So are you pleased with the availability of resorts that you can book with HGV/Max?
To note, converting your Diamond points to HH points is about the worst way to use your Diamond points, financially speaking, and should only be thought about if you have use/lose points with no option of using them any other, more financially beneficial, way. Maint fees on a Diamond point (at Platinum level at least) are approximately 20.3 cents per point. An HH point has the value of 0.5 cents per point. When converting Diamond points to HH you get 16 HH points to each Diamond point. 16x0.5=8 cents of value in HH points from the 20.3 cent Diamond point. So just in the conversion, you have lost about 60% of the value of that original Diamond point. About the only thing you can do worse with a Diamond point (converting to HH points) is to throw it way.
I just had an update in Branson where the sales person got upset that we had gone to 71 meetings (prior to this one) without making a purchase so he got up an left after 10 minutes but told us we had to sit there for the hour. Most money I've ever made playing on my phone for 45minutes.
In general I agree with what you say. However, my Diamond points are about half of you 20,3 cents/point. You can find the point cost in multiple places, and the cost of labor, etc. is much cheaper in Mexico. It is a newer resort as well, and was rebuilt after a hurricane so the maintenance requirements aren't as drastic for now. And, while converting from Diamond to Honors isn't a good deal, I have had a Hilton Amex card for decades, so I already have a lot of Honors points without converting. I use that Amex card for maintenance fees, costs during my Diamond stays, etc. In a salesman's eyes, they are "free". Hence, just use those...
I completely understand your decision. With Max, a Diamond owner doesn't lose anything you have, but you are paying a pretty penny for the privilege of getting in line for the leftover rooms at Hilton Grand Vacations. I don't completely understand the inventory pools, but with time I am hoping that the inventory, room assignments, etc. are better for Max than for those who don't upgrade. I won't be offended if you tell me I am crazy to even hope for better treatment because of all the money I gave them to upgrade to Max.
Thank you everyone for all of the advice and comments. I will continue to try to use our 40k points to the best advantage. I was just trying to say that before Hilton bought out Diamond we saw a lot more places and better availability. After Hilton bought Diamond and ‘scared’ us into thinking if we did not spend another 20k to get into HGVMAX we would not have access to more resorts and would be ‘left behind’. The truth is we see less resorts availability whether it is 6 months or a year. And we see a lot of resorts that are 50k plus points which we don’t have.
Why would you think an HGV Max/Diamond owner would get a better unit assignment than a Diamond Legacy owner? In the Diamond world, you're still just a Diamond owner and a Platinum owner trumps a Gold or Silver or Standard member owner. The only advantage you have as a Max owner is the ability to use your points to book an HGVC unit directly through Diamond and you can convert your points to HH points. Now, supposedly at some point in the future, there will be buildings built at Diamond locations that will be available for only those in HGV Max (Bent Creek is one of the locations I've heard about where they plan to build 2 more Golf Deluxe buildings) but those buildings will be for HGVC owners who are in Max, not Diamond owners. Diamond HGV Max owners will still only access the Diamond side of the inventory but it will allow HGVC owners more access to those locations. Being a HGV Max owners does not increase your status within the Diamond world, only increasing your points to certain levels (Silver/Gold/Platinum/Centum) will do that and many times, even that doesn't matter.
So you're telling me that when you divide your points by your total maint fees you're coming up to 10 cents a point? Sorry, but I find that difficult to be. I have heard maint fees are in the 15-17 cent point range and nothing in the Diamond system is in the 10 point range now. FYI, the 20 cent per point range is the US Collections maint fees.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. My understanding is that about half of Poipu is shut down for renovations and that Max Diamond members will get priority for the renovated rooms. I was in the Hawaii collection at one time. We had a big assessment for water intrusion. Diamond/Apollo took our money and gave it to a contractor to do the work. He did work, but the stucco is peeling off in big chunks because of water behind the stucco. Diamond sued the contractor, but he disappeared, and the chunks are still falling off. No interior work has been done in about a decade. I will let you know what building I get assigned if and when we go back. We were just there in February and have lots of pictures for comparison when we revisit. My belief is that Hilton will look after "their" folks before the Diamond folks who have given them nothing more than annual maintenance fees. I have checked at Cabo Azul and I can't get a list of priorities for room assignments, but I do know that I got an upgrade from what I paid for this visit. I am hopeful that will continue. Yes, I am Centum and I was Centum before Hilton came along. Perhaps that is the reason, and you are right that is all that matters.
I question it because many people spout the verbatim maint fee costs that Diamond claims because they don't add in the base fees or other fees. To come up with the true point per cost, divide the annual maint fee bill by the number of points owned. That is the true point per cost.
Can you still get your MF per point today or did that go away when DRI moved to a trust system?
Obviously if one has an assessment you have to add that in but having been in the US Collection for 16 years now, we have not had a single assessment to add into the maint fee costs. And mixing and averaging across multiple types of collections and week ownership doesn't represent a true cost when we are only talking about a specific type of ownership. Trippka is trying to claim that his singular cost per point in the Latino Collection is about 10 cents per point and I simply don't believe that. Seems he doesn't want to provide number or any proof to back up that claim but whatever, I just still simply don't believe the Latino Collection is 10 cents per point. He can believe what he wants to believe.
These low MF contracts were from the founding days of Club Sunterra in 1998. If they still let you convert deeds, keeping the deeds but 'pledging' them to The Club, then you could find deeds worth many, many points with a low annual fee for the deeded week and get them enrolled in The Club. They're out there, but there aren't as many as there were 25 years ago. Wow, it's been a long time.
Nothing is 'obviously.'
Yes it's possible that the MF is around 10 cents in the Cabo Azul Collection.
I stand corrected on at least one point you have made. It seems that Hilton has removed the maintenance fee statements, perhaps because I did Max? All of my points have been purchased from Diamond. There is no complicated legacy situation. I had legacy weeks at Kaanapali, but I sold them to Diamond and received Cabo Azul points in their trust. That impacted what I paid up front but doesn't impact what is paid annually. You can choose not to believe me, but I haven't changed my mind about what I pay annually per point. I am sure there is someone at Diamond who can provide the operating budget to you. In the mean time, I get this when I go to where it is supposed to be now that I login to theclub.hiltongrandvacation.com
Do you have the financial report of Cabo Azul Collection ?
No, I get the same server error. I have reported the problem. Once I get access, I will check the link you provided. Thank you for the suggestion.