Getting into The Quin Penthouses

[Smclaugh99]

This is definitely a TLDR post and may only be interesting to people who have thought about trading back deeds to reshape their ownership. My situation may not be applicable to many others as my ownership has always been NYC centric on purpose.

Just returned from New York City and did my first owners update there since 2021. As we’ve all experienced, they aggressively reach out to you before your trip to lock you in. It’s always so amusing how they make it sound like it truly will be an informational (not sales) presentation. I had successfully ignored the phone calls and emails but saw I’d have a morning without any big plans so finally acquiesced for Sunday at 8:30am and a $275 Visa gift card. My last New York update, I traded in a couple of resales I had purchased on eBay (Residences gold week and W57 EOY deeds that I paid sum total about $5k) that gave me $90k equity and got into The Quin with a studio premier plus for a little north of $30k. At that time, it got me to Elite Premier. At an update in early 2022, I exchanged a gold resale STP W57 (that cost me $500) for a platinum STP at Orlando update for $12k that got me into Max. If we remember that time, there was a bit of a FOMO push for Max. Sadly, I went from being Elite Premier to Max Premier Plus (which ultimately was a downgrade). In the meantime, I added The Central Studio Penthouse resale for $17k late 2023.

So my deeds going into the update were:

HCNY 38400
HCNY 8000 (resale)
West 57th 8400
West 57th 16800 (2 weeks) (resale)
The Quin 20160
The Central 23040 (resale)
HGVC SeaWorld 11,200 (resale)

My long-term strategy has been to eventually get into the Quin Penthouses. Ever since I was put up in rooms 1804 and 1803 (1BR + Studio lockoff) when my Hilton Club 2BR reservation was moved during midtown Hilton extended COVID lockdown, the seed was planted. It was by far the nicest room in the entire New York Hilton portfolio that I experienced with a beautiful outdoor terrace and Central Park view. Unfortunately, owning a regular Quin deed got me no closer to the Penthouses as they became a separate entity with fixed week and fixed unit ownership.

So going into this update I figured I would shoot my shot. Thankfully, my guy was not the typical smarmy and condescending sales weasel and after looking at my complicated ownership asked if there’s anything I’d like to change about it. I told him I’d be willing to put in some more money if I could trade in some of my deeds and get into the Quin 1BR Penthouse 1804 and possibly get me to Centum.

After several back-and-forth proposals, (merging multiple deed take backs) and knocking down new money required, we agreed to Quin 1BR Penthouse (unit 1804 during week 41 which happens to fall on my son’s annual fall break) for $56k, giving back my Quin week & HCNY 8000 points as equity.

He said it would take a while to get the paperwork put together because of the trade backs and waiting for the penthouse unit to officially get back into the inventory. So I left, planning to come back later in the afternoon to sign the papers. Several hours later, he contacted me about a snag in the deal. Apparently corporate would not let him sell 1804 as a standalone deed as it is considered a “two bedroom” unit with 1803 that locks off with it. He could offer me 1702 for less money but that unit did not seem as impressive as 1804. He called back later with new offer of 1804 + 1803 (1BR PH + Studio PH), week 41, for $390,579.

They would take back both W57, Quin, HCNY 8000 deeds as equity of $327,640. This made the new money owed $62,939 +9k closing. It would also put me at Centum. I agreed because it got me to my goal and I don’t think I could find a comparable resale given the unique nature of the Quin individual and limited penthouses. It allowed me to keep my larger HCNY and The Central ownerships. It took away my ownership in W57 but I can always get back in with a resale fairly easily.

This hybrid ownership has allowed me to use dollar cost averaging and leverage resale and retail ownerships to build a NYC portfolio in a less costly manner. Ultimately this purchase of a $391K (56,640 points) ownership cost me about $2/point in “real” money. MF will be $0.14/point. Again, not for everyone and YMMV.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Sean

(Pics from 1804 when I stayed there in September 2021)

https://imgur.com/a/B9VsnJJ

Addendum: I also got 80,000 bonus points, which expire in 2 years but can be used to help pay for MF.

 

[ASDR7]

I'm impressed you were able to do this. I've been trying to figure out if getting status is possible via resale and wheeling and dealing. We are still researching and deciding between HGVC and Marriott.

 

[frank808]

Glad you got what you wanted! I have done something like this with our Marriott portfolio. I do love new york and am looking at buying a deed at The Residences. We will probably start going to NY at least annually.

With your knowledge, what is better to buy and MF costs per point? The Hilton Club or the Residences? We do like to stay 1br units and not keen to stay in studios.

Have you seen Quinn Penthouse deeds on resale yet? If so what does resale run?

Does your $2 per point include all the closing costs from the 3 retail turn in trades?

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

 

[Smclaugh99]

L

Glad you got what you wanted! I have done something like this with our Marriott portfolio. I do love new york and am looking at buying a deed at The Residences. We will probably start going to NY at least annually.

With your knowledge, what is better to buy and MF costs per point? The Hilton Club or the Residences? We do like to stay 1br units and not keen to stay in studios.

Have you seen Quinn Penthouse deeds on resale yet? If so what does resale run?

Does your $2 per point include all the closing costs from the 3 retail turn in trades?

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

Hilton Club is its own entity in that only owners (or RCI traders) can book there. I like it because it has large two bedroom units and you’re competing with less people for booking. The knock on it is that it’s the oldest Hilton New York timeshare and MF are the costliest. You do get daily housekeeping for no extra charge and more favorable conversion to Hilton Honors (1:32) in that any allotment can be converted at any time instead of entire allotment prior to the start of the year. The Residences is several floors up in the same Midtown Hilton, much newer, and “fancier”. There are no two bedroom units. It costs more points to book their selection of rooms. I have not been keen to own there because to me it’s not that much different than Hilton Club just a couple floors down and they even share the same bank of elevators.

Probably the easiest resale now is West 57th. Redweek has 120 resales there. Everything is making it through ROFR. It has the least number of points to book and most restrictive window since it was HGVC second NYC timeshare.

I have only seen one Quin penthouse on resale in the timeshare MLS for $55,000 I believe. The $2/point includes closing costs and benefits from some very cheap resales that passed ROFR. The 8000 HCNY I got during Covid cost only $10 (!).

Sean

 

[Snezz1e]

Glad you got what you wanted! I have done something like this with our Marriott portfolio. I do love new york and am looking at buying a deed at The Residences. We will probably start going to NY at least annually.

With your knowledge, what is better to buy and MF costs per point? The Hilton Club or the Residences? We do like to stay 1br units and not keen to stay in studios.

Have you seen Quinn Penthouse deeds on resale yet? If so what does resale run?

Does your $2 per point include all the closing costs from the 3 retail turn in trades?

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

When I first started buying deeds I ruled out HCNY due to higher MF/point. I took a second looks later and it's actually a decent option. Yes, the MF is higher but the rooms cost a little less points so it balances it out a little bit. Plus it's only way for two bedroom. If the points you get is used exclusively for HCNY booking than it's a good option. If you start using those points for other stuff it's not so good anymore.

I was able to get a Penthouse Studio at Quinn resale for $28k. I think I got lucky finding it.

 

[Snezz1e]

I don't see how you have Centum with what you listed. 56,640 from Quin and 38400 from HCNY is 95,040.

 

[Smclaugh99]

I don't see how you have Centum with what you listed. 56,640 from Quin and 38400 from HCNY is 95,040.

That’s what I thought as well but I didn’t say anything. They may have grandfathered in my 23040 The Central Studio Penthouse since they have that discretion. I didn’t push the issue. The paperwork I signed said Centum, but we will see when everything gets entered in the computer. Truthfully I don’t care because it’s not that different from Max Premier Plus — it would just prevent a future update salesperson from trying to get me to the next/last rung of “status.”

 

[Smclaugh99]

When I first started buying deeds I ruled out HCNY due to higher MF/point. I took a second looks later and it's actually a decent option. Yes, the MF is higher but the rooms cost a little less points so it balances it out a little bit. Plus it's only way for two bedroom. If the points you get is used exclusively for HCNY booking than it's a good option. If you start using those points for other stuff it's not so good anymore.

I was able to get a Penthouse Studio at Quinn resale for $28k. I think I got lucky finding it.

That’s what made me pull the trigger on this deal. I justified that the 1BR PH was 50K and the studio PH was 20K in the math, which would be a nice resale find.

 

[GT75]

it would just prevents a future update salesperson from trying to get me to the next/last rung of “status.”

Don't worry, there will certainly be another wonderful reason a salesperson will dream up.

 

[TolmiePeak]

Why are the prices in NYC so high with the high maintenance fees? I thought they would have very little value?

 

[Reddart]

Desirable locations and very nice accommodations.

 

[bizaro86]

Why are the prices in NYC so high with the high maintenance fees? I thought they would have very little value?

Generally TS prices are set as the value of the future accommodations less the value of the future maintenance fees. Some places that have high maintenance fees per unit (eg NYC hiltons, Disney Vacation Club) still have high value because the cash value of the accommodations are still higher/much higher than the MF.

Of course, this can go to far. For example Manhattan Club is nice and has a great location, but fees have run up so high (combined with booking issues reducing the value of the accommodation possible) that value has gone to zero.

 

[Eric B]

Great hearing about other good trade ins, @Smclaugh99. We originally traded in a gold District and a gold W57 studio for our first studio penthouse at The Quin and just added another by trading in a platinum W57 studio. Haven’t tried 1804 yet, but we’ve scored the 2-story 1 BR PH, 1901, a couple of times, which is truly impressive, as well as 1702, which is quite nice. We’ve also booked 1701 in a few months - that one isn’t in a great spot but will suffice in February when we don’t want to spend time on the terrace anyway.

 

[Eric B]

One thing to point out - owners at The Quin of regular units can book at The Penthouses at The Quin in the Home Resort Reservation Period as well as vice versa. Same thing is true for open season booking. IMHO, the split resort codes just sets it up to avoid upgrades to penthouse units for elite status owners. The two are part of a single ownership group by the POS.

 

[bizaro86]

One thing to point out - owners at The Quin of regular units can book at The Penthouses at The Quin in the Home Resort Reservation Period as well as vice versa. Same thing is true for open season booking. IMHO, the split resort codes just sets it up to avoid upgrades to penthouse units for elite status owners. The two are part of a single ownership group by the POS.

That's interesting and quite valuable (imo, anyway) to be able to save points/access more availability. Additional flexibility almost certainly adds value.

 

[Chris-ATX]

This is definitely a TLDR post and may only be interesting to people who have thought about trading back deeds to reshape their ownership. My situation may not be applicable to many others as my ownership has always been NYC centric on purpose.

Just returned from New York City and did my first owners update there since 2021. As we’ve all experienced, they aggressively reach out to you before your trip to lock you in. It’s always so amusing how they make it sound like it truly will be an informational (not sales) presentation. I had successfully ignored the phone calls and emails but saw I’d have a morning without any big plans so finally acquiesced for Sunday at 8:30am and a $275 Visa gift card. My last New York update, I traded in a couple of resales I had purchased on eBay (Residences gold week and W57 EOY deeds that I paid sum total about $5k) that gave me $90k equity and got into The Quin with a studio premier plus for a little north of $30k. At that time, it got me to Elite Premier. At an update in early 2022, I exchanged a gold resale STP W57 (that cost me $500) for a platinum STP at Orlando update for $12k that got me into Max. If we remember that time, there was a bit of a FOMO push for Max. Sadly, I went from being Elite Premier to Max Premier Plus (which ultimately was a downgrade). In the meantime, I added The Central Studio Penthouse resale for $17k late 2023.

So my deeds going into the update were:

HCNY 38400
HCNY 8000 (resale)
West 57th 8400
West 57th 16800 (2 weeks) (resale)
The Quin 20160
The Central 23040 (resale)
HGVC SeaWorld 11,200 (resale)

My long-term strategy has been to eventually get into the Quin Penthouses. Ever since I was put up in rooms 1804 and 1803 (1BR + Studio lockoff) when my Hilton Club 2BR reservation was moved during midtown Hilton extended COVID lockdown, the seed was planted. It was by far the nicest room in the entire New York Hilton portfolio that I experienced with a beautiful outdoor terrace and Central Park view. Unfortunately, owning a regular Quin deed got me no closer to the Penthouses as they became a separate entity with fixed week and fixed unit ownership.

So going into this update I figured I would shoot my shot. Thankfully, my guy was not the typical smarmy and condescending sales weasel and after looking at my complicated ownership asked if there’s anything I’d like to change about it. I told him I’d be willing to put in some more money if I could trade in some of my deeds and get into the Quin 1BR Penthouse 1804 and possibly get me to Centum.

After several back-and-forth proposals, (merging multiple deed take backs) and knocking down new money required, we agreed to Quin 1BR Penthouse (unit 1804 during week 41 which happens to fall on my son’s annual fall break) for $56k, giving back my Quin week & HCNY 8000 points as equity.

He said it would take a while to get the paperwork put together because of the trade backs and waiting for the penthouse unit to officially get back into the inventory. So I left, planning to come back later in the afternoon to sign the papers. Several hours later, he contacted me about a snag in the deal. Apparently corporate would not let him sell 1804 as a standalone deed as it is considered a “two bedroom” unit with 1803 that locks off with it. He could offer me 1702 for less money but that unit did not seem as impressive as 1804. He called back later with new offer of 1804 + 1803 (1BR PH + Studio PH), week 41, for $390,579.

They would take back both W57, Quin, HCNY 8000 deeds as equity of $327,640. This made the new money owed $62,939 +9k closing. It would also put me at Centum. I agreed because it got me to my goal and I don’t think I could find a comparable resale given the unique nature of the Quin individual and limited penthouses. It allowed me to keep my larger HCNY and The Central ownerships. It took away my ownership in W57 but I can always get back in with a resale fairly easily.

This hybrid ownership has allowed me to use dollar cost averaging and leverage resale and retail ownerships to build a NYC portfolio in a less costly manner. Ultimately this purchase of a $391K (56,640 points) ownership cost me about $2/point in “real” money. MF will be $0.14/point. Again, not for everyone and YMMV.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Sean

(Pics from 1804 when I stayed there in September 2021)

https://imgur.com/a/B9VsnJJ

Addendum: I also got 80,000 bonus points, which expire in 2 years but can be used to help pay for MF.

really interesting, thank you for sharing this.

 

[Snezz1e]

Great hearing about other good trade ins, @Smclaugh99. We originally traded in a gold District and a gold W57 studio for our first studio penthouse at The Quin and just added another by trading in a platinum W57 studio. Haven’t tried 1804 yet, but we’ve scored the 2-story 1 BR PH, 1901, a couple of times, which is truly impressive, as well as 1702, which is quite nice. We’ve also booked 1701 in a few months - that one isn’t in a great spot but will suffice in February when we don’t want to spend time on the terrace anyway.

Didn't pay any attention to what I actually own at Quin since I was mainly buying it for the cheap MF/point. I have 1703 week 11. I usually go to NYC on week 11 or 12 so I can actually use it if I wanted to. For me I find it a little hard to justify actually staying there. It's still a bit cold to use terrace in March. I can get either a 1 Bedroom or Studio Premier at W57 at half the point cost. I never stayed at Studio Premier at W57 but it has a bigger square footage and a higher floor compared to the studio Penthouse at Quin. I did use my open season credit to stay one night in the Studio Premier Plus at the Quin. I didn't find it much better than a standard studio at W57. Everything looked newer and slightly fancier but it's just a place to sleep for me.

 

[Eric B]

Didn't pay any attention to what I actually own at Quin since I was mainly buying it for the cheap MF/point. I have 1703 week 11. I usually go to NYC on week 11 or 12 so I can actually use it if I wanted to. For me I find it a little hard to justify actually staying there. It's still a bit cold to use terrace in March. I can get either a 1 Bedroom or Studio Premier at W57 at half the point cost. I never stayed at Studio Premier at W57 but it has a bigger square footage and a higher floor compared to the studio Penthouse at Quin. I did use my open season credit to stay one night in the Studio Premier Plus at the Quin. I didn't find it much better than a standard studio at W57. Everything looked newer and slightly fancier but it's just a place to sleep for me.

1703 is nice because it's on 6th Avenue but it's a bit on the small side even with the terrace. I'd use it as a home week if I owned Thanksgiving, otherwise it's a great source of low MF points to use elsewhere at The Quin and they're low enough to use outside of Hilton Club level properties without feeling too bad.

 

[Snezz1e]

That’s what I thought as well but I didn’t say anything. They may have grandfathered in my 23040 The Central Studio Penthouse since they have that discretion. I didn’t push the issue. The paperwork I signed said Centum, but we will see when everything gets entered in the computer. Truthfully I don’t care because it’s not that different from Max Premier Plus — it would just prevent a future update salesperson from trying to get me to the next/last rung of “status.”

I just got Centum myself and I think I already benefited from it. Have a 7 day Thanksgiving week booking in Oahu which required a lot of work to get in the first place. Was notified a few days ago I got a free upgrade to the next room level. So someone cancelled and they gave me the upgrade even though if they left it out there someone would of probably booked it in less than 24 hours. I think Centum gave me first dibs on the upgrade. There probably would of been too many people to compete with if I only had Premier+.

I'm waiting for everything to go through before I post any major details. I traded in for two new deeds. The first one I paid too much but the second one was a killer deal that broke a lot of their rules. I was warned second one might not go through but they would try to justify it with what I was spending on the first. I would be stuck with first deal (which is enough for Centum) regardless if it goes through or not. I took the risk. First deed appeared on my account after two weeks. Second one still has not after 8 weeks. After several follow-ups I was told last week that everything should be good to go after another week. Still waiting. So a signed contract isn't enough to get this second one through. So you may have to fight for it.

 

[Smclaugh99]

I just got Centum myself and I think I already benefited from it. Have a 7 day Thanksgiving week booking in Oahu which required a lot of work to get in the first place. Was notified a few days ago I got a free upgrade to the next room level. So someone cancelled and they gave me the upgrade even though if they left it out there someone would of probably booked it in less than 24 hours. I think Centum gave me first dibs on the upgrade. There probably would of been too many people to compete with if I only had Premier+.

I'm waiting for everything to go through before I post any major details. I traded in for two new deeds. The first one I paid too much but the second one was a killer deal that broke a lot of their rules. I was warned second one might not go through but they would try to justify it with what I was spending on the first. I would be stuck with first deal (which is enough for Centum) regardless if it goes through or not. I took the risk. First deed appeared on my account after two weeks. Second one still has not after 8 weeks. After several follow-ups I was told last week that everything should be good to go after another week. Still waiting. So a signed contract isn't enough to get this second one through. So you may have to fight for it.

Congrats! Can’t wait to hear the details!

 

[Skyyblueplaya]

This is amazing! That room looks GREAT!
I love hearing you guys talk about your deals, I have no idea what anyone is talking about but with time I will learn what all of these things mean! I know, that at the end of the day you have an AMAZING place to stay in NYC

 

[CalGalTraveler]

One thing to point out - owners at The Quin of regular units can book at The Penthouses at The Quin in the Home Resort Reservation Period as well as vice versa. Same thing is true for open season booking. IMHO, the split resort codes just sets it up to avoid upgrades to penthouse units for elite status owners. The two are part of a single ownership group by the POS.

This is very interesting. I can see the penthouse terraces when I stay at W57 from the front side of the building. They look nice.

This brings up five questions.

1) What is typical availability during peak season of Penthouses for non-penthouse owner trades using Resort reservations window? Do most Penthouse owners tend to use their unit or trade?

2) If one wanted to buy a non-penthouse unit what is the unit, with the best MF/point value for trading into Penthouse

3) What is the best Penthouse unit(s) to buy for MF/pt and location to use?

4) Where is the best place to find resale Quin units?

5) Is the Quin lounge now open for full breakfast and evening. Is Penthouse service any different than Regular Quin?

 

[Reddart]

I was curious myself, I saw 0 availability for the 1804 PH in the future, and pretty spotty ability of PH in general, though I’m not an owner at the Quin.

 

[Eric B]

1) Is the Quin lounge now open for full breakfast and evening. Is Penthouse service any different than Regular Quin?

See the following thread:

The Quin Owners Lounge

Up at The Quin this weekend and figured I'd share a few pictures of the Owners Lounge. This is their spread for breakfast:

tugbbs.com

The owners lounge is the same for the Penthouse units and the regular ones - it's on the third floor at the W57/6th corner.

2) What is typical availability during peak season of Penthouses for non-penthouse owner trades using Resort reservations window? Do most Penthouse owners tend to use their unit or trade?

All of the penthouse units are set up as fixed week fixed unit ownerships with reservations automatically made 18 months in advance. It's a bit tough to tell how typical availability will wind up being as they haven't been fully sold out for long. I have been able to reserve several of the 1 BR units on a number of occasions and even scored a studio penthouse with a terrace for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. I wouldn't expect Thanksgiving week to be available with any sort of regularity. Same for week 35 for the U.S. Open. I, for one, typically trade my studio penthouse weeks for points and use the points during the home resort priority reservation window. The MF/point on those is low enough to use outside of bHC as well IMHO.

3) If one wanted to buy a non-penthouse unit what is the unit with the best MF/point value for trading into Penthouse

See this post from the 2024 MFs:

2024 Hilton Grand Vacations Maintenance Fees

HGVC SOUTH BEACH MIAMI 2024 - 1 BEDROOM PLATINUM Operating Fee: $1058.57 Reserve Fee: $256.82 Property Taxes: $105.89 Developer Subsidy/ Special Assessment: $0 (none) TOTAL: $1421.28 Increase over 2023: 14.2% ($176.71) Increase in MF primarily driven by significant year-over-year increase in...

tugbbs.com

Studio Premier+ comes out the best (2024 Platinum $0.1324) followed somewhat distantly by 1 BR Premier+ ($0.1606).

4) Where is the best place to find resale Quin units?

I don't know about the best, but there are a few available on Judi Koz's website. Looks like the lowest asking price for a Studio Premier+ is $22K and she has a week 35 1 BR PH (unit 1702, which is a nice unit) for $50K.

 

[Snezz1e]

I think anyone with an account can see availability 12 months out. It's slightly greyed out but visible. Availability isn't great even if you book at the edge of the 9 month window. The automatic reservation probably hurts availability a lot. People only have to cancel 31 days out so you're dealing with a bunch of random cancellations. This is one area where the search request for Max owners can be useful.


For some reason my fixed week ownership isn't reserved in advance. The home week portion of site say not bookable online.