How good is this deal?

[chosshaul]

Been monitoring some of the free deals out there. I want enough points for Hawaii booking in 1-2 bedroom so probably need about 7-10k pts. Saw this add for HGVC seaward with MF of 1,666.
I’m in no rush to grab any of these but the MF doesn’t seem too drastically different than the Vegas ones. I really want a Scotland one but I know that probably won’t be listed for free.

From what I understand none of the weeks listing on the timeshare listing really matter unless one plans to stay at that resort for a home week.
But if one gets a free timeshare from these websites will that really pass through Hilton ROFR?

 

[HuskerATL]

Is this SeaWorld? I wouldn't want to own a FL deed right now and your 2 bed gold aren't a good trader since they have higher mf/pt. Try to get as close to 0.10 or lower as you can

I would rather spend a few thousand for good platinum deed in Vegas or Craig Lodges than a not so good FL deed. You will make up the difference in cost pretty quickly.

 

[chosshaul]

Yeah this property is Seaworld.
Thanks I guess I will splurge on the Craig lodges then. I wanted the lodges for DEX access anyway so I use it for HGV and HGVC properties in Hawaii. Guess I will just have to wait for a good listing. Is there a good site for looking for that?

 

[HuskerATL]

Craigendarroch lodges for sale - Craigendarroch Owners' Club

A second home at Craigendarroch Winter Offers From as little as £900* you can own a week in the heart of Royal Deeside. Spend time in your own lodge, surrounded by stunning woodland walks, glorious fresh air and use of the Country Club including swimming pools, restaurant and spa . . . what’s...

www.craigendarroch.com

You need to consider multiple things; how much you want to spend, how many points you need, and what tier you will exchange with the most. A 2 bed plat week that is a peak season in the Craig table in the DEX EU guide will give you 11,200 points, have a good mf/pt, and exchange as a tier 6. If you need a tier 6 most of the time, that is the route that I would go.

If you would exchange with Tier 4 the most, then consider a 1 bed plat peak season week. You don't want to exchange a tier 6 for a tier 4... You would be paying too much for it. Look in the guide at the properties and the units to see what you would use the most in DEX EU.

I like 1 bed plat weeks. They are cheap, exchange as a tier 4 which we would use the most and if we want to exchange for a tier 6, I can pay the upgrade fee.

 

[chosshaul]

Thanks for the insight, very helpful. yes I would be looking at exchanging mostly into tier 4 and 5, maybe an occasional 6. mostly trading into Point at Poipu or possibly one of the Maui properties like Kihei since those are ones we would try to trade into but the MF are just too high to justify as a standalone.
Sounds like a 1BR platinum might be what I need but I need enough points to also be able ti book T the HGVC Hawaii properties like Kingsland for 6-8k points a week.

I don’t mind throwing down the extra money if it will save on future MF costs and also be easy to sell in the future

 

[GT75]

Get a tier 6 trader if you are trading into HI on DEX.

 

[chosshaul]

Craigendarroch lodges for sale - Craigendarroch Owners' Club

A second home at Craigendarroch Winter Offers From as little as £900* you can own a week in the heart of Royal Deeside. Spend time in your own lodge, surrounded by stunning woodland walks, glorious fresh air and use of the Country Club including swimming pools, restaurant and spa . . . what’s...

www.craigendarroch.com

You need to consider multiple things; how much you want to spend, how many points you need, and what tier you will exchange with the most. A 2 bed plat week that is a peak season in the Craig table in the DEX EU guide will give you 11,200 points, have a good mf/pt, and exchange as a tier 6. If you need a tier 6 most of the time, that is the route that I told go.

If you work exchange with Tier 4 the most, then consider a 1 bed plat peak season week. You don't want to exchange a tier 6 for a tier 4... You would be paying too much for it. Look in the guide at the properties and the units to see what you would use the most in DEX EU.

I like 1 bed plat weeks. They are cheap, exchange as a tier 4 which we would use the most and if we want to exchange lfor a tier 6, I can pay the upgrade fee.

Get a tier 6 trader if you are trading into HI on DEX.

Thanks, yeah I see the post now that most of the DEX tiers have been upgraded for Hawaii. The 2 bedroom platinum maybe what I have to get this tier. How does it work when exchanging into DEX? Does one simply deposit point in there or do they have to book a week at a platinum time and then deposit that week? Hopefully also there is plenty of availability for these other properties inside DEX. Thanks for all the ideas!

 

[HuskerATL]

DEX is a Diamond resorts system, still says Diamond at the bottom and DEX EU is a version that is run out of the UK. Everything is in pounds. The site is clunky and separate system than the HGVC portal so, I think, many things are done manually for HGVC owners. DEX EU is a weekly exchange, meaning that you deposit a week to book a week. No points....just week for a week. There is the Destination Xtras that is cash though. When you own a CL week, you need the reservation in your HGVC account. The DEX EU folks will contact the HGVC folks to "get" the week after you have enrolled and asked them to deposit it. The reservation in HGVC will be cancelled and then will appear as a deposit in DEX EU. You can deposit up to 2 years ahead so 2025, 2026, and up to July 2027 right now. Sometimes they offer bonus weeks with each deposit but I don't think that is happening right now.

Look at the attached DEX guide at how the system works and the properties in the system. This is a subset of the properties. There are many more in the online system than in the guide but if you know that you want Hawaii and PP, then look at the room type and what you would need.

For us, we would use it much more for Europe than Hawaii and European weeks tend to be lower tiers so it just depends on how you would use it.

 

[chosshaul]

that's fantastic. does the dex eu program have the same options as the dex program? also, does destination xtras still work through dex eu and have many good deals? on the surface level, the destination xtras looks like it could be quite useful.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

AFAIK DEX EU works the same way as DEX USA. I have found Destination Extras to be hit and miss depending on the resort. Best for adding a few extra days if you are looking at Hawaii. Weekly stays can be significantly more expensive for a cash week than trading your week. YMMV.

You could also check out Bay Club for US DEX access. IMHO I would avoid Florida for unknowns such as hurricanes and insurance which may raise maint fee rates.

Alternatively if you only will access DEX and not HGVC, you could pick up an HVC resale such as Sedona Summit week deed for free or low cost. KBC deeds are sometimes free as well if you are patient. However the MFs are expensive. IMHO...I worry about the exit path for HVC/Diamond so I never pursued this. For this reason avoid HVC Trust Collections/Points. YMMV.

 

[chosshaul]

Thanks I didn’t know Bay Club had DEX access too. I think Crag should work fine. I think I’m just going to cough up the 4-5k and get a 2 bedroom platinum there. I’ve been looking at these for a couple years now and this looks like the best of what I’ve seen. Thanks for all your help!

 

[HuskerATL]

As you get into it, remember that HGV, Craig Lodges resale office, and DEX EU are separate entities. You need to do this with each but you need to talk to each individually and be patient with DEX EU.... They are clumsy

 

[chosshaul]

As you get into it, remember that HGV, Craig Lodges resale office, and DEX EU are separate entities. You need to do this with each but you need to talk to each individually and be patient with DEX EU.... They are

Thank you. one more question for anyone familiar with Craig lodges and interval. I see it has II access as well. When depositing points in II do members have to put their entire week in II (like DEX) or can they just put in a portion of their points?

Just checking as I imagine I would probably use either DEX or II every other year, haven’t heard as many good things about RCI

 

[dioxide45]

Thank you. one more question for anyone familiar with Craig lodges and interval. I see it has II access as well. When depositing points in II do members have to put their entire week in II (like DEX) or can they just put in a portion of their points?

Just checking as I imagine I would probably use either DEX or II every other year, haven’t heard as many good things about RCI

HGVC affiliates exchange in II as weeks, not points.

 

[HuskerATL]

Thank you. one more question for anyone familiar with Craig lodges and interval. I see it has II access as well. When depositing points in II do members have to put their entire week in II (like DEX) or can they just put in a portion of their points?

Just checking as I imagine I would probably use either DEX or II every other year, haven’t heard as many good things about RCI

There is no points at Craig. They are fixed weeks. You deposit and exchange the week.

HGVC converts that week to points for more flexibility in HGVC

 

[chosshaul]

Thank you! Looks like I’d use DEX or maybe the occasional trade for a good Marriott on II if I could find it. Heard that II has lots of good getaways compared to the other exchanges so it might be worth it to keep. One of the threads was saying the getaways on DEX aren’t that great

 

[HuskerATL]

Thank you! Looks like I’d use DEX or maybe the occasional trade for a good Marriott on II if I could find it. Heard that II has lots of good getaways compared to the other exchanges so it might be worth it to keep. One of the threads was saying the getaways on DEX aren’t that great

The Destination Xtras aren't bad. You can find decent deals there. We have two rooms x 3 nights each for later this month in the NC mountains that we booked via it. It was cheaper than booking on a discount hotel sites.

 

[Whimsey]

HuskerATL, thanks for posting the EU DEX guide! I just joined DEX (deposited my Bay Club week) and am finding the system really difficult to use. No general catalog of properties that I can find (like RCI has) so your EU list is helpful, especially since we mostly travel in Europe. Do I have to be a DEX EU member or will the DEX US membership get me into EU properties as well?

I'm also wondering: is HGVC the same thing as DEX?

I'm feeling frustrated with all of this and am starting to wonder if I made a mistake depositing into DEX instead of RCI...

 

[HuskerATL]

Others, that have deposited their Bay Club can comment but it is the DEX US version. There should be a manual in the portal that have some of the properties. You wouldn't be in DEX EU with Bay Club.

Find the correct guide and then look through it. It will give you many all of the properties but not all. The portal isn't great, at least the DEX EU one isn't, but you get a long booking window into the properties. I don't know where you want to stay but I think you will be happy with it once you get used to the portal.

 

[HuskerATL]

HuskerATL, thanks for posting the EU DEX guide! I just joined DEX (deposited my Bay Club week) and am finding the system really difficult to use. No general catalog of properties that I can find (like RCI has) so your EU list is helpful, especially since we mostly travel in Europe. Do I have to be a DEX EU member or will the DEX US membership get me into EU properties as well?

I'm also wondering: is HGVC the same thing as DEX?

I'm feeling frustrated with all of this and am starting to wonder if I made a mistake depositing into DEX instead of RCI...

Make sure to read through this post and ping the folks in it that have deposited their Bay Club also.

Bay Club Destination Xchange

Just got an email from HGV offering 2 years of membership for the price of one with a bonus week if they deposit before January as the resort has affiliated with Destination Xchange. I had wondered why my Bay Club contract was being split off on the website and now the picture is clear...

tugbbs.com

 

[chosshaul]

HuskerATL, thanks for posting the EU DEX guide! I just joined DEX (deposited my Bay Club week) and am finding the system really difficult to use. No general catalog of properties that I can find (like RCI has) so your EU list is helpful, especially since we mostly travel in Europe. Do I have to be a DEX EU member or will the DEX US membership get me into EU properties as well?

I'm also wondering: is HGVC the same thing as DEX?

I'm feeling frustrated with all of this and am starting to wonder if I made a mistake depositing into DEX instead of RCI...

Did DEX charge you a membership fee coming from the Bay club?

 

[dioxide45]

Did DEX charge you a membership fee coming from the Bay club?

I think @Sandy VDH also signed up for DEX with Bay Club.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I think @Sandy VDH also signed up for DEX with Bay Club.

Yes but they were offering 2 years for the price of 1 for the membership. I also got the 2 deposits for the price of 1. The regular deposit is good for 5 years, and my bonus week was good for 2 years. That was unusual, most reported they got bonus good for 1 year.

They just increased the annual membership fee. It either was 69 and went to 79 or it was 79 and went to 89 per year. I would have to look it up to be sure.