My Survey- Looking to see if HGVC makes sense for me

[islandbanker]

Does it make sense to buy HGVC points in the resale market to do the below? We are looking at the Elara and like the points and the MF. Almost retired and have time to travel...especially overseas. We have no issues adopting to what is suggested in TUG to book vacations. But is does it make economic sense -Like saving a fistful of Dollars? We are not familiar with the conversion of HGVC points to RCI or HHoners or the cost to do that. Any suggestions out there is really appreciated.

1. There is no particular vacation destination we will visit most of the time.

1. Our top destinations are Paris, Nice (France), Sardinia, Amalfi Coast, Sedona, Clearwater Beach, Greece.

1. Most of the time it will be my wife and I and at times our teenage daughter. 3 in total.

1. We are not locked by into any schedule.

1. We can make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance. Is there an ability to have insurance should things change?

1. We can take vacation for a full week. Is this required at all times?

1. In our stay’s we need to have 3 stars or better. A good comparable is Hilton.

 

[dayooper]

1. There is no particular vacation destination we will visit most of the time.

1. Our top destinations are Paris, Nice (France), Sardinia, Amalfi Coast, Sedona, Clearwater Beach, Greece.

HGVC does not have properties in these areas. You could purchase resale at Craigendarroch and use DEX for some of these locations.

1. Most of the time it will be my wife and I and at times our teenage daughter. 3 in total.

HGVC will work for you in this regard. You can book a 2 bedroom when you travel with your daughter.

1. We are not locked by into any schedule.
2. We can make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance. Is there an ability to have insurance should things change?

This good for owning an HGVC deed. There is insurance you can purchase, but it’s free to change your reservation, including the resort up to 60 days and cancel at 30 days.

1. We can take vacation for a full week. Is this required at all times?

No, you can book as little as 3 days. We generally book 9-10 days for our family vacations.

1. In our stay’s we need to have 3 stars or better. A good comparable is Hilton.

Some resorts are better than others, but most would fall into the 3-4 star range. One of the things we like about the system is the consistency of the resorts. We haven’t had a bad room yet.

I believe HGVC would work well for you except they don’t have the locations you want to visit. Unless you find HGVC locations that you would want to visit, I would suggest not purchasing.

If a salesman told you these were HGVC locations, he was including HVC (another system the parent company owns). With a purchase directly from HGVC (nor resale), you would have access to that system at 6 months. They are generally lower on quality and consistently. There are some gems in the system, but not like HGVC. You would also have the leftovers in that system. Many of the good weeks would be gone.

 

[jp10558]

Does it make sense to buy HGVC points in the resale market to do the below? We are looking at the Elara and like the points and the MF. Almost retired and have time to travel...especially overseas. We have no issues adopting to what is suggested in TUG to book vacations. But is does it make economic sense -Like saving a fistful of Dollars? We are not familiar with the conversion of HGVC points to RCI or HHoners or the cost to do that. Any suggestions out there is really appreciated.

1. There is no particular vacation destination we will visit most of the time.
2. Our top destinations are Paris, Nice (France), Sardinia, Amalfi Coast, Sedona, Clearwater Beach, Greece.

I'm not actually aware of timeshares in those locations - they're certainly not in HGVC. There might be some in RCI, but only buy HGVC if you want to go to their locations with those points MOST of the time. That would be Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Miami Beach, Las Vegas, Carlsbad, Hawaii...

1. Most of the time it will be my wife and I and at times our teenage daughter. 3 in total.

You can with HGVC in their system book flexibly the suite size you need as long as you have the points.

1. We are not locked by into any schedule.
2. We can make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance. Is there an ability to have insurance should things change?

Most of the systems offer some sort of insurance you can buy per booking. If you're 99% firm, or even 90% firm, I'd probably self-insure, i.e. just take the risk you might lose it. If you're 50%/50% I'd question your definition of "Firm Plans".

1. We can take vacation for a full week. Is this required at all times?

No, but in you're trading or buying in RCI (Extra Vacation / Last Calls) they mostly are full week slots, starting Fri,Sat or Sun based on resort. HGVC is far more flexible - you can book as many points and availability (or as little). Note, you should also consider the relative pricing - you can often leave early if you want / need to - and if your MF or buy in for the week is == or less than that number of days in a hotel, I'd say don't worry about "burning the time" by leaving early.

1. In our stay’s we need to have 3 stars or better. A good comparable is Hilton.

3 stars is subjective, but to my mind, Hilton (that specific brand) is usually read as 4 star comparable at timeshares. Hampton Inn would be 3.5 start IMO. If you only want 4 star, then you're going to be location limited compared to just "What's in RCI" - probably 10% of locations might meet that, and they'll basically be the HGVC locations. Same for Interval I think, most of the 4 star are going to be Marriott / Westin branded and limited locations.

That said, I think there are a LOT of decent 3-3.5 star "other brand" or independent locations in RCI and II so... Europe is harder, the timeshares I've seen there (granted only been personally to one, and looked seriously at 3 others online) look to be lower end than the ones in the USA. I think timesharing didn't or at least hasn't yet taken off like in the US. You can look at the resort directory without logging in to II (and I think RCI?) to get at least some pictures of what's out there in Europe in terms of there even being a location, and some pics of the location.

Don't buy a system that you don't want to preferentially use that system - i.e. don't buy HGVC to trade in RCI or convert to Hilton Honors points - those are fallback options so you don't get nothing for your years MFs, not plan A.

Honestly, for what you're saying, I think (like many will say) you should try renting at a location or two where you want to go - see what's actually available, what it costs as a rental with no commitment, and see if it's nice enough for you on a test trip or two. One place for Europe to look at is also going to be Hapimag which is all Europe, but it works significantly differently from US based timeshares. I believe you can trial it for cash up to 3 times directly with them before you have to buy to keep using.

So for your list of locations, I don't think you'll save a lot of money - I'm not even sure you can go there with any one system (or any system). For many in the US locations however, (and Caribbean) you would likely save money with the right system and planning.

 

[islandbanker]

I'm not actually aware of timeshares in those locations - they're certainly not in HGVC. There might be some in RCI, but only buy HGVC if you want to go to their locations with those points MOST of the time. That would be Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Miami Beach, Las Vegas, Carlsbad, Hawaii...

You can with HGVC in their system book flexibly the suite size you need as long as you have the points.

Most of the systems offer some sort of insurance you can buy per booking. If you're 99% firm, or even 90% firm, I'd probably self-insure, i.e. just take the risk you might lose it. If you're 50%/50% I'd question your definition of "Firm Plans".

No, but in you're trading or buying in RCI (Extra Vacation / Last Calls) they mostly are full week slots, starting Fri,Sat or Sun based on resort. HGVC is far more flexible - you can book as many points and availability (or as little). Note, you should also consider the relative pricing - you can often leave early if you want / need to - and if your MF or buy in for the week is == or less than that number of days in a hotel, I'd say don't worry about "burning the time" by leaving early.

3 stars is subjective, but to my mind, Hilton (that specific brand) is usually read as 4 star comparable at timeshares. Hampton Inn would be 3.5 start IMO. If you only want 4 star, then you're going to be location limited compared to just "What's in RCI" - probably 10% of locations might meet that, and they'll basically be the HGVC locations. Same for Interval I think, most of the 4 star are going to be Marriott / Westin branded and limited locations.

That said, I think there are a LOT of decent 3-3.5 star "other brand" or independent locations in RCI and II so... Europe is harder, the timeshares I've seen there (granted only been personally to one, and looked seriously at 3 others online) look to be lower end than the ones in the USA. I think timesharing didn't or at least hasn't yet taken off like in the US. You can look at the resort directory without logging in to II (and I think RCI?) to get at least some pictures of what's out there in Europe in terms of there even being a location, and some pics of the location.

Don't buy a system that you don't want to preferentially use that system - i.e. don't buy HGVC to trade in RCI or convert to Hilton Honors points - those are fallback options so you don't get nothing for your years MFs, not plan A.

Honestly, for what you're saying, I think (like many will say) you should try renting at a location or two where you want to go - see what's actually available, what it costs as a rental with no commitment, and see if it's nice enough for you on a test trip or two. One place for Europe to look at is also going to be Hapimag which is all Europe, but it works significantly differently from US based timeshares. I believe you can trial it for cash up to 3 times directly with them before you have to buy to keep using.

So for your list of locations, I don't think you'll save a lot of money - I'm not even sure you can go there with any one system (or any system). For many in the US locations however, (and Caribbean) you would likely save money with the right system and planning.

Thanks - this is helpful. I am still lost on the conversion of HGVC points into RCI. What are the costs associated with converting points, booking through RCI etc.?

 

[SmithOp]

Thanks - this is helpful. I am still lost on the conversion of HGVC points into RCI. What are the costs associated with converting points, booking through RCI etc.?

The answers are in the last pink sticky at the top. There is an exchange fee based on days, plus hgvc points taken from your account. The HGVC to RCI Portal can see Weeks inventory (full 7 day weeks) as well as Points inventory (short stays).

 

[jp10558]

Thanks - this is helpful. I am still lost on the conversion of HGVC points into RCI. What are the costs associated with converting points, booking through RCI etc.?

Aside from the normal $299 exchange fee for the week, most of us on TUG think the maintenance fees to what you get with RCI doesn't make much sense in many cases. Lets take my first (and so far only) HGVC exchange into RCI (it was the first trip I did, and I didn't know any better).

I spent 7,600 pts (I think, around that) on my "average" MFs of $1,700 for 11,200pts. That works out to $1,154 in MFs, plus $299 to exchange. This was for the Colonies in Williamsburg. It was the week before Memorial Day. So I effectively paid $1,453 to stay the week in a 2BR. Not horrible compared to a week with 2 hotel rooms, but if you are in RCI and look at the availability for Extra Vacations and Last Calls, the cash rate for 2BR at Colonies is frequently available for ~$650 for the week with tax etc. Sometimes as low as $379 + tax and resort fees for the week. (And the RCI Exchange charges the resort fees also, but I don't recall what they were. They seem to average $150 in my recall)...

So I technically paid 2.2x doing the HGVC to RCI exchange vs just paying for the RCI cash rate (subject to availability).

But wait, it gets worse - even if I wanted to get there JUST with an RCI Exchange, you can likely get an RCI enrolled week from a number of "NOT HGVC" that would work for that exchange for MFs of $900 "average" instead of $1,154 for HGVC "average". IDK if a 1BR somewhere could pull a 2BR Colonies, I'm not into the trading power, but if so, that MF might actually be as low as $600 average. Now this still wouldn't make a lot of sense cause RCI still charges the $299 exchange fee on top...

Now, if your choice was make the exchange or throw away the 7,600 HGVC pts, then fine - get something - but because you can both save pts for ~ $140 to the next year and borrow from the next year for this year for free - unless you wouldn't go to some HGVC property at least once every 2 years - you should use the pts for HGVC properties. If you're not going to go for 3+ years, don't buy HGVC in almost all cases - don't buy what you'd never want to use.

Now you might ask - well, why not RCI into HGVC? Well, 1) the rates are more expensive, but also in HGVC legacy you spend ~$70 to do a booking rather than $299 for RCI, and you get "first dibs"(ish) vs whatever gets deposited into RCI for the people exchanging out or not using the week(s). Many HGVC places you'll never see to get via RCI for instance...

 

[islandbanker]

Aside from the normal $299 exchange fee for the week, most of us on TUG think the maintenance fees to what you get with RCI doesn't make much sense in many cases. Lets take my first (and so far only) HGVC exchange into RCI (it was the first trip I did, and I didn't know any better).

I spent 7,600 pts (I think, around that) on my "average" MFs of $1,700 for 11,200pts. That works out to $1,154 in MFs, plus $299 to exchange. This was for the Colonies in Williamsburg. It was the week before Memorial Day. So I effectively paid $1,453 to stay the week in a 2BR. Not horrible compared to a week with 2 hotel rooms, but if you are in RCI and look at the availability for Extra Vacations and Last Calls, the cash rate for 2BR at Colonies is frequently available for ~$650 for the week with tax etc. Sometimes as low as $379 + tax and resort fees for the week. (And the RCI Exchange charges the resort fees also, but I don't recall what they were. They seem to average $150 in my recall)...

So I technically paid 2.2x doing the HGVC to RCI exchange vs just paying for the RCI cash rate (subject to availability).

But wait, it gets worse - even if I wanted to get there JUST with an RCI Exchange, you can likely get an RCI enrolled week from a number of "NOT HGVC" that would work for that exchange for MFs of $900 "average" instead of $1,154 for HGVC "average". IDK if a 1BR somewhere could pull a 2BR Colonies, I'm not into the trading power, but if so, that MF might actually be as low as $600 average. Now this still wouldn't make a lot of sense cause RCI still charges the $299 exchange fee on top...

Now, if your choice was make the exchange or throw away the 7,600 HGVC pts, then fine - get something - but because you can both save pts for ~ $140 to the next year and borrow from the next year for this year for free - unless you wouldn't go to some HGVC property at least once every 2 years - you should use the pts for HGVC properties. If you're not going to go for 3+ years, don't buy HGVC in almost all cases - don't buy what you'd never want to use.

Now you might ask - well, why not RCI into HGVC? Well, 1) the rates are more expensive, but also in HGVC legacy you spend ~$70 to do a booking rather than $299 for RCI, and you get "first dibs"(ish) vs whatever gets deposited into RCI for the people exchanging out or not using the week(s). Many HGVC places you'll never see to get via RCI for instance...

Yikes! That is all I can say! This is an eye opener!

 

[WaikikiFirst]

HGVC ...especially overseas

Incompatible. If HGVC exposed its owners to any kind of value or hard-to-get accommodations overseas, I would own 3x as many pts as I do.
If you travel overseas often, your HGVC pts may almost become an after-thought

(unless you want to go to a beach resort in Japan and pay way too much cuz you just don't know)

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Aside from the normal $299 exchange fee for the week, most of us on TUG think the maintenance fees to what you get with RCI doesn't make much sense

but what about those awesome deals on All-Inclusives?

 

[islandbanker]

Incompatible. If HGVC exposed its owners to any kind of value or hard-to-get accommodations overseas, I would own 3x as many pts as I do.
If you travel overseas often, your HGVC pts may almost become an after-thought

This gets to the bottom of what the HGVC points cannot do. Good for the HGVC choices but lousy for outside of the HGVC program.

 

[islandbanker]

but what about those awesome deals on All-Inclusives?

I understand they are not so awesome!

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Good for the HGVC choices but lousy for outside of the HGVC program.

a few ppl can explain buying REALLY cheap pts (in Scotland) and using DEX to get value out of them, but even then, I'm not sure the value is going overseas ... just owning there ... strangely enough

 

[Heron]

As was mentioned above, research HGVC resorts specifically to see if you'd want to visit those areas repetitively. Advantage is great accommodations in awesome locations (though few), reasonable cost, and short stays are not taxed like RCI short stays. It wouldn't be used too much overseas, however, combining the ownership with Hilton amex cards opens up more hotel options and flight credits to supplement overseas travel. Having said that, if you want flexibility to go anywhere you want, one week at a time, ownership in other timeshares are much more reasonable. My RCI trades, with other timeshares i own, typically are 700 per week for multi-bedroom units in prime seasons and as low as 300 in off-season. Example: used rci to trade into a week at an HGVC SeaWorld 2 bedroom lockoff for less than 700 last summer and that was after all the exchange fees and resort fees. However as someone else stated, some HGVC resorts aren't available in rci, such as, Ocean Oaks. After lots of research, I chose to own both hgvc and another system to get flexibility.

 

[Reddart]

I was curious and did the math on the total cost an RCI studio+ rental at Hilton W57th (which I am an owner). The positives are you can use club points to convert to RCI, and you can book up to 9 months ahead (at this particular moment anyway). The negatives are minimum 3 night stay, and only studio+ units available, which I almost would never book.

Calculating the cost of the points based on MF cost/point and all the fees, the 3 weekday stay, gold season, was about $60 more compared to my Elara club point MF cost (which could be reserved 59 days out if it is available), but about $125 less than the bHC point cost I pay for my W57th deed.

I did not calculate weekend cost differences or platinum season costs, but it does show that in the case of W57th, it could offer some value in certain circumstances.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

1. There is no particular vacation destination we will visit most of the time.
2. Our top destinations are Paris, Nice (France), Sardinia, Amalfi Coast, Sedona, Clearwater Beach, Greece.

HGVC does not have properties in these areas. You could purchase resale at Craigendarroch and use DEX for some of these locations.

This. A few other alternatives.

1) Buy HGVC bHC District resale with high points value to get 1:32 into European Hilton hotels. Check to see if there are Hilton hotels in your desired location.

2) Buy or rehome for free/low cost HGV Sedona deed to trade DEX

3) Buy Gulf coast for DEX but with Florida hurricanes raising fees, this is not a good option.

I would not bother with RCI since you like better accommodations and RCI will be in remote locations in Europe. There also are resort fees in many locations on top of the exchange fee. These can add as much as $60/day.

 

[jp10558]

This. A few other alternatives.

1) Buy HGVC bHC District resale with high points value to get 1:32 into European Hilton hotels. Check to see if there are Hilton hotels in your desired location.

2) Buy or rehome for free/low cost HGV Sedona deed to trade DEX

3) Buy Gulf coast for DEX but with Florida hurricanes raising fees, this is not a good option.

I would not bother with RCI since you like better accommodations and RCI will be in remote locations in Europe. There also are resort fees in many locations on top of the exchange fee. These can add as much as $60/day.

Does DEX have more locations in Europe than RCI? I don't currently have DEX so I'm still pretty unclear what they have or if it's worth it getting something for that.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I do not know how to compare. Perhaps look at the DEX Europe Catalog (which does not include all) to see if there are locations that fit? There is much more availability of HGV, Embarc in DEX than RCI. It also includes some RCI listing but those are infrequent and may be leftovers. RCI has more RCI.

 

[cd5]

I think HVC would be more suitable for your destinations. Diamond Resorts have most of the places you want to go - Royal Regency near Paris, Les Mougins near Nice, several locations in Sedona & Florida. They have locations in Italy as well but I'm not sure where exactly. Sardinia and Greece are locations I'm not sure about either.
HVC are trust points and some locations would be better than others to acquire (some are real dogs that can't be given away). I'd post in that sub-forum to get feedback.

 

[islandbanker]

I was curious and did the math on the total cost an RCI studio+ rental at Hilton W57th (which I am an owner). The positives are you can use club points to convert to RCI, and you can book up to 9 months ahead (at this particular moment anyway). The negatives are minimum 3 night stay, and only studio+ units available, which I almost would never book.

Calculating the cost of the points based on MF cost/point and all the fees, the 3 weekday stay, gold season, was about $60 more compared to my Elara club point MF cost (which could be reserved 59 days out if it is available), but about $125 less than the bHC point cost I pay for my W57th deed.

I did not calculate weekend cost differences or platinum season costs, but it does show that in the case of W57th, it could offer some value in

I was curious and did the math on the total cost an RCI studio+ rental at Hilton W57th (which I am an owner). The positives are you can use club points to convert to RCI, and you can book up to 9 months ahead (at this particular moment anyway). The negatives are minimum 3 night stay, and only studio+ units available, which I almost would never book.

Calculating the cost of the points based on MF cost/point and all the fees, the 3 weekday stay, gold season, was about $60 more compared to my Elara club point MF cost (which could be reserved 59 days out if it is available), but about $125 less than the bHC point cost I pay for my W57th deed.

I did not calculate weekend cost differences or platinum season costs, but it does show that in the case of W57th, it could offer some value in certain circumstances.

Good to know. Thanks

 

[GT75]

I think HVC would be more suitable for your destinations. Diamond Resorts have most of the places you want to go - Royal Regency near Paris, Les Mougins near Nice, several locations in Sedona & Florida.

Except if you purchase HVC/DRI resale, you will be limited to your collection only. I am not sure if an HVC/DRI resale collection will trade in DEX. I know that a deeded resale HVC/DRI does.

 

[cd5]

Yes, needs more investigation for sure.