Thoughts on this offer

[GrampaTim]

I own 2 units, fixed week 32, annual, deeded at Carlsbad Seapointe CA. We have no current trading affiliation and use them every year. The one bedroom may not be needed in some coming years.

Hilton is offering to link one into the MAX system with extra benefits but both would be “hiltonized” in their system although we would retain the deeded, fixed weeks.

This would all occur if we purchased 5500 points EOY at $2.35 / point. We would pay cash, and annual fee is not an issue.

We didnt put these in the Hilton system previously but this sounds like perhaps an ok move but wanted to get input here.

We have owned our units for 30 years Thanks for your thoughts

 

[jp10558]

As far as I know, there's no points to purchase if they're talking about HGVC, maybe they mean HVC? You purchase deeds and those deeds get points.

 

[GrampaTim]

They refered to HVC. ( the trust ). They are trying to move away from deeded weeks.

 

[HuskerATL]

They aren't trying to move away from deeds. They have a ton of unsold inventory in Diamond Resorts/HVC (trust points) that they are trying to sell. They are way over priced and very hard to offload.

I would not buy them.

Doesn't Seapoint have the option to enroll in HGVC? You should be able to call HGVC, pay to activate your points, and then you have access to all of HGVC and Hilton club

I think they are trying to trick you with the "Hiltonize" language and really trying to sell you Max.

What do you want access to?

 

[jp10558]

They refered to HVC. ( the trust ). They are trying to move away from deeded weeks.

HVC is on my do not buy list - very expensive for what you get. Hard to resell because of restrictions.

 

[GT75]

HGV is just trying to sell you something/anything. I agree with @jp10558, except that I would run away from that deal.

 

[GrampaTim]

We just met with them this morning, and no, we have made NO commitments. ( We’ve been TUG’ers a long time ).

Because of our age, and family timelines, we are considering options that might, in the future, allow us to use what we own to travel more places. The way the deeds are setup, there is no cooperation simply enrolling in HGVC. We’ve looked at this twice before.

They are essentially offering MAX and DEX plus some other strategy that supposedly allows us access to 4,800 properties. I’ve been texting the manager with specific questions and getting only partial answers. However, they do see us using a great deal of care in considering this whole proposal ( that they paid us to listen to ). Our level would be Preferred +

I asked because we haven’t followed Hilton closely ( we are still a Grand Pacific resort ), and our two units do have resale value. We bought them so long ago ( 30 years ) and the cost was so low that we have more than attained the value of our investment. Properties here do sell fairly quickly and we have two prime weeks.

Hilton has all these programs now, so I appreciate ALL input anyone can provide here. It will help me understand the options ( which is good even if we pass on their offer ).

Tim

 

[GT75]

If you want access to more places, then I would suggest that you purchase resale at Scotland, Craig Lodge and enroll the unit into DEX. This will give you both access to HGVC and DEX for a lot less than parting with $12K. It will be much better access, also with enough points.

 

[GrampaTim]

My wife would love the idea of Scotland.

Would someone be able to explain DEX and let me know if it’s actually worth it ? In fact, is HGVC proving to be a positive experience for people ? We were very successful with RCI until properties started doing their rental programs. Then we found more owners electing to put them in the rental programs rather than deposit their weeks into RCI, and selections really fell off. So we are now completely out of a trading program.

Again, I really appreciate the input.

 

[HuskerATL]

Destination Xchange (DEX) is the exchange system in Diamond and Embarc so it opens the door to use the Diamond/HVC/Embarc/partner properties. Not sure what they mean by 4,800 more properties but if you are in HGVC, then you already have access to those properties plus RCI. Also, if you are in GPP, then don't you have access to GPX? If you do what GT75 suggested and bought a Craig Lodges week (ask a lot of questions about this before you do...many of us own there), then you have the option to use that property, cancel the fixed week reservation to use the points in HGVC, or use the week in DEX EU (there is 4 versions of DEX but the inventory is the same). DEX would give you a much longer booking window than Max (which is 7 months). In DEX, you have almost a 2 year booking window for Diamond/HVC/partner properties and a 11 month window for Embarc.

You can pick up a Craig week for a few thousand dollars, https://www.craigendarroch.com/sales/ , but, again, if you decide to go this route, reach out to us first. You want a platinum season that is the a Peak season week in the DEX EU guide for Craig Lodges.

 

[GrampaTim]

That is interesting. I looked at them and for 11,000 points ( club ) Platinum, the price would be about $6,000+ and the MF is looking at $1200 according to the website. There are less expensive units with lesser points but it would appear I would need more if we wanted a 2 bdr.

If I purchased there, that gives me DEX and HGTV. However, can I then put my two fixed week GP units into Hilton with that transaction ?

I did get some clarification from Hilton. My two units are not put into the trust … they remain ours, but we get the right to deposit one or both into DEX if we wish to use the points to travel elsewhere.

 

[HuskerATL]

Don't talk to the sales people. Call corporate or the HOA at Seapointe. Sales people want to sell.

I don't know the specifics of Seapointe but you should be able to call HGVC, pay the one time points activation fee, and then you weeks are in HGVC.

For Craig, what you buy is based on what you either need for points or what you want to exchange for in DEX. Look at the DEX EU guide to see the tiers. They range from 1 to 6. A platinum season 2 bed is a tier 6. A plat 1 bed is a tier 4. Based on what you need, dictate what you need since DEX EU is a week for a week. Look in the DEX EU guide and at the properties to get an idea of what you would need and where.

 

[GrampaTim]

Seapointe is not a Hilton property or affiliate. We have worked with staff who we trust and it is not possible to just register and pay. We investigated this multiple times.

What we dont know is if we even want an exchange option. I suppose what I really want to know is how well DEX works out for decent properties in the PNW and Canada. Is there usually inventory?

 

[HuskerATL]

I see. It is an external exchange but I can book stays directly in HGVC.

It is in DEX EU also. I see 19 weeks currently available between now and Feb 2027. Since it is in DEX EU, can you enroll in DEX and deposit your current weeks? Your HOA should know the answer to that. Last year, the HOA at Craig Lodges worked with DEX EU to allow the owners to enroll. Prior to that we couldn't but now we can and just deposit our weeks into DEX EU to do a weekly exchange.

BTW, the number in the column next to the "Book It" is the Tier number. Looks like the weeks at Seapointe range from Tier 3 to Tier 5.

 

[escanoe]

I would not buy them.

I wouldn’t want them if they paid me $1,000 to take them.

 

[GrampaTim]

Those are winter months. It is a beach property so summer would likely be higher.

If you do a deal with Hilton then you become part of DEX and HGVC. I’ve talked to other owners and resort management and so far that is the only way to use our weeks in those systems. Many people have done those transactions which is why you see them listed. Those same people deposited the weeks.

 

[GrampaTim]

It was mentioned that these points are hard to dispose of if we dont want them. So if I purchased a Craigs Lodge property, got the HGVC and DEX, and in 5 years I decided I didnt want it, would it be hard to dispose of?

 

[HuskerATL]

It was mentioned that these points are hard to dispose of if we dont want them. So if I purchased a Craigs Lodge property, got the HGVC and DEX, and in 5 years I decided I didnt want it, would it be hard to dispose of?

The same resale office can sell it for you just like they are doing with the current weeks for other owners.

The other nice thing about Craig is that they also have a rental office that can rent out your week. They take a cut but it would help cover MFs

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Another possibility is to join one of the exchanges like II or RCI depending on what Grand Pacific trades with. That way you don't need to buy anything. Simply trade what you've got week for week.

If you can trade into II you can get Marriotts, Westins, Hyatts (sparingly) and Disney. Also Third Key but I do not know how that works.

 

[GrampaTim]

We had RCI with our 3rd unit. It was fine until rentals started and inventory dropped. We gave the deed and RCI to our son. We can go RCI but not II.

The one positive is there was no pressure from the sales people. We are here all week and they never pushed the idea that this was an urgent offer. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a better offer especially since they are not getting a positivevresponse but they are paying everyone $250 for 90 minutes or less. In fact, they got behind yesterday and had two people they couldnt get to in time and apologized and handed them the money and no sales pitch

The industry has a lot of things to work out.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

If you buy Craig you can sign up for II, however IMHO you would get stronger trading power picking up a free (or near free) Sheraton Desert Oasis (SDO) 1 or 2 bdrm lockoff or a Marriott Grand Chateau Vegas and trading that in II. If you buy a 2 bdrm lockoff that gets you 2 weeks free and II offers frequent free upgrade promos so you can trade a studio or 1 bdrm for a 2 bdrm. You will get Vistana (Westin/Sheraton) and Marriott preference. AFAIK Craigs do not lockoff. DEX is best for former Diamond Properties. It has great availability and some fantastic resorts e.g. Cabo Azul, KBC but a lot of 3 star. II will be more consistent than DEX or RCI in quality.

The exchanges will have exchange and resort fees but it would take a lot of exchanges to get to the $12k they were selling you.

What locations do you wish to visit? Perhaps answering the new timeshare questionnaire in the buying forum and posting here will help us to help you.

 

[GrampaTim]

We hadn’t focused on exchanging again until the meeting today. We are heading into our 80s so we dont even know that we would use it for long which is why I asked how easy it is to dispose of in the future years.

We are contemplating road trips in the pacific northwest and western Canada. We also might just rent places along the way.

The other issue I faced is we want pet friendly locations. Our home resort forbids pets.

What I really need to do is find a catalog of resorts to see if there are places we would like to enjoy.

 

[SmithOp]

Tim, I am here this week also.

You already have nice trade options with what you own, no need to buy more!

You have GPX and every year when you pay fees you can add RCI for $79. GPX has lots of nice places to visit.

MAX is limited to 6 months trade window, so you won't find much there.

Leverage what you own!

 

[RX8]

Doesn't Seapoint have the option to enroll in HGVC? You should be able to call HGVC, pay to activate your points, and then you have access to all of HGVC and Hilton.

At one time, a resale Grand Pacific Seapointe and Grand Pacific Palisades could be enrolled into HGVC but that has been stopped. I purchased a resale deed many years ago from the Palisades resale department and they included the HGVC enrollment at no cost. A number of years ago, HGV took over sales from Seapointe and Palisades (foreclosures and deedbacks). HGV uses those as a slightly cheaper option into HGV/Max. However, if someone purchases a Seapointe or Palisades direct to get into HGV/Max, and they decide to sell at some point, both the HGV point allotment and Max will disappear on the resale leaving just the underlying deed. This makes it a poor choice, IMHO (not saying that there are other direct purchases that are a good choice).

Those resale Seapointe and Palisades deeds out there now were grandfathered in but when they sell, HGV enrollment will go away.

At a sales update, I was recently offered a Seapointe, 9280 point deed for $35,000. I purchased three*



*not true. You could buy the same resale Seapointe underlying deed for a $1

 

[GrampaTim]

Tim, I am here this week also.

You already have nice trade options with what you own, no need to buy more!

You have GPX and every year when you pay fees you can add RCI for $79. GPX has lots of nice places to visit.

MAX is limited to 6 months trade window, so you won't find much there.

Leverage what you own!

Actually we use our time here every year … 29 in a row and have no interest in changing that. The meeting yesterday raised questions, so I did research here, and elsewhere.

In the past we used RCI quite successfully but we dropped it when inventory became limited. We had a 3rd unit on points but gave that to our son with the RCI membership.

One huge deterrent right now is that most timeshares are not pet friendly, and we have a new rescue that likes to travel. Overall it is far cheaper for us to just get rooms that allow pets and not invest further in timeshares …