HGVC - is it just about points?

[gotta*getaway]

hello. i'm very new to timesharing so please pardon the ignorance. i just backed out of a direct hgvc purchase because i found that it cost about 3x resale. anyway, i'm looking again but i'm confused with the different price ranges for the same number of points. i thought that a point deeded in hawaii is worth as much as a point in las vegas. as i understand it, hgvc points are much like currency - a buck is a buck. sure, it may buy more in vegas than in hawaii but it's still worth a buck. so why would 7000 points in hawaii be priced about 2x as much as 7000 points in vegas?
thanks!

 

[dougp26364]

hello. i'm very new to timesharing so please pardon the ignorance. i just backed out of a direct hgvc purchase because i found that it cost about 3x resale. anyway, i'm looking again but i'm confused with the different price ranges for the same number of points. i thought that a point deeded in hawaii is worth as much as a point in las vegas. as i understand it, hgvc points are much like currency - a buck is a buck. sure, it may buy more in vegas than in hawaii but it's still worth a buck. so why would 7000 points in hawaii be priced about 2x as much as 7000 points in vegas?
thanks!

My best guess would be because if you own in Hawaii, you have the home resort window for preference in booking a unit in Hawaii.

In the past getting a unit in any HGVC built resort wasn't tough. People would routinely buy in Vegas or Orlando strictly to exchange into Hawaii. We'll I guess Hilton finally built and sold so many units in Orlando and Vegas that's it's getting tough to find inventory in Hawaii. This past year if you weren't online right when inventory for the Hawaiian resorts were released it was pretty tough sleding to get any room.

Last year we decided that we'd like to go to HHV using our Vegas points. I had planned to use our 7,000 points plus borrow enough from the next year to upgrade us to a 2 bedroom ocean front unit. The best I could do was an ocean view 1 bedroom unit or a 2 bedroom standard unit.

Then I thought I'd watch and wait for what I wanted to become available. I figured I would eventually be able to upgrade my room request to ocean front. Not only has that not happened but there has literally no inventory for the week we're traveling available at all. I was extremely glad I reserved what I did when it was available.

So, at this point in time, my opinion is that, if you really want to travel to Hawaii you'll need to bite the bullet and buy in Hawaii. If Hawaii isn't in your plans as a vacation destination every year, I'd save the money and buy in either Vegas or Orlando. There's no sense in paying big bucks for one particular location if you don't plan to travel there the lions share of the time.
As you mentioned, in the HGVC system points are points. Hawaiian points spend the same as Vegas and Orlando points.

 

[pianodinosaur]

I agree with dougp26364. I have never had a problem exchanging into Hawaii but the rules are exactly as he has described. However, I do not want to go to Hawaii every year. We have used our HGVC membership to travel to numerous destinations. The fact that we own all our points in Orlando has not impacted our travel plans at all. The last time we were in Orlando was 2002. We went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and Whistler, British Columbia this year. We are going on a 10-day Spain-Canary Island Cruise and will spend a week in Lake Tahoe next year.

HGVC is extremely flexible. However, if you plan on going to Hawaii five times in the next 10 years, buy in Hawaii.

 

[Gerry]

I've been to Hawaii and Kauai every year since 05 using my points from Orlando. Just need to be patient and get in early. I'm sure that sooner or later it's going to get very difficult. I've never been to Maui, and being that I love the Islands I bought on resale a TS in Maui. :whoopie:

 

[Bill4728]

One other thing about HGVC points:

Not only are points price differently between resorts ( like you saw with hawaii and Orlando) BUT they are also priced differently between seasons. So 5000 gold points in LV ( about $6000) are a very different price than 4800 platinum points at the same resort ( about $7500). The reason is that the mainence fees are based on your room size not the number of points which your week generates. So a 2 bed gold is 5000 pts and a 1 bed platinum is 4800 pts. But since the 1 bedroom has lower maintence fees for aboput the same # of pts, those pts cost more.

Hope that helps

 

[gotta*getaway]

Thanks everyone for clearing it up for me Now the difficult part starts - finding a well-priced deal and getting past HGVC's ROFR.

 

[Zac495]

I agree about Hawaii. I wanted July 3 in Oahu - VERY hard. I got it - a one bedroom (wanted 2 - the kids will sleep on the pull out) - but I had to stay up until midnight to get it on the exact date. One minute later, there was NOTHING LEFT. I doubt I'll be able to upgrade - one never knows.

YES - buy resale. If I were you and wanted to travel mostly to Hawaii, I'd buy Hawaii. Big Island is easy to get into - but Oahu is hard. HOWEVER, if you're flexible and can travel anytime, you will be able to get to Hawaii with Orlando. We travel only in the summer.

I bought 5000 pts for 6900 and that was 2 years ago. Now it's less. I would contact seth Nock - a well respected broker known by most tuggers. He sells Hilton and will get you the best price that will pass ROFR. He is also a wealth of knowledge.

You saved a fortune finding TUG in time!!!

 

[dougp26364]

Thanks everyone for clearing it up for me Now the difficult part starts - finding a well-priced deal and getting past HGVC's ROFR.

I believe that the HGVC Flamingo in LV doesn't have ROFR written into their contracts.