How was the offer for $1,700? Was it as a fee or upgrade?
Interesting. That number has never come up and isn't in the guidebook but shows that the salespeople have flexibility with that initiation fee.
If you really want to go to KBC, here's the order in which I'd make a purchase based on ability to exchange/reserve: 1. Resale deeded KBC week, 2. HI Collection points, 3. Resale deeded DRI week elsewhere and use DeX, 4. HGV Max purchase. 5. Resale week outside of DRI and HGVC, and use RCI. I did #3, and I'm very happy with ability to exchange into KBC during most of the year; I can select the view category when I exchange. MFs for #1 and #2 far outweigh the benefits for me. In time, we'll see if #4 moves up.
HGV Max also has to show that the combined company is worth continuing to do business, since the entire program marks a major shift in how HGV is treating owners. To put penalties on resale was expected and appear to be appropriately harsh but still allows for exchange within your program (When the loss of Open Season really starts hitting I see some holdings losing even more resale value.) The requiring of retail owners to make another purchase in order to access is an indication that many of the issues that inflated Diamond maintenance fees may be on their way to HGV in order to satisfy private equity.
I can't find the $7k one but this posted today on the general HGVC FB group:
I believe what you are seeing is a result of the 1.6X points expansion for the HGV/DR merger. HGV Club owners are getting a 1.6X revision of their previous points level to bring the points in line with what the point levels are in DR. If you previously owned 10,000 HGV points or a deed with an equivalent value, that point level is now 16,000 points. I don't believe that you lost anything on point buying power as this was just a revaluation.
The $7,000 Initiation Fee is shown on page 26 of the HGVC Club Reference Guide updated on April 4, 2022. I am not an HGVC owner but someone posted the link to the document when it was released and I downloaded a copy.
The HH conversion just needed to be explained to them since that hasn't changed, but interesting part was that a) he may have just "upgraded" from a 6700 old point to a 11k new point, barely gained and lost HH conversion amounts and b) he upgraded for only $8k and received Max so that tells us that the story of minimum $25k or $50k to upgrade into Max isn't true.
This is still being discussed in FB but sounds like his prior points were new points so he did gain. He is asking what else he loses by doing this. Since you own in NYC, what all did he lose?
Are you part of the HGVC FB group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/HGVCowners? Maybe respond to his post and provide some thoughts? I don't know enough about NYC properties.
I am not sure all that many bHC owners know about the AI option. We bought resale W 57th last year, and there was nothing about it in any of the paperwork - even our agent, one frequently recommended here at TUG as knowledgeable about HGVC, seemed unfamiliar when we mentioned it during the purchase process.
