buying a few resale timeshares? few Q's

[Unidurtle]

Hi! I have been looking into buying one/a few of the simpler Hilton timeshares. I went to two presentations back in May, definitely felt good with Hilton vs IHG. Not a fan of Wyndham (family member has one). Is Hilton a pretty good group to get a timeshare with? If not, what do you recommend?

My hope is that getting a timeshare, especially a resale, it will be good in the long run with how my boyfriend and I like to take spontaneous trips with an occasional future planned vacation- but I am worried about points running out quickly. If I bought a resale, can I just buy more points if needed or do I need to buy a second resale to combine them?

Also, not sure how accurate it was: I was reading a reddit post from years ago where someone bought several resales at the same location and only had to pay one maintenance fee, with like 5 total deeds. Is this true or did the person consolidate the deeds in some way? If possible, I am assuming its due to the location being the exact same, but do I also need to look out for the usage frequency, season of use (silver vs gold), etc?

TYIA!

 

[TolmiePeak]

Also, not sure how accurate it was: I was reading a reddit post from years ago where someone bought several resales at the same location and only had to pay one maintenance fee, with like 5 total deeds. Is this true or did the person consolidate the deeds in some way?

I'm research buying HGVC too. The quoted post above isn't true. You have to pay maintenance fees for each contract. They also have something called a "Club Fee" of $209 per year as of 2024. You only have to pay one club fees per year no matter if you have 1 contract or multiple contracts. Maybe this is what the Reddit post was referring to. As best I can figure out with HGVC most important thing is to buy a contract with low maintenance fees per point. < 10 cents a point is good.

 

[GT75]

IMO, HGVC is a great system and they treat their resale customers very well. I think that the two downsides of HGVC are they don't have many locations and they like to have booking fees. So, I would check their resort locations (note: some locations will be very hard to ever book such as Florida golf and Portugal). HGVC does a great job in maintaining good MFs with good quality resorts.

I was reading a reddit post from years ago where someone bought several resales at the same location and only had to pay one maintenance fee,

Certainly not true.

I like to take spontaneous trips with an occasional future planned vacation

I see this as a problem. TSs are not good for spontaneous trips. They are good for planners who know how to work the system. In HGVC, that means booking when the club booking window opens which is typically the 9-month mark. After that, you will be looking at the leftovers. Around 2 months out, you will be waiting for someone to cancel. I wouldn't suggest buying if this is your plan.

but I am worried about points running out quickly. If I bought a resale, can I just buy more points if needed or do I need to buy a second resale to combine them?

Not a problem, you can purchase another resale deed.

 

[GT75]

If you want to focus on HGVC, then I would suggest that you post specific questions in the HGVC forum. We have some great TUG HGVC members who love to help answer questions and give advice. I could move your thread, but it looks like you want advice from different TS systems.

 

[GT75]

I went to two presentations back in May

btw, congratulations on not buying retail. TS salespeople are very good at what they do. Also, welcome to TUG.

 

[Unidurtle]

If you want to focus on HGVC, then I would suggest that you post specific questions in the HGVC forum. We have some great TUG HGVC members who love to help answer questions and give advice. I could move your thread, but it looks like you want advice from different TS systems.

gotcha, if I end up having more specific questions for HGVC, I will post there. Thanks!

 

[Unidurtle]

I think that the two downsides of HGVC are they don't have many locations and they like to have booking fees.

this may be a dumb question but can the timeshare points also go to regular hotels? I see several of them on the hilton app, but I haven't thought of the limited amount of resorts.

How crazy are the booking fees? One reason why CW drives me crazy is b/c 1. their website sucks, lol but 2. if you don't use the points in your assigned year, you move them into RCI and RCI charges a minimum of $200 and up to $1500! I guess that's another question, do the HGVC points need to go to a system like RCI at the end of the year?

Around 2 months out, you will be waiting for someone to cancel. I wouldn't suggest buying if this is your plan.

gotcha- that's something to think about. I know during my IHG presentation, they had a tab just for "last-call" trips. Not sure what other TSs have the same thing

 

[jp10558]

Is Hilton a pretty good group to get a timeshare with?

HGVC is, but HGV the overarching company has also added HVC (former Diamond) and it's intentionally confusing what is which. HVC isn't really recommended resale, but HGVC is. There are some important things to keep in mind though - the biggest weakness is HGVC has limited locations (which is why they bought DRI and Bluegreen but resale doesn't get access to those locations and it can be unclear to new people what you really get). HGVC has Myrtle Beach, Orlando, some other locations around Florida with some effort and luck, Las Vegas, Carlsbad, and Hawaii.

If not, what do you recommend?

Maybe try going filling out a post with the sticky questions from the top of this forum.

My hope is that getting a timeshare, especially a resale, it will be good in the long run with how my boyfriend and I like to take spontaneous trips

The common wisdom here on TUG is timeshares don't work for spontaneous trips. Plan the max time out, with HGVC that's 9 months. However, the ARDA report that just came out says that many more owners than we thought book 1 to 6 months out with enough success to be happy. Of course, take their survey with a large grain of salt. How spontaneous are you asking? I have managed to book one place a week out in January this year, and 3 weeks out at Smugglers Notch a month and a half ago. But the first one was Wyndham, and a fluke and that location I think has left the system. The second one was an RCI cash deal, in fact I think my first Last Call. With HGVC you get access to RCI automatically, but that doesn't mean it's paid for - you have to pay the cash price - it is often discounted though. You can also exchange your HGVC points, but there's a to many peoples mind stupid high exchange rate and stupid high $300 fee for the exchange.

However, if your spontaneous trip is looking through the last call list and picking one in the next 45 days, you can end up paying barely more than the fee and don't have to eat any points - often like $329 for a 1BR. Plus tax and resort fees though, which can be up to $200 at the "worst" resorts for fees. Well, except in Mexico, those are insane fee wise, I think some are $4,000.

with an occasional future planned vacation- but I am worried about points running out quickly.

Points can run out quickly. 11,200 is generally where TUG recommends starting, but that's 1 week in a 2BR in prime season. 1.5 weeks I think for 1BRs. In the off season, like Feb for Hilton Head, it can be 2 weeks. Also, if you do I think Sun-Wed night it's lower so you can get more days. There's also more 3 day stays those "off nights" available closer to the travel date. Getting a full week in HGVC usually means booking right at the 9 month mark - with some location based exceptions. But I wouldn't think I'd see any full weeks for say 30 days out.

If I bought a resale, can I just buy more points if needed or do I need to buy a second resale to combine them?

You have to buy deeds in HGVC, so it'd be a second resale for more points. Of course you can buy as many as you want to pay for in purchase price and ongoing MFs. Some people have 90,000.

Also, not sure how accurate it was: I was reading a reddit post from years ago where someone bought several resales at the same location and only had to pay one maintenance fee, with like 5 total deeds. Is this true or did the person consolidate the deeds in some way?

Every deed has their own MF. There's no consolidation, you have to pay for the upkeep of the unit for the time period you own it. But there's only one club dues fee yearly.

 

[jp10558]

this may be a dumb question but can the timeshare points also go to regular hotels? I see several of them on the hilton app, but I haven't thought of the limited amount of resorts.

Not exactly, I think before the beginning of the year you can convert them to Hilton Honor's points which you could use but it's not usually a great deal price wise.

How crazy are the booking fees?

Hilton charges via HGVC $69 to book.

One reason why CW drives me crazy is b/c 1. their website sucks, lol but 2. if you don't use the points in your assigned year, you move them into RCI and RCI charges a minimum of $200 and up to $1500! I guess that's another question, do the HGVC points need to go to a system like RCI at the end of the year?

HGVC (and Club Wyndham too) you can pay to save one year out. In HGVC you can borrow from the next year for free. You can also transfer to RCI, but RCI (AFAIK) only charges an exchange fee of $300 to do an exchange. I don't think there's a fee to deposit points to RCI at all. There wasn't in HGVC, I haven't tried with Wyndham. You can't roll the points over the next year though. I.e. you can't just "save up points" for 3 years. Many RCI resorts do also have a resort fee, but I don't know how much that has to do with RCI exactly.

gotcha- that's something to think about. I know during my IHG presentation, they had a tab just for "last-call" trips. Not sure what other TSs have the same thing

All the Last Call trips are in RCI, that's an RCI feature. If you can use it like I do, it's a great deal, you pay IDK $80 more than the exchange fee and use 0 points to book it.

 

[GT75]

this may be a dumb question but can the timeshare points also go to regular hotels? I see several of them on the hilton app, but I haven't thought of the limited amount of resorts.

No question is ever a dumb question. In general, converting HGVC is a very poor use of points. Also, in general, converting any TS system points to anything else such as cruise, experiences, tours, etc. is a poor use of points (unless of course you are going to lose them)

How crazy are the booking fees?

Not that bad but $64/online booking. btw, the HGVC website works well, but has some minor issues.

 

[GT75]

Another piece of advice (from @alwysonvac, which I certainly agree) is don’t put all of your travel dollars into TSs. So maybe work a hybrid plan with HGVC TS as long range and something else short range such as airbnb.

 

[TUGBrian]

Welcome to TUG! you are already light years ahead of most in discovering resale before buying!

A bit of reading and patience will pay off in tens of thousands of dollars in vacation savings for you and your family!

 

[gravityrules]

There are opportunities for last minute trips in some TS systems but that will likely be in high TS supply areas (Orlando, Branson, Vegas, Williamsburg, etc) in off season or shoulder season.

You really don't have to own to find these, check last minute rentals here on TUG. You might also check skyauction.com for rentals which seems to have a lot of the same inventory as RCI's last call.

Maybe do some rentals before getting into ownership. Of course take into account where you're located and where you want to go before a purchase.

 

[jp10558]

Another piece of advice (from @alwysonvac, which I certainly agree) is don’t put all of your travel dollars into TSs. So maybe work a hybrid plan with HGVC TS as long range and something else short range such as airbnb.

This is true - I can't tell you the balance I'd recommend without a LOT more information, but I can give some examples that would seem to make sense and kind of let you know where I am.

On the limited timeshare side, you might consider say 20% of lodging dollars in timeshare, where you buy a week that you'll book 9 months out each year (using HGVC timing in this example). You might grab one RCI Last Call if it works out as a "spontaneous" trip. 80% of your lodging dollars could be hotel or AirB&B (though I have no personal experience with them). This would presume you use booking.com or whatever and have no Hotel chain loyalty. This is probably the closest to "traditional" travel.

I think many actually do somewhere near a 50/50 balance, where half of their trips are timeshares, and the other half include things like cruises, various vacation rentals, and hotels where necessary.

On the timeshare heavy side, which is me, I do probably 80% of lodging dollars in timeshares, mostly because I'm going to timeshares as the reason for many trips, and I'm going for the sake of traveling. Timeshare lodging can be extremely cost effective that way. I stay the other 20% in Hotels though I don't necessarily spend 20% on that because I also try and maximize my Hilton Honors through their Aspire Amex card. This "stacks" with my HGVC ownership because I can use the various credits to offset the high annual fee on the card, and by directing spend I get multiple free nights each year from the card at Hilton Hotels, plus build Honors points for more free stays. Other co-branded systems can stack similarly, but to varying degrees IMO. I do multiple trips a year to places near timeshares, with the availability and value driving the trip details, and every few years we switch and use hotels for location driven trips.

I guess to clarify a little more - If you want a beach somewhere in the US and Hawaii during May, and you know you want to do that every year, then you can almost 100% make that happen with Timeshares, likely at a very attractive price IMO. If you want a very specific beach for a specific week and can only lock that in 2 months out, then that's not going to be a good idea with Timeshares.