMO. Most importantly Marriott continues to expand into NEW area's rather than expand in the same three area's that Hilton's been stuck in for years. 

I take that back Hilton does have one other advantage over Marriott. Their Maintenance fee's are considerably cheaper. But then again I go back to my opinion on quality. Marriott is more expensive to maintain but I feel that they're a little better on quality. However, that is just my opinion. I certain others will differ. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anticipating dumping my Hilton week and buy another Marriott week. I do like the internal exchanges through Hilton and I plan on using that to get into Hawaii. If we ever have grandchildren I'll probably use Hilton to go to Orlando as well. There is also the possibility of using Hilton to get into S. Florida in January or Febuary sometime which is something I'd be hard pressed to do with either of my Marriott weeks. But I don't feel the need to expand in a system that I feel is rather limited for internal exchanges. If only HGVC would have built in more locations than the big three (Hawaii, Vegas and Orlando) I might have been a multiple HGVC owner rather than a multiple week Marriott owner. But they didn't and they don't appear to be planning to build somewhere else and that's the problem with Hilton.


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## seema (Nov 25, 2007)

I own a Desert Breezes floating week (prime week - ie winter) at Palm Springs, CA - it is a five star level resort with II (even though the II booklet does not indicate that it is a 5 star resort) - I have over the past year obtained a Disney resort week at WDW, in exchange for my  Desert Breezes week. 

I own a 2 bedroom unit there. I wonder how accessible would the Hilton GVC units in Hawaii would be (esp in July or Aug), if I simply become a RCI member as well (as an II member), and try to exchange for my Desert Breezes week? That may be the way to go. Unfortunately, I can not directly exchange a Marriott week for a Hilton week through one of the two exchange companies - although exchanging such weeks may be possible through TUG?


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## seema (Nov 25, 2007)

PS-If I wanted full RCI access once I am a HGVC member, you are implying I would have to pay RCI the annual membership fee, for that privilege?


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## dougp26364 (Nov 25, 2007)

seema said:


> PS-If I wanted full RCI access once I am a HGVC member, you are implying I would have to pay RCI the annual membership fee, for that privilege?



Who's implying? Not only would you have to pay, you'll have to own another week that's an RCI affilated resort. We did not get a full RCI membership until we purchased a non HGVC resort that's RCI affiliated and that membership must be paid by the owner as those weeks can't be included in the HGVC corporate account. So I have two RCI memberships.

FWIW, I also have two I.I. memberships. My personal account and a DRI/Sunterra corporate account. However, DRI/Sunterra allows me to convert my non-DRI/Sunterra resorts into Sun Options points and if I did that I believe everything could be folded into that one account. But, that's another story. It can't be done with HGVC and RCI. 

As for seeing and/or renting and/or external exchanging HGVC Hawaiian weeks, I've never attempted that but my guess would be that it'd be more difficult. One of the pro's I've mentioned above is that HGVC controls the invetory, not the owners. They'll hold the desirable weeks waiting for HGVC members to make the internal exchanges they want. Thus RCI gets what HGVC owners don't want. Hawaii is pretty darn popular. I've been told that what is released to RCI isn't released until about 6 months out from the available reservation date. That would make sence as the Hawaiian owners would have their 3 month home reservation window to make up their minds and then the general HGVC member population would have 3 months to make the reservations they wanted. 

If you want to stay at a Hilton resort in Hawaii my opinion is it's best to own in the HGVC system. From there it's debatable if you should own in Hawaii or anywhere else in the HGVC system. I've outline my opinion on that in an above post. However, rules can sometimes be changed. If you ABSOLUTELY must have a certain week at a certain resort every year then it's always best to own at that resort. If you only want to travel to a general area every so often then it's only important to own in that system and I'd own where it's least expensive in the HGVC system since all points are equal in exchange power, both internally through HGVC and externally through RCI.


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## Bill4728 (Nov 26, 2007)

seema said:


> Outside of Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Orlando, are most of the rest only "affiliates". In terms of the Vegas presentation, they indicated that they have 41 resorts. The only ones they indicated were affiliates were the Club Intrawest ones in Canada (ie Whistler, Mt. Tremblant). However, it was not clear to me what benefits one had by being an owner of points of the main Hilton VC properties, vs being an owner at one of the affiliates (eg Intrawest).



Club Intrawest is NOT a HGVC affiliate. Club Intrawest & HGVC swap some inventory with each other outside of RCI. But CI members are not part of HGVC, the way that a owner at the Bay Club or Marco Island can be. 

If you were to buy at a HGVC affiliate resort (like the Bay Club in Hawaii) you are given the option of joining HGVC and becoming basically a full HGVC member. One big reason someone might choose this route is that some of the SW florida ( and some of the HIGVC) resorts trade with both II and RCI, so you could  gain access to the best of both the RCI and II resorts.


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## seema (Nov 27, 2007)

Bill4728 said:


> Club Intrawest is NOT a HGVC affiliate. Club Intrawest & HGVC swap some inventory with each other outside of RCI. But CI members are not part of HGVC, the way that a owner at the Bay Club or Marco Island can be.
> 
> If you were to buy at a HGVC affiliate resort (like the Bay Club in Hawaii) you are given the option of joining HGVC and becoming basically a full HGVC member. One big reason someone might choose this route is that some of the SW florida ( and some of the HIGVC) resorts trade with both II and RCI, so you could  gain access to the best of both the RCI and II resorts.



If I were to be a CI member, then what would be the accessibility of HGVC resort points/weeks, through exchange (esp for Hawaii), compared to if I were a true HGVC owner (of points)?


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## alanraycole (Dec 3, 2007)

*If you want to stay at a Hilton in Hawaii, own Hilton or dream on...*

I wasn't trying to be nasty, just an attempt at humor. But, it is still true.

I have a RCI points account as well as own in the HGVC. I have never seen Hawaii Hiltons available in my points account. I am not saying it doesn't happen, but based on my experience, it has to be rare. 

But getting into Hawaii  through HGVC is as easy as logging into their website. For kicks, I just checked and found availability in every month of 2008... even though this is December 2007. No long range planning needed!

The comments about RCI membership limitations are misleading, in my opinion. True you don't have a website to make your reservations, but so what. You simply call up, tell them what you want and go to the head of the line in your search for what you want. Hilton will give you a call when they find it. It's that simple. You also have access to inventory not otherwise available. 

The internal trading system is a dream... a sweet dream. Even if you own a unit overlooking the parking lot in Orlando, you are on equal footing with an owner of a penthouse in Waikiki, if you are wanting to stay in Waikoloa, for example. You have equal opportunity to get an an ocean view even. All you need are the points. If you have 7000 points, for example, and that's what it takes to stay in the unit you chose in Waikoloa with an ocean view... you are there!

Try that with Marriott or Starwood.


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## UWSurfer (Dec 3, 2007)

alanraycole said:


> The internal trading system is a dream. Even if you own a unit overlooking the parking lot in Orlando, you are on equal footing with an owner of a penthouse in Waikiki, if you are wanting to stay in Waikoloa, for example. You have equal opportunity to get an an ocean view even. All you need are the points. If you have 7000 points, for example, and that's what it takes to stay in the unit you chose in Waikoloa with an ocean view... you are there!



Don't forget too, if you purchase a unit which is worth, say 5,000 points, HGVC lets you borrow points from upcomming years.   So that 7000 point trip can come out of this years and next years points!

Frankly I don't know why they say borrow...you don't end up putting them back.  Steal is a better term!    Either way, you get to combine and use points from years forward if you need to.  I suspect this is an advantage of owning a non-affliate HGVC as your points are available to you three years out, instead of needing to request a week and then depositing it.

There are also avenues to salvage unused points from this year into future years as well.


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## myip (Dec 3, 2007)

I owned both Hilton and Marriott... Hilton has the best customer services and easy to use.  They go out of the way to help with reservation.  If I have to make a choice between the 2.  I would stay with HIlton.  I live in CA.  I like to go to Hawaii.


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## Brenda (Dec 3, 2007)

*Hilton is more flexible*

I own both Marriott and Hilton. We own Hilton Hawaiian Village and Hilton affiliate at Sanibel Fl. I combine both points and go to Hawaii every year. We also own Marriott Kauii Beach Club. When we want to trade to Marriott's Ko'Olina, it is a hassle checking II inventory for availability especially if we want a 2 Bed. With Hilton, I can always get whatever I want. I also own other RCI resorts. With Hilton's RCI account, we always get what we want. We have traded with Hilton's RCI accoint into Manhattan Club twice and also using the RCI points feature to get days at a Kauai resort. Once we were confirmed in only 3 days for the Manhattan Club. I love Hilton's open season, where you can get units for money instead of points. I am a frequent user of open season for Hawaii. I use it to add days on to other reservations. I was recently in Maui and had to travel thru HNL to return home. With only 4 days advance, I check HHV for open season and we stayed there for 2 days before leaving for home. I could never do that with Marriott. Hilton is expanding outside of the 3 main areas. Hilton is builting a resort in New York City. t will require mega points but it will be available to HGVC owners. I never regret my Hilton ownership, I just need more Hilton points.


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