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HGVC for Australians

SmithOp

TUG Review Crew
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I agree with @ljmiii not to dissuade you on HGV but Marriott has a much better offering closer to you. You wouldn’t have to go to gold coast every year, but its nice to have that option during times like this when travel is restricted.


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Tamaradarann

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I looked into Marriott but I can't see myself going to Gold Coast every year..., and the huge $3 per point transfer fee is too much to buy into the Marriott points programme. I heard it might be possible to get a backdoor into the points programme by buying a Vistana TS and hope it gets absorbed into Marriott, but that seems like too much of a gamble.

I had a look at the Hilton resorts list, basically if I sign up 90% of the time I would look to use the points towards Hilton's Japanese resorts, as we love to go to holiday in Japan. If that's our intention, do I simply need to buy a Platinum resale week from one of the Hilton Las Vegas resort and use the points to book a Japanese resort? Are the Japanese resorts difficult to book using points?

ljmiii: I hear you about the hotel quality, I suppose I can't expect Conrad level resorts with HGVC, but I am fine with the level of a 4 star hotel in Asia. I am still in the research phrase, given how much there is to learn about timeshare, by the time I am ready I might be able to rent a timeshare to try it out before I make the purchase.

Your thoughts about buying a HGVC timeshare at another location and using your HGVC points 90% of the time toward HGVC Japanese Resorts may not be a feasible plan. While it is certainly possible the availability in the HGVC Japanese Resorts during Club Season are very limited. The availabiltiy in Hawaii during Club Season is much greater that is why I recommended that you travel the extra distance to Hawaii. Many people buy timeshares, whether it is due to the sales pitch or other reasons, believing that as long as in the rules you can do do something that you will be able to do something. There is a fallacy in that thinking. Furthermore, while you can convert your HGVC points to Hilton Honors points and stay in Hilton Hotels anywhere in the world, including Japan, the exchange rate is not very cost effective. You may only get 1 or 2 nights in a Hilton Hotel for a weeks worth of HGVC timeshare points. Therefore, while you may look at as a free night since you had to pay maintenance for the HGVC points it may have cost you about $1000/night.
 

glasszon

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I only speak from hearsay and not experience but you are extraordinarily unlikely to successfully book any of the Japanese resorts except The Bay Forest Odawara. And that resort is too new to have a pre-COVID track record. That said, I only see one bookable 5 day window in June and a 4 day window in July at Odawara. As much as I love the HGVC resorts in which we've stayed, you need to take it down a notch - think 3-star Asia/Europe or 4-star US.

Thanks for letting me know, I thought the availability is similar to booking hotels using Hilton points, no wonder why they won't allow non-TS owners to search for availability on the HGVC website!

I will look into Marriott again and make a decision on proceeding or perhaps TS is just too niche of a market for Australians. I did look into Wyndham South Pacific but only points purchased directly from developer is eligible for redemption at Wyndham South Pacific, and we all know how expensive developer deals are.
 
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