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So my fiancé and I fell sucker to the sales pitch this June at the Las Vegas pitch and purchased a small timeshare. Generally, I am well more prepared and do my due diligence on things, but I admit I fell short - very short on this one! He was very much suckered in to the vacations "for the future kids" and our upcoming honeymoon. With that said, I am not entirely sure WHAT we can do with what we purchased since we got such a small package:

- 3,400 Points, 1 Bedroom, Gold Status, Friday check-ins even year contract
- 3,400 Bonus Points

Ideally, we are looking to travel somewhere unique / exotic for our honeymoon next year between end of October through end of February is the desired window. I am unsure if the best bang for our buck is to go through what / if anything I can find via the HGVC or attempt to find something at RCI. Extremely overwhelmed at looking at everything and disappointed in our financial decision (*to note, we are not financing through Hilton and used the American Express cc to utilize the 0% interest for 12 months and plan on paying off the purchase during that time so it will be purchased interest fee at least just maybe eating a bunch of Ramon noodles along the way!) as I know we most definitely overpaid since purchased through a developer. Any advice on how to salvage this purchase and make it usable would be greatly appreciated!
 

Talent312

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Don't beat yourself over this. Many here have succumbed to the wiles of sales-weasels.
Just spend some time figuring out how best to use the little point package you have.

Thru a combination of saving points from one year to the following year, and borrowing from the next, you can put together up to 6,800 points. Alternatively, by booking smaller units (studios) or less than 1-week stays (minimum = 3 days), you'll save enuff points for multiple trips. I own 2- 2BR's, but usually stay in 1BR's for no more than 4-5 days at a time. RCI is a decent option, since you have access to both points + weeks inventory, but weeks seem more the norm, and quality is often not up to Hilton standards.

BTW, be sure to use those Bonus Points first. You must book something before they expire, even if the stay is later. Also, they cannot be combined w-club points to make your stay better. Try not to convert them to HHonors as that is a notoriously poor use of points.

Eventually, you may want to dump this little one, and buy a heftier package. But in the future, buy resale, since you'll only pay ~ 1/3 as much as direct from HGVC.

.
 

GT75

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sucker to the sales pitch

Welcome to TUG. I agree completely with the advice that @Talent312 has already given you. So lets start planning for that upcoming trip. You could select HI. HGVC has plenty of good options there. I would also add Fiesta Americana-Los Cabo to the mix. We will be going on our fourth trip there this upcoming February. February is a great time for Los Cabo since the weather is warm and it is whale season.

The key is to plan at making a reservation for whereever you select exactly when the club window opens (9-month mark are specifically 276 days before check-out date)

BTW, be sure to use those Bonus Points first. You must book something before they expire, even if the stay is later. Also, they cannot be combined w-club points to make your stay better.
.

It is a true statement that bonus points can NOT be combined with bonus points in the same reservations. You can make one reservation with regular points and another one with bonus points to make one longer stay at the same location. I would follow the advise to use the bonus points on a HGVC or RCI reservation before they expire.
 

knagel

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you can use bonus points to pay maintenance fees also as another option. Not a good conversion but for "free" points might be a good use.
 

jehb2

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There are 3 HGVC resorts in Thailand that would meet your request for unique and exotic. Phuket and Koh Samui are gorgeous beach destinations. Chiang Mai is just a really neat place to visit. I would go to either beach destination plus Chiang Mai. The weather in Thailand is perfect when its winter everywhere else (except Australia). Summer is rainy season.
 
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I am thinking either Thailand or Indonesia... has anyone stayed at the resorts there before? Would it be a good idea to look into using points at RCI as well/instead? I've heard mixed reviews! Thank you all for the advice :)
 
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HGVC called and want to purchase back my timeshare for about what I paid/slightly more should I sell and divest, sell and repurchase a large package or stay put?
 

PigsDad

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HGVC called and want to purchase back my timeshare for about what I paid/slightly more should I sell and divest, sell and repurchase a large package or stay put?
Definitely take them up on their offer! Then you can take your time, do some more research, and if it still makes sense you can buy what will work for you (resale, of course).

Kurt
 

presley

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HGVC called and want to purchase back my timeshare for about what I paid/slightly more should I sell and divest, sell and repurchase a large package or stay put?
That sounds off. Are they willing to buy it outright or are they just upselling you on something else? They will take previous contracts back if you purchase a much higher value contract. In other words, you'll come out paying much more than what you are paying right now.
 
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That sounds off. Are they willing to buy it outright or are they just upselling you on something else? They will take previous contracts back if you purchase a much higher value contract. In other words, you'll come out paying much more than what you are paying right now.
Buy outright. They talked about buying outright or paying to rent this year's timeshare. My FH is the one who suggested maybe in the purchase larger program.
 

GT75

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I haven’t heard of this before (at least not for this small of package). I would make sure that you are dealing with Hilton directly.
 

Passepartout

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Something fishy here. They already have plenty of weeks to sell. What makes YOURS so special that the developer would offer to buy it? I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the call was NOT from HGVC, but from some scammer wanting you to pay them some fee to initiate this 'transfer'.

BEWARE!

Jim
 
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Something fishy here. They already have plenty of weeks to sell. What makes YOURS so special that the developer would offer to buy it? I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the call was NOT from HGVC, but from some scammer wanting you to pay them some fee to initiate this 'transfer'.

BEWARE!

Jim
I called the HGVC line directly. I know they do buy back on occasion, but agree have never heard at above what they sold it to you for.
 

Mosescan

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If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Beware!
 

PigsDad

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Buy outright. They talked about buying outright or paying to rent this year's timeshare. My FH is the one who suggested maybe in the purchase larger program.
I called the HGVC line directly. I know they do buy back on occasion, but agree have never heard at above what they sold it to you for.
The highlighted line above makes me wonder if this is a scam. Did "they" call you initially? How did you confirm it really was HGVC? Where did you get the number to call HGVC directly? From the person who called you, or from the website?

I agree, something is fishy. There have been reports of HGVC buying back from owners, but they tend to be NY properties.

Kurt
 

Tamaradarann

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Buy outright. They talked about buying outright or paying to rent this year's timeshare. My FH is the one who suggested maybe in the purchase larger program.

I get calls all the time from groups trying to say that they are associated with Hilton, Marriott, Wyndham and that they want to buy or rent your timeshare or your points or sell you a vacation package on behalf of those properties.
The suggestion to call HGVC from their website is good advice. That advice is equivalent to calling a bank, apple, or investment company phone number directly when you get a phishing e-mail rather than providing the information is requested in the e-mail.
 

rickandcindy23

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This is a scam. That is not Hilton offering anything. It's a scammer wanting you to pay them something. Do not fall for it, pay nothing at all to this dishonest person. Scammers are literally calling me daily about my timeshares (because I bought so many resale weeks and points).
 

IrishDave

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i agree with everything above. Use the bonus points first and the buy back sounds like a scam.

Back to your original question. As earlier suggested, you could do every other year or every third year vacations to roll over and/or borrow points to get a larger number or to get a more "useful" number of points you could buy a similar package via resale. Small point packages appear to be pretty cheap, but you would have the maintenance fees to consider.
 
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