Newbie Help! Purchased VIP points but completely lost and overwhelmed at the possibilities.

[neko1999]

We have been dealing with Diamond Resorts for years now. I know they got bought up by HGVC which is great because now they're more legit. I've been to a handful of timeshare presentations and most of the time we're interested but scared off by the pushy vibes. This last time in Orlando, we bought 11,520 VIP points. I wish I had known we don't actually get access to the booking portal and all the properties available but oh well I guess.

The plan they were trying to sell us, as far as I understand is that they were going to sell us a deed and then get a certain amount of points each year to use anywhere. After the deed was paid all we'd have to pay is the maintenance fees and we'd still keep getting the points every single year. It sounds great but then I did a lot of research and a lot of people are unhappy with their HGVC timeshare and can't get out. I also have looked a lot on this thread about resale.

Can someone help spell it out for me like I'm a child how this resale works and how to maximize the points? I promise I'm doing my research but I'm still super lost.

 

[jp10558]

So, for VIP bookings, you look at the booklet they gave you and call to book. That's pretty simple.

For HGVC - if you like the locations (which are a bit limited, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach and Orlando / Florida mostly) then buy resale 2BR Platnium (always Platnium because MFs are the same but you get more points) because you can get the 11,200 points yearly for sub $6,000. If you look in FL you'll see ~$1,600 a year MFs, if you get Las Vegas you can get $1,100 MFs but it's harder to get. I think easiest is actually Crag in Scotland, you can buy direct from their resale office and get 11,200pts for similar and get $1,100 in MFs.

You can book anywhere in HGVC Legacy if you've got the points. You probably need to book at around 9 months out for availability, and for really in demand like Ocean Oak you have to walk also. To maximize the points you would want to book gold season or Silver season - i.e. not prime times, and then you can use maybe 8,000 for a week in Vegas or Orlando, or can step up to a 3BR in MarBrisa...

These are completely different from Diamond points (now HVC) and do not combine or cross book except if you buy retail for Max, and that's a bad deal cause you get 6 month access, and so there's likely no availability in a lot of places, or only 3 days in the middle of the week here and there.