# Newbie looking at buying first HGVC timeshare



## go_cubbies22 (Dec 15, 2017)

Hello all, my wife and I are looking into purchasing a HGVC timeshare.  We did a presentation at Parc Soleil in November and overall it seemed like a pretty good program.  We were impressed by the resort and liked the flexibility that HGVC provides.  We did not want to pay the developer price and have been looking around the resale market.

A little about me, we are mid 30s with two kids.  I am in the military and we like to do two vacations per year.  We are not really interested in a single location but would like to vacation in south Florida, Orlando, Myrtle Beach/Hilton Head, Colorado/Utah, and Hawaii.  

We have been looking at gold 5,000 point packages that have a maintenance fee around $1000.  We figure that would give us one week with a 1 BR and 1 week with a studio.

From my limited research, it seems like if I have gold points then I can book platinum season weeks inside the 9 month reservation window if anything is open.

My main question is about general availability for platinum weeks inside the 9 month window.  I understand that it would vary by resort but was just looking for general info.

Is it possible to book Colorado or Utah during ski season inside 9 months?  How about Hawaii and Orlando for Christmas time?  Is it usually pretty easy to book a vacation for the summer months?

Are there other things that I should be thinking about when deciding to buy a gold package with 5000 points?  Ideally, I would like to do a platinum 7000 point package but I don't think we can afford that right now.

All responses and information is much appreciated.  Thanks!


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## tompalm (Dec 15, 2017)

In the long run, 7000 points is a much better value and you will need 7000 points for the amount of travel you are doing and for getting a two bedroom. You will save a lot of money in the long term with 7000 points.  Keep looking for a good deal on  7000 points with low maintenance fees.


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## WalnutBaron (Dec 15, 2017)

Even though it's more expensive upfront, I always recommend buying platinum season for three reasons: 1) you'll get maximum internal (HGVC) and external (RCI) trade value; 2) even though you aren't thinking about it now, you'll want resale value to hold up and platinum will do that for you; 3) you can always trade down into gold or silver seasons easily, but trading up from something lower to platinum can be difficult and frustrating. 

I'd also recommend you buy at least 8400 points in order to do the amount of traveling you want to do.

HGVC is a wonderful, flexible system with a lot of very nice resorts, so you've picked a good system to start with.

Can't afford the initial purchase at this time? Consider renting while you continue to save. Renting alleviates you from the annual obligation of paying maintenance fees and gives you the flexibility to travel to whichever resort you want to try at whatever time of the year you want to go, as long as you have the ability to plan several months in advance.


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## GT75 (Dec 16, 2017)

I agree with the two previous poster in that you will need more that 5000 points (per your requirements, a normal 1-bd is 4800 points in platinum season so that would eat all of your points right there) and go with platinum season (yearly MFs/point are much better value).   You probably have little kids now but that won't be for long.    You will soon need at least a two-bd.  I would also recommend at least 7000 points to start with.    You could start there and then add more later.   When you purchase any TS, you must consider the total cost (initial buy-in and yearly MFs {maintenance fees}).   We have a Sticky which we are gatter information now on the MFs for HGVC.   In the second post are the resorts/units with the lowest MFs/point.    You might want to review that.



go_cubbies22 said:


> We are not really interested in a single location but would like to vacation in south Florida, Orlando, Myrtle Beach/Hilton Head, Colorado/Utah, and Hawaii.



HGVC is very flexible, but one of the things about any TS is to book early.   If you book right when the club season opens and can be somewhat flexible then you can generally book what you want.   There are exceptions.    

Orlando is overbuild so it is always easy to book there.    There are two resorts in Myrtle Beach, summer is their high season so if you are going in summer time you will need to book exactly at 9 month club window.    

Same for Hilton Head all year long however.     There is limited availability (66 rooms) so can be done but plan.    This resort also has higher point requirements, like only 2-bd rooms and a regular room during summer is 7000 points.

The Big Island seems to have the most availability but both Oahu and BI can be booked.    Again, as long as you have some flexibility and book right at 9-month window.   But you will most likely need more than 5000 points for HI.

I think you will have your biggest problem with booking skiing.   If you are thinking that you will be able to book skiing every year during a certain time, I don't see that happening.   If you have great flexibility, then you might be able to book something.   In general, if you want to ski, I would recommend owning there during ski season.    We actually own both Valdoro and Sunrise during ski season for that reason.   Now, I do see some very limited availability for some club user.

I really don't follow South Florida so I can not speak to that question.


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## tompalm (Dec 16, 2017)

Agree with 8400 points being better. Just keep looking at any deal with the most points and lowest maintenance fees.  Points are points and no need to make it more complicated than that. Don’t rush to buy something. Prices on resale are not going up. If you need to take a vacation, rent a unit from a person on TUG.


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## go_cubbies22 (Dec 16, 2017)

Thanks for the responses- I appreciate the input.

We had emailed Judi Kozlowski and they had some 5000 points available for $2500 with a $1000 MF.  The 7000 point packages were at $6700+ so that's why we were thinking about the 5000 points.

Guess it sounds like the best plan is to be patient and look for a good deal on a 7000 point platinum package.

Thanks again!


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## alwysonvac (Dec 16, 2017)

*Update - Fixed links below*

Timesharing isn't for everyone.

Timeshares are a little different than booking a hotel room. All 52 weeks are sold (peak season, shoulder season and off season).
Most families want to vacation during peak travel periods when the kids are out of school (holiday, spring & summer breaks and XMAS/NYE break) and/or want to visit peak travel destinations like beach resorts during peak summer season and ski resorts during peak winter season. As a result, High demands areas and/or peak travel periods will booked up first.

There will be lots of folks wanting to travel to locations during the peak travel season. With timeshares, it's best to book as soon as the booking window opens especially for high demand travel dates and/or high demand locations.  So owners that can’t plan ahead in order to reserve a unit as soon as booking window begins, may not find availability. Even with booking as soon as the reservation window opens and using other TUG tips/techniques to gain any advantage over other members, there is no guarantee that you will get your desired peak season reservation. Travel date flexibility is key when trying to book a stay during peak season. There are only a fixed number of units for any given week and sometimes way too many folks trying to compete for the same limited number of rooms at the same time. Also keep in mind with HGVC, home resort owners have 1st priority at their home resort for the unit type and season they own.

HGVC Points are based on location, unit size, unit type and season.
For example, the number of points for a one bedroom during platinum season will vary based on location and unit type (standard, plus, premier, etc).
Expect more competition for lower point rooms for the same unit size and at the lower point locations at the same destination.
Expect the possibility of higher point requirements at newer resorts.
_NOTE: Most one bedrooms are a single bed with a sofa bed (not two queens beds that are offered in hotels)._

For example a one week stay in a one bedroom (from lowest season to highest season):

Orlando SeaWorld ranges from 2400 to 4800 points
Orlando Tuscany ranges from 3400 to 4800 points
Orlando Parc Soleil ranges from 3400 to 6200 points
Myrtle Beach Anderson ranges from 3400 to 6200 points
Myrtle Beach Ocean 22 ranges from 2400 to 6200 points

Utah Sunrise Lodge ranges from 3000 to 7200 points

As I pointed out above, platinum season has the best value but it comes at a higher purchase price.
In general, HGVC maintenance fee is based on unit size. So bronze, silver, gold and platinum owners pay the same maintenance fee.
So if you want to spend a minimum amount of money upfront, Gold Season week isn't bad. I just won't buy Bronze or Silver.
The initial purchase price is a one time hit. You also have to consider the ongoing Club cost (Maintenance Fees, reservation fees, etc) which will continue to increase over time.
Here's an example of my HGVC MFs over a ten year period - http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179539
HGVC Fee History - http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2849/13207012273_f469328423_b.jpg

HGVC Online Documents 
2017 Club Rules - https://d1m2ucn09z2f8d.cloudfront.n...d93a810f/2017-HGV-Club-Rules-Reference-V2.pdf
2017 Club Fees - https://d1m2ucn09z2f8d.cloudfront.n...42a4-917f-1be096986280/2017-HGV-Club-Fees.pdf


JMHO..

_*Whatever you decide, don't put all of your future vacation dollars into timesharing.*_
_This will give you the flexibility in the future to choose the best way to visit your desired destinations. There might not be a timeshare at the location that you want to visit or if there is a timeshare it may be very hard to get an exchange. You may also want to visit a destination in an entirely different way via a cruise, hotel/resort stay, special discounted travel package, tour company, beach house rental, etc._

_*Also, don't base your purchase decision simply on the Hilton name or what you might have heard from a Hilton timeshare presentation.*_
_I suggest that you take some time to research before you act on anything you heard from the sales guys. Try to learn as much as you can about Hilton's timeshare system ("reality" vs "fantasy"). Think about where you want to go. Look at the locations offered by HGVC. One size doesn't fit all. You'll have to decide what's best for you and your family._

_*I also don't believe that one should put all of their eggs into one basket. *_
_HGVC doesn't satisfy all of my vacation needs and why I don't put all of my vacation money into timesharing in general. _

Here are some posts that you might find helpful 
Have you been surprised by HGVC - https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php...-surprised-by-hgvc.223671/page-2#post-1733451
For anyone that owns more then one time share - https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php...ne-that-owns-more-then-one-time-share.210627/
Why did you buy, and is it worth it? - http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/why-did-you-buy-and-is-it-worth-it.243762/


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## ConejoRed (Dec 16, 2017)

You can find deals for 2 Bedrooms if you are patient and keep looking. Also, consider looking at affiliates.  I just closed on a 2 Bedroom Platnium 7,000 MarBrisa unit for $2500 found on Redweek (seller also used the Redweek Escrow service which was great to work with).  It cost an extra $995 requalify it into HGVC, but even when I factor that in and the price per point was .50 which is good (guideline seen the forum is to use $1 per point for platinum).  One other factor with GP MarBrisa is that I now also have access to the Grand Pacific exchange system as well. 

All of my HGVC units are affiliates and have not seen an difference in the ability to reserve at all so if cost is an issue you may want to start with an affiliate to get a better point to cost value.  As anyone will say here, points are points in the HGVC system.


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## CalGalTraveler (Dec 16, 2017)

Although 7k+ points are nice, there is a premium to purchasing them and the price rises significantly beyond that.

Two bedrooms are good if you have growing kids or family that travels with you.  However, if you can get by with a one bedroom, then a 5000 points unit would be fine because you can borrow points from the next year for free to get a full week stay if you need to augment for special trips to higher cost units during platinum seasons.

Do the math with both buy in and maintenance fee for years to breakeven on your initial purchase cost.  Also look at whether 5000 would work in your most desired resort and season most of the time.

HGVC is a great system (IMO the best among the big brands for flexibility, consistent quality standards, value, and treating owners well).  We purchased reluctantly from another brand to augment our HGVC portfolio because HGVC did not have the location we wanted (Maui).


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## RJones (Dec 16, 2017)

whats a good price for Vegas, Platinum 7000 points?


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## CalGalTraveler (Dec 16, 2017)

RJones said:


> whats a good price for Vegas, Platinum 7000 points?



$1 a point plus closing fees of about $800


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## alwysonvac (Dec 16, 2017)

ConejoRed said:


> You can find deals for 2 Bedrooms if you are patient and keep looking. Also, consider looking at affiliates.  I just closed on a 2 Bedroom Platnium 7,000 MarBrisa unit for $2500 found on Redweek (seller also used the Redweek Escrow service which was great to work with).  It cost an extra $995 requalify it into HGVC, but even when I factor that in and the price per point was .50 which is good (guideline seen the forum is to use $1 per point for platinum).  One other factor with GP MarBrisa is that I now also have access to the Grand Pacific exchange system as well.



Did you complete the transaction with HGVC?

Last year there was a report that HGVC membership was no longer available for GPR resale. See this thread - https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php...longer-available-for-resale-transfers.245167/
_NOTE: There are some older GPR deeds at MarBrisa. HGVC got involved with new development at MarBrisa in 2010._

I would like to update the affiliate sticky on MarBrisa with any additional information. Thanks


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## ConejoRed (Dec 16, 2017)

Alwysonvac,

Yes the transfer went through just fine and I now have that contract in my account along with my others and I see the 2018 and 2019 points. I can also reserve my 2018 Home week online now if I wanted to (waiting to see if I can reserve a next Christmas week in a week or two).  As mentioned I did have to pay $995 to requalify the week and it seemed to be a “mandatory” charge and not optional (I did not press the question however as I wanted it to be in HGVC).  I have not been billed for any of the other typical HGVC fees (inventory transfer fee, membership activation etc.) and not sure if those are still to come, but if not then the $995 is not that much more than the normal HGVC fees for realsale transfers (on the closing statement the $995 was listed as “resort transfer fee”).  Note: This was an original GP deed from 2006.


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## Deb & Bill (Dec 16, 2017)

When you talk about trading into South Florida resorts with HGVC, be aware that it can be very difficult to get most of the SW FL (Marco Island, Sanibel) resorts because they are only HGVC managed not owned.  So many of the owners are not even HGVC members and do not trade using HGVC.  That leaves a very small percentage of units available to trade into.  Plus you have to call to make those reservations.  You cannot do them online.


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## Love2Cats (Dec 16, 2017)

I find it interesting as I search both TUG and Redweek for resales I see very, very few Hilton properties. Maybe that makes a statement about the quality of their program. I only own Holiday Inn Club and Vacation Village (Massanutten) properties so my familiarity with Hilton is restricted to what I see on this forum. You are a wonderful team!


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## DazedandConfused (Dec 16, 2017)

go_cubbies22 said:


> Is it possible to book Colorado or Utah during ski season inside 9 months?  How about Hawaii and Orlando for Christmas time?  Is it usually pretty easy to book a vacation for the summer months?



Booking a Feb-March ski week consistently for a week in the exact week you want...probably not

Booking a ski week for 4-5 days once in a while if you are flexible with the dates....yes

South Florida (Miami) is doable, but the weekends often sell out

Hawaii at Christmas....probably not 

Orlando at new year....probably yes


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## alwysonvac (Dec 16, 2017)

Love2Cats said:


> I find it interesting as I search both TUG and Redweek for resales I see very, very few Hilton properties. Maybe that makes a statement about the quality of their program. I only own Holiday Inn Club and Vacation Village (Massanutten) properties so my familiarity with Hilton is restricted to what I see on this forum. You are a wonderful team!



You’ll find most resale weeks on the broker websites. Here are ones frequently mentioned:
Judi Kozlowski @ http://judikoz.com/Search.aspx
Seth Nock @ http://www.sellingtimeshares.net/category/listings/hilton/
Syed Sarmad @ https://advantagevacation.com/hilton-grand-vacations-club-for-sale-and-resale/
Diane Nadeau @  https://www.timesharebrokersales.com/hilton-timeshares/index.php
Carl Thoms @ http://timeshare-resale.com/


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## GT75 (Dec 16, 2017)

go_cubbies22 said:


> My main question is about general availability for platinum weeks inside the 9 month window. I understand that it would vary by resort but was just looking for general info.
> 
> Is it possible to book Colorado or Utah during ski season inside 9 months? How about Hawaii and Orlando for Christmas time? Is it usually pretty easy to book a vacation for the summer months?



I must say that these are great questions to ask before you purchase.    I think that we have tried our best to present you with realistic information on booking expectations.   I remember trying to book Valdoro Mountain Lodge a few months prior to a upcoming family vacation in the summertime soon after first purchasing.   It was totally booked for those specific dates which I needed.    I learned to book when the 9-month window opened from that experience.


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## go_cubbies22 (Dec 17, 2017)

Thanks for the responses and honest feedback.  We will take some time to review our options and not rush into anything.  Thanks again.

Andrew


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## peas (Dec 17, 2017)

We are a family of 4 with school aged children.  I want to highlight some things in alwaysonvac’s post (which I agree with whole heartedly).

She states “Expect the possibility of higher point requirements at newer resorts.”  I want to add expect the possibility of higher point requirements due to remaining availability.

For example, I was staking availability at the 9 month 2 week mark for Valdoro (CO) this year’s Christmas break.   All that was available for our family (occupancy 4) was a 1 bedroom plus for date range of dec 9?-23 and a 1 bedroom for dec 23-30.  I started to walk out my 3 day reservation trying to get the dec 15th-23rd for a 1 bedroom plus and then hopefully try to dump that to get the dec 23-30 reservation.  We would have preferred to spend only 4800 for the dec 23 week but I couldn’t get it.  At least I had the dec 15th week though now we had to borrow from next year since I don’t have an annual 6200 points coming to me.  I must also add that I suspect it was easier this year because school schedules seem all over the board as far as when Christmas break starts which probably worked to our advantage this year.

As for Oahu (Oahu as example tho also true for old and new resorts on big island), except for lagoon tower, you are likely going to have to borrow points for the other resorts making that week possibly $2000ish in MF if you’re getting a 5000 point week.  Also you need to be prepared that lagoon tower being a lower point requirement resort will be in high demand and a regular one bedroom may not be available and you may have to spend more for whatever is available.  Or you have to book at one of the newer higher point resorts.
At that point, I’d just rather take the kids to another resort or destination and use my points elsewhere.  But that’s our bias since we don’t love Oahu as much as others.
We were able to book a early June 2bdroom at lagoon tower the first week of June at the 9 month mark but I saw the calendar get really hard to find a continuous week reservation as the summer went on.  This was for june of 2017 at the 9 month mark in 2016.

To further add to alwaysonvac’s advice about not putting all your vacation dollars in timeshares:
As my kids have gotten older and more opinionated, their desires don’t always coincide with timeshare locations.  They want to go to places where their friends are going on spring break or are interested in going to certain places where we wouldn’t choose a timeshare.  For example, we did Yosemite and Yellowstone this summer.  There are some timeshares sort of nearby, but really we didn’t want to kill ourselves when we could just rent something much closer as to maximize our time in the parks.
Also we didn’t want hang our plans on trying to get an exchange that was super difficult/near impossible to get.

It’s very freeing not to put all your vacation dollars in timeshares.

Also, please note that you mentioned studios but occupancy for all the studios I have looked into have been occupancy 2.  I wasn’t sure if you meant travel as a family or as a couple, but I don’t want you to think that studios can accommodate 4.

Good luck finding the best solution for your family.


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## joeljcj2 (Dec 19, 2017)

peas said:


> We are a family of 4 with school aged children.  I want to highlight some things in alwaysonvac’s post (which I agree with whole heartedly).
> 
> She states “Expect the possibility of higher point requirements at newer resorts.”  I want to add expect the possibility of higher point requirements due to remaining availability.
> 
> ...


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## joeljcj2 (Dec 19, 2017)

i/we  own 3 hgvc timeshares and have for 10-15 yrs. ---i do not know much about platinum,gold etc--these are about *points*---i have never been to orlando--it gives me 7000+ points which i use every year--and am using to go to hawaii this winter.
personally i think you should not buy in at all. there is so much product around that you can nearly always rent for little more than the annual fees- with none of the aggravation or exchange fees ,etc. in truth between my family and my son's we do use our points every year--- but i would sell my orlando 7000 points for something less than the $1.10 a point  i paid for it years ago. actually  email me if you are interested.  joeljcj2@yahoo.com..


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## VACATIONSHARK (Dec 19, 2017)

My spouse and I bought into Club Intrawest before DIAMOND Resorts bought them out.  We considered second hand points,  but CI wouldn't allow them to be traded in Interval International if you got them for a bargain.   We bought in low (80 studio size) so we could buy more later on. 

Now that they've been bought out, Diamond didn't have the same rule.

HGVG is really nice,  but so is the Embarc (rebranded Club Intrawest) and you get to use all 9 resorts across Canada without ANY exchange fees.

In addition, we can trade them in Interval International for a yearly fee plus exchange.   there are many properties available with NO banking of points,  it's all booking on demand.

By chance,  I stumbled upon an ebay listing for double the points (160) We currently had, for a total of (240 points). Their value is about 20x other timeshare points systems.  it makes it very easy to work with.

This points acquisition was done over ebay for $500 vs. $32,000 and we can still trade in Int. intl. for places like the Marriott, Hyatt, and Westin.  We find that our points to farther traded in a similar city than our clubs resorts.

For Example, a 1 bedroom in Palm Springs was 60 points at the Westin but 120 at the Embarc.  We paid $180 fee and kept our other 60 points for a Hyatt resort in the Hills of Canada overlooking wine country, about 4 hours from our home over Christmas week.  

The escrow company that sells these timeshares acquires them from all kinds of situations.  ours was am estate sale.  We feel so blessed to triple our points and be in a much better resale position later on.

Contact me for details if you want to have the TS Sale groups info.

he's got one listed for 7,000 hgvc points in Mexico for $1625.  you can always buy smaller points and stack them as you only pay the ebay auction fee, and $200 in transfer fees 

I hope this gets you excited about saving a ton of cash.

vacationshark



go_cubbies22 said:


> Hello all, my wife and I are looking into purchasing a HGVC timeshare.  We did a presentation at Parc Soleil in November and overall it seemed like a pretty good program.  We were impressed by the resort and liked the flexibility that HGVC provides.  We did not want to pay the developer price and have been looking around the resale market.
> 
> A little about me, we are mid 30s with two kids.  I am in the military and we like to do two vacations per year.  We are not really interested in a single location but would like to vacation in south Florida, Orlando, Myrtle Beach/Hilton Head, Colorado/Utah, and Hawaii.
> 
> ...


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