A few days ago I contacted Hyatt's deed back dept and they offered to take my deed if I pay a $400 administravive fee. They will pay nothing for my ownership, but I will no longer have to pay maintenance fees or club dues.
I own a gold week (week 5), a 2-bedroom/2 bathroom unit at Hyatt High Sierra Lodge in Lake Tahoe. Is the deed back offer a good proposal? Should I accept it? I think I could probably give it away here on TUG for free. Thoughts?
Of the two options, I would prefer to give it away for free on TUG rather than have Hyatt be able to scam someone else for megabucks. I would hope that the recipient would enjoy multiple years of use/trading and then him or herself give it away for free.
But Hyatt doesn't make a "free" transaction too easy for you. They have a rather sizable $650 resort transfer fee. That, on top of the $300 or so closing company fee, means you might have to pay about a $1000 to give it away for "free", expenses you won't have if Hyatt's on the other side of the transaction.
Of course, you can offer it for free and ask that the "buyer" pay those expenses. So the buyer would incur $1000 in those types of fees. If you can find a buyer who would accept those terms, again I think that would be best.
Maybe, to make the deal somewhat sweeter, you could ask that the buyer pay those types of closing expenses, but then offer to give them a $400 credit. That way, you'd be able to be in the same exact financial position as if you deeded back to Hyatt.
Another complicating factor is that Hyatt makes their "offer" with a 7 day time limit. They really don't want you to try for a better transaction elsewhere. So, with the benefit of hindsight, it may have been optimal for you to first try those other options and then only come to Hyatt if those other options didn't work out.
So Hyatt's gone from "you pay zero" to "you pay $300" to "you pay $400" just during the last twelve months. And I just recently read someone on TUG saying that Hyatt was telling him/her that the buyback program had been suspended and perhaps might be started again during the summer. I don't know what that person owned so that may have been something pertaining to their Hyatt resort but not all Hyatt resorts.
But the constant changes in the deedback program is something to keep in mind. Who knows what their next offer may be if you try again later?