Flex week

[Bigbird130]

This is a new term to me.
Is it a floating week?
Any help would be appreciated
Thank you

 

[Talent312]

Please note that you posted in the HGVC forum in which the terms "flex" or "floating" has no meaning. With HGVC, you can reserve whatever week you like, if its available and you have enuff points.

 

[Bigbird130]

Sorry I didn't know about how Hilton works.
That's why I asked about a flex week because that is the way it was listed in the ad I saw

 

[ricoba]

All HGVC weeks are floating, except for a few special event weeks, such as New Years in Vegas, which is a fixed week.

Other than those few weeks, just choose a week you want to use and book it, if it's available. Even event weeks come available, though they may be harder to get over a regular floating week.

 

[Talent312]

With HGVC, you get a deed for a certain week in a unit of a certain size; however, your deeded-week is not yours to use. It stays on deposit with HGVC for their use. The only thing the deed does is establish your home resort and your annual allotment of points (based on the unit's size+season).

The points are your currency. With multiple HGVC resorts, an RCI tie-in, and hotel options, the system itself is extremely flexible. Pick your preferred dates and resort(s), and if its available, you're golden.

 

[Bigbird130]

Thanks for all the replies
I appreciate the help
It's starting to make sense now

 

[Sandy VDH]

Flex week is a term used on the Marriott board and not here on the Hilton board.

 

[Bigbird130]

I didn't mean to upset everyone by using the term Flex Week.
As I said that was in the ad I saw for a Hilton unit so that's why I posted it here.
The explination of Hilton weeks was very good
Thanks again

 

[ricoba]

Don't worry, I don't think you upset anyone. At least not me.

That's what the forums are for, is to ask questions.

 

[tpdgfmt]

Flex weeks

Some of the Hilton affiliate resorts in Florida have weeks known as "flex weeks." If a person owns one of these flex weeks, he or she is entitled each year to reserve a week within a pre-established group of weeks. For example, one of the most common flex week units at the Surf Club, Eagles Nest, Charter Club of Marco, etc., entitles the owner to reserve a week at his or her own resort within weeks 1-4 or 17-51. One year the owner may decide to reserve week 1. The next year he or she might decide to reserve week 51, or any other week within the group of weeks available. The reservations for those weeks are either first-come first served or filled via a lottery among the persons seeking that particular week, depending on the resort. Once a week is reserved, the owner can trade it via RCI or II (if he or she is a member) or exchange it for points through HGVC (again, if the owner is a member of HGVC). The HGVC points will depend on the number of bedrooms, which week the owner obtained and the particular resort. Weeks 1-4, for example, are worth 5,000 points each, and week 51 is worth 7,000 points. Some of the weeks after week 33 are worth 3,400 points each. That creates greater demand among owners to request week 51 than week 37, for example. Resorts using a lottery system to assign weeks typically do so one year in advance of the particular week. Therefore, if an owner wanted to reserve week 51 in 2009, he or she should send in his or her request prior to week 51 in 2008 and hope he or she gets picked. In the meantime, all of the prior weeks for 2009 would normally have already been assigned by then, so if he or she is unsuccessful, then the resort will work with the owner to find whatever is still available. My experience has been that if a flex week owner wants a 5,000-point week, it isn't difficult to obtain one, although the week obtained may not be the owner's first choice. Trying to obtain the 7,000-point week is more difficult, and if you're not lucky, you may end up with a 3,400-point week.

There are several types of flex week arrangements available, depending on the particular resort. The one mentioned above seems to be the most common. The Plantation Beach Club has some weeks known as Fall Flex weeks that entitle the owner to reserve within a set group of weeks during the Fall of each year. I believe, but am not sure, that some of the Florida affiliates have some flex weeks that entitle the owners to reserve within the weeks included in February and March each year. If so, those would be particularly good, since that timeframe is very difficult to trade into and very expensive to purchase at the SW Florida resorts.

I own some flex weeks and they have worked for me. I prefer owning fixed weeks at the Florida affiliates, however, for several reasons. First, having to reserve a week and then cancelling the reservation for HGVC points after the reservation is made is a little cumbersome (not bad, but more cumbersome than automatically having an acceptable week that is already reserved). Second, the reservation can't be made until the year prior to the week reserved, so if a person wants to cancel the reservation for points or trade via RIC or II, that can't be done until a year in advance. A fixed week at an HGVC-affiliate or points owned at an HGVC-built resort can be used for RCI trading a couple of years in advance (most of the Florida affiliates are also II-affiliated as well, so a fixed week at one of those resorts could be traded through II earlier than a flex week).

There are some good things about the flex weeks, too. They tend to be inexpensive to purchase, and once the owner understands the rules, they aren't hard to use. They obviously entitle the owner to get into the affiliate resorts sooner than a non-owner could trade in, but if the owner is a member of HGVC, they still allow all of the benefits that any other HGVC owner has. Just to try out II, I joined and have used my flex weeks to trade through II for Marriott resorts in Orlando. Those trades were very easy and were made right on the spot. Of course, Hilton already has 2 resorts in Orlando and one on the way, so some of you probably wonder why anyone would care about doing that. For me, it was just an experiment to see how it works and to sample Marriott's resorts (by the way, the one I already stayed at, Marriott's Grande Vista, was very nice; some aspects were nicer than HGVC but others weren't; I concluded that the Grande Vista was a very nice resort, but I didn't like it any better than the HGVC resorts in Orlando, and nothing beats the flexibility and use-ability of the HGVC program. I did enjoy just trying something different, and I was able to trade for two weeks in a row using weeks that would only have been worth 5,000 points each (whereas it would have cost me 7,000 points per week at HGVC in Orlando), although I also had to pay II's fees of $139/week). Someday I'll try an II trade to Maui or Kawaii, which I assume will be a much more difficult trade.

With the exception of the newest affiliate on Marco Island, all of the HGVC Florida affiliate resorts were built approximately 25-30 years ago, before Hilton Grand Vacations Club existed. There were different ways of doing things then, and these flex weeks were something that the developer came up with in that era. One of the nice things about HGVC's program is how nicely it is able to incorporate these weeks, as well as fixed weeks and floating weeks, into the program. It all seems to work pretty well.

One thing to keep in mind is that if a person buys an affiliate week, at least at the affiliates with which I'm familiar, he or she would have to pay a one-time fee to join HGVC unless he or she is already a member of HGVC. I never had to worry about that, because I originally joined HGVC by buying at the Flamingo.

Steve

 

[dvc_john]

The term 'flex week' (also known as 'floating week') isn't a term totally out of place when used with HGVC.

As mentioned, with HGVC, you buy a week in a particular resort, in a particular size unit, and IN A PARTICULAR SEASON. If you use the home resort booking preference, (12 months out to 9 months out), it works pretty much like Marriott. You book a week in your home resort in the size unit and SEASON you own, and you must check-in on that resort's normal check-in day-of-the-week.

However, that week is also worth a given number of points, and at 9 months out, you can use the points pretty much any way you want (any resort, any size unit, any season, any number of days with a 3-day minimum, any check-in day-of-the-week).

 

[Bigbird130]

Flex Weel

Thanks very much for the postungs about Flex Week.
I understand that concept a lot better now and the week I was looking at showed onr of the ime frames you mentioned.
Still planning but your posts helped quite a bit