# Thinking of purchasing Key West Hyatt TS



## Trudyt623 (Sep 24, 2012)

Hello.  I am looking to purchase Hyatt TS in Key West but I am Confused about the season to purchase.  I understand that higher points are preferred (but may not be affordable).  Can someone explain how the seasons are traded? 

We will need a 2 br and will travel when kids are on break from school.  Most often we will travel in July.  

Thanks,

Trudy


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## bogey21 (Sep 24, 2012)

I think there are more than one Hyatt in Key West.  If so, make sure you know which one you are buying.

George


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## winnipiseogee (Sep 24, 2012)

Follow this link for a breakdown of the Keywest seasons and points for each of the various Hyatt resorts.  It takes a few minutes to understand but it lists everything you could want to tknow.

http://keywestfltimeshare.com/vacationpointchart.htm

I have no affiliation with the owner of the website nor do I suggest using them. I've just used their website for research when evaluating Key West timeshares on ebay.

As a side note have you tried renting at the various Hyatt properties down there?  Early on in our timesharing experience I thought about buying into the KeyWest area.  The only issue I had was that we were often able to rent the weeks (via ebay or the bbs here) for much cheaper than the MF).  Of course this was a few years ago when the recession was at its worst so it might have been an anomaly.


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## IslandTime (Sep 24, 2012)

There are three Hyatt timeshare resorts in Key West; we own a July week at Hyatt Sunset Harbor, which in my opinion is the best one as far as location goes.  As you will see on the chart, July weeks are worth 1400 points.  Many people will tell you to buy a week that's worth more points (I think I've seen 1800 and up recommended most frequently) because it will give you greater flexibility.  I agree with that, but in our case, it was more important for us to own a week we knew we could use.  My husband and I typically vacation in Key West three times a year, most often in the summer and fall.  Our sons work for a business that closes for a week every July, so the week we bought works perfectly for us.  

Have you visited Key West in July before?  People will tell you it's brutally hot there in the summer, so just something else to consider.  We have no problems with the heat or humidity in Key West, so it was a non-issue for us.  We just bought our timeshare last year and used it for the first time this past July after being frequent visitors to Key West for several years.  We LOVED our stay at Sunset Harbor and wish we'd bought there years ago!


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## suzannesimon (Sep 24, 2012)

I bought at Sunset Harbor, week 13, last year and used it for the first time in April.  It's gold, 1880 points.  It came with some extra banked points so we stayed at Windward Point Labor Day 2011.  Windward is newer and peaceful as long as you ignore the planes taking off and landing.  You are literally  walking distance from the airport.  Sunset is older but I think the best location if you want to be walking distance to everything. We didn't rent a car and only needed a cab to go grocery shopping.  Also, you get a lot for your trades in Interval with a Hyatt.  You should be able to trade for 2 to 4 weeks depending on size and season.  I deposited my points for 2013 and I don't think I'll ever be able to use them all and stay employed.


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## Trudyt623 (Sep 25, 2012)

If I purchase a summer week, as this does work best for us now, It will be a silver week worth 1400 points.  But what if I want to use a week during the winter one year, will I need to trade two of my summer weeks to get one winter week?


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## Trudyt623 (Sep 25, 2012)

*July heat.*



IslandTime said:


> There are three Hyatt timeshare resorts in Key West; we own a July week at Hyatt Sunset Harbor, which in my opinion is the best one as far as location goes.  As you will see on the chart, July weeks are worth 1400 points.  Many people will tell you to buy a week that's worth more points (I think I've seen 1800 and up recommended most frequently) because it will give you greater flexibility.  I agree with that, but in our case, it was more important for us to own a week we knew we could use.  My husband and I typically vacation in Key West three times a year, most often in the summer and fall.  Our sons work for a business that closes for a week every July, so the week we bought works perfectly for us.
> 
> Have you visited Key West in July before?  People will tell you it's brutally hot there in the summer, so just something else to consider.  We have no problems with the heat or humidity in Key West, so it was a non-issue for us.  We just bought our timeshare last year and used it for the first time this past July after being frequent visitors to Key West for several years.  We LOVED our stay at Sunset Harbor and wish we'd bought there years ago!



How does the heat in Key West differ from the Heat in Orlando?

I enjoyed Orlando in August as long as we took air conditioning breaks at the park or stayed in the water.


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## Trudyt623 (Sep 25, 2012)

*Extra weeks?*



suzannesimon said:


> I bought at Sunset Harbor, week 13, last year and used it for the first time in April.  It's gold, 1880 points.  It came with some extra banked points so we stayed at Windward Point Labor Day 2011.  Windward is newer and peaceful as long as you ignore the planes taking off and landing.  You are literally  walking distance from the airport.  Sunset is older but I think the best location if you want to be walking distance to everything. We didn't rent a car and only needed a cab to go grocery shopping.  Also, you get a lot for your trades in Interval with a Hyatt.  You should be able to trade for 2 to 4 weeks depending on size and season.  I deposited my points for 2013 and I don't think I'll ever be able to use them all and stay employed.



Please explain how you get extra weeks?


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## suzannesimon (Sep 25, 2012)

When you don't use your home resort week , convert to points, and deposit in Interval, you give up your right to exchange into another  Hyatt, but you exchange for other timeshares.  In high season, it will only cost you 430 points for a studio, 870 for a 1 bedroom , 1300 for  a 2 bedroom, 1730 for a 3 bedroom. For a mid-season, it is 360, 740, 1100, and 1460 and for low season it is 260, 540, 800, and 1060.  So for 1400 points, you can get a 1 bedroom in high season plus 2 studios in low season, or 3 bedroom and a studio in low season.  The ongoing expense is maintenance fees so for the best bang for your book, get the most points you can afford because there is no difference between a high season or a low season maintenance fees (I don't believe).

You can also convert to points and keep them in the Hyatt system and do the same type of trades for multiple weeks.


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## Trudyt623 (Sep 26, 2012)

suzannesimon said:


> When you don't use your home resort week , convert to points, and deposit in Interval, you give up your right to exchange into another  Hyatt, but you exchange for other timeshares.  In high season, it will only cost you 430 points for a studio, 870 for a 1 bedroom , 1300 for  a 2 bedroom, 1730 for a 3 bedroom. For a mid-season, it is 360, 740, 1100, and 1460 and for low season it is 260, 540, 800, and 1060.  So for 1400 points, you can get a 1 bedroom in high season plus 2 studios in low season, or 3 bedroom and a studio in low season.  The ongoing expense is maintenance fees so for the best bang for your book, get the most points you can afford because there is no difference between a high season or a low season maintenance fees (I don't believe).
> 
> You can also convert to points and keep them in the Hyatt system and do the same type of trades for multiple weeks.


ARe the points you quoted for Hyatt properties or other properties within the II system?

Also, is it easy to trade Hyatt to Hyatt within II?


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## suzannesimon (Sep 26, 2012)

Trudyt623 said:


> ARe the points you quoted for Hyatt properties or other properties within the II system?
> 
> Also, is it easy to trade Hyatt to Hyatt within II?



You can't trade Hyatt to Hyatt at all after you deposit the points into Interval - a mistake I have made, so don't deposit any more points in Interval than you think you will want for other resorts.  You must trade to other Hyatts on the Hyatt website.  Once you send your points to Interval, you can't trade for other Hyatts with those points.  The points I quoted were for trading for other timeshares in Interval.


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## Trudyt623 (Sep 26, 2012)

So within Hyatt wold I ever be able to trade to up to a higher week?


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## suzannesimon (Sep 26, 2012)

Hyatt to Hyatt:  You would probably have to go down in size to get a higher week.


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## Kal (Sep 26, 2012)

You actually can "trade up" to a higher week however with a Platinum 2 BR unit you can only stay 2, 3 or 4 nights.  1400 points won't get you much except low off-season week stays.


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## MaryH (Sep 27, 2012)

You should think about which of the 3 resorts.  Windward point is a RTU/Lease and Beach House and Sunset Harbour are deeded.

If you want sunset Harbour, best to buy what you want since it is harder to trade into it. For the other 2 resorts, buy the highest season / contract of a week you might want to stay.  It is hard to use 2 years of points together since the first year would be in LCUP and within 60 day booking.  So you want to enough points to book any season you might want to stay at.  

Summer is very hot as others have said so keep that in mind.  Do you always want to go to KW or other Hyatt as well?  That might impact things.  Carmel Highlands Inn is higher points where 1880 point gold contract would only get you a 1bdrm.


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## dbmarch (Sep 28, 2012)

I recommend you get down to KW and visit them.     I just bought at Windward Pointe as it was easy to get in there for a low cost which we will use next year.  In the future, I plan on reserving mostly Hyatt Sunset Harbor assuming I can get a reservation.    I bought KW as we plan on  going there.    My longer term plan is to obtain a  a gold or platinum Sunset Harbor week and then let go of the WP week.   

The nice thing about sunset harbor is if you cant use it, you can easily rent it.   You can split up your week and rent those parts of the week.  I see people get equivalent of 2x MF for their rental.  Less so in the other locations.  

As for reserving with hyatt points, you can generally see WP and BH units available.  You will have to request  ahead for Sunset harbor weeks as these units get scarfed up by folks who rent them on ebay (even though they aren't supposed to do that!).


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## MaryH (Sep 28, 2012)

Sunset harbour MF is highest I think around 1300$ and Beach House is the lowest around $950.  Sunset habour has the advantage that you have 6 months to confirm your week during HRPP.  Otherwise it maybe bookable but it means staying up till 1am or 2am EST the night after the week goes from HRPP to CUP.  I was able to book Sunset Harbour and Siesta Key with that..


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## Kal (Sep 29, 2012)

Proposed 2013 MF & taxes for the Beach House is $1170 while Sunset Harbor is $1330


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## MaryH (Oct 1, 2012)

But BH is asking owners to vote on the waiver to keep MF around $100+ or thereabouts rather than 300+..  If passed should be less than $1000.


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