New to Holiday Inn Vacation Clubs

[jlg]

Hi Owners,
I am new to Holiday Inn Vacation Club - they recently purchased our resort in Mexico. I am wondering what membership is like? Is it easy to get exchanges? Are the counselors helpful? Do you feel that Holiday Inn Vacation Club cares about their owners? Do you think they will continue to expand their portfolio? Are the membership perks such as free rooms and upgrades true pluses that you can enjoy or are they just nice on paper? Anything else you can share would be helpful. Are you glad you purchased with HIVC?

 

[TUGBrian]

welcome to TUG!

 

[USA traveler]

Personally, I can't say I am dissatisfied, however I wished I knew more bf I purchased the trust pts. If I could do it all over again, I probably wouldn't have purchased at all and only rented from current owners.

I think it will all depend on what kind of ownership you now have w them. Are you on fixed wk or did they manage to get you to convert and buy trust pts? Curious how they merged the Mexico resort owners into their mix.

Recently, they downsized their Silver Leaf properties (the less propular and less used ones) and trying to book at the popular locations is showing less availability within 2-3 months booking windows.

 

[jlg]

Thank you for your response. Even though HIVC purchased the Royal Resorts the Royal Resorts members are not forced to join HIVC. They wanted $14,000 to join HIVC and the majority of RR owners don't see a reason to do so. RR has a very high degree of loyalty amongst their owners and they usually don't trade to go anywhere else .This means they are two different pools of inventory and most of it is on the RR side. The RR owners that did buy in HIVC are complaining that they can't get their exchanges. However, if you want to add to your current RR timeshare you must buy into HIVC.
HIVC seem very corporate. I was considering adding to our portfolio but I am hesitant because I don't see any concrete advantages. Some of the free day perks seem appealing but I wonder if the perks ever truly materialize.

 

[USA traveler]

HIVC seem very corporate. I was considering adding to our portfolio but I am hesitant because I don't see any concrete advantages. Some of the free day perks seem appealing but I wonder if the perks ever truly materialize.

Wow, $14k just to join...I wonder if they just converted RR fixed wk to floating pts then? However the perks (complimentary stays and upgrades, respectively) will likely depend on the pts status tier within their club membership.

Basically the higher pts tier you are, the more days you get to book free within a 2 month reservation window and only up to a 2BR villa size. So trying to find anything available during peak season becomes harder. I've been lucky during non-peak season w my free stays at some of popular locations.

As for the free upgrades, you can't use it with your free stays. You can basically book the upgrade when you make your non complimentary reservation, as long as the next size villa is available.

There are also reservation discounts if u book 6 months out. The amount of the discount also depends on your tier. Open access for all starts at 10 month window.

I imagine availability is the problem w the exchanges for those that did pay the $14k into HICV?

 

[kanerf]

Been a member for a number of year's now. Almost exclusively stay at the resort in Williamsburg, VA. I am there now. I work in DC and this is a quick weekend escape. I plan to start using the resorts in Florida next year when I retire. Never had an issue finding and staying where I want. Note, that I do not own at Williamsburg, just stay there a lot.

 

[jlg]

Wow, $14k just to join...I wonder if they just converted RR fixed wk to floating pts then? However the perks (complimentary stays and upgrades, respectively) will likely depend on the pts status tier within their club membership.

Basically the higher pts tier you are, the more days you get to book free within a 2 month reservation window and only up to a 2BR villa size. So trying to find anything available during peak season becomes harder. I've been lucky during non-peak season w my free stays at some of popular locations.

As for the free upgrades, you can't use it with your free stays. You can basically book the upgrade when you make your non complimentary reservation, as long as the next size villa is available.

There are also reservation discounts if u book 6 months out. The amount of the discount also depends on your tier. Open access for all starts at 10 month window.

I imagine availability is the problem w the exchanges for those that did pay the $14k into HICV?

The RR members did not convert their fixed weeks into points and HIVC cannot force them to do so. As a RR fixed week owner you have the option to trade your weeks every year for points to use at RR or somewhere else. You also have an option to trade villa to Villa. There are many owners who owner the same villa for two to eight weeks straight. And yes, the exchange issue is with anyone who opted to go into the HIVC system.

 

[USA traveler]

Been a member for a number of year's now. Almost exclusively stay at the resort in Williamsburg, VA. I am there now. I work in DC and this is a quick weekend escape. I plan to start using the resorts in Florida next year when I retire. Never had an issue finding and staying where I want. Note, that I do not own at Williamsburg, just stay there a lot.

Great to hear. I've only been to Williamsburg 2x now. I try to get in at least 6 or 7 wk trips per yr on my current pts along w all the discounts and/or perks associated w it. I haven't had too many issues myself when booking outside the 6 month window, especially for Spring or Summer trips.

However, I've been noticing less availability within 2 months or last minute booking at the more popular locations like Myrtle Beach, Cape Canveral, or even Orlando.

 

[USA traveler]

The RR members did not convert their fixed weeks into points and HIVC cannot force them to do so. As a RR fixed week owner you have the option to trade your weeks every year for points to use at RR or somewhere else. You also have an option to trade villa to Villa. There are many owners who owner the same villa for two to eight weeks straight. And yes, the exchange issue is with anyone who opted to go into the HIVC system.

With its purchase of RR it opened those Mexico resorts to the entire pop of current HICV owners to now compete with original RR owners for reservations. I imagine this adds to the exchange issues those RR members are having.

 

[jlg]

With its purchase of RR it opened those Mexico resorts to the entire pop of current HICV owners to now compete with original RR owners for reservations. I imagine this adds to the exchange issues those RR members are having.

Yes, but we have a longer booking window and the majority of RR owners have fixed weeks. The RR are also require more points to book so I can't say how many HIVC non RR owners actually book there.

 

[jlg]

Yes, but we have a longer booking window and the majority of RR owners have fixed weeks. The RR are also require more points to book so I can't say how many HIVC non RR owners actually book there.

Can you tell me what aspects of HIVC membership you like the best and are worth taking advantage of?

 

[USA traveler]

Can you tell me what aspects of HIVC membership you like the best and are worth taking advantage of?

TLDR- I believe IOT be satisfied w any pts timeshare company u need to be at the lowest best tier to benefit and you need to be able to travel. I enjoy that I have enough pts to book, at least the 6 month window, whatever I want. Pg 34 in members guide below link describes those benefits, which I fully try to maximize for personal use of my timeshare.

Helpful Links for Holiday Inn Club Timeshare Resorts

Helpful Links for Holiday Inn Club Resorts: How to Exit a Holiday Inn Vacations Club Timeshare 2022 Holiday Inn Club Member Guide 2022 Holiday Inn Club Fee Lists HICV Member/Ownership information PDF file Important information to know regarding buying HICV on the resale market! Holiday Inn...

tugbbs.com

It's a love/hate relationship Im kinda stuck with now, but I own a little over 500k trust pts only which puts me in a sweet tier spot as far as thier membership perks goes. These pts include thier Signature and II properties so my portfolio opens me to benefit from the entire exchange system they are tapped into RCI/Signature and II. Although, I haven't needed to used these exchanges since I'm fine traveling within the HICV resorts. I got to a point recently I contemplated purchasing more pts within HICV to gain more perks IOT potentially be traveling some 40-52 wks per yr. But at my last owners update I was sorely brought to the reality I was about to make a huge mistake. I started questioning thier availability especially with downsizing from Silverleaf. I also hold thier hotel IHG credit card and am in the entire ecosystem Holiday Inn brand has. I hate when I can't book a villa w neither my club pts nor with my IHG hotel pts, but I can clearly book the same villa using cash/cc. I simply asked how inventory is managed and can't get a reasonable answer. That non-transparency is where I am left to believe they can manipulate availability. Now I am also sure some members in the higher or million pts tier reserve all the prime locations and timeframes only to try and sell them to renters or cancel last minute, since they get pts shield for cancellations.

 

[jlg]

Wow! According to what I am Looking at that is premium platinum. In my resort that's an investment of $100,000 or more with yearly maintenance fees of at least 3,200. I see now that you're booking window is 6 months for that level. However you're booking window in your home resort is 13 months correct? I do know that all clubs control the inventory they leave some for rentals, some for exchange, and some for Expedia. We also own at Hilton Grand Vacation clubs in Manhattan I can say I never have a trouble looking anything.. they treat their owners really well and I am really happy with them. That is points based. We also own fixed weeks and that is wonderful as long as you go during your week.

 

[jlg]

The fixed weeks we own are at The Royal Sands in Cancun. What was Royal Resorts and now HIVC hence this discussion.

 

[jlg]

The fixed weeks we own are at The Royal Sands in Cancun. What was Royal Resorts and now HIVC hence this discussion.

TLDR- I believe IOT be satisfied w any pts timeshare company u need to be at the lowest best tier to benefit and you need to be able to travel. I enjoy that I have enough pts to book, at least the 6 month window, whatever I want. Pg 34 in members guide below link describes those benefits, which I fully try to maximize for personal use of my timeshare.

Helpful Links for Holiday Inn Club Timeshare Resorts

Helpful Links for Holiday Inn Club Resorts: How to Exit a Holiday Inn Vacations Club Timeshare 2022 Holiday Inn Club Member Guide 2022 Holiday Inn Club Fee Lists HICV Member/Ownership information PDF file Important information to know regarding buying HICV on the resale market! Holiday Inn...

tugbbs.com

It's a love/hate relationship Im kinda stuck with now, but I own a little over 500k trust pts only which puts me in a sweet tier spot as far as thier membership perks goes. These pts include thier Signature and II properties so my portfolio opens me to benefit from the entire exchange system they are tapped into RCI/Signature and II. Although, I haven't needed to used these exchanges since I'm fine traveling within the HICV resorts. I got to a point recently I contemplated purchasing more pts within HICV to gain more perks IOT potentially be traveling some 40-52 wks per yr. But at my last owners update I was sorely brought to the reality I was about to make a huge mistake. I started questioning thier availability especially with downsizing from Silverleaf. I also hold thier hotel IHG credit card and am in the entire ecosystem Holiday Inn brand has. I hate when I can't book a villa w neither my club pts nor with my IHG hotel pts, but I can clearly book the same villa using cash/cc. I simply asked how inventory is managed and can't get a reasonable answer. That non-transparency is where I am left to believe they can manipulate availability. Now I am also sure some members in the higher or million pts tier reserve all the prime locations and timeframes only to try and sell them to renters or cancel last minute, since they get pts shield for cancellations.

Do you feel that the 6-month window is long enough for you to be able to book wherever you want to go? I am not sure what you mean by downsizing from silver leaf resorts? Another note I was told that although I wouldn't have point shield included I could buy point shield for I believe $64. Not that I'm interested in spending any more money but it is a nice perk.

 

[jlg]

TLDR- I believe IOT be satisfied w any pts timeshare company u need to be at the lowest best tier to benefit and you need to be able to travel. I enjoy that I have enough pts to book, at least the 6 month window, whatever I want. Pg 34 in members guide below link describes those benefits, which I fully try to maximize for personal use of my timeshare.

Helpful Links for Holiday Inn Club Timeshare Resorts

Helpful Links for Holiday Inn Club Resorts: How to Exit a Holiday Inn Vacations Club Timeshare 2022 Holiday Inn Club Member Guide 2022 Holiday Inn Club Fee Lists HICV Member/Ownership information PDF file Important information to know regarding buying HICV on the resale market! Holiday Inn...

tugbbs.com

It's a love/hate relationship Im kinda stuck with now, but I own a little over 500k trust pts only which puts me in a sweet tier spot as far as thier membership perks goes. These pts include thier Signature and II properties so my portfolio opens me to benefit from the entire exchange system they are tapped into RCI/Signature and II. Although, I haven't needed to used these exchanges since I'm fine traveling within the HICV resorts. I got to a point recently I contemplated purchasing more pts within HICV to gain more perks IOT potentially be traveling some 40-52 wks per yr. But at my last owners update I was sorely brought to the reality I was about to make a huge mistake. I started questioning thier availability especially with downsizing from Silverleaf. I also hold thier hotel IHG credit card and am in the entire ecosystem Holiday Inn brand has. I hate when I can't book a villa w neither my club pts nor with my IHG hotel pts, but I can clearly book the same villa using cash/cc. I simply asked how inventory is managed and can't get a reasonable answer. That non-transparency is where I am left to believe they can manipulate availability. Now I am also sure some members in the higher or million pts tier reserve all the prime locations and timeframes only to try and sell them to renters or cancel last minute, since they get pts shield for cancellations.

Also wondering if you ever get the free nights or an upgrade?

 

[USA traveler]

Wow! According to what I am Looking at that is premium platinum. In my resort that's an investment of $100,000 or more with yearly maintenance fees of at least 3,200. I see now that you're booking window is 6 months for that level. However you're booking window in your home resort is 13 months correct? I do know that all clubs control the inventory they leave some for rentals, some for exchange, and some for Expedia. We also own at Hilton Grand Vacation clubs in Manhattan I can say I never have a trouble looking anything.. they treat their owners really well and I am really happy with them. That is points based. We also own fixed weeks and that is wonderful as long as you go during your week.

You are not wrong on the purchase price range and mtnc fees always go up. Go take a look at the stickied post on this forum about those fees if u want to see.

Bc I own only trust pts I have resort access (13 month window) to the deeded location my pts are based out. The way it works w HICV is you can only reserve during this time the actual amt of pts u r deeded w that specific resort. Open access (10 mon window) I can book w all my pts at any resort within HICV including the new RR in Mexico and so do all other members. Signature collection is a whole different thing and is considered luxury stuff (overated imo) but their inventory can be exchanged into and from RCI Registry collection. The 6 mon window in the chart is ref to Signature collection reservations. You have to own a min of 50k Signature pts at a signature resort to be considered part of Registry that will allow you to exchange into RCI Registry collection of luxury resorts that are basically a combined collection from other brands too. As for II, you need to own pts w 1 of the 4 or 5 resorts within HICV that is also part of II to be able to exchange into II.

Keep in mind some members are legacy prior to HICV selling exclusively trust pts around 2019 or were bought into HICV and may have a combination of fixed wks, floating wks, pts conversion, etc. Some fixed wks members may have never bought (they will try to sell you to do this and may penalize or restrict you if you dont) their contracts to the pts system somehow. So you would have home access, anywhere from 13 months to 24 months to reserve your home resort based on whatever agreement HICV may have now for you. Resale of HICV is basically useless and very restrictive.

It does come down to where in the world you want to vacation and how often. Im fortunate to have time and owning pts allows the flexibility to go anywhere within HICV, RCI, Registry, and II at almost anytime. But if I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn't have bought. And I would have just rented from current owners. Owning at least forces me to travel very often, to make it worth while. I hope to be able to keep at it for the next 20 yrs.

 

[USA traveler]

You can always pay to add pts shield to not lose all your pts if you cancel a reservation. The million pts tier status always get pts shield added for no cost on reservations, so I can see if they would be booking up all prime locations and times. By all means, they have enough pts to do it also.

"Silver Leaf downsizing" refers to HICV selling off nearly 6 properties last yr, leaving members either abandoning their deeded contracts to those specific resorts or getting somehow screwed if they stayed w HICV. I still don't understand how deeded members and inventory got moved to accommodate it since supposedly pts/wks coincide with physical resorts. If you close resorts but still have owners, what do they own?

Also, for the RR members you mentioned who bought into HICV, did the $14k get them membership status, bc i beleive the perks guide only applies to status members? That's what I meant when I asked if their fixed wks were converted to pts to account for where they would fall in the membership status?

 

[jlg]

You can always pay to add pts shield to not lose all your pts if you cancel a reservation. The million pts tier status always get pts shield added for no cost on reservations, so I can see if they would be booking up all prime locations and times. By all means, they have enough pts to do it also.

"Silver Leaf downsizing" refers to HICV selling off nearly 6 properties last yr, leaving members either abandoning their deeded contracts to those specific resorts or getting somehow screwed if they stayed w HICV. I still don't understand how deeded members and inventory got moved to accommodate it since supposedly pts/wks coincide with physical resorts. If you close resorts but still have owners, what do they own?

Also, for the RR members you mentioned who bought into HICV, did the $14k get them membership status, bc i beleive the perks guide only applies to status members? That's what I meant when I asked if their fixed wks were converted to pts to account for where they would fall in the membership status?

The fixed weeks at RR have an equivalent point value associated with them. As a result RR members who chose to join HIVC were assigned a status based on the corresponding point value of their fixed week or weeks.
I am trying to get a handle on HIVC - for a privately held company and family owned they don't seem to care about their members. The Royal Resorts owners were incredible, if any owner had any issue it was addressed and quickly. You were truly an owner because your voice mattered.

 

[jlg]

You are not wrong on the purchase price range and mtnc fees always go up. Go take a look at the stickied post on this forum about those fees if u want to see.

Bc I own only trust pts I have resort access (13 month window) to the deeded location my pts are based out. The way it works w HICV is you can only reserve during this time the actual amt of pts u r deeded w that specific resort. Open access (10 mon window) I can book w all my pts at any resort within HICV including the new RR in Mexico and so do all other members. Signature collection is a whole different thing and is considered luxury stuff (overated imo) but their inventory can be exchanged into and from RCI Registry collection. The 6 mon window in the chart is ref to Signature collection reservations. You have to own a min of 50k Signature pts at a signature resort to be considered part of Registry that will allow you to exchange into RCI Registry collection of luxury resorts that are basically a combined collection from other brands too. As for II, you need to own pts w 1 of the 4 or 5 resorts within HICV that is also part of II to be able to exchange into II.

Keep in mind some members are legacy prior to HICV selling exclusively trust pts around 2019 or were bought into HICV and may have a combination of fixed wks, floating wks, pts conversion, etc. Some fixed wks members may have never bought (they will try to sell you to do this and may penalize or restrict you if you dont) their contracts to the pts system somehow. So you would have home access, anywhere from 13 months to 24 months to reserve your home resort based on whatever agreement HICV may have now for you. Resale of HICV is basically useless and very restrictive.

It does come down to where in the world you want to vacation and how often. Im fortunate to have time and owning pts allows the flexibility to go anywhere within HICV, RCI, Registry, and II at almost anytime. But if I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn't have bought. And I would have just rented from current owners. Owning at least forces me to travel very often, to make it worth while. I hope to be able to keep at it for the next 20 yrs.

I can't thank you enough because I have been trying to talk to a HIVC owner for some time now. We are point owners at the Grand Residences (one of the RR properties). It is a very luxurious resort and pricey. We have been contemplating upgrading our points into a fixed unit but if we do we have to join the HIVC. We always had great resale value at any RR property and now it sounds like that would end if we join HIVC. I also read some where that HiVC requires a large payment to rescind your unit. I am not sure if that is true or not. They said this is a new charge. We have no issue booking at Grand Residences with our points because we are on the RR side where the majority of the members are so they is plenty of inventory. We don't use our points to trade because we love it there. As anything in life you never really know what something is like until you experience it yourself and I have been dragging my feet on making this decision for a long time now. However, they are running out of fixed weeks ( there are on 62 units) so I need to make a decision. HIvc has very few resorts and they are not in places where I travel. I also have our Hilton Grand Vacations club membership which has a much larger network of resorts. I can also convert our points to Hilton honors which has a better exchange ratio than HIVC. We have used our Hilton honors points and there are always rooms available for a points exchange. I am trying to find some benefits with HIVC but I am not really seeing it. Am I missing something?

 

[USA traveler]

After my last update, ive become more disappointed. I liked that HICV was smaller and more family oriented resorts w little cafe's instead of full sitdown restaurants at resorts, compared to Marriot or other big corporate brands. Most of their existing resorts may hold less than 100 units. There is a big push to sell Signature pts or "Signaturize" members to become more like Hilton or Marriot.

HICV started off by buying Silver Leaf properties that were small resorts outside sleepy towns in America. They don't have much properties on West coast. Aside from Orange Lake in Orlando, I don't think they actually built any resorts until recently in Myrtle Beach and newest additions likely to feature this yr, the Residences houses in Orlando's Orange Lake property. The new resorts all have Signaute units included and features "luxury" feel, but fall short on luxury concierge services.

Ultimately, I think based on your current portfolio now you don't need to purchase or add HICV into it. If you wanted to try any of their resort inventory out first, many owners would be happy to rent to you.

 

[jlg]

After my last update, ive become more disappointed. I liked that HICV was smaller and more family oriented resorts w little cafe's instead of full sitdown restaurants at resorts, compared to Marriot or other big corporate brands. Most of their existing resorts may hold less than 100 units. There is a big push to sell Signature pts or "Signaturize" members to become more like Hilton or Marriot.

HICV started off by buying Silver Leaf properties that were small resorts outside sleepy towns in America. They don't have much properties on West coast. Aside from Orange Lake in Orlando, I don't think they actually built any resorts until recently in Myrtle Beach and newest additions likely to feature this yr, the Residences houses in Orlando's Orange Lake property. The new resorts all have Signaute units included and features "luxury" feel, but fall short on luxury concierge services.

Ultimately, I think based on your current portfolio now you don't need to purchase or add HICV into it. If you wanted to try any of their resort inventory out first, many owners would be happy to rent to you.

I agree with you. We were fortunate to find RR- an amazing time share company which we enjoyed for 40 years ( we bought young). We can trade into RCI or the Registry collection if we choose. The on things we are missing are the perks of , free nights?? I am not convinced they are even available.

 

[Rdub79]

@USA traveler has done a great job explaining HIVC. I my opinion it only makes sense to join if you really want to use the other locations HICV has. We live in NC so we use Gatlinburg, Myrtle Beach, and the FL locations often. We do use the free upgrades and free nights and it really does help to stretch points. Orlando is typically always available 60 days out for free nights and Myrtle Beach in the off season is pretty easy as well for the free nights. I will say the availability for the Mexico resorts has not been that great but who knows if it would be better with a 13 month window. If Mexico availability is your number one concern and that would change if you join the club i would not do it. The freebies aren't worth it if you can't book what you want.