First year, had to bank/save HGV points for 2025

[AJR214]

New to HGV Max as of Oct 2023 (1 year members). We wanted something small since we probably use our points differently than most. We have 3,840 points every other year with initial signing bonus of 7,680 points. We are Disney passholders (Florida resident weekday entry) and also cruisers. We don't stay somewhere for a full week, we do 2-3 night stays. We will take a Mon-Wed off from work and go to Disney parks and relax (Disney adults, kids are grown and gone!). When we cruise, we like to get to the port a day or two early and see the city, then cruise 7-9 days, then maybe stay another night and not have to fight 4,000 other people out of the port or to the airport. We're not in the room much so a studio suits the 2 of us nicely.

I'm also a discount shopper and most of the HGV Orlando resorts have discounted points 25%-75% off throughout the year. So 3,840 this year has got us more than expected - at Cypress Point, we could stay 18-20 days with most nights being 100-200 points. We also try to schedule monthly events and do an update for shows and attraction events, or do an update to get points, gift cards, and extra 2-3 night stays (with an update during that stay). We also seem to get those 3/2 or 4/3 offers for $99-$199 to stay (and again, do an update). We have no issues with doing the 1 hour updates because we ask questions. They do their thing and have to give us an offer to increase our points, we say no thank you - it is either pleasant or some have went down the toilet with attitude. We also seem to maintain 500k Hilton Honors points and use 35k-50k on a night here and there. Either way, we know we have what we want right now and see no need to upgrade. So much so that we stayed 9 nights using HGV points this year, 2 more stays with update 3/2 certs, 4 or 5 nights with HH points.

From mid-October on we have run into other trips (family), work projects, holidays, and I can't go anywhere in December as I put on an annual synchronized light show. So we still have 1,480 points and I've had to bank them for next year paying the $139 fee. We were trying to squeeze one more 2-3 night stay in, but just couldn't... and we'd still have 1,000 points left to bank. Now we have 1,480 + 7,680 to use by Oct of 2025. We also have another 3/2 stay coming up in Feb, and a 4/3 stay in New York for I think it was $299 for the certificate. Staying 3 nights at the Hilton Club Midtown for $299 is just an amazing deal, especially since our HGV level doesn't allow us to stay there with points.

 

[Kaneo'pohaku]

Glad you're able to get so much out of so little points. For my wife and I whether we go alone or with our kids, the amount of points you have lasts us maybe a weekend or two depending on where we go. Heck with our 21k points I still feel like we would be perfect with another 8-11k lol

 

[dazzlingheart]

Good to see you are enjoying your membership! We are new as of this April. We stayed in Hilton Palm Springs two weeks ago on HH points. Our first use of HVC points is coming up toward the end of fall in Vegas. Next year, we're going to Paris and Daytona. We have 8000 EOY points, and it is good to get inspiration like yours on making points go far. Thanks for you post!

 

[Drdexter]

New to HGV Max as of Oct 2023 (1 year members). We wanted something small since we probably use our points differently than most. We have 3,840 points every other year with initial signing bonus of 7,680 points. We are Disney passholders (Florida resident weekday entry) and also cruisers. We don't stay somewhere for a full week, we do 2-3 night stays. We will take a Mon-Wed off from work and go to Disney parks and relax (Disney adults, kids are grown and gone!). When we cruise, we like to get to the port a day or two early and see the city, then cruise 7-9 days, then maybe stay another night and not have to fight 4,000 other people out of the port or to the airport. We're not in the room much so a studio suits the 2 of us nicely.

I'm also a discount shopper and most of the HGV Orlando resorts have discounted points 25%-75% off throughout the year. So 3,840 this year has got us more than expected - at Cypress Point, we could stay 18-20 days with most nights being 100-200 points. We also try to schedule monthly events and do an update for shows and attraction events, or do an update to get points, gift cards, and extra 2-3 night stays (with an update during that stay). We also seem to get those 3/2 or 4/3 offers for $99-$199 to stay (and again, do an update). We have no issues with doing the 1 hour updates because we ask questions. They do their thing and have to give us an offer to increase our points, we say no thank you - it is either pleasant or some have went down the toilet with attitude. We also seem to maintain 500k Hilton Honors points and use 35k-50k on a night here and there. Either way, we know we have what we want right now and see no need to upgrade. So much so that we stayed 9 nights using HGV points this year, 2 more stays with update 3/2 certs, 4 or 5 nights with HH points.

From mid-October on we have run into other trips (family), work projects, holidays, and I can't go anywhere in December as I put on an annual synchronized light show. So we still have 1,480 points and I've had to bank them for next year paying the $139 fee. We were trying to squeeze one more 2-3 night stay in, but just couldn't... and we'd still have 1,000 points left to bank. Now we have 1,480 + 7,680 to use by Oct of 2025. We also have another 3/2 stay coming up in Feb, and a 4/3 stay in New York for I think it was $299 for the certificate. Staying 3 nights at the Hilton Club Midtown for $299 is just an amazing deal, especially since our HGV level doesn't allow us to stay there with points.

You sound a lot like us. We bought 2,560 EOY. We moved it to 2025 because we bought late in the year and had already done our vacations. We have 5000 bonus points to use by June 2026.

Isn’t there a rule about how long since your last presentation before you can go to another one?

At our first update meeting right before fire we left they offered what I seem to remember being enough points for another week, but I don’t remember the cost. We started talking about this about a week ago and it seemed like a good way to increase our points with maintenance fees or a contract. I am trying to find more info about that offer.

 

[GT75]

Isn’t there a rule about how long since your last presentation before you can go to another one?

You will be offered an "owners update" (aka. sales presentation) at every stay with a sales center since you purchased retail.

At our first update meeting right before fire we left they offered what I seem to remember being enough points for another week, but I don’t remember the cost. We started talking about this about a week ago and it seemed like a good way to increase our points with maintenance fees or a contract. I am trying to find more info about that offer.

Are you talking about VIP package (11,200 pts for ~$1699)?

 

[AJR214]

You sound a lot like us. We bought 2,560 EOY. We moved it to 2025 because we bought late in the year and had already done our vacations. We have 5000 bonus points to use by June 2026.

Isn’t there a rule about how long since your last presentation before you can go to another one?

At our first update meeting right before fire we left they offered what I seem to remember being enough points for another week, but I don’t remember the cost. We started talking about this about a week ago and it seemed like a good way to increase our points with maintenance fees or a contract. I am trying to find more info about that offer.

You can do an owner's update every 30 days if you want. We did at least 6 or 7 updates last year. Why? For 1 hour of time to listen and ask questions, you can get from $200-$400 of events or visa gift cards. For us, we are close to Orlando and go to Disney multiple times a month. We get the monthly calendar from our concierge either early emailed or while we're on site. We look through to find events we may want to do that month. We book another stay for the night of the event and do the update the next morning, getting the event for free. If there's nothing we want to do on the calendar, we still do Disney trips and book an update and get a $250 Visa card and other stuff. It's a decent value add to make up for the annual fees and get a little something back! We are good at saying no, but we are not rude unless the presenter gets rude with us. We start out by saying "we have questions and wanted to sit and talk". They still present some offer trying to get us to upgrade, and then another "manager" comes to present us with the "VIP Package" GT75 mentioned. We politely decline, get our tickets or gc, and go about the rest of our stay.