HIVC HICV Rocks!

[Sandy]

We are staying at Holiday Inn South Beach resort in Myrtle Beach. Used our 3 night free bonus at our level of ownership. First time we did this, and I will use it again beginning in January.

We just went through the owner's update. Got $60 for our time, and they came to the room b/c my DH is disabled. Very pleasant presentation.

They updated us on the new affiliation with Scottsdale Resort which will be available starting in January. You can reserve now. It looks fabulous.

Also they explained the new affiliation with Silverleaf Resorts and their offerings. Silverleaf doesn't look at enticing as the HIVC resorts, but it is a great addition, focusing on mid-west and Texas. Plus, HIVC will probably upgrade these units as needed, and add signature units.

Here is some info I learned:

As a Preferred member, I get 10% discount on RCI trades. I did know this or not get this automatically, so I am going to call RCI and request the credit for the 10% of points I booked recently through RCI.

There is a 4% discount on Maxxtime offers. Both the RCI discount and the Maxxtime discount did not show up automatically on my account, so I will call to make sure that I get these next time.

The rep suggested that I get the IHG app on my phone. This allows me to reserve while driving right up to a Holiday inn. I am "old school" and used to going to my laptop to make a reservation, but I can see how this might come in very handy while on the road.

The rep explained how she recently used her IHG points to get a Crowne hotel. The same unit cost $700 per night, but she only paid 35,000 IHG points to get the reservation. Shazaam!!!:whoopie: Good to keep in mind the real value of these IHG points. Plus, they never expire, so she is saving them up for a Hawaii trip - using them for air and other things. She said that the IHG offers special on short notice. For example, a cruise was recently offered for a great points price. While I cannot use these (b/c of DH medical issues) I post here for others to take advantage of this feature. Some of the owners save these up like credits in the bank, and they can come in handy for special travel.

She was high on us buying a Signature Club unit, EOY, but we passed. HIVC is putting in more and more of these units and I am sure they are fabulous. We cannot justify the cost right now.

Apparently, if you buy one signature package, they put "signature" on your ownership status and this gets you all of the benefits for reservations.

The new Signature units at South Beach Myrtle beach will have some of the following:

all the usual bells and whistles for signature club;
smart units that will use the phone to turn on and off lights;
take headphones to pool to listen to Sirrius radio in your private pool chair;
a real, large lazy river;
new pool with slides just for signature club members.

Seems that the new signature club units at all resort is the direction HICV is taking now. Good for them and for others who can afford this expensive upgrade.

On a different note: I am so happy with HIVC. They took into consideration my DH special needs for a medical appointment on Friday, and allowed us to book an extra night which we really needed, and to stay in this very unit rather than moving. I am so happy with the way they handled my special request and attended to our needs.

I am a happy owner.

 

[Tank]

That is nice to here positive things about HIVC. I am happy with the direction they are going with "expanding our horizons " in travel.
This is the only system I own and have mastered how it works for maximum bang for my buck as it seams you are also.
I'm not a big fan of all the "signature" units, and points needed to reserve them. I've always been happy with how nice the regular units were, never being disappointed. I think it might help finding a stay though when regular units are all booked up because of the points needed. The 4 bedroom signature unit at Scottsdale is 600,000 points for 1 week, ouch!
The discounts are a nice perk and IHG is a good addition for reserving hotel rooms. Never seen any last minute deals for cruise, and found trying to use points for flying a bad value.

Thank you Sandy for the update and info. I have several reservations for Scottsdale and we see little to no info on this place, even on our own web-sight making the reservation.

 

[Sandy]

update on RCI discount

When I logged into my HIVC HICV account I do see that they did automatically discount 10% of the points I recently used for an RCI exchange. So, I now know that this benefit happens automatically.

 

[johndeb]

HIVC perks

We are also happy HIVC owners. Our kids love the River Island water park at Orange Lake. We decided it was woth the investment to upgrade to a "Signature Collection" villa at River Island. The primary justification from a cost perspective is the free "Fun Zone" water park passes that are free when you reserve in "Signature Collection" villa. We typically spend 2 weeks a year at Orange Lake and there are 6 of us, so depending on how many days you use the Water Park, we would spend several hundred dollars each week buying "Fun Zone" passes if we did not reserve "Signature Collection". There are numerous other amenities included with a "Signayure Collection" reservation which are very nice, but don't justify the additional cost (Points needed) to make a reservation. Keep in mind, you can reserve "Signature Collection" villas without having to purchase a "Signature Collection" ownership, it's just that the reservation window is shorter if you don't own a "Signature Collection". Also, ALL GUESTS can use the River Island water park POOL without purchasing a "Fun Zone" pass (Wrist band), however, the use of the Lazy River Tubes, water slides, Big Hippo, Mini-Golf, etc. require the "Fun Zone" passes.