7/2022 Owner's Update -- The best explanation I have received on the Diamond Resorts acquisition and how it applies to HGVC members

[TJALB]

RDW95. We also attended the owners update and we are previous DRI owners. We upgraded at $8.00 per point in order to get into the HGV-Max program. Sales person was not at all pushy and even told us we didn’t have to buy anything if we wanted to use our DRI as we always have. But, since the point amount is temporarily discounted we decided to go ahead and upgrade into HGV-Max. We purchased our DRI here at the TUG resale market so, we didn’t have a bunch of money into the TS anyway. Also, we received all the same info that you stated above. Sounds like maybe they were possibly being honest this time. This is the first pleasant experience we have experienced at an “owners update” meeting. Thank you for the detailed accounting of your meeting. Much appreciated!

 

[pedro47]

RDW95. We also attended the owners update and we are previous DRI owners. We upgraded at $8.00 per point in order to get into the HGV-Max program. Sales person was not at all pushy and even told us we didn’t have to buy anything if we wanted to use our DRI as we always have. But, since the point amount is temporarily discounted we decided to go ahead and upgrade into HGV-Max. We purchased our DRI here at the TUG resale market so, we didn’t have a bunch of money into the TS anyway. Also, we received all the same info that you stated above. Sounds like maybe they were possibly being honest this time. This is the first pleasant experience we have experienced at an “owners update” meeting. Thank you for the detailed accounting of your meeting. Much appreciated!

When is Hilton going to release something in black and white print that is official for everyone to read and digest?

 

[Talent312]

When is Hilton going to release something in black and white print that is official for everyone to read and digest?

Don't hold your breath.
They may cover it in The Rules or the "Help" section online for 2023.
But first, they'll need to figure out what it is that they're selling.
.

 

[jabberwocky]

Did an owners update at Elara. Not sure why they invited me as I only have a resale unit, but I figured $125 was okay for just me to attend rather than sitting by the pool for an hour.

Salespersons angle was to get me to make my resale “legitimate” by buying an additional deed. Offer was $20k for 3600 points at Elara (I believe it was a studio). Could also have gone with a EOY for $13k.

according to the sales guy there were a few max changes:

- resale owners could only use their home week that was deeded (asked for this in writing - nothing provided)

- Max has no booking fees and those are going up to $129 (although he backtracked to $99 if it was online).

- we will have more than 200 resorts we can book with our points - of course no mention of the 6 month window.

He seemed a bit perturbed that I had signed up just to get an update on Max and made me sit the extra 30 mins until the “quality control” guy came to get me check out. Wasn’t a total loss as I was able to clear out several emails while waiting.

 

[HuskerATL]

resale owners could only use their home week that was deeded

I call BS on this. points are points....and will continue to spend the same. We will see what booking fees go to in the next reference guide but, for us EP, they are free.

Did he give you a timeline of when the 200 would be available to reserve? In the next decade? I find it interesting how that number jumps around though.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[jabberwocky]

I call BS on this. points are points....and will continue to spend the same. We will see what booking fees go to in the next reference guide but, for us EP, they are free.

Did he give you a timeline of when the 200 would be available to reserve? In the next decade? I find it interesting how that number jumps around though.

Thanks for sharing.

I called him on it as well - so probably the reason he made me sit longer.

No timeline was given. I think he figured he was screwed when I told him I would just dump my deed if they made it deeded week only (Vistana is our primary). I only paid $1500 for our 2BR plat at the BLVD, so I should be able to get at least that much out of it.

 

[Nowaker]

@jabberwocky Your experience with Elara matches mine. I find them the worst one among HGVC owned and operated resorts. (From what I see on Facebook groups, only Strand Capital developed properties are worse than Elara)

 

[HuskerATL]

so probably the reason he made me sit longer

yes, my wife almost hits me each time that I open my mouth in those meetings about stuff like this......she is like, "just sit there, keep your mouth shut, and lets get out of here"

 

[escanoe]

If you are 100% (non-UK) resale, Strand will not waste their time presenting to you.

@jabberwocky Your experience with Elara matches mine. I find them the worst one among HGVC owned and operated resorts. (From what I see on Facebook groups, only Strand Capital developed properties are worse than Elara)

 

[dayooper]

If you are 100% (non-UK) resale, Strand will not waste their time presenting to you.

What a great benefit of owning all resale!

 

[brp]

Who wants to go to the same places all of the time?

We do, to an extent. We own in New York. We go 2-3 times a year. Every year. We own in Vegas. We use it on the Big Island. We want to go every year.

So, there are ways that a limited set of locations can work, especially if supplemented with lots of other non-timeshare travel.

And, while DRI has many more locations. We are looking at buying some resale points to use at just two locations. Maui and Kauai. Kauai and Maui. That's it.

So, the "go to a few favorite places often" model is not that uncommon.

Cheers.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I am willing to bet that most deeded timeshare owners return to the same places every year. Look at all of the Marriott and Vistana peeps who travel annually to Hawaii, Florida and HHI. We do.

Frankly, for us many of the additional places are not attractive because too far or been there done that e.g Florida and East Coast beaches. Branson, Williamsburg, New Jersey golf etc. So not missed.

HGVC much better for NYC, Mexico, Japan, Scotland, Italy, Portugal, Canada (with Embarc).

MVC has Caribbean, France, Spain, Thailand, SF and Boston.

Worldmark has many west coast eg Anaheim, Seattle, Moab, Oregon coast, Sierra foothills ...

Nobody has South America, Hong Kong, China, Croatia, Germany...

It really depends where u want to go.

 

[csalter2]

We do, to an extent. We own in New York. We go 2-3 times a year. Every year. We own in Vegas. We use it on the Big Island. We want to go every year.

So, there are ways that a limited set of locations can work, especially if supplemented with lots of other non-timeshare travel.

And, while DRI has many more locations. We are looking at buying some resale points to use at just two locations. Maui and Kauai. Kauai and Maui. That's it.

So, the "go to a few favorite places often" model is not that uncommon.

Cheers.

There are some who do go to the same place. However, that is not the norm. If I wanted to stay in the same place, I would buy a place there, but that’s me. Even as you pointed out that you go to different places.

I was really talking about Hilton having a limited number of properties and many of them being in the same location as Diamond. If I can get a decent Diamond property that will be rebranded to a Hilton, there will be no need to buy Hilton. I would find HGV Max more appealing if I were going to have a much more expansive portfolio across the world.