Elara Owners Update

[Chris-ATX]

We attended an owners update at Elara this week.

Some notes:

Our "advisor" was all over the place and mixed HGVC Max tiers with legacy tiers in his communications, and even "By Hilton Club". It made it challenging to even follow along on the story being lied to us. They talked hard about the ability to unlock other locations beyond just HGVC properties (including the private residences) - they talked a ton about this, but didn't really talk about how you actually get these other locations, their costs, the elite tier level required, etc. But wow - those sure look great! (which is true, they do look great, but that is the entire point, right?).

Funny - guy talked about converting HGVC points into HH points and how that can then get all sorts of new "and exciting" places. In the story, he eventually got to a place where "if you don't vacation for 6 years, you could have 2 MILLION HH points" (and yes, when he said "million" I immediately heard it in the Austin Powers voice). But really - who's not going to vacation for 6 years while still paying MF annually? A gap in logic which is overrun by the speed of the conversation.

Interesting FOMO: they talked about how "HGVC is running out of deeds" and that deeds are much better than the trust, especially for MF (which is true). So, they were pushing hard on us to get an Elara deed "before they are all gone". They showed us a 9xxx annual gold deed for about $50K and a 12xxx plat deed for about $75K, just for reference. The "manager" tied to tell us that "gold season is actually preferred in many instances over platinum cause this is when a lot of our events happen, like F1".

We kept saying no. He kept trying to get us to buy something, anything. But not today. I'm sure there were other topics covered, but I couldn't keep up.

BTW - we got 100K HH points. Was just under 90 minutes.

Hope this is helpful to someone.

Finally - to be clear: we like Elara for our first time here. Love the room and the overall general vibe (though the elevator lobby gets crowded at times)

 

[HuskerATL]

that is the intent. Throw a lot out to baffle you and think you see shiny things that you don't have.

When HGV actually starts taking back deeds via ROFR, I would not buy that they are running out of deeds. They get many back and push to third party resale brokers because they have more than they can sell. HH conversion, for the most part, isn't a good use of points.

 

[Chris-ATX]

When HGV actually starts taking back deeds via ROFR, I would not buy that they are running out of deeds.

Exactly. My thought was how many Elara deeds (and deeds in general) are currently offered out on the resale market.

Oh, the other thing he mentioned was how, rather than buying a second home, we should buy HGVC points and then let our kids (he even mentioned grand kids) inherit them because they are so valuable. OR - we could even put our kids on the deeds already. HAHAHA!

About 1/3 through the guy's pitch I sent my wife a text with "how do you know this guy is lying? his lips are moving".

 

[ChiefIlliniwek]

Yes...most of the ones I've attended have been incomprehensible. I had one at Sheraton Vistana Villages where the saleswoman asked me to explain to her what she had told me. Of course I wasn't able to do so. I'd say it's very likely that most of the salesmen don't understand how to use this stuff. The point is to sell stuff, not to understand it.

 

[HuskerATL]

I think our kids would be just as happy with Salvation Army well used resale deed....

 

[ernststarhemberg]

Sounds about right!

Agreed on all points re: Elara. Good resort, good vibe. Elevators are a little less hectic now with the auto-assign feature but when people don't know how to use it it jams up the works.

Biggest frustration for me during peak elevator times is people not using common sense elevator etiquette by letting others depart the elevator before they scramble to pile their entire families into it.

Maybe it's a cultural disconnect, but it seems to transcend national/cultural lines. Maybe folks are just that oblivious in the smartphone era?

I'm not a small person (6'3") and found on more than one occasion that people in the lobby were trying to push me back into the elevator so they could get on. It's not the last lifeboat on the Titanic, folks!

 

[Janann]

Funny - guy talked about converting HGVC points into HH points and how that can then get all sorts of new "and exciting" places. In the story, he eventually got to a place where "if you don't vacation for 6 years, you could have 2 MILLION HH points" (and yes, when he said "million" I immediately heard it in the Austin Powers voice). But really - who's not going to vacation for 6 years while still paying MF annually? A gap in logic which is overrun by the speed of the conversation.

A few years ago we went to a presentation at Elara also, and the pitch was that we needed a million HH points, and then we could take long weekend trips wherever we wanted. The salesman said that he takes his family to sports events all the time, and it was great to have a million points to play with.

 

[Chris-ATX]

Biggest frustration for me during peak elevator times is people not using common sense elevator etiquette by letting others depart the elevator before they scramble to pile their entire families into it.

Same observation. And you have a perfect statement: the elevators aren't the last lifeboat on the titanic in terms of urgency to get on/off, but golly, a lot of folks will just stand and block the exit to board.

 

[Chris-ATX]

A few years ago we went to a presentation at Elara also, and the pitch was that we needed a million HH points, and then we could take long weekend trips wherever we wanted. The salesman said that he takes his family to sports events all the time, and it was great to have a million points to play with.

Was your guy French and with a French accent who speaks fast and is hard to understand? Sounds like you potentially had the same person as ours

 

[Janann]

Was your guy French and with a French accent who speaks fast and is hard to understand? Sounds like you potentially had the same person as ours

No. The salesman did however tell us a long story about how he'd had a heart attack a while back. Then when he got annoyed with us he jumped up and left, maybe to make us think we were causing him cardiac distress. He eventually came back, but my answer was still no.

 

[geist1223]

We are not HGVC Owners. But our simplistic understanding is one should pick up a Platinum Week resell Deed at Elara if possible. On the resell market a Platinum Week Deed might cost a little more. BUT the MF will be the same as a Gold Week for the same sized Unit and it is worth more Points. So why would a person want to buy a Gold Week Deed?

 

[dayooper]

We are not HGVC Owners. But our simplistic understand is one should pick up a Platinum Week resell Deed at Elara if possible. On the resell market a Platinum Week Deed might cost a little more. BUT the MF will be the same as a Gold Week for the same sized Unit and it is worth more Points. So why would a person want to buy a Gold Week Deed?

Sometimes on the resale market they are dirt cheap or free. That or they are listening to a salesman.

 

[jp10558]

Sometimes on the resale market they are dirt cheap or free. That or they are listening to a salesman.

I don't care about events, but I suppose his event weeks being gold weeks may affect priority for booking? But I would think you'd have to not just get a gold week deed, but *the* specific week and home week book it - if there's actually that much contention for availability.

 

[Mowogo]

I don't care about events, but I suppose his event weeks being gold weeks may affect priority for booking? But I would think you'd have to not just get a gold week deed, but *the* specific week and home week book it - if there's actually that much contention for availability.

Vegas generally doesn’t have too much contention for most events And can book major events (I’m even talking F1) with club booking because Vegas is severely overbuilt With people who don’t use their ownership at all. There is a reason they run the points sales almost all the time.

 

[dayooper]

I don't care about events, but I suppose his event weeks being gold weeks may affect priority for booking? But I would think you'd have to not just get a gold week deed, but *the* specific week and home week book it - if there's actually that much contention for availability.

Unless it’s a holiday week like Christmas or New Years, there are no fixed weeks in Vegas. The F1 week is gold, so it’s a free for all at 12 months. Remember, using your home week you have to book your exact ownership (season, room size, room designation) for a week starting on the checkin day.

You also aren’t guaranteed the best views to see the race and that won’t be decided until just before the checkin. My guess is Hilton will have rooms as well and they may get the best rooms. As long as HGVC owns deeds there (they do), they have rights to the bookings as well.

Salesweasles make it look so easy. Its not. We work hard at planning and booking our reservations to make sure we stay where we want. We were discussing our 2025 trips in January well before our main trip this summer (we haven’t even gone on it yet).

 

[Chris-ATX]

All great observations.

As for the gold week push from the manager - it’s what they thought they could push us into, when I said the points to MF doesn’t work, she offered a play deed at not quite double the price. When I said no to that, she tried to double down on gold weeks being good. It’s all the lying sales approach to convince you to purchase anything.

 

[geist1223]

A CM relator made an offer at no cost to me. All the transfer costs (transfer fees, title fees, transfer tax) will be paid by CM. I must agree that I receive no $$, and send proof of ownership to a company that handles the deeds. I permit them to sell my Timeshare. I was told not to pay my maintenance fees in Sept. once I complete the authorization to the deed company. I'm waiting for my share of the rent for my week in early April before I proceed.
Does anyone see RED FLAGS in this offer? My intention is to get rid of it, ASAP.

A few years ago we went to a presentation at Elara also, and the pitch was that we needed a million HH points, and then we could take long weekend trips wherever we wanted. The salesman said that he takes his family to sports events all the time, and it was great to have a million points to play with.

No. The salesman did however tell us a long story about how he'd had a heart attack a while back. Then when he got annoyed with us he jumped up and left, maybe to make us think we were causing him cardiac distress. He eventually came back, but my answer was still no.

Did you ask him to sign on to his Account so you could see his Million Points?

 

[TolmiePeak]

I think our kids would be just as happy with Salvation Army well used resale deed....

Exactly. Never buy any of these things thinking your kids will want them. They don't and will renounce most of them if you list them in your will.

 

[brp]

Did you ask him to sign on to his Account so you could see his Million Points?

We have about 2.4 million points, so an account with a million points, even if verified, would not impress me.

Cheers.

 

[Mr Smith]

Exactly. My thought was how many Elara deeds (and deeds in general) are currently offered out on the resale market.

Oh, the other thing he mentioned was how, rather than buying a second home, we should buy HGVC points and then let our kids (he even mentioned grand kids) inherit them because they are so valuable. OR - we could even put our kids on the deeds already. HAHAHA!

About 1/3 through the guy's pitch I sent my wife a text with "how do you know this guy is lying? his lips are moving".

With around 1200 rooms, 52 deeds per room, there are roughly 60,000 deeds that could be sold. If they are running out, good on them. However I would bet they have sold less than half.

 

[Mr Smith]

Exactly. My thought was how many Elara deeds (and deeds in general) are currently offered out on the resale market.

Oh, the other thing he mentioned was how, rather than buying a second home, we should buy HGVC points and then let our kids (he even mentioned grand kids) inherit them because they are so valuable. OR - we could even put our kids on the deeds already. HAHAHA!

About 1/3 through the guy's pitch I sent my wife a text with "how do you know this guy is lying? his lips are moving".

With around 1200 rooms, 52 deeds per room, there are roughly 60,000 deeds that could be sold. If they are running out, good on them. However I would bet they have sold less than half

Did you ask him to sign on to his Account so you could see his Million Points?

I want to go to try and catch this sales presentation. Then I’ll log into my hh account and show them my 1.3 million points that I don’t use because I vacation with my existing timeshares.