HGVC - Does it matter what location your deed is at?

[dpavid]

Newbie wondering...

If hgvc is based on a point system, does it really matter where my deed is located at? Besides paying an extra $50-100 to stay at another hgvc resort, what are the advantages? BTW-is this fee per night or stay?

Here's my logic. I live in Hawaii and travel to Waikoloa every year just to get away. I recently bought at the new Waikoloa HGVC and then rescinded after I found this site. I initially bought 5800 EOY + 1084 maint EOY for $15620.

I still want a hgvc package but have been considering somewhere cheaper like Orlando where I can get 7000 every year and only $600-700 maint per year for less than what I paid. I'll probably never use my Orlando location and just blow all the points at Waikoloa on a couple weekends per year.

Does this make sense? I'll get more points, less maint fees, cheaper price on deed, etc... but still be able to use my points at Waikoloa.

Am I missing something? What are the advantages of buying into a specific location besides priority booking?

 

[Cathyb]

we don't own hgvc yet, but i believe where you buy you can request 12 months out but if you bought in florida and wanted hawaii, you have to wait until 8 months out and run risk of not getting the specific hawaii time you want. Owners, am i correct?

 

[Bill4728]

we don't own hgvc yet, but i believe where you buy you can request 12 months out but if you bought in florida and wanted hawaii, you have to wait until 8 months out and run risk of not getting the specific hawaii time you want. Owners, am i correct?

That is correct. By using HGVC points from another resort, you aren't allowed to make a reservation in the 12 -9 months "home reservation" period. If you always want a week at HHV during the summer, the home reservation period may be important, but if you're like the OP and want anytime of the year getaways, where your points are home based should not matter.

I recently bought at the new Waikoloa HGVC and then rescinded after I found this site. I initially bought 5800 EOY + 1084 maint EOY for $15620.

I still want a hgvc package but have been considering somewhere cheaper like Orlando where I can get 7000 every year and only $600-700 maint per year for less than what I paid. I'll probably never use my Orlando location and just blow all the points at Waikoloa on a couple weekends per year.

You should look at Orlando & LV weeks. For less than the $15K you should be able to buy 7000 annual points at either. The LV weeks seem to have lower MF and in the long run may make them a better value.

 

[jlee2070]

Like the others have said... For the "Home" resort, the reservation period is up to 12 Months out. Otherwise, it's 9 Months out for any other resort in the system.

As to the 9 Month window to Hawaii, I have not had any problems getting what I wanted so far. I have not tried for Holiday Weeks but have easily gotten summer weeks. Just do it right at the 9 month mark to the day and things should work out. However, if you want July 4th Week (or some other holiday week) every year, it might be best to buy at the Waikoloa Resort to get the 12 Month Reservation Window..

I own in Las Vegas but hardly go there... Mostly I use the points in Hawaii to add to my Marriott Waiohai Week on Kauai for a nice 2 to 3 week stay.

 

[ricoba]

I concur with the others.

Unless you need a specific week/time etc, then you should look at a resale HGVC in Hawaii and get the 12 month window.

I would suggest you look for 7000 points, since Hilton now seems to be increasing their point structure with the brand new resorts.

But if you can go for the 9 month window, then consider a HGVC Las Vegas or Orlando. I think Las Vegas has cheaper maintenance fees, but they both are pretty close.

 

[dpavid]

Thanks for all the replies....

So basically, the main benefit is booking 3 month prior to everyone else? That seems like such a small issue since only the home resort owners can book during those 3 months. It seems that if I avoid major holidays, I shouldn't have an issue. Most of my decisions of going to Waikoloa are last minute anyway and usually 3-4 months out which wouldn't make a difference even if I was a home resort owner. I always go when the airfare wars happen here between the inter-island airlines. Can't beat $1 tickets!

Anything else I might be missing? Thanks in advance for all your replies!

 

[dpavid]

I concur with the others.

Unless you need a specific week/time etc, then you should look at a resale HGVC in Hawaii and get the 12 month window.

I would suggest you look for 7000 points, since Hilton now seems to be increasing their point structure with the brand new resorts.

But if you can go for the 9 month window, then consider a HGVC Las Vegas or Orlando. I think Las Vegas has cheaper maintenance fees, but they both are pretty close.

Thats a great idea! I have been to Las Vegas 3 times this year all for conventions. I never look at LV as a vacation spot since I don't gamble and its not a kid friendly place but this makes total sense since I could actually use it too. Thanks

 

[dougp26364]

Thanks for all the replies....

....Most of my decisions of going to Waikoloa are last minute anyway and usually 3-4 months out which wouldn't make a difference even if I was a home resort owner.......
Anything else I might be missing? Thanks in advance for all your replies!

Yes! Timeshare typically does not work out well for anyone planning less than 6 months in advance and often a little further out. Note that there was a post that said to the effect, just be sure and book the first day that you're 9 months out. If you have a specific resort or location you want to stay at, especially one as popular as Hawaii, advance planning is often necessary to get not only the dates you want but any dates at all.

Now if you were traveling someplace that is well/over developed like Orlando, Williamsburg, Branson or Las Vegas it might not be so important but to lock into one particular resort in one of the most popular vacation destinations might be asking for trouble.

 

[Bill4728]

In addition to LV or Orlando, You can also look into some of the Hiton affiliate resorts which can (for a fee) give you HGVC points and also in the case of a few Florida and Scotland affiliates also give you the right to use II.

 

[dawg]

Also, I believe you can only book at 12 months at your home resort if book exactly what you own. If you own 7000 point 2 Bd Room at HGVC Seaworld and you want to book a one bedroom at HGVC seaworld, you would have to wait for the 9 month window to book that.

 

[wmmmmm]

Thanks for all the replies....

So basically, the main benefit is booking 3 month prior to everyone else? That seems like such a small issue since only the home resort owners can book during those 3 months. It seems that if I avoid major holidays, I shouldn't have an issue. Most of my decisions of going to Waikoloa are last minute anyway and usually 3-4 months out which wouldn't make a difference even if I was a home resort owner. I always go when the airfare wars happen here between the inter-island airlines. Can't beat $1 tickets!

Anything else I might be missing? Thanks in advance for all your replies!

The logic is good but that's only if you only want to go to Waikoloa for now. Today, 8/1/07, looking at November/December 2007, HHV have zero availability for any type of rooms. Waikoloa have only two bedrooms and two bedrooms plus for virtually all of the days but one bedroom are almost gone. But in time, Waikoloa may become just as popular and booking may get tougher.

 

[dougp26364]

Also, I believe you can only book at 12 months at your home resort if book exactly what you own. If you own 7000 point 2 Bd Room at HGVC Seaworld and you want to book a one bedroom at HGVC seaworld, you would have to wait for the 9 month window to book that.

That is correct. At least it has been for this year. We booked our Las Vegas unit 12 months out and had to book the entire unit. Since most of the time it's just my wife and me travelingto Vegas, it's one more thing about HGVC that I don't like. I don't have that issue with any of the other timeshares we own.

 

[ricoba]

That is correct. At least it has been for this year. We booked our Las Vegas unit 12 months out and had to book the entire unit. Since most of the time it's just my wife and me travelingto Vegas, it's one more thing about HGVC that I don't like. I don't have that issue with any of the other timeshares we own.

So do you try and rent the lock off? Or can we even do that with HGVC?

 

[PigsDad]

The logic is good but that's only if you only want to go to Waikoloa for now. Today, 8/1/07, looking at November/December 2007, HHV have zero availability for any type of rooms. Waikoloa have only two bedrooms and two bedrooms plus for virtually all of the days but one bedroom are almost gone. But in time, Waikoloa may become just as popular and booking may get tougher.

You are only looking 3-4 months out. If you can plan at the 9-month reservation window, I have seen availability in Waikoloa almost all of the time. I think the only time it was scarce was for Christmas week.

Kurt

 

[Bill4728]

So do you try and rent the lock off? Or can we even do that with HGVC?

HGVC Waikoloa is all 2 bd units with no lock off feature. The new HGVC king land developement will have 1 bds and the bay club next to HGVC Waikoloa has 1 bd units too.

 

[wmmmmm]

You are only looking 3-4 months out. If you can plan at the 9-month reservation window, I have seen availability in Waikoloa almost all of the time. I think the only time it was scarce was for Christmas week.

Kurt

That's exactly what I meant. At 9-months, both HHV and Waikoloa are OK. I just looked at availabilities and HHV is fully booked until mid-January whereas Waikoloa (Bay Club) have wide availabilities starting mid-October but zero at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. To get into HHV, I would say about 5 months advance notice but Waikoloa requires about 2-3 months.

 

[dpavid]

When we travel to the Mainland, we almost always plan 9-18 months out for vacations so I can see everyone's point of booking ahead as we do the same.

However, the main reason I started this thread is I want to use HGVC Waikoloa as a last minute option to get away. We live in Hawaii on Oahu and make last minute decisions to just get away for a few days and do absolutely nothing. We always end up at Kona on 3 day weekends or during ours kids intersessions from school. We also have family in Kona that owns an 800 acre ranch where we always take the kids horse back riding, ATV riding, 4X4 off roading etc... We also have family from Waimea, about 25 miles from Waikoloa and we attend family reunions every even year.

Airfare is really cheap but with the new Superferry coming in a few years, we'll be able to load our car and just drive there hopefully on the spur of the moment.

http://hawaiisuperferry.com/

My question is, has anyone tried to book Waikoloa last minute with success in a 1-3 month time frame for a 2 bedroom? I understand booking in advance guarantees a better reservation but we'll probably only use a 2 bedroom for my family. We never plan ahead to hit Waikoloa since its only a 25 minute flight and still practically home. We never travel during the holidays but mostly on 3 day weekends so Christmas and New Years will never be an issue. Mostly holidays like Memorial Day (May), Labor Day (Sept), Admission Day (2nd week Nov), Presidents Day (Feb), etc...

Its more of a mental break for me since I work long hours and time to spend with the family.

 

[UWSurfer]

I have not looked at the holiday's your asking about, but with the exception of Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter/Spring Break, I suspect that availability may be there for you in "Last Call" (30 days out) on the other three day weekends.

Hopefully others have experience with that. In Vegas, these three day weekends are not generally availalbe as Last Call...but there are close to 15 million people within a 4 - 6 hour drive from Vegas so it's a popular weekend destination. Hawaii takes a bit more effort for most.

 

[benjaminb13]

You are a lucky man David,
Heres what I do

Ilive in Northern California
I own in HGVC waik- as my home resort- I go 2 out of three years- or eoy- because of airfare- I ususally reserve the 7 days 12 months b4 and add another 3 days at the 9 month period-
I also own in Hyatt Beach House in key west- I purchased Beach House as it was one of the more inexpensive resales and MFs-
I use this to do California intra-Hyatt exchanges- Ive already been to Hyatt tahoe for 4 days and plan on going back another 3- I also have 2 nights scheduled in carmel- as they fairly close by- ihave no problenn having the kids miss a day or 2 of school-
Since you are so flexible- and nearby- you should have no prob having openings- for short vac-there almost always are- its just more difficult during summer,easter etc.
I would purchase at a Hilton owned /not managed resort-always safer- maybe Vegas or Orlando-much cheaper and I think Vegas has cheaper MFs- If you have a vacation spot that you love to go to -(like I do waikoloa) that involves airfare - hopefully its either Orlando or vegas- (If not you use it purely for xchange-)
You can also use this siteor redweek for direct owner rentals

 

[JonathanIT]

Timeshare typically does not work out well for anyone planning less than 6 months in advance and often a little further out. Note that there was a post that said to the effect, just be sure and book the first day that you're 9 months out. If you have a specific resort or location you want to stay at, especially one as popular as Hawaii, advance planning is often necessary to get not only the dates you want but any dates at all.

I kind of disagree with this. I'm fairly new to timeshare ownership (HGVC), but I've been utilizing my membership a LOT over the past 10 months or so... and most of the trips have been last minute. What I really love about HGVC is the "open season" rental program where you can rent unused properties within 30 days (of check out) for pretty low rates.

The website is also a great way to check for availability very fast and easy. My family wanted to go to Hawaii this summer during a specific period: July 15-25. We wanted to go to Waikoloa for five nights from the 7/20 to 7/25. When I began checking earlier this year (probably around February) July was pretty booked. Well, it just took a couple weeks of checking the website to find an availability come up and I grabbed the time using points. So we had one 2BR unit. There were six of us all together including three kids, but we could fit even though it would be tight.

Well, just about a month before our trip, my brother had a change in his work schedule which allowed him to come on the trip with us... but we didn't have room at the inn! What to do? I told my family: don't worry about it, I can get another room. I just knew that something would upen up in open season. I checked everyday, several times a day. Days were popping up all over the place. Finally, there it was: ten days opened up right around late July. I was able to book a second 2BR Plus unit at $120/night (it rents for $599 on the Hilton website). We had 7 people and everyone had their own bed, without even opening a sofa. It was a great trip. BTW, I got our 2BR Premier (Ocean View!) in HHV in Waikiki through open season as well on the same trip.

My philosophy with HGVC is, why use the points if you don't need to? I've only used points for two stays since I began, and I've had thirteen stays on HGVC properties. What do I do with the points? Well, I converted 5K HGVC points to HHonors points for a six night stay in NYC at the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square. Great hotel, perfect location (Broadway!), great trip (June). That room w/tax would have cost me nearly $3K cash if I had to pay (I know, I tried booking first). And it was SO easy to book a stay with HHonors, I was shocked. The conversion from HGVC was instant, and booking the hotel online using HHonors was a breeze. As a caveat: I had some points in HHonors already... the trip would have been covered completely with the conversion of around 6,500 HGVC points (150K HHonors= 6 nights in Cat5 hotel).

I LOVE my HGVC membership. BTW, Las Vegas is where I own... it's definitely cheaper in annual fees than Orlando.

 

[CaliDave]

I agree with Jonathan. If you are going to book last minute.. don't worry about how many points you have.
It's much cheaper to rent the rooms with cash "open season"
A 2bd is $100 or $120/night. and all HGVC owners have the same benefits when it comes to this feature.

Buy 3500 or 5000 points in Vegas or Orlando. It'll be more than enough

email Seth Nock.. he is an authorized Hilton reseller and can give you great advice and walk you through everything.

sethnock@hotmail.com

good luck
Dave

 

[dpavid]

I have not looked at the holiday's your asking about, but with the exception of Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter/Spring Break, I suspect that availability may be there for you in "Last Call" (30 days out) on the other three day weekends.

Hopefully others have experience with that. In Vegas, these three day weekends are not generally available as Last Call...but there are close to 15 million people within a 4 - 6 hour drive from Vegas so it's a popular weekend destination. Hawaii takes a bit more effort for most.

Exactly! I want to use Waikoloa as most people who live a few hours away from Las Vegas use Sin City. Most people who do these last minute trips to LV on a weekend probably go impulsively. A couple hour drive just to get away to blow some steam and a wad of cash.

With a minimal 5 hour flight to get here to Hawaii, I know most people usually plan in advance to come and stay 7-10 days and island hop so scheduling in advance is almost mandatory.

As the locals in Vegas probably never go to the strip, the locals in Hawaii never go to Waikiki. Our fast get away is on an outer island.

 

[dpavid]

My family wanted to go to Hawaii this summer during a specific period: July 15-25. We wanted to go to Waikoloa for five nights from the 7/20 to 7/25. When I began checking earlier this year (probably around February) July was pretty booked. Well, it just took a couple weeks of checking the website to find an availability come up and I grabbed the time using points. So we had one 2BR unit. There were six of us all together including three kids, but we could fit even though it would be tight.

Well, just about a month before our trip, my brother had a change in his work schedule which allowed him to come on the trip with us... but we didn't have room at the inn! What to do? I told my family: don't worry about it, I can get another room. I just knew that something would upen up in open season. I checked everyday, several times a day. Days were popping up all over the place. Finally, there it was: ten days opened up right around late July. I was able to book a second 2BR Plus unit at $120/night (it rents for $599 on the Hilton website). We had 7 people and everyone had their own bed, without even opening a sofa. It was a great trip. BTW, I got our 2BR Premier (Ocean View!) in HHV in Waikiki through open season as well on the same trip.

My philosophy with HGVC is, why use the points if you don't need to? I've only used points for two stays since I began, and I've had thirteen stays on HGVC properties. What do I do with the points? Well, I converted 5K HGVC points to HHonors points for a six night stay in NYC at the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square. Great hotel, perfect location (Broadway!), great trip (June). That room w/tax would have cost me nearly $3K cash if I had to pay (I know, I tried booking first). And it was SO easy to book a stay with HHonors, I was shocked. The conversion from HGVC was instant, and booking the hotel online using HHonors was a breeze. As a caveat: I had some points in HHonors already... the trip would have been covered completely with the conversion of around 6,500 HGVC points (150K HHonors= 6 nights in Cat5 hotel).

I LOVE my HGVC membership. BTW, Las Vegas is where I own... it's definitely cheaper in annual fees than Orlando.

How ironic! We must have crossed paths... My family and I just went to the Waikoloa July 11-16. Our last minute decision was made at the end of April about 2-3 months out. If you were able to get a 2 bedroom room during that time, I assume it should be easier during the off times in feb, may, aug, and sept, and oct.

Thanks for reply.