My survey

[kachook]

Hi. I was hoping for some wisdom and guidance from those more experienced than my wife and me. We are looking to make a purchase and are leaning towards HGVC. Does it make more sense to buy 8k to 10k annual points in Las Vegas and use them to go where we wish each year provided we book early enough and there is availability?

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? No. We routinely travel to CA and NY for family trips, but only for a few days.

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? Undecided - can go either way.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? I am not sure what that means, but we would like to travel to Europe, Hawaii, South Carolina , Florida and California each at least once every five years. With DisneyWorld, maybe every 2-3 years to FL.

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? 4 - (wife, two kids who just started elementary school)

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Locked into school schedule

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Depends on if school calendar comes out. So, I'm going to say not always for any fall break or Christmas/winter holiday travel.

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes.

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 4-5 stars

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $20k

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? $2k-$3k

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes

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

 

[Nowaker]

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? I am not sure what that means, but we would like to travel to Europe, Hawaii, South Carolina , Florida and California each at least once every five years. With DisneyWorld, maybe every 2-3 years to FL.

HGVC is a great option if you focus on Hawaii, South Carolina, and Florida. Many options there. California has a small presence - 3 resorts, all in Carlsbad, CA (no Palm Desert or urban San Diego for you).

Here's a map of all locations: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1AsUbPrNFW7wsXKurbUP4elbjHCvOT_qk

Note: HGVC acquired DRI. Currently, two systems are separate. HGV Max "plan" will offer cross-system booking but it's still in the work. Resale owners may or may not be able to buy cross-system booking capabilities. You should simply look at HGVC as-is today when making any decisions and not make any assumptions on future inventory.

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 4-5 stars

All HGVC resorts are 4 stars. (Not sure if any are 5. Maybe Trump in Las Vegas?)

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Depends on if school calendar comes out. So, I'm going to say not always for any fall break or Christmas/winter holiday travel.

HGVC is a little more flexible in that regard compared to other systems because it has a 9 months window for club booking. If my kids' school calendar isn't released by 9 months and 15 days, I simply make a prediction based on other schools in my area, and start "walking my reservation". It's a technique that you start booking a stay before your intended arrival, and every midnight, push your reservation one day forward, until you've booked your target date. Doing so gives you an edge over people who want to book the whole thing at once. More info here: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/h...d-information-for-owners.274977/#post-2494849

Reservations can be easily modified. Dates can be freely changed. Heck, you can change the target resort of the reservation to a different one either. This way the $59 fee you're paying for placing a booking is not money lost if you change your plans. You simply reuse that booking for something else. Just change it before 60 days of arrival, as 60 days is when you start losing the fees, and 30 when you start losing points. (I don't know the exact numbers here, as I plan hundreds of days in advance, so this doesn't really apply to me.)

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? $20k

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? $2k-$3k

Assuming you purchase a deed that is cost-effective in terms of points - how much dollars in maintenance fees a single point costs you, or Maintenance Fee per point, or MFpp - $20K could buy you a lot.

One of the most popular choices is HGVC Boulevard - 2 BR Platinum - 11,200 points with $944.41 MF in 2022. That's $0.084 MFpp. It's listed here https://www.sellingtimeshares.net/hilton-las-vegas-strip-4/ for $5,900, and typical closing costs are $1,500. If you are smart and spend some time on Facebook Groups, TUG, Ebay, you can get it for as low as $4,000 + closing.

In either case, $20K would buy you 3-4 Boulevards, which is 33,600-44,800, and pay $2833.23 or $3,777.64 in MF + $193 annual club membership fee (regardless of the number of units or points you own).

To understand what these points buy you, here's an example:

- 4x 1 week bookings in Platinum season (highest season in HGVC system) in Orlando, Vegas.
- 2x 1 week bookings in Platinum season in "Premier" unit size with ocean views in Hawaii.
- you can "stretch" points by booking Gold season (1 week in 2 BR costs 8,000 points rather than 11,200)
- you can "stretch" points by booking mid-week and not weekends (one mid-week night is 50% cheaper than a weekend night, defined as Fri/Sat, Sat/Sun, Sun/Mo).
- to understand the full value of a given number of points, you should look at the points chart, find locations you want to visit, find dates you're targeting for, and see where it brings you. For your convenience, I've attached the points chart for you.

Note: HGVC recently had a points number readjustment by 1.6x factor (booking cost increased by 1.6x, and how many points you get from your unit also increased by 1.6x - so it's transparent) for some internal reasons. Posts from February and earlier will say 7,000 points. Now it's 11,200.

HGVC is truly amazing when you're price-conscious and want to maximize what you get for what you pay. I compared several other timeshare systems, and none can beat HGVC's ultimate price-per-night when all costs are accounted for - both recurring costs (MFs, club fees, bookings fees, etc - anything) and acquisition costs (how much you pay for a deed, including transfer and other fees). For example:

- MVC loses in both categories (prices per night significantly higher, price to acquire higher)
- HICV loses in both categories (prices per night somewhat higher, price to acquire - okay, but you need to know which one to acquire, because there's only 3 resorts that give you full club rights; all other acquired on resale are useless) - BUT if I can book the same accommodation via hotels.com for not much more (say +20%), there's no point in owning a timeshare, and HICV locations I'd like to visit fall in that category
- Hyatt loses in one category (price per night significantly higher, price to acquire okay)
- Westgate, Diamond - not considered because resale is either impossible, or resale owners lose most if not all club benefits, and buying resale is useless
- Maybe there are some good ones that can beat HGVC but I didn't know of them at the time of doing a research.

Other systems may have their own benefits and advantages that others can speak of. I was centered at getting a large network of first-party resorts at the lowest price per night possible. WorldMark and HGVC both provide it; I picked HGVC because it would be an upgrade for us in terms of quality of accommodations (we booked 3 stars, non-resort hotels previously, now we book 4 stars resorts) and locations (we booked regular locations, often no views, now we book premium locations, and add views depending on the price point and location; e.g. ocean view in Waikiki is a must-have, but top floor in Orlando or Vegas makes no difference to us).

 

[kachook]

Thank you. This has been extremely helpful!

 

[Nowaker]

Thank you. This has been extremely helpful!

No problem. You're welcome, and welcome to TUG.

If you want more info on HGVC, you can take a look at the thread I posted back in November when I was researching the topic. Many great TUGers answered all my questions, or shared useful information - like availability for certain dates in certain resorts I was interested in.

- https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/which-timeshare-club-would-be-best-for-me.327034/
- https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/c...-up-availability-on-some-dates-for-me.326698/

And some other interesting stuff:

- https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/e...gvc-resorts-snapshot-as-of-12-10-2021.330214/ - so you can see what you can book just a couple weeks in advance in the busiest season of the year (answer: still something!)
- https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/i...2-br-or-3-br-platinum-deed-in-orlando.332373/ - for some home week value deliberations

Oh, and the points chart, I forgot to attach it. Here it is.