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My Survey!

Mjasp

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
337
Reaction score
22
Points
378
Location
Florida
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Broadway Plantation
1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Florida Beaches and Key West

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time? Half the time sounds about right

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Northeast, Las Vegas, Arizona, The Carolina's, California

4) How many people do you usually travel with? 2-6

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Anytime, empty nesters. Actually prefer to travel during the school year when it's less crowded.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Yes, but I prefer not to.

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes, but we prefer several 3-4 nights long weekends instead of 7 nights

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? FIVE! I don't want any resort that isn't updated and clean with no bugs.

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? As little as possible, I always look at the bargain deals

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? I prefer the max to be $1,500

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? I used to be, not anymore

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do? Yes, I used to own 2 units at Vistana Resort and have Sellers remorse, although I think I'd be better off with a points system, since I prefer shorter than 7 night vacations.
 

breezez

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
1,020
Reaction score
693
Points
224
Location
Dover, FL
Resorts Owned
WorldMark 39K
Wyndham 406K
RCI Points 196K
Hyatt Pinon Pointe
Hyatt Coconut Plantation
Hyatt’s are nice with 5 locations in FL. 3 are in Key West area, 1 Bonita Springs, 1 in Siesta Key Beach. These will also trade as premiere traders into other resorts in II. Hyatt has other resorts out west and Hawaii you can internally trade with.

Wyndham has resorts in Florida some nice some a bit dated but they also have a brand new one in Clearwater Beach. They are points based with resorts all around the country. They are nice but I wouldn’t call most of them 5 stars. Some are while others are 3-4

Marriott has several beach resorts in Florida they are in nice places such as Marco Island, but these will be older style locations. They have nice stuff in Orlando and again they have stuff around the country. Destination Points can be pretty expensive to start with, while weeks will be considerably cheaper.

HGVC has resorts all across the country and their points internally trade to other resorts in their system

Nicest resorts - Hyatt’s, HGVC, and Marriott’s

If wanting less than full weeks Hyatt and HGVC for 5 star and Wyndham for 4 and below.
 
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WalnutBaron

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
2,193
Reaction score
2,585
Points
574
Location
California
Resorts Owned
Hyatt Highlands Inn, Hyatt Pinon Pointe
+1 for Hyatt, especially since you want to be in Florida. Hyatt has 5 Florida locations, 3 of which are in Key West. That said, you're going to have to raise your annual maintenance fee budget a bit to get Hyatt. One more piece of advice: if you choose to buy Hyatt, be sure to buy either a Diamond or Platinum week--not Gold or Silver. Why? Even though the upfront cost is higher, the annual MF's are the same. When you buy a high-end week, you're letting other owners of the lower-demand weeks subsidize your MF's.
 

Mjasp

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
337
Reaction score
22
Points
378
Location
Florida
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Broadway Plantation
Hyatt’s are nice with 4 locations in FL. 3 are in Key West area, 1 Bonita Springs, 1 in Siesta Key Beach. These will also trade as premiere traders into other resorts in II. Hyatt has other resorts out west and Hawaii you can internally trade with.

Wyndham has resorts in Florida some nice some a bit dated but they also have a brand new one in Clearwater Beach. They are points based with resorts all around the country. They are nice but I wouldn’t call most of them 5 stars. Some are while others are 3-4

Marriott has several beach resorts in Florida they are in nice places such as Marco Island, but these will be older style locations. They have nice stuff in Orlando and again they have stuff around the country. Destination Points can be pretty expensive to start with, while weeks will be considerably cheaper.

HGVC has resorts all across the country and their points internally trade to other resorts in their system

Nicest resorts - Hyatt’s, HGVC, and Marriott’s

If wanting less than full weeks Hyatt and HGVC for 5 star and Wyndham for 4 and below.

Thank you, I can deal with 4* but not 3. I was looking at Bluegreen because of their presence in Florida, but some of their resorts don't look so wonderful and I don't want to go on vacation wondering what I am getting.
 

Mjasp

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
337
Reaction score
22
Points
378
Location
Florida
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Broadway Plantation
+1 for Hyatt, especially since you want to be in Florida. Hyatt has 5 Florida locations, 3 of which are in Key West. That said, you're going to have to raise your annual maintenance fee budget a bit to get Hyatt. One more piece of advice: if you choose to buy Hyatt, be sure to buy either a Diamond or Platinum week--not Gold or Silver. Why? Even though the upfront cost is higher, the annual MF's are the same. When you buy a high-end week, you're letting other owners of the lower-demand weeks subsidize your MF's.

Thank you, You aren't the first person I have heard that from. Seems the maintenance is the same, may as well go for the gusto.
 

breezez

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
1,020
Reaction score
693
Points
224
Location
Dover, FL
Resorts Owned
WorldMark 39K
Wyndham 406K
RCI Points 196K
Hyatt Pinon Pointe
Hyatt Coconut Plantation
+1 for Hyatt, especially since you want to be in Florida. Hyatt has 5 Florida locations, 3 of which are in Key West. That said, you're going to have to raise your annual maintenance fee budget a bit to get Hyatt. One more piece of advice: if you choose to buy Hyatt, be sure to buy either a Diamond or Platinum week--not Gold or Silver. Why? Even though the upfront cost is higher, the annual MF's are the same. When you buy a high-end week, you're letting other owners of the lower-demand weeks subsidize your MF's.
I agree for Silver, Bronze, Copper and Mountain seasons, but depending on price spread between Gold and Platinum, you may still find Gold attractive where it would take several years of MF before you break even with higher priced contracts.

Example rounded to nearest $100.

Say a Pinion Pointe Platinum goes for $6000 for 2000 annual points, While a Gold goes for $2000. Difference in price of $4000. If MF on both are 1200 Platinum is .60 per point and Gold is $.64 per point. So you are basically paying $75.2 more in MF for 1880 points than a platinum owner. $4000/$75.2 means it takes around 53 years to break even. Or you could say your getting $76.8 less in points each year - This puts break even at 52 years.

If you need the platinum or diamond time period due to your traveling needs then I see how buying what you need makes sense, but if you are just going to be using points and travel times not as important to be platinum or diamond weeks. Gold can be a good value also.
 
Last edited:

Mjasp

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
337
Reaction score
22
Points
378
Location
Florida
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Broadway Plantation
Is Silver worth it if someone is giving it away, assuming it passes ROFR
 

Panina

TUG Review Crew: Elite
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
6,781
Reaction score
9,968
Points
499
Location
Florida
Resorts Owned
Hgvc Anderson, Blue Ride Village Resort
Is Silver worth it if someone is giving it away, assuming it passes ROFR
If it is a fixed week that you will use most of the time its point value doesn’t matter as you will use it.

Its not Hyatt but I got a fixed week hgvc surf club waterfront 2 br for free. I will use it most years and I have a guaranteed place, time and view. It is equivalent to a silver week but it was a week I want and will use.
 

breezez

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
1,020
Reaction score
693
Points
224
Location
Dover, FL
Resorts Owned
WorldMark 39K
Wyndham 406K
RCI Points 196K
Hyatt Pinon Pointe
Hyatt Coconut Plantation
Is Silver worth it if someone is giving it away, assuming it passes ROFR
If it is a week/location you want then for you could be a good deal. But for points using my example in my previous post a Silver 2bdr gives you only 1400 points. So you are paying almost 43% more per point per year over the per point costs of a platinum.

What makes Hyatt’s HPP program so bad over deeded weeks is how much more MF’s cost IMO. A silver contract at this resort would still have cheaper MF per point. Almost 10% cheaper than HPP points.
 

Mjasp

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
337
Reaction score
22
Points
378
Location
Florida
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Broadway Plantation
I'm sorry, I meant to say GOLD not silver. 1,880 points
 
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