Smclaugh99
TUG Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2018
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- 241
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- Resorts Owned
- HGVC Hilton Club
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)
Addendum: I also got 80,000 bonus points, which expire in 2 years but can be used to help pay for MF.
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)
Addendum: I also got 80,000 bonus points, which expire in 2 years but can be used to help pay for MF.
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