HGVC Points were Increased by 1.6 for New Values But Math is Wrong in Places

[TimeshareTraveller]

Hi all,
This won't be of value to too many of us, unless you are booking the Grand Waikikian. We bought an HGVC Trial package (ours was $1695 for 7,200 points in a slate of chosen resorts). We bought our package before the DRI point merger increase. Our 7,200 points became 11,520 (7200 points x 1.6 increase factor). All the book values were increased by 1.6 also.

For the most part, the new booklet is correct, with the exception of one error that I found while booking our time in Honolulu. The Grand Waikikian values were not increased by a factor of 1.6. They were increased by a factor of 1.856 for the Gold weeks and 1.92 for the Platinum weeks. ( Gold 2BR math : 13,920 pts/week new value / 7,500 pts/week old value = 1.856 factor; Platinum 2BR math: 20,160 pts/week new value / 10,500 pts/week old value = 1.92 factor.)

I wouldn't have found it if I'd taken their word on the points left versus the points needed. We booked the Grand Waikikian first and they only had 3 nights (Fri, Sat, Sun) in Gold season in a 2 Bedroom (2784 pts/night). Our agent told us we had 4,560 points remaining, gave us a pdf copy of the new Trial Book by email, so we started working the other parts of the trip and called back a couple of days later to book 4 weeknights in a Gold Season 2 Bedroom at Kings Land. This time, another agent said that we didn't have enough points for the 4 nights at Kings Land, so we went through a lot of torturous math with him and yes, based on the book values, we didn't have enough points remaining. The original agent got the remaining points math wrong and we only had 3,168 points remaining. So, the Kings Land Gold Season 2 Bedroom was 800 points per night and we were 32 points short for 4 nights. We booked 3 nights, and thanked the agent and hung up.

But it bothered me. How did I get that so wrong on the math to expect more days? Well, I checked the points in the old book. In the old book, the points for Kings Land were 500 pts for weekdays and 1,000 for weekends; Grand Waikikian was 750 pts for weekdays and 1500 for weekends. The Kings Land was perfectly right in the new points book at 800 and 1600, but my brain came to a screeching halt on the Grand Waikikian new points book. We should have had enough based on the contract we signed and the booklet we initially received. In the new one, we didn't. Grand Waikikian gold 2BR should have been 2400 pts/night on weekends, not 2784 pts/night. When adjusted, we should have had 4320 pts left.

So I called them. And pushed on it. Because we signed a contract and got a booklet that established rates. (And they are in default of that contract.) I told the agent that there's a misprint in the book on the Grand Waikikian numbers. It isn't a factor of 1.6, it's a factor of 1.856 for Gold season and 1.92 for Platinum. We should have had 4320 points left when I made the Kings Land reservation for 4 2BR gold weekdays at 3200 pts. The agent didn't even fuss. She just booked us that 4th night at Kings Land and that was that.

We have 1120 points left, but the contract blocks you from getting more than 7 nights on that package (though the sales pitch for it led us to believe we might get up to 2 weeks on the package.) I didn't catch that at the time of signing.

 

[Talent312]

This ticks me off. I majored in liberal arts specifically to avoid math.
When I signed up for HGVC, it was simple addition + subtraction.
Now there's multiplication involved. No telling where it will end.
.

 

[HuskerATL]

That is interesting. Thanks for sharing

 

[brp]

When I signed up for HGVC, it was simple addition + subtraction.
Now there's multiplication involved. No telling where it will end.
.

And these changes have the potential to divide us all...

Cheers.

 

[PigsDad]

@TimeshareTraveller, is it possible your bookings crossed the Gold / Platinum boundary? Like your booking started in Gold season but had a day or two in Platinum season, thus costing more points than you thought it might? I'll be honest, I didn't follow your post completely, but just throwing this out as a possible reason as to what you are experiencing.

Also, be mindful that at some of the resorts, different room classes had different default check-in days, so at a given resort, one 2BR room might switch from Gold season to Platinum on a Friday, but a different 2BR unit might not switch until Sunday of that same week. It has caused confusion before.

Kurt

 

[skier4]

Also look at which kind of 2bdrm- most resorts have multiple types of the same size and each has its own point value. Looking at the GW, the regular 2bdrm during gold is only 12k but the 2bdrm plus is 13920. Perhaps you booked a higher category 2bdrm than you originally "priced" out.

 

[HuskerATL]

But he was 32 points short... That isn't enough to cover seasonal boundaries or room differences.

 

[pedro47]

This is one big mess.

 

[skier4]

But he was 32 points short... That isn't enough to cover seasonal boundaries or room differences.

But the OP didn't buy a week of certain type of room (or at least not the type they reserved) and it was a split stay between 2 resorts with 2 different charts so it's not unreasonable for there to be 32 points at issue.

Pre-adjustment point chart:

Post-adjustment point chart:

Looking at the point conversion post-DRI it is in line with 1.6- 1500 became 2400. The 2784 the OP used for the 3 nights is the amount needed for plus- which was previously 1740. Both of those are 1.6 conversions. So yes, the math the first agent did was way off but HGVC didn't put a premium increase on the resort.

(edited to add that I've never had a trial package so I don't know how these work and there was a lot of numbers in the original post so I may have misunderstood the intent/issue being raised. I'm solely focused on the point increase being consistent pre/post DRI adjustment)

 

[TimeshareTraveller]

@TimeshareTraveller, is it possible your bookings crossed the Gold / Platinum boundary? Like your booking started in Gold season but had a day or two in Platinum season, thus costing more points than you thought it might? I'll be honest, I didn't follow your post completely, but just throwing this out as a possible reason as to what you are experiencing.

Hi Kurt,
No, the crossing of Gold/Platinum is not even close to those booking dates. Both reservations are solidly in the Gold. I'd like to think it's a mis-print, but I suspect that it was a bit of "demand cooling" for the cheapest of the Waikiki hotels in the offerings. And so far, that's the only hotel that I've seen that was above the 1.6 factor when I started checking the math. The HGVC Trial is a very limited package. But the new booklet that was sent as a link to us is definitely a higher factor for this resort. And that makes me suspicious of all of the figures out there.

It's telling that when I called the OP on the math issue, there wasn't even any pushback on my request to book the extra night that I'd wanted. They just did it. Now, anyone signing that contract with the new booklet would have to live with the higher point values on the Grand Waikikian as the points are printed in their materials at the time of signing. In our case, we signed under the old numbers so they had to honor it.

But if they are telling HGVC members that the points are increased by a factor of 1.6 to accommodate the DRI inventory values, I'd do the math on the old to the new. They may have slipped in some "leveling adjustments."

 

[TimeshareTraveller]

But the OP didn't buy a week of certain type of room (or at least not the type they reserved) and it was a split stay between 2 resorts with 2 different charts so it's not unreasonable for there to be 32 points at issue.

Pre-adjustment point chart:
View attachment 63818

Post-adjustment point chart:
View attachment 63820
Looking at the point conversion post-DRI it is in line with 1.6- 1500 became 2400. The 2784 the OP used for the 3 nights is the amount needed for plus- which was previously 1740. Both of those are 1.6 conversions. So yes, the math the first agent did was way off but HGVC didn't put a premium increase on the resort.

(edited to add that I've never had a trial package so I don't know how these work and there was a lot of numbers in the original post so I may have misunderstood the intent/issue being raised. I'm solely focused on the point increase being consistent pre/post DRI adjustment)

OH Interesting, skier4! I've long suspected that the view category on these Trial packages is usually a cut above what you would typically get for a regular point account. This seems to indicate that the view category assigned is going to be (likely) a Plus view. That would also explain the numbers. It's likely a mistake for the book to have shown that, but it isn't one that many people are going to catch. You'd have to have the old points book for the Trial, the new points book for the Trial, and be a tedious accountant type to see it. I'd just seen that old points book so much that the numbers just nagged at me.

(I'm taking "OP" to mean the operator that we spoke to on the reservation line, but it may mean something different)

 

[brp]

(I'm taking "OP" to mean the operator that we spoke to on the reservation line, but it may mean something different)

Here, and most forums I know, it tends to mean Original Post or, more commonly, Original Poster...which is you

Cheers.

 

[Nowaker]

This ticks me off. I majored in liberal arts specifically to avoid math.
When I signed up for HGVC, it was simple addition + subtraction.
Now there's multiplication involved. No telling where it will end.
.

Itn ends with division since you can't book DRI without Max.