Buying HVC former Embarc/Intrawest

[Quinte]

Hi All,

Investigating the purchase of former Embarc/Intrawest, as would like a TS located in Canada. Have set alerts for all the properties in the marketplace, and nothing has come up in a year.

Where else should I look for these resale?

Thanks,

 

[echino]

It's not resort/weeks based like a traditional timeshare, it's a pure points scheme with no home resort. I looked into it and decided not to purchase, even if it was free, due to very high maintenance fees and difficulty booking high season time, especially ski time in Whistler that was my prime motivation for looking into this.

 

[GT75]

@cd5, should be able to give you advice.

 

[Quinte]

Thanks!

 

[cd5]

By the way, Embarc is NOT HVC, it's HGVC even though trades cannot be made between Hilton & Embarc unless in HGV Max. This should be in the HGVC sub-forum.

"It's not resort/weeks based like a traditional timeshare, it's a pure points scheme with no home resort. I looked into it and decided not to purchase, even if it was free, due to very high maintenance fees and difficulty booking high season time, especially ski time in Whistler that was my prime motivation for looking into this."

Echino is of course entitled to his opinion but the maintenance fees are very reasonable for a points-based timeshare of this caliber. Easy & low-cost ($250 to transfer a contract) to buy into (no deed, no notary or 3rd party required to manage transaction) and very easy to divest with some or full return on your purchase price if bought resale - our member Facebook Embarc Ads group is very active.

There are 9 resorts + access to 5 more in Europe, ability to join Interval (using points to exchange), or SFX Resorts. Very few "fees" of the type Hilton charges (guest certificates = 0, saving points = 0, borrowing points = 0, etc). Rules and guidelines are generally less than Hilton and easy to understand.
We don't have "tiers" as many other timeshares do - each point has the same value (no Diamond, Gold, or limited weeks, you can book any number of days - 6+ at 11 months out from checkin, 5 or less at 6 months) and the same cost. More points gets you a longer stay / larger room / peak vs off-season stay, so if you find you don't have enough, it's easy to buy more or alternatively, rent the needed number from another member (at point fee cost in our group) who knows they're not going to use theirs ($35 per transfer or $0 fee if you take over an existing booking with a guest certificate). Lots of interesting bookings, including Whistler during peak ski season, can be gotten from other members at "cost".
There are no fixed weeks, so that can be perceived as a disadvantage but all members are on equal footing and it's first come first served.
Hilton has not been exercising ROFR since acquisition (over 2 years now).
I've answered the DM request for you.

 

[Tacoma]

Chantal has given you great answers to your question. She is embarc owners greatest resource and the facebook pages that you can join once you are an owner are very helpful. To add to what echino said yes the maintenance fees are a bit high but the resorts are lovely and as mentioned there are very few extra fees such as taxes or housekeeping etc. I do find the use of points more restrictive than my worldmark points but as with any timeshare knowledge is key. For example I cancelled a trip to Palm Desert last year and paid a $35 US fee to have the points back. I knew those points had to be used by the end of the year so I booked 5 nights at Vancouver in September. With some leftover points in August I rented them to another member at a small discount so I would not get stuck with points. Many people waited to October or later to try and get rid of their unused points and by then there was no availability and no one wanted the points. When my daughter than asked for a reservation in Vancouver after I had cleared out my points for the year I asked someone on the site to get the reservation for my daughter at a slightly reduced fee and they agreed. There are no guest fees and no HK charges even if a stay is only 2 nights. As mentioned by Chantal members often list prime reservations on the Facebook page for the cost of their maintenance fees.

How hard are reservations to get? I can't speak to Whistler as we prefer Sun Peaks and the ski areas around Banff but I wanted Ucluelet in August and there are only 10 suites there of which I believe only 7 are 2 bedrooms. I played around on the website and exactly 11 months out at exactly 9 am Pacific I managed to get a reservation. My next test will come when I decide to book Zihjuatenejo. I wish they had a waitlist function but if you check the website regularly you also might find some days available. I have 6000 points (which I acquired for only the transfer fee) but with the 2 years that you can use your points I can save and get a better reservation at least every 2 years. I have also rented in points for an existing reservation at cost. I also like that my children can be booked on getaway time as we are close to Panorama. So I do like embarc but wouldn't want too many points as the fees are a bit higher. However the trade off in quality is worth it once in a while.

Joan

 

[escanoe]

I am not an expert on this by any stretch, but if I was looking for a way to cost effectively book Embarc resorts for less than owning their trust, I would explore properties that trade well in DEX.

 

[cd5]

DEX isn't cheap to use by any means...points trades are fairly high and the membership, exchange & other fees higher than Interval or SFX. Right now (because of covid) there is pretty good availability at Embarc - that is because many members saved their points in DEX so as not to lose them during covid. When the 5 year period has expired, expect to see less...Anecdotally, members are opting out of DEX once they finish using up their saved points. So that (ie getting a different resort with DEX access) may not be a good long-term plan for access to Embarc...