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HGVC 201 for new resale owner

Tamaradarann

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
3,368
Reaction score
1,297
Points
548
Location
Honolulu, HI
Resorts Owned
HGVC South Beach, HGVC Las Vegas, HGVC Las Vegas on the Strip, HGVC Sea World, Misner Place
Hello All,

Thanks so much for all the information you share here on HGVC. Based on a lot of reading here and help from @GT75, I puchased a 7k points platinum week at Craigendarroch Lodges. It was about $6300 all-in with legal, club, activation and current year MF. The MF is ~$800. I'm very happy.

I plan on booking following locations in next few years:
  • Lagoon Tower Oahu
  • Sunrise Park City
  • Marbrisa
  • Carlsbad Seapointe
  • King's Land
  • Vilamoura Portugal
  • Tuscany Italy
Most of these locations were not available for bookings for rest of 2019, so I redeemed my points this year for my sister's family to go to Craigendarroch in October during the English school holiday break. I was surprised that a school holiday week was available. So Scotland will always be a backup option for us as it is driving distance for my sister's family.


I have read the HGVC TUG article a few times now. So I do have a grasp of the basics. I have read about a few tips like:
  • moving a reservation 30 days out and then cancelling so no need to pay points protection unless the reservation is in December.
  • try to use points from next year this year so you have low risk of points expiring and avoid fees to save points
  • make club bookings at 9 months 9 PM PDT for high demand locations
  • use reservation walking to secure reservations for high demand locations
I see that HGVC uses a unbundled pricing approach and there are fees for most things. Any tips to avoid those fees would be really helpful. I don't know what I don't know so if you can point me to particular tricks, I'll read about it and try it out.

A couple of other questions:
  • Is HGVC a good option for Mexico bookings?
  • The Japanese options seem to be very high cost in points. I assume they are just for sales & marketing purposes.
  • Can I still do the 5 night package timeshare presentations? They pitch me those every time I make a booking with Hilton. My wife is not listed as an owner.
  • Are there any old and tired properties that should be avoided? We don't plan on visiting the east coast properties except for an occasional Orlando trip.
 

Tamaradarann

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
3,368
Reaction score
1,297
Points
548
Location
Honolulu, HI
Resorts Owned
HGVC South Beach, HGVC Las Vegas, HGVC Las Vegas on the Strip, HGVC Sea World, Misner Place
A few thoughts on your plans for the next few years. You have 7000 points which is very modest amount with plans to book 7 resorts in the next few years and as you mentioned 2019 is already out as far as accomplishing any of your planned trips. I don't know how you travel but when we travel a considerable distance by plane, which usually costs a considerable of money, we don't like a short stay. We usually try to go for more than a week. Therefore, you may want to purchase another resale contract to have more points. We have 34,600 HGVC points and in addition another RCI timeshare which enables us to vacation about 140 days a year. However, we do stretch our points by staying in studios when possible if it is just the 2 of us traveling; we have gotten 2 and 3 BR units when we have family or friends traveling with us.

Another point stretching practice that I think would work for you particularly well in your San Diego area trips is the Open Season benefit. Within 30 days of the start of a trip you can book HGVC resorts, if they are available, without using points. You pay cash based on the size of the unit, season, and location. Since you can actually drive to San Diego that may be possible or if you fly it is a short relatively inexpensive flight.

Finally, your comment about old and tired resorts was interesting. HGVC keeps their resorts in excellent shape even if they are old. The Lagoon Tower which is on your list is a 50 year old apartment building that was purchased and converted to a timeshare by HGVC. There are 4 other HGVC timeshares in Honolulu, however, many people feel that it is the best of the lot with some of the lowest points required per night and the closest to the Ocean. However, while HGVC keeps the Lagoon Tower in excellent shape you should know that there is a major problem with the speed of the elevator service. Since this was originally an apartment building it wasn't built with a service elevator for the maintenance, housekeeping, and bell service staff. Therefore, at certain times like check in and check out times the elevators are really really slow. Furthermore, while we have stayed in the studios to save points, the studio is really really really small with no Lanai. It is smaller than a regular size studio.
 

tompalm

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
2,073
Reaction score
347
Points
293
Location
Honolulu, Hawaii
Don’t give up on a resort because it is full. I have often booked a room at 4-8 weeks prior to check in date. Lots of people book nine months out and cancel prior to the 30 day window. Airline booking is easy during off season and sometimes cheaper if the flight is not filling up.
 

ski_sierra

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2019
Messages
517
Reaction score
327
Points
173
Location
SF Bay Area
Resorts Owned
Too many
A few thoughts on your plans for the next few years. You have 7000 points which is very modest amount with plans to book 7 resorts in the next few years and as you mentioned 2019 is already out as far as accomplishing any of your planned trips. I don't know how you travel but when we travel a considerable distance by plane, which usually costs a considerable of money, we don't like a short stay.
We don't get a lot of vacation so we do long weekend trips to San Diego and Park City. My sister is in England so it's easy for her to fly to Italy & Portugal.

Hawaii is also pretty convenient. About 5-6 hours on a direct flight from an airport 6 miles from home.

I think we will add another 7k points week when a good deal shows up. Right now, I was able to get some exchanges using my Marriott week for 2020, so we are looking at reservations from Thanksgiving 2020 onwards.

We usually try to go for more than a week. Therefore, you may want to purchase another resale contract to have more points. We have 34,600 HGVC points and in addition another RCI timeshare which enables us to vacation about 140 days a year. However, we do stretch our points by staying in studios when possible if it is just the 2 of us traveling; we have gotten 2 and 3 BR units when we have family or friends traveling with us.
I envy your lifestyle! We are decades away from that.

Another point stretching practice that I think would work for you particularly well in your San Diego area trips is the Open Season benefit. Within 30 days of the start of a trip you can book HGVC resorts, if they are available, without using points. You pay cash based on the size of the unit, season, and location. Since you can actually drive to San Diego that may be possible or if you fly it is a short relatively inexpensive flight.
I will try this for my planned trip to Seapointe for President's day weekend next year. I don't think that's high season so I'll book open season and move the points reservation 30 days out.


Finally, your comment about old and tired resorts was interesting. HGVC keeps their resorts in excellent shape even if they are old. The Lagoon Tower which is on your list is a 50 year old apartment building that was purchased and converted to a timeshare by HGVC. There are 4 other HGVC timeshares in Honolulu, however, many people feel that it is the best of the lot with some of the lowest points required per night and the closest to the Ocean. However, while HGVC keeps the Lagoon Tower in excellent shape you should know that there is a major problem with the speed of the elevator service. Since this was originally an apartment building it wasn't built with a service elevator for the maintenance, housekeeping, and bell service staff. Therefore, at certain times like check in and check out times the elevators are really really slow. Furthermore, while we have stayed in the studios to save points, the studio is really really really small with no Lanai. It is smaller than a regular size studio.

It's good to read that HGVC keeps the properties in good condition. Many Hilton brand hotels are in poor condition.

Don’t give up on a resort because it is full. I have often booked a room at 4-8 weeks prior to check in date. Lots of people book nine months out and cancel prior to the 30 day window. Airline booking is easy during off season and sometimes cheaper if the flight is not filling up.

good tip. I do wish HGVC had a waitlist feature like Worldmark but this will have to do for now.
 
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