HGCV vs Honors vs RCI Useage

[DazedandConfused]

My BIL just told me he is a HGVC owner at Elara and has 7,000 points and that he bought from developer for $25,000 (he knows nothing about resale and I estimate $7,000 value)

He is happy with the timeshare and has a question on best use for visiting Hong Kong and I am posting for advice. He already booked 5 nights at Hilton Sunrise Lodge in Park City for 4,000 points and was happy with that trip.

He currently has
560,000 Hilton Honors points and Diamond membership (I assume these can be used for hotel booking)
10,800 HGVC available points for 2017 (can tehse be converted into Hilton Honors at 25?)
7,000 HGVC points for 2018
4,800 RCI points banked (Not sure how valuable those are, but probably can be used in Disney, etc.)

There are a ton of links on TUG, can anyone point me to a few of the more informative ones?

Has anyone used Honors or HGVC points for Hong Kong?

-Thanks

 

[Talent312]

My BIL just told me he is a HGVC owner at Elara and has 7,000 points...
He currently has... 10,800 HGVC available points for 2017 (can these be converted into Hilton Honors at 25?)

The conversion rate for current-year points is 1:20 -- For 2018, its 1:25 (if done b4 2018).
Converting HGVC to HHonors' pesos is considered a poor use of points.
Using 4,800 points for RCI will get you a 2BR, red-week unit... May as well use 'em, if you can.
.

 

[presley]

I don't know what timeshares are in Hong Kong. He can look through the RCI directory online and see what is available for an exchange. If there isn't anything, then he would want to use his Hhonors points for a hotel stay. Since the value is pretty bad, hopefully he can just use the Hhonors points he already has. I know if you book through the Hhonors site, you get one night free when staying 5 nights or longer on Hhonors points only.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Thanks for the replies.

I told him to use the 4,800 RCI points for something in the USA and if anyone has any recommendations, I would appreciate it.

I also advised to use some of the 560,000 Hilton Honors points and Diamond membership to book a hotel in Hong Kong for around 30,000-50,000 per night.

In terms of good or bad use of points, he is not technically looking for the best use of points, he just has a lot to use and does not want to loose any and also wants to use what he has vs paying cash if possible.

I also advised to book at HGVC for a few trips using his 17,000 or so HGVC points.

So far, he has been to Elara and Park City via HGVC.

I also do NOT discuss resale prices, but I am pretty sure it is worth less than $10,000 and he has a loan on his purchase.

 

[presley]

Sounds like a chunk of his 2017 points are bonus points. He can convert those to MFs if it looks like he is going to have too many at the end of the year. Also, bonus points can be converted to Hhonors at no charge before they expire. The Hhonors points won't ever expire and those will be good at the hotels.

He can also combine all of the HGVC points for a cruise. There will be some cost involved, but he get most of it paid for with points. It's something to consider if he can't take that many vacations this year or next and it's better than losing points.

 

[Nomad420]

As others seem to be leaning towards, he can book with HH points in Hong Kong but I would suspect those are going to be high point hotels, maybe even more than 50k/night for a decent room (hence poor value on the 25 to 1 conversion as others stated). As noted above, Hilton does through the free after a four night stay, this was done to appease angry HGVC members when they saw their point values decreasing a couple years back I was told. Have him go online to the Hilton site and check his hotel option there, that will give him all the locations and his point/room options. That is an easy first step.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Thanks for the good advice

What are the RCI points worth and is 7,000 points at Elara a platinum week or just enough points to book a 2 bedroom at a premium week?

Is there a comprehensive HGVC point chart somewhere?

 

[presley]

What are the RCI points worth and is 7,000 points at Elara a platinum week or just enough points to book a 2 bedroom at a premium week?

If you book Elara through HGVC 7,000 is for a gold week 2 bedroom plus or a one bedroom platinum one bedroom grand. If you book via RCI, a 2 bedroom any week is 4800 points, a one bedroom any week is 3400 points.

The chart is in the online account, so he will have to look it up for himself. I will copy/paste but don't know if you have to be logged in to see it. http://www.hiltongrandvacations.com/nevada/elara-hgvc/?standalone=true