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Updated 2017 Club Rules posted

alwysonvac

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  • 2017-HGV-Club-Reference.pdf
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jestme

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Thanks for the links and update. I notice that Open Season rates are up AGAIN! This time it is by $5-10 a night. Better than the $50-100 increases we have seen for the past two years, but it is still making a mockery of Open Season as a "benefit" at most resorts.
HGVC still don't understand that you cannot compare a hotel room price, which you can book a year in advance, book your entire vacation or stay one night at if you want, get maid service every day, and the general public is capable of getting that price, to a last minute 30 day before reservation, minimum two nights, (often more than that is not available), no maid service, an earlier check out, and a later check in, and that owners paid a lot of money up front to become members to get access to that "benefit".
 

dougp26364

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Thanks for the links and update. I notice that Open Season rates are up AGAIN! This time it is by $5-10 a night. Better than the $50-100 increases we have seen for the past two years, but it is still making a mockery of Open Season as a "benefit" at most resorts.
HGVC still don't understand that you cannot compare a hotel room price, which you can book a year in advance, book your entire vacation or stay one night at if you want, get maid service every day, and the general public is capable of getting that price, to a last minute 30 day before reservation, minimum two nights, (often more than that is not available), no maid service, an earlier check out, and a later check in, and that owners paid a lot of money up front to become members to get access to that "benefit".

Hopefully most owners only paid for the benefit of owning their timeshare. Anything else is subject to change at the whim of the developer. MVC owners who purchased units to exchange for Marriott Rewards Points and become "Rewards Millionaires" (Yes, that was a REAL sales presentation tactic) found out how easily that benefit could be changed and made worthless, just like HGVC owners are seeing how HGVC can manipulate all those promised benefits and make them less than the value promised.

We all but stopped attending presentations because I tend to piss off the sales staff when they venture into the area of non-guaranteed benefits. I'll start listing off all the lost or seriously degraded benefits from all the programs we've owned.......and there's a LOT of them since 1998. It makes the presentation a lot more confrontational when I challenge the salesman and I have a difficult time keeping my mouth shut (imagine that).

Now, having said that, we have actually attended a DRI and Marriott presentation in the last 5 years but, I sat on my hands most of the time. I did better and got lucky with MVC in that the sales person realized I wasn't a good prospect so she cut us free pretty quickly. The only reason we went was the cash benefits was pretty high, we were traveling with friends and it paid for a couple a really nice meals out at decent restaurants. Otherwise we wouldn't have gone.
 

Talent312

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...HGVC still don't understand that you cannot compare a hotel room price, which you can book a year in advance, book your entire vacation or stay one night...

Also, you don't have to pre-pay, and can change or cancel (depending on the rate).

In the 9 1/2 years I've owned HGVC, I've used O/S only once or twice.
If I'm paying in cash (CC), my destination is prolly not a HGVC resort.
.
 
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holdaer

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Based on the 2017 club rules and fee schedule, looks like HGVC members lost the ability to stretch points out 2 years. Save points is the only option now. 2016 club rules had fees and rules for depositing club points (not RCI deposit) one year in advance. I'm not sure how much of a loss this was since there was so much confusion about how it worked.
 

CalGalTraveler

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Well said. Plus with open season you lose the ability to earn loyalty points, get upgraded to a better suite, free breakfast and lounge access based on elite (gold or diamond) status.
 

Talent312

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Yep -- "Deposit" of next year's points is gone -- no banking of 2018 points by 12/31/17.
Comment: Ever since "saving" current-year points was allowed, it became a dinosaur.

The rule on Changeable Reservations has been re-written. It appears that the distinction between online and phone reservations is gone and both are now automatically changeable. The fee for changeable phone reservations is also gone.
Comment: They've implicitly accepted that the online booking engine has issues and many resorts are not online.

The rule for Hilton Honors Conversions has been rewritten to make it clear that the ratios for immediate use is 1:20 and for converting next-year's points is 1:25.
.
 
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holdaer

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It's shameful that HGVC didn't take this opportunity to increase the conversion rate. Most Hampton Inn and Garden Inn hotels are at least 30,000pts per night. 1:25 is a pathetic conversion rate for HGVC club points. Sales staff promoting a 401V is a joke.
 

onenotesamba

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Yeah. I once got into a "zesty" discussion with a sales guy about how he shouldn't try to sell me on being able to convert to Hhonors points as a benefit of buying, because the Hilton Hhonors program had been so devalued in recent years. He said, "No, that's not true." I had to point out that I had been a gold and diamond member of Hhonors for years, had the co-branded credit card, and had sent all of my work-related travel booked at Hilton for nearly 20 years, so I had a pretty good idea of how worthless Hhonors points were, today, compared to five years earlier.

He just said, "Oh." And then moved on to the next b.s. part of his presentation.

The things I'll do for a cheap holiday weekend in Vegas...
 

Talent312

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Yep -- "Deposit" of next year's points is gone -- no banking of 2018 points by 12/31/17. Comment: Ever since "saving" current-year points was allowed, "depositing" future-year points became a dinosaur.

A poster pointed-out elsewhere that the restriction on how "saved" points may be used is now gone
... not that using them for hotel and partner-perks is a good idea.
.
 

Jason245

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3 questions (cause I can't get it to load right now).

1. Can we still borrow for free?
2. Did they change the terms of a changeable reservation? Or can we still rebook up to the day before?
3. Any other enhancements?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

Talent312

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1. Can we still borrow for free?
2. Did they change the terms of a changeable reservation? Or can we still rebook up to the day before?
3. Any other enhancements?

1. You can still borrow for free.
2. Reservations can still be changed up to 1-day b4 if the change uses the same or more points.
....Otherwise, they are subject to the cancellation penalties.
....It seems that moving your ressie 30+ days out and then reducing/cancelling will still work.
3. Not having to pay a fee to make phone-bookings changeable is the only real enhancement.
 
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Jason245

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Based on this it looks like almost every resort has its own open season schedule.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

Tamaradarann

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Yep -- "Deposit" of next year's points is gone -- no banking of 2018 points by 12/31/17.
Comment: Ever since "saving" current-year points was allowed, it became a dinosaur.

The rule on Changeable Reservations has been re-written. It appears that the distinction between online and phone reservations is gone and both are now automatically changeable. The fee for changeable phone reservations is also gone.
Comment: They've implicitly accepted that the online booking engine has issues and many resorts are not online.

The rule for Hilton Honors Conversions has been rewritten to make it clear that the ratios for immediate use is 1:20 and for converting next-year's points is 1:25.
.

So since Deposit current year points is gone and saving is the only option for using 2018 points for HGVC Reservations in 2019, we have until December 31, 2018 to do that?
 

Talent312

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So since Deposit current year points is gone and saving is the only option for using 2018 points for HGVC Reservations in 2019, we have until December 31, 2018 to do that?

In HGVC-speak, "deposit" referred to banking next-year points, not current-year points.
Banking current-year points is called a "save" (f/k/a "rescue").
To "save" 2018 points, it appears that you'd need to do so sometime in 2018, b4 12/31.
 

Tamaradarann

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In HGVC-speak, "deposit" referred to banking next-year points, not current-year points.
Banking current-year points is called a "save" (f/k/a "rescue").
To "save" 2018 points, it appears that you'd need to do so sometime in 2018, b4 12/31.
Yes, you said it more precisely than I did. I have always worked a year ahead with HGVC points. My left over 2017 points were deposited last year, using the now "old" deposit system, into 2018 points. Therefore, I look at 2018 points as current year since I am now focused on planning my 2018 vacations using those points. I am currently on my major 2017 vacation which I planned months ago so I look at that as last years points and vacation planning initiative. My point, which you concurred with, is that we have until the end of 2018 to decide on what we want to do with any left over 2018 points. I intend on "saving" those points to use for 2019 HGVC vacations which is now our only option if that is what I want to do.
 

Nomad420

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Converting to HH points even at 50 to 1 is joke. I agree with the above comments about the devalued Hilton Honor system, it is totally a joke. Having said that I did just convert this years over HH points at 50/1. No real other option.
 

Talent312

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Converting to HH points even at 50 to 1 is joke. I agree with the above comments about the devalued Hilton Honor system, it is totally a joke....

Perhaps we should refer to HH points as HH pesos -- like they call Delta FF points.
 

1Kflyerguy

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It's shameful that HGVC didn't take this opportunity to increase the conversion rate. Most Hampton Inn and Garden Inn hotels are at least 30,000pts per night. 1:25 is a pathetic conversion rate for HGVC club points. Sales staff promoting a 401V is a joke.

I completly agree.. They were really pushing this option at last few updates i did. In New York, the first words out of my mouth in meeting were that I thought the HH conversion was a joke, and i didn't want to hear about that during presentation... Of course what did he spend most of the meeting taking about? How great the conversion was for the NY properties...
 

Nomad420

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I completly agree.. They were really pushing this option at last few updates i did. In New York, the first words out of my mouth in meeting were that I thought the HH conversion was a joke, and i didn't want to hear about that during presentation... Of course what did he spend most of the meeting taking about? How great the conversion was for the NY properties...

It is 50/1 out of NYC properties but even that I am quickly finding out that doesn't even cover MF costs. If you really work it you might break even.
 

CalGalTraveler

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Funny how the developer plays around with the math. Even at 50:1 you could buy the HH points outright on the street during periodic discounts (.005) for less than the cost of tying up the capital and paying MF.

What the developers are forgetting is that a timeshare is a vacation discount program. Pay money now to lock in a lower priced vacation in the future. When that program eliminates the discount and increases the maintenance fees to a point where it is more cost effective to rent, then the value is eliminated.

My approach to future developer presentations is to make then prove to me that there is significant savings over renting that compensates for the risk of tying up my capital and encumbering me to pay annual maintenance fees. They won't be able to prove it unless they skew the math.
 
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