# Need advice on what to do with Hyatt weeks/points



## minstrel (Apr 29, 2011)

Folks,

I own two gold weeks with Hyatt and have had a great time with the vacation club the last 4 years. Been to Aspen, Tahoe, Sedona, Key West, Naples and Texas.

A couple months back we relocated from the southwest to north-east US. That has considerably limited the proximity of Hyatt resorts. We are debating what to do with the weeks/points. Between the kids school, work schedule and lack of Hyatts close to us, we are debating if it is time to give up on the club. We know we will not make much money off the resale, but at least the maint fees will stop. I am nearing  in on almost 4K points which I cannot figure out how to use. This summer is already booked with a 3 week trip to Yellowstone/Banff (we are using 1 week of timeshare in Banff via Interval).

We have considered using Interval with limited success. Maybe some opportunities in New England or Eastern Canada might work out..

There is no doubt Hyatt has been great for us. We have had times and seen places we never would have otherwise....so no regrets.

Open to all ideas, thoughts and advice.


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## Carmel85 (May 7, 2011)

Give all your extra points to me I can use them for you.:hysterical: 


Suggestions:

1. Bank them in II
2. Call SFX  trading company
3. Donate a vacation to a charity in your area
4. Rent out your HRPP week
5. Give the points to me

What did you pay for you "Gold" weeks?


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## heathpack (May 7, 2011)

When you say you have "thought about II trades without much success" what does that mean?

I agree you could sell, but you should really explore your II options more fully.  Two gold weeks gives you almost 4000 pts in II.  You could get a couple of 3 BR weeks for that.  What about Mariott Custom House in Boston?  Williamsburg?  Charleston?  Hilton Head?  Coast of Maine?  Newport, RI?  For the years you are willing to travel further afield, you could look to Mexico, Hawaii, Thailand, Colorado, Spain, Aruba.

If you don't want to trade through II, consider SFX.

However, if what you are saying is that the concept of TSing no longer works for you, then, yes, it's probably time to sell.

H


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## tahoeJoe (May 8, 2011)

*Hyatt need more locations!!!*



minstrel said:


> Open to all ideas, thoughts and advice.



IMHO, the biggest drawback with Hyatt is the lower number of locations and the few number of properties they have. Hyatt, promised a number of new resorts (NYC, Maui) but, effectively, they have not come trough or (in the case of Siesta Key) are ever available.  They could address this problem with affiliates agreements like Hilton or DRI do, but Hyatt doesn't seem to be interested in the TS business anymore.

That being said, you may want to take another look at II. Hyatt trades very well, and with enough lead time, you should find something. Also, I find it better to call often and have an agent check availability than rely on an on-going search. 

Persistence pays off. Good luck. 

-TJ


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## Sullco2 (May 10, 2011)

*Sell them--but with patience*

I believe that HVC is the best timeshare product in the country.  You should be able to recoup at the very least 60% of your purchase price, assuming you own good weeks.

Make plans to use them, per the suggestions found here, but put them up for sale here.  

Real people who understand the value of HVC will buy them from you.  Maybe not right away--but they will sell.


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## Divot (May 12, 2011)

*Instead of taking a haircut on the resale market...*

" to sell the steak, sell the sizzle." I think that the implicit value of a Hyatt timeshare is a vacationer's ability to save $$$ over the resort's best nightly rental rate. 

By the time a Hyatt owner pays MF's and/or exchange, cleaning and memberships fees, the real cost to vacation at a Hyatt is a fairly simple calculation - and an expensive one at that!

I have sold all of my timeshares and do not, own nor will I ever own TS again. I rent TS resorts from TS owners and stay at great resorts. I am especially fond of a few Hyatts, Four Seasons, Westins and Marriotts. I've never encountered any problems after exchanging information with owners and checking resort (developer) websites.

If I did own Pinion Pointe (fixed weeks convertible to points) and wanted to part with them, I would test the rental market. I would book (sure, its work) a prime summer week at The Highlands Inn or High Sierra Lodge and rent it at a very nice discount to Hyatt's rack rate. 

Weekly Rental Rate = Annual Maintenance Fee + Cleaning + Guest Fees 

Having rented at both resorts, I for one would gladly pay $200 - $250 per night for either property during a prime summer week.

Buy a domain name, set up a website with photos and be prepared to invest some time. Use the TUG site and advertise it! For an additional fee, you could also try VRBO. You'll need to work out the details on deposits and check-in procedures, but its really no big deal.

If you're under financial duress, every Hyatt week will sell if its priced right.


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## heathpack (May 14, 2011)

Divot, not to nitpick, but I am not sure what you are getting at when you talk about "cleaning fees."  There are no cleaning fees unless you split a week and even then not every HVC property charges a cleaning fee for a split week.

Your costs to rent the week you own are: 1. your amoritized purchase price + 2. MF (which includes club dues).  There is no exchange fee if you are renting the week you own, which technically by Hyatt's rules is the only week you can rent.

If you rent some other club week (again, technically you can't, but in reality you can), then rental should be: 1. amoritized purchase price + 2. MF + 3. Club Use fee ($39) + 4. Guest Certificate fee ($29).

H


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## minstrel (Feb 19, 2012)

My apologies for restarting an old thread. I am the OP for this thread and just wanted to come back a year later and post an update. Maybe it will help somebody in similar confusion.

First of all, we took the general advise to reconsider our opinion of Interval exchanges. So we held on to our two gold weeks with Hyatt and focussed on Interval exchanges which were either on the East Coast or could fit into our other travel plans . 

It's been mostly good so far. We have exchanged into Banff (Sunset Resorts, July 4th week), NYC (Manhattan Club), Smoky Mountains (Westgate) and 2 weeks in Westin Kierland (mixed with a business trip). Will try for Boston and Charleston soon. Only Westin seemed on par with the Hyatts, the rest were a notch below....though the location of Manhattan Club is great.

In the last year, we have discovered that our lack of proximity to Hyatt resorts is not as big a deal as we expected. We are far more limited by the school year now that our kids are growing up. The girls have also developed their own vacation preferences (mostly driven by proclivity to easy boredom). Right now, they are either interested in the "Big City" resorts (wonder how easy is it to trade into the new Hyatt in Miami) or in exploring new areas. Repeat visits to Hyatts in Colorado/Sedona/Carmel/Tahoe/Key West are not at the top of their list. On the flip-side, they are willing to travel much longer and farther than we expected. I guess we will keep exchanging a bit longer till they are ready to go back to the Hyatts. Skiing in Colorado will have to wait a bit longer.  

I know Interval will work for resorts like Marriott Newport Beach, properties in Vegas/Orlando or beach resorts in Cancun/Hawaii/Aruba. How about other big cities (San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, DC, Montreal, Vancouver) or resorts outside North America? How well does a Hyatt trade for a property in, say, Scotland or Italy in summer if I put the request a year in advance? Is there an exchange company better suited for me?

Even though we have lately not been to the Hyatt resorts, something we did not expect when we bought our weeks, we've still had a good time. In the end, that's what counts.


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## ondeadlin (Feb 19, 2012)

Sullco2 said:


> I believe that HVC is the best timeshare product in the country.  You should be able to recoup at the very least 60% of your purchase price, assuming you own good weeks.



I watch resale prices very closely and I'm more pessimistic than this.  Gold weeks have dipped between $6,000 to $7,000 on eBay at times within the last year.  You can certainly get a better price if you're patient, but I'd be surprised if you could break the $10,000 barrier no matter how patient unless the gold weeks were at one of the newest resorts.


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## Sullco2 (Feb 20, 2012)

*Sunset Resorts, Canmore suggestion*

Contact them directly and see if they will confirm your II exchange into the new building they built across the street.

Don't know if they're doing that, but it would be worth it.

It's a beautiful part of the world, but their original building is tired and the suites often ill-equipped.

They have the reputation of being friendly and non-pushy--but it's hard to say who the staff is now that the property is much larger.


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## MaryH (Feb 20, 2012)

SF have several TS but they tend to be studios or 1bdrm.. Powell place comes to mind.

DC you need to arrange for a private exchange for Wyndham Alexandria I think.  I think it trades in RCI.

There is no TS in Montreal but if you like skiing or jazz, Mont tremblant (club intrawest, etc) is an option since in early July you can hit the jazz festival in tremblant and add a few nights in a hotel for Montreal for the Montreal international Jazz Festival.

depending on their age, New Orleans is a possibility for spring break, the zoo and other facilites are good and so are visits to the bayou and plantations..  A tad too hot in the summer.

Did you buy resale or from developer?  If from developer you can have the option of exchanging into Hyatt points but not a great deal now that most decent European hotels are 23K than the 15K a few years ago.


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## minstrel (Feb 21, 2012)

Sullco2 said:


> Contact them directly and see if they will confirm your II exchange into the new building they built across the street.
> 
> Don't know if they're doing that, but it would be worth it.
> 
> ...



I should have clarified. The Banff exchange was for July 4th last year. I am not sure if we were in the new building but the suites were fine and well equipped. I agree that it's absolutely gorgeous area. We even got to see a grizzly right by the Trans-Canada highway. Never saw an interstate traffic jam because of a grizzly before.




MaryH said:


> SF have several TS but they tend to be studios or 1bdrm.. Powell place comes to mind.
> 
> DC you need to arrange for a private exchange for Wyndham Alexandria I think.  I think it trades in RCI.
> 
> ...



Thanks for all the suggestions MaryH. I will look into DC and San Francisco. I knew about Mount Tremblant. As for New Orleans, the kids have been there and seen enough of it (we lived next door in Houston for 10 yrs). 

We bought our first week from the developer, the second was a resale. Even though it does not sound very attractive, I will look into hotel points if it comes to it.


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## dmorea (Mar 4, 2012)

Another option that I hope you consider is looking for  private exchanges to the areas/ resorts you want to go to. Tug has a listing site in the Marketplace  and another way to search is to look at the Tug resort listing of  resorts you want to go to. Then click on classified ads to see if there are any exchanges ads listed. I wouldnt hesitate to offer an exchange to anyone listed for rental either, I have had several exchanges work out by doing that. 


 The fact that you might be able to reserve a week of the others choice could be a big asset as well as booking a good week and putting it up for exchange . I have done many exchanges this way and every one went off without a hitch!

There are several other tuggers who have been able to be very creative with their direct exchanges too..
Yes it can be a little more work , but getting exactly what you want and dealing with tuggers  is nice!

There are lots of people who would like easier access to Hyatt Weeks (without buying in )and you have it. Sharing is nice 


Debbie




minstrel said:


> My apologies for restarting an old thread. I am the OP for this thread and just wanted to come back a year later and post an update. Maybe it will help somebody in similar confusion.
> 
> First of all, we took the general advise to reconsider our opinion of Interval exchanges. So we held on to our two gold weeks with Hyatt and focussed on Interval exchanges which were either on the East Coast or could fit into our other travel plans .
> 
> ...


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## dmorea (Mar 4, 2012)

*Dont overlook  private exchange option*

sorry  double post deleted


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## dmorea (Mar 4, 2012)

not sure why triple


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## heathpack (Mar 4, 2012)

dmorea said:


> Another option that I hope you consider is looking for  private exchanges to the areas/ resorts you want to go to. Tug has a listing site in the Marketplace  and another way to search is to look at the Tug resort listing of  resorts you want to go to. Then click on classified ads to see if there are any exchanges ads listed. I wouldnt hesitate to offer an exchange to anyone listed for rental either, I have had several exchanges work out by doing that.
> 
> 
> The fact that you might be able to reserve a week of the others choice could be a big asset as well as booking a good week and putting it up for exchange . I have done many exchanges this way and every one went off without a hitch!
> ...



Totally agree with this BTW.  And the flexibility of Hyatts booking/points system make this work particularly well.

H


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## MaryH (Mar 5, 2012)

I know some friends while living in France exchanged some of their Club Intrawest points via RCI to Italy and France and skiing holidays but not sure about II for European vacations.

I think HGVC (Hilton) has some affiliate resorts in Scotland so you might be able to arrange a private exchange.

RHC has some Italy, Allen House etc,  so you might be able to arrange a private exchange with a member if you like to vacation there.

The Hyatt points exchange is not very good.  Your developer purchase would likely qualify but not the resale.  There are some Hyatt Place and other that still have okay redemption points level but I choke on my last trip to Paris when my favourite Park Hyatt Vendome was 23K points but then it was about 400 Euros per night.


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## GTLINZ (Mar 21, 2012)

minstrel said:


> Folks,
> 
> I own two gold weeks with Hyatt and have had a great time with the vacation club the last 4 years. Been to Aspen, Tahoe, Sedona, Key West, Naples and Texas.
> 
> ...



If you are not sure what to do, and own close to 4k points, you may consider selling some of your units and holding at least one ....


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## 4Reliefnow (Apr 15, 2012)

Interval has lots of resorts in Europe.  I am booked into Marriott Playa Andaluza - Spain with exchange of a Marriott Grande Vista - Orlando.  I recommend the TUG ranking reviews followed up with tripadvisor to evaluate the resorts.  Many resorts on TUG only have 1 or 2 reviews, so, I am cautious about the high ranking.

I would strongly recommend an II exchange into a Royal Resort in Cancun or Playa del Carmen.  i age order newest first, the Royals are:

Royal Haciendas - 3 years old
Royal Sands - 10 years old and rated 31 in Mexico
Royal Islander 15 -17 years old
Royal Caribbean
Royal Mayan - I stayed Christmas 2011 swith a TUG rental for $1,000
Royal Cancun

I also agree with the direct exchange suggestion.  You might even get someone to send you a private message with a list of exchange options.  Private exchanges will save both parties the $179 II exchange fee, or leave room for one side to throw in a little cash for unequal exchanges.


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## MaryH (Apr 15, 2012)

I think Royals are no longer a good deal with the AI they have announced.


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