Pre-pay 2017 UK resort maintenance fees

[ConejoRed]

I own a fixed week at HGVC Craigendarroch Lodges. I have already actually used my 2017 points allotment (will be staying at Craigendarroch Suites in August) and given the current very favorable exchange rate, I am wondering if I should attempt to pre-pay the 2017 maintenance fees if I can. Does anyone have experience in trying to pre-pay maintenance fees (would probably just pay the same amount we paid this year and then the difference when the actual fees are announced)?

I have tried sending emails to the email address given on the club website several times (hgvfiance@hilton.com) over the past year with questions regarding issues last years payment and have never once gotten a response from that email address so would not expect to get one now so thought I would ask the question here.

 

[Blues]

I'm a long time owner at Craigendarroch (probably 20 years now?). It used to be pretty easy to get hold of someone in finance by phone, back when I used to have such questions, if you didn't mind the time change. I haven't tried for quite a few years now. But in the past when I asked about pre-paying, I was told that it wasn't possible until they actually set the MF rates. That's typically around November.

 

[Talent312]

My guess would be that the Pound will be in the dumps for some time to come.
IOW, no need to rush. But certainly before Scotland secedes and adopts the Euro.

 

[rahulgopi]

hedge

if you trade forex, hedge your mf by buying some Pound and lock in the rate

Poud goes up : you make for difference in mf from profit in your forex trade
Pound goes down : you make up for loss in your forex from the lower mf payment.

Either way you lock in the current exchange rate . ofcourse the exchange fees and small amount will not make it viable but this is an option to hedge

 

[K2Quick]

if you trade forex, hedge your mf by buying some Pound and lock in the rate

Poud goes up : you make for difference in mf from profit in your forex trade
Pound goes down : you make up for loss in your forex from the lower mf payment.

Either way you lock in the current exchange rate . ofcourse the exchange fees and small amount will not make it viable but this is an option to hedge

This is a good idea. A simple hedge would be to buy the ETF FXB. You could hedge your exposure as far into the future as you want. It does come with an annual expense ration of 0.40% (or $4 per $1,000 invested).

 

[ConejoRed]

Great suggestions and I will look into some of the suggestions. My DH is from the UK and he has a GBP account over there (along with a dollar account at the same bank and he does move $$ back an forth based on what the rates do at times) and we have used that to pay the fees in the past, it was just that with the exchange rate as it is now we thought we would pay in dollars this time. As we have GBP we may just wait until they are due and then decide which is better. Thanks again!

 

[MattnTricia]

I have several Coylumbridge units and was just wondering this exact same thing.

I emailed finance to see if I could prepay.

I doubt it but a 15% savings on maintenance fees would be nice.

 

[MattnTricia]

I just got the email back - They will take your payment based on this years fees and send an adjustment next year if we wanted to pay our maintenance fees now.

I am going to jump on it.

 

[ConejoRed]

Thank you for the tip and let us know if your are successful. Also, if you could post the number you contacted to prepay that would be helpful (i.e. did you call the UK number or a local HGVC number etc.). I am going to try emailing them again now (although I have yet to get an answer when sending them one).

 

[ConejoRed]

Called this morning and prepaid our 2017 fees. As mentioned by mattnday, they charged the same amount as the 2016 fees for now and will just pay the balance when that is determined. So... right around $800 USD for a 2 bedroom (7,000) points including the 2+% credit card processing fee (which is allowed in the UK). Last year is was around $940 so a pretty decent savings by pre-paying now so anyone in the US that owns at one of the UK resorts may want to consider the option with the GBP exchange being so favorable at the moment. I used our HHonors Citi card that has no foreign exchange fees so that helped with the decision as well as there was no additional fee on the card for paying in GBP.

 

[Blues]

Hmmm, that is a pretty good savings, CanejoRed. Thanks for posting. I may go ahead and prepay now too. Or, since I'm a gambler, I may wait to see if the pound hits $1.25

 

[Xpat]

Thanks for sharing ConejoRed, I also own at Craigendarroch (lodges) and have been thinking of doing the same. $800 puts us at the same level as a 2-BR Las Vegas Blvd which is one of the lowest cost per point ownerships in the HGVC system, so I think we're doing very well

 

[ConejoRed]

Yes, it is a bit of a gamble as to whether it will go even lower by the end of the year (actually read something that predicted it may go as low as 1.15 by the end of the year...but it was from Deutsch Bank which may not the best bank to base predictions on at the moment based on a BBC article today). If it does go that much lower by the end of the year/first of next.. I may just decide to then pre-pay 2018 when the new year rolls around! I suspect with the state that their political parties are in at the moment that it may take a while for them to actually get their acts together and actually invoke Article 51 and until that actually happens, the rate will probably hover around what it is now for awhile. If and when they actually invoke Article 51, the rate will probably fall even more than it has already.

 

[Kokolea]

It might deviate from the contents of the thread ...

I own of Hawaii resorts, I was able to prepay the only part of the maintenance fee of 2017.
I paid only $2,000 of the Lagoon Tower ($1,792.26) and Waikoloa ($1,532.11) of 2016.
I called the member service, because I couldn’t prepay in the WEB site.
In the case of prepay cannot be issued a payment certificate by E-mail, so the member service issued a receipt to me.
You can prepay, at any time, any amount, many times.
It’s a good news for the International owners affected by the exchange.

 

[CoconutsAndBeaches]

Are there any additional flaws to international ownerships besides currency risk and local tax? Sorry for the slight off-topic question.

 

[Talent312]

Are there any additional flaws to international ownerships besides currency risk and local tax? Sorry for the slight off-topic question.

Well, there's the time + expense of foreign travel, if you plan to use it...
Although points are points, you might want a home-week that's a tad closer.

BTW, you can start a new thread, instead of tacking on to a old stale one.

 

[natarajanv]

Called this morning and prepaid our 2017 fees. As mentioned by mattnday, they charged the same amount as the 2016 fees for now and will just pay the balance when that is determined. So... right around $800 USD for a 2 bedroom (7,000) points including the 2+% credit card processing fee (which is allowed in the UK). Last year is was around $940 so a pretty decent savings by pre-paying now so anyone in the US that owns at one of the UK resorts may want to consider the option with the GBP exchange being so favorable at the moment. I used our HHonors Citi card that has no foreign exchange fees so that helped with the decision as well as there was no additional fee on the card for paying in GBP.

Do you still have to pay 2% service charge to pay MF here?

 

[GT75]

Do you still have to pay 2% service charge to pay MF here?

I have been told (have not experienced it yet) that US owners won't have to pay a service fee (since they will not have a UK bank) for using a CC but they will need to pay by January 1st.

 

[ConejoRed]

I did not have to pay a service charge when I paid my Craigendarroch fees a few weeks ago. I did call the finance department directly and paid them that way vs. using the payment website on the invoice as I did last year. I also used my Amex Hilton Aspire card, but do not think that was the reason. Calling in has the benefit of earning Hilton points on the charge and I also received the Resort credit as the fees were recorded as a Hotel charge.

 

[Sky313]

Has anyone had any luck with Coylumbridge units/prepay and benefit of Hilton points on Amex card? If I remember correctly, last year they charged me 3% for using an Amex credit card.

 

[ConejoRed]

I think if you call the finance department directly you will get the cedit and no fee. I think the finance department works with all the Scotland resorts as they asked me which resort I owned at. If you pay it online using the payment site on the statement, you may have the CC fee and it does not count (at least it was that way last year, similar to your situation).