New to it all - buying a resale week 52 at Hyatt Pinon Pointe

[Cargodenver]

Hello all,

Thanks to much guidance from all you TUG contributors in my short time as a member, I am buying my very first week and am very excited. I am purchasing a 1st floor week 52, 2 bedroom at Hyatt Pinon Pointe. This is a Diamond week with 2200 annual points. I am not getting a sweet deal but am paying what I think is fair for a resale diamond week. I decided on Sedona as it is the closest driving distance resort that has reasonable MFs vs annual points. The other thought was Wild Oak Ranch since I have family in TX. I intend on exchanging it and rarely, if ever, using my week in Sedona. I live in Colorado and will hopefully be able to exchange for other HRC resorts in Colorado in Silver, Bronze, Copper or Mountain season. I may eventually use it for midweek or some weekend peak season usage, when available, but for now intend on using it for off-peak seasons for hopefully 3-6 mini staycations a year. Also, I will hopefully be exchanging into II for South Padre Island, TX stays over the years in off-peak season. I work from home and don't have to worry about school schedules, etc. I have never used Interval International and only watched videos demos online. I had a friend walk me through their Hyatt Clubhouse account quickly and it seemed that the off season Colorado Hyatt properties should be pretty readily available to exchange if we are flexible. I have a few questions though.

Am I missing anything about the program or is the lowest MF to points the way to go with a Hyatt purchase?

Should I be concerned that the unit I am buying is a 1st floor with less of a view than the 2nd floor? Again, I don't plan on staying there but also don't want to have a less desirable unit if that matters.

Is it safe to purchase a week with the intention of never using it at the home resort? Most the Colorado MFs are higher point/MF than I would like to spend annually.

Is week 52 a desirable week to own in Sedona?

Should I be concerned with Interval International showing a low TDI for this Diamond week or will the Hyatt points deposit with the same weight as in the Hyatt internal exchange?

To follow up on the last two questions, why does II have the Sedona week 52 TDI lower than most (35 of 52 weeks have higher TDI than week 52) if Hyatt has it rated as a Diamond week?

Do I have to trade in my studio or 1 bedroom week in II or will my trades in II be Hyatt points based?

Is there a chance that Hyatt can change these down the road from a 2200 Diamond Week to a lower Platinum or Gold week? It just seems like there is some ambiguity if II says it isn't as desirable as most other weeks in the year but Hyatt has it weighted with more points.

Please excuse me if there are a couple detail questions that may not be pertinent. I am a true newbie here. Also, I know a lot of this has been covered in other posts but I have been combing through it all and hope you can help me with this specific scenario. Thanks to all that have covered a lot of these questions in other posts. I am just now under contract and want to make sure I am not missing anything. Thanks in advance for all the time and knowledge!

 

[dsmrp]

I suggest for a moderator to move this thread to the Hyatt forum. Thx.

 

[Snazzylass]

Hope you get some responses. Personally, I'd avoid Diamond.

There're other folks on here who have owned in Sedona for 20+ years and have found it to be a good trader, but their circumstances were likely different. I'm not familiar with II.

I can speak to Week 52 in Sedona. Nope! Not desirable. Sure, people still book there, but the weather is iffy, and doubt if you could get a much lower season than Dec thru Feb in Sedona.

 

[CPNY]

@travelhacker is a Hyatt expert. He can help you out

 

[travelhacker]

@Cargodenver

You have a lot of good questions. First off, I live in Colorado and it is really nice to have some close properties to use for leftover points.

Week 52 Sedona is great for trading within Hyatt. It will not make a difference with Interval International because you trade using points. Hyatt doesn't deposit your week to Interval if you elect everything to Interval, they mark your points as belonging to Interval and they make deposits across all the Hyatt resorts.

You called out a couple of items that I'd like to address:

1) Your unit. Right now (more on this later) this only matters for when you want to stay there or rent out your unit. Unless you want to be in Sedona for Week 52 or rent it out, the unit will not be a factor.
2) You called out Sedona as being driving distance. This is true (we are driving there for Thanksgiving). However, you have no advantage within Hyatt for any other week other than Week 52 (if that's what you end up buying). You could buy at Key West and you would not have any type of advantage for trading into Sedona.
3) Sedona currently has the best points to maintenance fee ratio in the whole Hyatt system. I think it's a good buy for that reason.

Now for some of the negatives (and this isn't to scare you, just to make you aware):
1) You will own week 52 in that unit. Should Sedona leave Hyatt (not going to happen), all you would own is that week. As you can see from the TDI charts, it is not a desirable week. However, it does fall over school holidays so that is good.
2) If HRC readjusts points (I'm aware of it happening once in the key west resorts) you could be impacted. Now the majority of weeks moved up in points. However, there were some losers when they adjusted points.
3) If HRC unveils a new system or adds on, they could put that week 52 more in line with the actual demand for that week.

Please don't hesitate to ask any additional questions.

Also, feel free to PM me for any questions you may have.

 

[SteveinHNL]

I think for your purposes a diamond Sedona week would be great. Since you intend to use your week primarily for the 2200 points and rarely intend to stay there, that particular week you buy is not going to be that important but by buying a diamond week you are getting the most points for the same maintenance fee.

I have not looked at the Colorado resorts you mentioned but my guess would be you will have a great chance of securing multiple short stays during the off seasons. It sounds like you have the Hyatt system figured out pretty well.

The only downside I can see to having a unit and week that are not considered “desirable“ is if you intend to resell the week in the future. However, there are a lot of people trying to purchase into Sedona for the points and maintenance fees so any platinum and diamond week will always be desirable there. The goal is to not overpay so that if you decide to sell in the future you would be able to recoup your purchase price or at least come close to it.

 

[ScoopKona]

1) Am I missing anything about the program or is the lowest MF to points the way to go with a Hyatt purchase?

2) Should I be concerned that the unit I am buying is a 1st floor with less of a view than the 2nd floor? Again, I don't plan on staying there but also don't want to have a less desirable unit if that matters.

3) Is it safe to purchase a week with the intention of never using it at the home resort? Most the Colorado MFs are higher point/MF than I would like to spend annually.

4) Is week 52 a desirable week to own in Sedona?

5) Should I be concerned with Interval International showing a low TDI for this Diamond week or will the Hyatt points deposit with the same weight as in the Hyatt internal exchange?

6) To follow up on the last two questions, why does II have the Sedona week 52 TDI lower than most (35 of 52 weeks have higher TDI than week 52) if Hyatt has it rated as a Diamond week?

7) Do I have to trade in my studio or 1 bedroom week in II or will my trades in II be Hyatt points based?

Numbers added for clarity.

1) Yes, that's the way to go if you're trading.

2) No.

3) Yes. I've been traveling this way for more than 20 years.

4) No. But it doesn't matter.

5) No.

6) Nostradamus and a Magic 8-ball would be hard pressed to explain II's TDI numbers. They don't matter, anyway.

7) Hyatt works differently with II.


When you drop your studio/one bedroom/entire unit into Interval, you get points. (Up to 2200 for the whole thing.)

The only numbers you need to know in Interval are 1300 (2 bd), 870 (1bd) and 430 (studio)*. Assuming you turned your week into 2200 points, you may mix and match until you run out of points. So, five studios? No problems. Two 1bd and a studio? Great.

Leftover points carry for two years, and they always use the oldest points first.


* These are for "high demand" weeks. It could possibly be even lower. But it's best to assume 1300 for a 2-bd and be pleasantly surprised if it is less.