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Hilton Grand Vacation purchase of Diamond international is final

brp

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We hang on to our Hilton ownership primarily because, in Vegas, we've come to have a strong preference for Elara, which is easy to book. From my perspective, Hilton owners may gain some desired destinations, but all DRI owners are getting is the Hilton name and, hopefully, better and more responsible management.

Depends so much on personal taste. As I mentioned above, Hawai'i Island is a favorite for us (and easy to book), and we avoid Oahu like a plague. Also New York and the periodic Vegas.

For the DRI locations I've seen mentioned so far, only Kauai is of interest (not sure if I saw that they had something in Maui). The rest do little for us. So, for us at least, DRI doesn't bring a whole lot to the table- at least from what I've seen discussed- there may be more that I haven't seen here.

Cheers.
 

dayooper

TUG Review Crew
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I agree, the Carolina resorts are difficult to reserve, especially if you want a particular unit style/view. It's probably best to own one of the resorts and trade out than to own anything else with hopes of trading in. IMHO, Hilton took sooooooo long to develop anything outside the big three that the pent up demand for variety in locations has been a killer when trying to book anything new.

We purchased in Vegas primarily to use in Vegas, and that's what we've done. We have booked Oahu twice and the Big Island once, but as owners since 2002, it's been mostly Vegas. We never expanded our ownership because, frankly, there was no reason. Vegas for a week or a few nights is more than enough. Oahu can be difficult to book what you want when you want, and the Big Island is great, but not my wife's favorite.

I've looked for HHI with Hilton and I'd like to try that resort, but, we prefer ocean front and, getting the view we want when we want hasn't been a possibility.

We hang on to our Hilton ownership primarily because, in Vegas, we've come to have a strong preference for Elara, which is easy to book. From my perspective, Hilton owners may gain some desired destinations, but all DRI owners are getting is the Hilton name and, hopefully, better and more responsible management.

I think Myrtle Beach is fairly easy. There are 3 huge resorts and plenty of great ocean view rooms. In Hilton Head, it’s a different story. HGVC has only 1 resort It’s pretty small and very difficult to reserve. We just returned from our 1st stay at Elara. Awesome resort in a great location.
 

Clifbell

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Depends so much on personal taste. As I mentioned above, Hawai'i Island is a favorite for us (and easy to book), and we avoid Oahu like a plague. Also New York and the periodic Vegas.

For the DRI locations I've seen mentioned so far, only Kauai is of interest (not sure if I saw that they had something in Maui). The rest do little for us. So, for us at least, DRI doesn't bring a whole lot to the table- at least from what I've seen discussed- there may be more that I haven't seen here.

Cheers.
I am hopeful for additional resorts especially Kauai. But waiting to see how it unfolds. I’d like to do more on the east coast so that is also a plus. But is going come down to how much it costs per week to stay at a location (maintenance cost per point times number of points per week) that will affect my choices.
 

Magus

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HGV Elara, Paradise, The District, Kings Land; Craigendarroch Suites
Myrtle beach is usually easy to reserve (this summer an exception). HHI and Charleston you just have to book early and be flexible on dates (got my parents a week in HHI coming up and DW and I at Charleston for a long weekend). Charleston will be easier to book as more rooms are sold retail as well. Like anything with timeshare, if you are tied to a specific week and a specific room type, it' will be difficult to book. But with flexibility HGV has most of the most popular tourist destinations in the US (NYC, Chicago, Charleston, Myrtle, Miami, San Diego, Orlando, Vegas, all over Hawaii, etc). My family has always tried to be flexible on location, timing, etc and has served us well - not just with HGV - but especially Europe and Caribbean trips.
 

CalGalTraveler

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@dougp26364 While I agree that HGVC was limited to those locations historically, HGVC has expanded and MVC demand outstrips supply outside of core timeshare locations as well. For Hawaii, Spain, France, and Caribbean high season, MVC owners need to book at the opening reservation bell. Perhaps HGVC has limited availability on Hilton Head but it could be argued that Hilton has better availability in NYC (5 properties vs 1 MVC); Scotland (Multiple Hgvc properties), Waikiki (5+ properties vs ??? (Ko Olina?)), Big Island (4 properties vs. MVC 1) as well as a few others mentioned by prior posters. MVC has more rooms on Maui and Kauai, HGVC (without DRI) is has more BI and Waikiki - different strokes for different folks.

I would argue that one system is not better than the other especially now that HGVC is adding DRI. It depends upon one's travel interests e.g. Hilton Head, Branson, NJ are regional destinations and are not worth the time zone change and ticket costs for people on the west coast and vice versa. Others don't care for NYC.
 
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dougp26364

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Marriott Grand Chateau
Marriott Shadow Ridge
Marriott Ocean Pointe
Marriott Destination Club Points
Hilton Grand Vacation Club Las Vegas Blvd
Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
@dougp26364 While I agree that HGVC was limited to those locations historically, HGVC has expanded and MVC demand outstrips supply outside of core timeshare locations as well. For Hawaii, Spain, France, and Caribbean high season, MVC owners need to book at the opening reservation bell. Perhaps HGVC has limited availability on Hilton Head but it could be argued that Hilton has better availability in NYC (5 properties vs 1 MVC); Scotland (Multiple Hgvc properties), Waikiki (5+ properties vs ??? (Ko Olina?)), Big Island (4 properties vs. MVC 1) as well as a few others mentioned by prior posters. MVC has more rooms on Maui and Kauai, HGVC (without DRI) is has more BI and Waikiki - different strokes for different folks.

I would argue that one system is not better than the other especially now that HGVC is adding DRI. It depends upon one's travel interests e.g. Hilton Head, Branson, NJ are regional destinations and are not worth the time zone change and ticket costs for people on the west coast and vice versa. Others don't care for NYC.

I would agree that, for many, the regional destinations aren’t worth the cost to get there, but one could also argue that staying only in ones zone of life limits ones experiences. Plus, there are owners that need places within driving distance. Historically, other systems have provided those options while Hilton has not.

Hawaii hasn’t been that difficult for us to book with the possible exception of Maui, and the issue with Maui for us is we prefer ocean front and occasionally a 2 bedroom. But, and this is a big one, we are chairman’s level and that allows us to book as few as 1 night 13 months in advance. With Hilton and even when we owned with DRI at Silver Elite level, that option wasn’t available.

Hilton, too, must be booked at the opening bell for some of the locations outside their core.

Over the years we realized we needed the regional aspect of a timeshare system because we live in middle America.To that end, DRI and MVC fit our needs better, but DRI was as expensive, or nearly as expensive, as MVC, just not up to MVC’s quality. When we started with Hilton, they had the big three and that was it. They added NY, but that was a separate thing of bHGVC, and they limited my ability t9 book UNLESS I bought more. That just didn’t work in our case.

But what MVC does is irrelevant to the Hilton/DRI merger.

I am looking forward to what Hilton does. Because of how they separated out HGVC and bHGVC, I have some trepidation. I would LOVE to have the access back into some of the regional locations as a way to burn points in years we don’t want to go to Vegas. Since we’ve been going to Vegas since 1998, we’d like some other regional options like Santa Fe, NM
 

dayooper

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I am looking forward to what Hilton does. Because of how they separated out HGVC and bHGVC, I have some trepidation. I would LOVE to have the access back into some of the regional locations as a way to burn points in years we don’t want to go to Vegas. Since we’ve been going to Vegas since 1998, we’d like some other regional options like Santa Fe, NM

In recent years, they have started to change their booking windows with bHC properties. They extended the club booking season at W57th to 59 days and The Residences, The Quin, Central on 5th and The District to 89 days. La Pacifica in Los Cabos and Liberty Square in Charleston have the standard 276 club season booking window. They make bHC more accessible to the standard HGVC member and I think that’s huge. Now, the points needed to book these properties are outrageous, but they are “luxury” properties so I guess they would want more in return.

As far as DRI properties that I would to to visit, there really aren’t that many. Cabo Azul would be top on my list, but I’m not sure when I would be able to go. My wife is not ready to travel to Mexico right now. Point at Poipu is another, but we don’t just get up and go to Hawaii. Lake Tahoe? Maybe. I would like to visit Sedona, but the rest of my family has no desire to go. Throw in the Embarc resorts and now we are talking. Blue Mountain and Sandestin look really nice and are both fairly close to me. Who knows how that will pan out, though?
 

GT75

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Throw in the Embarc resorts and now we are talking.
I was under the impression that the Embarc resorts were completely separate from the other DRI system (like the "normal" DRI resorts couldn't book into Embarc and Embarc couldn't book "normal" DRI resorts).
 

dayooper

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I was under the impression that the Embarc resorts were completely separate from the other DRI system (like the "normal" DRI resorts couldn't book into Embarc and Embarc couldn't book "normal" DRI resorts).

I believe that’s correct. I am hoping for some sort of cross booking like there used to be.
 
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dioxide45

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I usually interpret it as "Darling". Darling Wife, Darling Son, Darling Daughter, Darling Daughter-in-Law, Darling Son-in-Law, Darling Granddaughter - DW, DS, DD, DDIL. DSIL, DGD. Still waiting to activate DGS.
According to Wikipedia, it is referred to as "Dea Husband". I also learned it only on TUG. Spent years in usenet newsgroups as well as IRC chat servers many moons ago and never saw the term spoken there.
 

holdaer

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Parc Soleil, a HGVC
Paradise, a HGVC
Sounds like someone from Boston entered that definition into Wikipedia :unsure:
 

Talent312

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...Spent years in usenet newsgroups as well as IRC chat servers many moons ago and never saw the term spoken there.

You weren't in the the "right" newsgroups.
I participated in a few where familial acronyms were common, about 22 years ago.
.
 

rmather

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Wondered if anyone is as hopeful as me about getting more ways to use my HGV points?

Special thanks to the TUG universe as I just bought used 7000 HGVC points in anticipation of the additional resorts from Diamond International...

I don't have any facts, but hoping additional resorts arrive around January 2022 that can directly book with HGV points.
I received an email within the last 10 days from HGV confirming that the merger had been completed. I certainly had the impression that HGV members could now expand into Diamond Resort offerings. It is certainly worth a call if web access is not giving you access. Best of luck.
 

pedro47

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I received an email within the last 10 days from HGV confirming that the merger had been completed. I certainly had the impression that HGV members could now expand into Diamond Resort offerings. It is certainly worth a call if web access is not giving you access. Best of luck.
rmather, Welcome to The TUG Website.
 

buzglyd

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HGV Lagoon Tower
HGV Carlsbad Seapointe
Gaslamp Plaza Suites
SVV Bella
I received an email within the last 10 days from HGV confirming that the merger had been completed. I certainly had the impression that HGV members could now expand into Diamond Resort offerings. It is certainly worth a call if web access is not giving you access. Best of luck.

The merger has been completed but we are a long way from the IT being completed. The announcement even said the systems would be operated separately. My guess is the nicer resorts will be folded into the HGV system and the lower quality properties will remain separate.
 

ccwu

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I received an email within the last 10 days from HGV confirming that the merger had been completed. I certainly had the impression that HGV members could now expand into Diamond Resort offerings. It is certainly worth a call if web access is not giving you access. Best of luck.

I did ask elite premier yesterday and the greeting was ‘welcome to Diamond Resort International’. I was upset and got the operator to transfer me to Hgvc elite premier service. When I get Elite premier devices, I told them that I want to make an complain about the DRI announcement. Elite premier services asked me to hold and tried the designated line and she got ‘welcome to Hilton Grand Vacation Elite Premier service’ she said due to the merger some phone Tree was tangled and May temporarily cause confusion. She advice me to hang up and redial. I asked her about the merger. She said they working on it. Once it is in place, they will notify us. But definitely will not be this year. They have no information how will it works.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dougp26364

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Marriott Shadow Ridge
Marriott Ocean Pointe
Marriott Destination Club Points
Hilton Grand Vacation Club Las Vegas Blvd
Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
I believe the video mentions the merging of the systems will be in phases over the next few years.

The acquisition may be complete but we are a very long way from system integration.
 

Talent312

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Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Do not expect unfettered exchanges between systems, no matter how lofty your status.
At least not anytime soon. The integration will be neither quick nor seamless.
.
 

dayooper

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Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Do not expect unfettered exchanges between systems, no matter how lofty your status.
At least not anytime soon. The integration will be neither quick nor seamless.
.

Nor free.
 
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