# Considering purchasing Sierra/Pinon



## sherakay (Apr 16, 2021)

I've been researching Hyatt in depth trying to find the perfect balance for my family. My husband is an avid skier and his birthday is March 22. He likes to drive down to Lake Tahoe with his buddies to ski, but I want to change that to a family experience instead. I'm not a skier and our kids are 2 and 5. So I want a nice place to hang while he's on the slopes and after the kids are tired and cold from their lessons. 

To be able to go to High Sierra Lodge every year for his birthday that would be week 11. It's silver season. I'm surprised it's not considered higher honestly. But to buy there would be $1515 in MF. So I'm considering buying Pinon Pointe instead as the MF seem to only be $1225. Would this be a smart choice? We would only stay 5 days, Fri-Wed so we'd only use 770 points according to my estimation so that'd leave some over for a 4 day midweek stay elsewhere. 

I'd like to keep costs as low as possible. We already own DVC for four years now and I just bought into Worldmark three days ago (small contract). Do I need home advantage to be able to book Sierra week 11 most years or can I buy Pinon week 11 and then trade into Sierra at the six month mark pretty easily?

Thanks!


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## Pathways (Apr 16, 2021)

sherakay said:


> I've been researching Hyatt in depth trying to find the perfect balance for my family. My husband is an avid skier and his birthday is March 22. He likes to drive down to Lake Tahoe with his buddies to ski, but I want to change that to a family experience instead. I'm not a skier and our kids are 2 and 5. So I want a nice place to hang while he's on the slopes and after the kids are tired and cold from their lessons.
> 
> To be able to go to High Sierra Lodge every year for his birthday that would be week 11. It's silver season. I'm surprised it's not considered higher honestly. But to buy there would be $1515 in MF. So I'm considering buying Pinon Pointe instead as the MF seem to only be $1225. Would this be a smart choice? We would only stay 5 days, Fri-Wed so we'd only use 770 points according to my estimation so that'd leave some over for a 4 day midweek stay elsewhere.
> 
> ...


You probably need to research HRC some more to get an understanding of the system.

You cannot get a reservation from Fri-Wed.  It will take two reservations, with the additional fees, and you may have to move rooms.  HS weeks start on Sat. (Unless you are planning to somehow get a Portfolio reservation).

There is not really a 'home advantage'.  You either own week 11 or you don't, and that will be a Sat-Sat or Sat - Thurs or whatever the system allows for a HRPP booking.


HS is not considered a great ski location, and the Hyatt season shows that.  Wks 7, 51, 52 are tops, but the summer weeks are the next highest season there.

A week 11 at HS should be 1k or less to  purchase.  If you just use points for the reservation(s), points are points, so PP would be one of the cheapest by MF.


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## vacationtime1 (Apr 16, 2021)

If OP's husband is an "avid skier", HSL is not a good base of operations.  It is 25-40 minutes to drive to Squaw, Alpine, or Northstar without traffic and without weather (those numbers can easily double).  The local ski area, Diamond, will not keep an avid skier interested for more than a day or two; I doubt that is where he skis when he drives to Tahoe to ski with his friends.

If OP wants "a nice place to hang while he's on the slopes and after the kids are tired and cold from their lessons", she needs to find a place that is ski in/ski out or close to that.  Otherwise the logistics of getting the kids back from their lessons while husband continues to ski will be insurmountable.


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## GTLINZ (Apr 16, 2021)

What is unique about Hyatt deeded weeks is that you not only have a points system, but also a specific week in a specific unit.  So you have 2 approaches here:
- buy that week. If it is silver it won't likely be too much and it will have 1400 points. You have priority to get your unit reserved so you know you have that specific unit and week if you want it. You can reserve part of that week if you want and have points leftover.
- buy somewhere else and trade in (i.e. cheaper MF and more points).  It may not be hard to trade in but you need to can research that.

 And as said before, that may not be the location that is desired.  I would verify that first.


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## sherakay (Apr 16, 2021)

Pathways said:


> You probably need to research HRC some more to get an understanding of the system.
> 
> You cannot get a reservation from Fri-Wed.  It will take two reservations, with the additional fees, and you may have to move rooms.  HS weeks start on Sat. (Unless you are planning to somehow get a Portfolio reservation).
> 
> ...


Thank you for clarifying that! I thought you could pick Fri-Sun check in days, didn't realize it was Sat only. So we would actually want week 12 then. Also when looking at the point chart I saw the three booking groups so thought I could choose Weekend, then 2 weekdays. Didn't realize they had to be done separately. Also read that when you are during your Home booking preference you could decide to book all or some of your week so thought I could just only book 5 of the 7 days and have the remaining two days convert to CUP points. 

Showing the location to my husband, Incline Village is only a 30min drive from Squaw Valley as he has an Ikon pass so a 30 min drive is nothing for him as he usually drives 1.5-2.5 hours every weekend to go skiing up here in WA state. But that location not being popular during ski season and costing less points to use yet still being a reasonable distance from a ski mountain is what attracted me. But if March is no issue to get there at six months out guess it makes more sense to just buy Pinon.


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## sherakay (Apr 16, 2021)

vacationtime1 said:


> If OP's husband is an "avid skier", HSL is not a good base of operations.  It is 25-40 minutes to drive to Squaw, Alpine, or Northstar without traffic and without weather (those numbers can easily double).  The local ski area, Diamond, will not keep an avid skier interested for more than a day or two; I doubt that is where he skis when he drives to Tahoe to ski with his friends.
> 
> If OP wants "a nice place to hang while he's on the slopes and after the kids are tired and cold from their lessons", she needs to find a place that is ski in/ski out or close to that.  Otherwise the logistics of getting the kids back from their lessons while husband continues to ski will be insurmountable.



Yes he skiied at Mammoth, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley during his last trip last month. I showed him the close ski mt to High Sierra this morning and he did comment that it was small. He drove 12.5 hrs down there from Tacoma WA and back for that trip. He regularly drives to Crystal Mt and Stevens Pass up here in WA every weekend, so a 1.5-2.5 drive in order to ski is nothing to him. It would drive me insane which is why having a place for me to hang back and chill yet still 'go along' is so important. Being by the lake was nice to me because it gave you a place to walk to and have something nice to look at. The casino at night was interesting too. Northstar just seems to have no availability and is more expensive. Closer, yes, but costlier by a lot.

I guess I was thinking maybe the kids would ski every other day, rather than half days. I am still in the research phase and still learning.


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## sherakay (Apr 16, 2021)

GTLINZ said:


> What is unique about Hyatt deeded weeks is that you not only have a points system, but also a specific week in a specific unit.  So you have 2 approaches here:
> - buy that week. If it is silver it won't likely be too much and it will have 1400 points. You have priority to get your unit reserved so you know you have that specific unit and week if you want it. You can reserve part of that week if you want and have points leftover.
> - buy somewhere else and trade in (i.e. cheaper MF and more points).  It may not be hard to trade in but you need to can research that.
> 
> And as said before, that may not be the location that is desired.  I would verify that first.



So I can reserve Sat-Thurs and get the remainder in points. @Pathways said that would incur more fees?


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## Pathways (Apr 16, 2021)

As an owner with Sat check in, you can reserve Sat-Wed with no extra fees.  If you book using points, any reservation less than a full week will have an extra fee.

You cannot book Sat-Thurs unless a Portfolio reservation becomes available.  HRC is typically 7,4,3, or 2 nights.


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## echino (Apr 16, 2021)

Possible HRC reservations at High Sierra:

7n Sat-Sat
4n Tue-Sat
3n Sat-Tue
2n Tue-Thu
2n Thu-Sat

Week 11 next year is March 19 - 26, 2022.


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## BJRSanDiego (Apr 16, 2021)

If you want to be in a nice area at Tahoe with ski access and a bunch of activities for you and your children, perhaps you should consider Marriott Timberlodge in South Lake Tahoe.  It is in kind of a "village" with lots of shopping, restaurants, etc. and is 2 blocks from the State Line where you go to a Casino.  It is also right on the base of the Heavenly gondola.  I'm no longer skiing, but it is my understanding that from the Heavenly gondola that you can hop onto other gondolas to go to other ski runs.  

Perhaps others will opine on whether this is a good ski area or not.


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## echino (Apr 16, 2021)

BJRSanDiego said:


> If you want to be in a nice area at Tahoe with ski access and a bunch of activities for you and your children, perhaps you should consider Marriott Timberlodge in South Lake Tahoe.  It is in kind of a "village" with lots of shopping, restaurants, etc. and is 2 blocks from the State Line where you go to a Casino.  It is also right on the base of the Heavenly gondola.  I'm no longer skiing, but it is my understanding that from the Heavenly gondola that you can hop onto other gondolas to go to other ski runs.
> 
> Perhaps others will opine on whether this is a good ski area or not.



Marriott is good, but it would be around $10k to purchase, compared to around $2k for the Hyatt. And a lot less flexible.


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## BJRSanDiego (Apr 16, 2021)

echino said:


> Marriott is good, but it would be around $10k to purchase, compared to around $2k for the Hyatt. And a lot less flexible.


You may be right that Marriott may cost more.  

But when I looked at Redweek dot com, I see four Timberlodge annual platinum units at an asking price of $3,500, $4,000, $5,000 and $5,000, etc.


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## BJRSanDiego (Apr 16, 2021)

I see on Tug2 dot com that there is a number of units in Squaw valley (Red Wolf, Olympic Village) at dirt cheap (< $1K) prices.  Perhaps good skiing, but I don't know if there is much to do for the non-skiers.


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## echino (Apr 16, 2021)

BJRSanDiego said:


> You may be right that Marriott may cost more.
> 
> But when I looked at Redweek dot com, I see four Timberlodge annual platinum units at an asking price of $3,500, $4,000, $5,000 and $5,000, etc.



These are summer platinum, not ski weeks.


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## sherakay (Apr 17, 2021)

echino said:


> Possible HRC reservations at High Sierra:
> 
> 7n Sat-Sat
> 4n Tue-Sat
> ...





Thank you so much for explaining. Sucks you can’t just book Sat-Thurs and put the 3 day and 2 day booking together.
Is this week chart wrong then, is there a newer one cause it’s telling me week 12 for 2022?


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## sherakay (Apr 17, 2021)

I actu


BJRSanDiego said:


> If you want to be in a nice area at Tahoe with ski access and a bunch of activities for you and your children, perhaps you should consider Marriott Timberlodge in South Lake Tahoe.  It is in kind of a "village" with lots of shopping, restaurants, etc. and is 2 blocks from the State Line where you go to a Casino.  It is also right on the base of the Heavenly gondola.  I'm no longer skiing, but it is my understanding that from the Heavenly gondola that you can hop onto other gondolas to go to other ski runs.
> 
> Perhaps others will opine on whether this is a good ski area or not.


I actually just bought into Worldmark three days ago thinking we could stay at WM Lake Tahoe since it’s right near Heavenly. Only for my husband to tell me that when he goes down there with his buddies they stayed at a friends cabin in Truckee and he prefers to be in the NORTH side since his pass works at Aloine Meadows and Squaw Valley *sigh*.

So that is what led me here. I first looked at Welk so we could stay at Northstar only to find out in order to get in you have to book a whole week 12 months out and you can’t modify the length later. Plus it costs 420k points which is over $2300 in MF a year. So that’s how I ended up researching HRC. Cause they had two resorts on the north side of the lake lol


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## echino (Apr 17, 2021)

That chart is wrong. Here's the correct Hyatt week 11 2022 dates:


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## GTLINZ (Apr 17, 2021)

sherakay said:


> Sucks you can’t just book Sat-Thurs and put the 3 day and 2 day booking together.
> Is this week chart wrong then, is there a newer one cause it’s telling me week 12 for 2022?



To add insult to injury - if HSP charges a midweek cleaning fee and you do the 3+2 reservation, you will pay 2 cleaning fees (unless they will negoitiate one and only clean once).  There is no cleaning fee for a full week.

I would think the first reservation is free (home week) - and that you would have to pay a reservation fee for the 2nd. Maybe someone can confirm.

To make the breakdown simple - the 3 nights that include Sat are the most expensive per night. 
- for Fri checkin, they are Fri-Sun.
- for Sat checkin, they are Sat-Mo.
- for Sun checkin, they are Th-Sat (the end of the week). 

The leftover 4 days can be booked as 4 or broken into the first 2 and last 2.

You will likely also find that a specific day (i.e. Mar 12) may possibly move between week 11 and an adjacent week (10 or 12).  Check out the timeshare chart on Kals' website (all things Hyatt) to get a feel for that.   http://www.bywindkal.com/HVC.htm  (click Calendar Weeks: 2016-2025).


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## sjsharkie (Apr 17, 2021)

GTLINZ said:


> To add insult to injury - if HSP charges a midweek cleaning fee and you do the 3+2 reservation, you will pay 2 cleaning fees (unless they will negoitiate one and only clean once). There is no cleaning fee for a full week.
> 
> I would think the first reservation is free (home week) - and that you would have to pay a reservation fee for the 2nd. Maybe someone can confirm.


First, it is called a split week fee. Part of it is due to cleaning costs I'm sure, but this goes to reinforce that once you split the week, you will be charged the $39. It has nothing do with skipping a cleaning or being entitled to one cleaning for your home week at least in my experience.
Second, the first reservation is not free. For each reservation you split at High Sierra, you need to pay the split week fee. So 2 reservations for 5 nights total equals $39 x 2.
Third, most but not all resorts charge the split week fee. See fees chart for info - I know High Sierra does.
Lastly, you may be able to avoid the split week fee if you cobble together reservations totaling a 7 night weekly reservation that coincides with a home resort full reservation. For example, I have avoided 2 split week fees at High Sierra where I have 2 consecutive reservations (3 and 4 nt) making up a Saturday to Saturday reservation. I was not able to avoid said fees when having 2 reservations totaling 7 nights Tuesday to Tuesday since they cross ownership weeks - this only happened once so ymmv.


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## vacationtime1 (Apr 17, 2021)

BJRSanDiego said:


> I see on Tug2 dot com that there is a number of units in Squaw valley (Red Wolf, Olympic Village) at dirt cheap (< $1K) prices.  Perhaps good skiing, but I don't know if there is much to do for the non-skiers.


I've stayed at Red Wolf five times and at the Olympic Village Inn twice.  Neither will meet OP's specifications.

Red Wolf is ski in/ski out, but it is nowhere near the luxury/amenity level of a Marriott or Hyatt.  It is 100 yards to the village at Squaw, but nearly everything there is either a restaurant or ski related.  As @BJRSanDiego suggests, there is not much to do for the non-skiers.  I would stay there again if I wanted to ski Squaw or Alpine for a week, but I wouldn't bring my wife.

The Olympic Village Inn is perhaps 500 yards from the base of Squaw (too far to walk in ski boots).  They run a shuttle bus.  The facility is extremely well maintained, but it is antiquated (I believe it was built for the 1960 Olympics) and most of the units are 360 square feet in size.

I have previously posted reviews of both resorts in the member-only section of TUG.


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## sherakay (Apr 17, 2021)

@sjsharkie @vacationtime1 @GTLINZ Thank you all for your guidance. So I can expect a Sat-Thurs stay to cost $39x2 and to use the rest of the points elsewhere for a 4 night stay to be another $39 stay.


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## RunCat (Apr 17, 2021)

sherakay said:


> II first looked at Welk so we could stay at Northstar only to find out in order to get in you have to book a whole week 12 months out and you can’t modify the length later. Plus it costs 420k points which is over $2300 in MF a year.



FWIW, not 100% accurate.  At 12 months, you do have to book a full week.   Partial week reservations are available at 9mos for non-priority owners.  Further, 420K is for the full week.  But, Fri & Sat nights =  210K and Sun - Thu night = 210K.   Booking a partial week (Sun - Thu) is an excellent value if rooms are available.

Also, despite the high maintenance fees,  $2300 is not a terrible cost.  Per Expedia, a 2-bed for the week (Jan 7 -14, 2022) is available at the discounted price of $4780.


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## skimeup (Apr 18, 2021)

I've tried to book several times at either Tahoe Hyatt resort and have not found anything available during prime ski time.  Perhaps others have had different experiences?


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## sjsharkie (Apr 18, 2021)

skimeup said:


> I've tried to book several times at either Tahoe Hyatt resort and have not found anything available during prime ski time. Perhaps others have had different experiences?


I am assuming you are trying with Hyatt internal HRC trade?

Northstar is tough. There are so few Hyatt owned units and an owner would have to trade them into the system. Maintenance fees are so high here that owners are more likely to rent than internally trade. This may or may not shift with the Welk acquisition.

High Sierra is a much easier trade. I even see weeks 7, 51 and 52 at 12 months out. Closer in is tougher but availability is still there if you have flexibility. I wouldn't say it is an easy trade in peak ski season, but it is not hard if you plan ahead.

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## sherakay (Apr 18, 2021)

sjsharkie said:


> I am assuming you are trying with Hyatt internal HRC trade?
> 
> Northstar is tough. There are so few Hyatt owned units and an owner would have to trade them into the system. Maintenance fees are so high here that owners are more likely to rent than internally trade. This may or may not shift with the Welk acquisition.
> 
> ...



@skimeup I would be buying mainly to be able to use a ski week that falls over March 22 specifically at High Sierra. Are you saying that you never see availability there either for around that time. Is week 10-12 for 2022 even still available. Considering just going back to plan A and buying Vistana instead and foregoing trying to get a resort near North Tahoe and just stick with our Worldmark in South Tahoe instead.

Too bad DVC can't just build a resort there and make it a family affair!


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## echino (Apr 18, 2021)

It's available now.


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## jjking42 (Apr 19, 2021)

We live 30 minutes from Tahoe abs checked often for last minute availability at north star and HS. Was able to get three night in studio at North Star and saw lots of availability at HS. Going again next weekend 

Never tried booking 8 months out. This year has been so strange with timeshare reservation that I am not sure what next year will look like. 

I considered buying welk for better access to North Star but will wait abs see what the combined program looks like. We have epic pass so ski , North Star and Heavenly. Wife brother has icon pass and skis alpine and squaw. 

I would hold off on buying and rent something to make sure you know what you want. 


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## boraxo (Apr 24, 2021)

100% disagree about HSL location. We have stayed at the hotel next door for many years as a base for skiing at Diamond Peak, Northstar and Squaw. This year we drove to Heavenly as well. It is an excellent location and an easy drive to multiple resorts. There are many nice restaurant options within walking distance or a 5 min drive. And the resort is 10x nicer than any other timeshare in Lake Tahoe. My only regret is not buying sooner when my kids were same age as OP as hotel rooms (even at casino rate) are quite expensive. 

True it is not ski in ski out. But it will cost you much more to buy into Welk or Hyatt Northstar.


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