# How much are HGVC bonus points worth?



## MVM

I'm debating between buying a biennial 2.4k points deed from Hilton or from the resale market. From what I've found, this deed usually goes for 8-10k on the resale market, and Hilton offered it to me for about 12k with 8k bonus points. Was wondering if the bonus points would close the gap between these prices. 

BTW, I found it interesting that many higher-point deeds actually are less expensive, probably because of the maintenance fees.


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## capjak

MVM said:


> I'm debating between buying a biennial 2.4k points deed from Hilton or from the resale market. From what I've found, this deed usually goes for 8-10k on the resale market, and Hilton offered it to me for about 12k with 8k bonus points. Was wondering if the bonus points would close the gap between these prices.
> 
> BTW, I found it interesting that many higher-point deeds actually are less expensive, probably because of the maintenance fees.



Not sure what property you are looking at  but most 2400 point packages go for a lot less than 8-10K


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## MVM

I have the Elara in Vegas for silver season. The maintenance fee is $771 per 2 years. Is this the info you were asking for?


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## SmithOp

MVM said:


> I have the Elara in Vegas for silver season. The maintenance fee is $771 per 2 years. Is this the info you were asking for?



That's not a great deal, all unit sizes pay the same annual fee but platinum or gold get more points.  That amount of points won't get you much in other seasons.  A platinum 1br gets 4800 points.  You only have every other year use too.  I suppose it would be ok to get in HGVC club to book cash open season.

Bonus points are one time use, so they are worth about what the maint fee / open season rate for whatever you reserve.


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## MVM

SmithOp said:


> That's not a great deal, all unit sizes pay the same annual fee but platinum or gold get more points.  That amount of points won't get you much in other seasons.  A platinum 1br gets 4800 points.  You only have every other year use too.  I suppose it would be ok to get in HGVC club to book cash open season.
> 
> Bonus points are one time use, so they are worth about what the maint fee / open season rate for whatever you reserve.



Thanks for chiming in - you made great points. I'm much less concerned about points than I am about price, maintenance fees, and membership. I imagine most of my use will be the open season booking which doesn't distinguish between seasons (correct me if I'm wrong). If more points imply higher maintenance fees, I probably will just go for the cheap. Being in my 20's, I don't want to force myself to vacation to certain destinations to justify the higher maintenance fees. Flexibility is very important to me. 

Bonus points are one-time use, I understand. Any idea when bonus points expire? 8k points can probably cover all my needs for 2 years. Anyway, this information may not be too relevant now since I've found listings that include 3.4k points and $800 maintenance fees biennially for around 3k which is way better than what Hilton offered me. Assuming the deed is still available, I will probably get in on this deal. Granted, this is not for the Elara, but I don't have a need to book this specific hotel more than 10 months in advance.

I am a very new member. If there is any flaw with my thinking, I would appreciate someone pointing it out. Thanks a lot for any help!


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## bevans

Before you buy anything you should start reading some of the past threads in this section. Most of your questions will be answered as they have been brought up before. One thing you should know is maintenance fees are charged according to unit size without regard to season. In other words silver one bedrooms pay the same as platinum one bedrooms but platinum get twice as many points to use making reservations. Curt


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## alwysonvac

You can do better than $3K. 
See Judi's website - http://judikoz.com/Search.aspx (TIP: Search all HGVC resorts then sort on List Price)

Keep in mind that Open Season Rates will continue to rise. See History and current Open Season Rate tables below.

_NOTE: Open Season rates are not always the lowest rate. Before making an Open Season reservation, it pays to check Hilton.com to see if they have close to the same or lower rates so you don't have to wait for Open Season_

Good Luck  Link to HGVC Overview Article 

Open Season Cash Rental Rate History


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## Blues

If I'm not mistaken, 2400 points is usually a 1BR Silver.  Silver is a *terrible* season to buy, as you pay way too much MF for the points you get.  Silver contracts should sell for very, very low prices.  I mean, a few hundred dollars, if not just a few dollars.  I'd highly recommend avoiding silver weeks; but if you must buy silver, look for a much, much better deal than this.  Even your $3K find is way too high.

-Bob


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## got4boys

Also take a look at Seth Nock's site. sellingtimeshares.net

He has quite a few HGVClub Listings.


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## tschwa2

I think this would one for $10.50 would be closer to the true resale value of the one you were looking at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2200-Hilton-Points-HGVC-at-Anderson-Ocean-Club-Timeshare-Myrtle-Beach-SC-/390837294728?pt=Timeshares&hash=item5affb7d688


If you want it EOY you just need to be patient.


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## MVM

Wow.

Can't believe I almost paid 12k for something that costs 2k or less.

This forum is incredible.


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## jonevans

*Your smarter than you think*

:hysterical:You not only found were to ask but did not jump with high expectations of a bonus. HGVC is a very easy timeshare system and i commend you on finding not only tug but your interest in Hilton Vacations. My advice is the same as most. Take your time you our buying property is the mindset you should have. I think of purcase price as the right to use like a seat license but do not think there is vaule in the deed. The cost of a timeshare is the year maintence fee. This s t he cost to vacation but with HGVC you use points and that makes it simple. Get as many point as you need and spend them on where you want to go.  A single guy could always stay in a stuio but. Family of 6 not a chance but only different by amount points to book. You could spend 2400 point but we just got back fom hawaii and spent 9600 points and that you can never get with such a small initial purchase. I say the 7000 point in vegas and orlando are the best bang for buck as long as you use the points but i always hate that there is never more points every year.


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## MVM

Yes, I am really glad I asked the questions in this forum. It has saved me many thousands of dollars already. 

When you said 7,000 points did you mean 7,000 biennial points? When I was looking through listings on sellmytimesharenow.com, there were both biennial points and annual points systems. 7k points per 2 years sounds reasonable to me; HGVC has a ski resort in Breckenridge and I have friends that make frequent trips up there, so I actually may need more points than the 2.4k biennial points . But 7k points per year will double the maintenance fees and restrict my cash flow quite a bit.


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## Blues

If 7000 points is more than you need, and more MF than you'd like, then take a look at a 4800 point 1BR platinum.  Those also have a very good MF/point ratio, just like the 7000 point units.  A 4800 point platinum 1BR should have exactly the same MF as the 2400 point 1BR silver that you found; but with twice the yearly (or biennial) points.

-Bob


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## MVM

Oh I think 7,000 points per 2 years would be fine, but 7,000 per year would be a bit much. I just didn't know which package jonevans referred to.


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## jonevans

*Yea yea points are points*

Only you can tell how many points you need. The best thing about Hgvc is that there is 3 major ways to spend your point
1 use this year points. ( will be down side to this if it is biannual)
2 borrow point from next year  (not sure how that would work with biannual)
3 bank points for the following year

So lets say the max point you could ever spend equals 
7000 points x 3 years equals 21000 or as i look at it the ability to book anything Hgvc would could or does have with planning on my part.
The 4800 point contract does work as it get you most of everything with planning but i dont vacations when point are cheep i vacation when kids wife and then me gets to say so most of my stays are platinum or cost the most points.
4800 x 3 years 14400 points. 

So i dont like the bi contract but it would be a start and cost should be less than a dollar a point for anything not platinum and around a dollar per point for good contracts


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## clotheshorse

MVM said:


> Wow.
> 
> Can't believe I almost paid 12k for something that costs 2k or less.
> 
> This forum is incredible.



Check out Seth Nock's website and the Marketplace with TUG.  I bought 4200 gold from Seth (EOY) for 1K.    I also found 3400 gold every year for 1K as well.   Don't buy retail, we almost made that mistake from an Elara sales pitch as well.


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## clotheshorse

MVM said:


> Oh I think 7,000 points per 2 years would be fine, but 7,000 per year would be a bit much. I just didn't know which package jonevans referred to.



Also, remember with Hilton you can borrow points for future years.  So if you purchased the 4800 EOY and wanted reserve something at required say 7K one year, you can borrow 2200 from a future year.  But keep in mind that you would only have 2600 left in that future year (but that may be okay - maybe travel less or use open season).  

All the best,


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## jestme

clotheshorse said:


> Also, remember with Hilton you can borrow points for future years.  So if you purchased the 4800 EOY and wanted reserve something at required say 7K one year, you can borrow 2200 from a future year.  But keep in mind that you would only have 2600 left in that future year (but that may be okay - maybe travel less or use open season).
> 
> All the best,



In order for that to work, you would have to rescue your 4800 EOY points from one year into the next. Then in the following year, borrow from the year after that's allotted points. 
eg. You rescue your 4800 2015 points into 2016. (there is a $ charge for that) Then in 2016, borrow 2200 from your 2017 points to get the 7000 points you need for that trip, leaving 2600 points for 2017. There is no charge for borrowing, but you can only borrow points from the following year.


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## Blues

Yeah, that's what I don't like about EOY.  The HGVC system is so very flexible, but purchasing EOY kind of kills that flexibility.

Take a 4800 point unit for example.  With 4800 every year, then I can (for example): rescue my 2014 points, and in 2015 use the 2014, 2015, and 2016 points.  I'll have 14400 points available at my fingertips.

With EOY, as jestme points out, the *only* option you have for stretching your points is in your off-year.  Say, for example, you have even years.  You can rescue your 2014 points into 2015 (for a fee), then in 2015 use those points plus borrow points from 2016.  But if, instead, you wanted extra points in 2016, you have no points in either 2015 or 2017 to rescue/borrow.  You're stuck with your basic allocation.

OTOH, if you really, really think you'll only use 2400 points per year, then it's *still* a much better idea to get a 4800 point EOY than a 2400 point every year.  But most people underestimate what they'll use when they really get into the flexibility of HGVC.  I'd say that even if you think 2400 points/year is sufficient, I'd bite the bullet and get 4800 points every year.

-Bob


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## MVM

Very good points on stretching and borrowing points. I'm sure if I end up using HGVC a lot I will find the annual points model much more useful than the EOY model. Right now, I don't have a clear vision of what exactly I will be using my HGVC points for. I don't even know how easy it is to book properties with HGVC or RCI, or how many properties are in these systems. It will probably take me years to figure these things out, and I don't feel comfortable paying hefty fees (purchase + maintenance) right up front without knowing what I'm getting into. If I find myself needing more points in the future, I can always trade my deed later.

I found a Platinum 4.8k EOY deed for around $3k, a cost and points combination that fits my budget and forseeable needs. Hopefully this deal goes through ...


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