Getting into non-home resorts at the 9 month mark

[letsgobobby]

How difficult is it?

I plan to buy 7000+ in platinum season at HHV because that is where we will go most years. However, once in a while we might want to go somewhere else. Probably most likely locations would be Waikoloa, NYC, Vegas, or Park City.

Thank you

 

[GT75]

I would think you should be able to find availability for Big Island and Vegas during club season at 9-month mark. (I assume that we aren't talking special weeks and you can be flexible with your dates). Park City, if we are talking ski season then you will need to book exactly when 9-month window opens and may not get desired dates or have very limited availability. Other times for Park City have good availability. I don't obverse NYC. Of course, the best thing to do is book the reservation when it becomes available. If you wait, then you might not be able to get it later.

 

[fillde]

Bobby I mentioned on previous thread I just returned from a July stay at the Lagoon tower. I had no problem making the reservation for a 2 bedroom Premier and Plus unit at the 9 month window and walking it out. Walking it out means you start at 3 days then add a day at midnight until you have the desired number of days for your stay.

So if you desire lower initial costs and and lower maintenance fees look you could purchase Las Vegas. Just a thought.

 

[letsgobobby]

Thank you both, I do plan to purchase HHV Lagoon because we go there almost every year and don't want to have to play games with getting in. That said, there will be times we want to go elsewhere and would just like to know how usable those points will be. If the points are very flexible I may even look for a separate property, ie in Vegas, to get a second week at HHV or one of the other mentioend resorts during club season.

 

[GT75]

I think that you are taking the proper approach (i.e. Start with home resort which you plan to use often, asking questions, thinking ahead to possiblities and then learning the system). You will soon be able to see for yourself once you get your login id.

It is easier to add points later once you learn more from experience than to try to get rid to too many points.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

I have had good luck getting into various HGVC resorts. So are we own at Kings Land, but have yet to stay in the unit type we own. For club reservations we have done Vegas, Orlando, HHV, Kohala Suites, Marbrisa and W57 in New York.

New York is a bit challenging as the booking window is much shorter, but its doable.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Not only is New York a bit more challenging due to the shorter booking window, the prices and maintenance in NYC make owning there very expensive, and worth spending only if you are going to mostly use the privilege of reserving and going there.

 

[brp]

Not only is New York a bit more challenging due to the shorter booking window, the prices and maintenance in NYC make owning there very expensive, and worth spending only if you are going to mostly use the privilege of reserving and going there.

Yup. The window is 45 days, I believe, not 9 months. We own in New York (W. 57th) because do stay there. But it would be crazy to own in New York and use the points anywhere else. It is an expensive buy in but, from what I've seen so far, we should be able to get back at least what we paid, if not more, when we eventually do sell this some years down the road. Worth it to us in the interim.

As to other locations - we own points in Vegas to use elsewhere. We go to Waikoloa a fair bit (much prefer the Big Island to Oahu) and have never had a problem, including Thanksgiving. Also stayed in Elara and Flamingo with no issues. We own at Flamingo but, since we don't stay for a week, we do Cliub reservations, so are still limited by the 9 month window there.

Cheers.

 

[Nomad420]

Yup. The window is 45 days, I believe, not 9 months. We own in New York (W. 57th) because do stay there. But it would be crazy to own in New York and use the points anywhere else. It is an expensive buy in but, from what I've seen so far, we should be able to get back at least what we paid, if not more, when we eventually do sell this some years down the road. Worth it to us in the interim.

As to other locations - we own points in Vegas to use elsewhere. We go to Waikoloa a fair bit (much prefer the Big Island to Oahu) and have never had a problem, including Thanksgiving. Also stayed in Elara and Flamingo with no issues. We own at Flamingo but, since we don't stay for a week, we do Cliub reservations, so are still limited by the 9 month window there.

Cheers.

I own at HCNY and would agree that I would only buy there if you plan to stay and use your points ONLY there. Apart from using bonus points elsewhere I don't plan on ever using my HCNY points anywhere but HCNY and will probably purchase cheap points elsewhere down the road for use in NYC. I believe even for me to book at 57th St. it is a 45 day window but I haven't checked in awhile.
As an aside, I just went by the HGVC properties at Waikoloa at they look very nice (one in particular was really nice!). Didn't stop in but seem very nice from the road.

 

[brp]

I own at HCNY and would agree that I would only buy there if you plan to stay and use your points ONLY there. Apart from using bonus points elsewhere I don't plan on ever using my HCNY points anywhere but HCNY and will probably purchase cheap points elsewhere down the road for use in NYC. I believe even for me to book at 57th St. it is a 45 day window but I haven't checked in awhile.

I believe so, and I believe that I can't book at HCNY at all, even with W. 57th points. Used to own at HCNY (before renovations) and switched to W. 57th, so I'm OK with that

As an aside, I just went by the HGVC properties at Waikoloa at they look very nice (one in particular was really nice!). Didn't stop in but seem very nice from the road.

We very much like Bay Club and Kohala. We use the cheap Vegas points for that

Cheers.