No inventory at HGVC Ocean Oak on Hilton Head Island

[CanuckTravlr]

I have been watching this now for several days on the HGVC website. There is absolutely no inventory available between the end of March 2020 and January 1, 2021!!

The latter is certainly within the 12-month home-week booking period, but almost a month beyond the 9-month club-season booking limit. Very weird...not even any 2-day stubs are showing. So if it really is fully booked up, everyone must be booking exactly 1-week bookings all starting and stopping on the same day of the week.

They just doubled the size of this resort, so there must still be a lot of unsold inventory for HGVC to offer, so it can't all just be home-week bookings. We stayed there last year and were hoping to go back, but not looking too likely now. Anyone got any idea as to what might be going on?

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Well, isn't that interesting? I may have answered my own question and the answer isn't pretty. Just out of curiosity I took a gander at the Hilton Hotel website. There is all sorts of accommodation available at Ocean Oak for rent as hotel rooms on the Hilton Hotel site at around $300 plus per night on various dates in November and December. None of it seemingly available to us as Club season bookings!!

It looks like the developer, Strand Group, who also developed our home resort, Ocean 22, as well as Ocean Enclave in Myrtle Beach, is choosing not to deposit any unsold units into HGVC inventory. Not impressed at all.

 

[Talent312]

Perhaps we need to encourage peep to buy retail from HGVC, so the TS's can be booked.

 

[Sandy VDH]

If inventory is unsold, they have NO obligation to make it available to all HGVC members. Only sold inventory ends up being available there as a guarantee, and most of that might be booked during home period and is not available during club season. Developer could place some inventory but they are NOT required.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

If inventory is unsold, they have NO obligation to make it available to all HGVC members. Only sold inventory ends up being available there as a guarantee, and most of that might be booked during home period and is not available during club season. Developer could place some inventory but they are NOT required.

Thanks, Sandy. I had sort of figured that might be the case. I still don't have to like it. But half of the resort has been up and running for a couple of years now and I understood sales were going fairly well, so there must be several units that are in the HGVC system, since the deed requires them to join HGVC. In which case I find it very odd there is not even a single day showing as available in any of the three room categories for over 9 months. Just sayin' it seems a bit fishy to me. This is not a S/W Florida affiliate where most are not even in the HGVC system.

 

[GT75]

I find it very odd there is not even a single day showing as available in any of the three room categories for over 9 months. Just sayin' it seems a bit fishy to me.

I have now also looked and am now wondering the same. I am not seeing inventory open at the 276-day mark either. I was expecting to see some inventory here. I would definitely expect inventory when the January club window opens.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

That seems unusual. Have your tried calling? I know with hotels sometimes the agents see additional inventory, not sure about HGV. I have had mixed results whenever i call about something.

 

[GT75]

Never any availability now. I may sell my SW 7K week and buy Ocean Oak once those start hitting resale market.

I think this thread is also now discovering the same issue. I know that I have been able to book Ocean Oak in club season in the past. I don’t know what could possibly have changed to inventory. As suggested, I will certainly be calling next month if I don’t see inventory open up.

 

[natarajanv]

That seems unusual. Have your tried calling? I know with hotels sometimes the agents see additional inventory, not sure about HGV. I have had mixed results whenever i call about something.

I was curious, so i called to find out that the CSR was seeing the same. He said yup, they are completely booked for nov and dec.

 

[MPrince]

Well, isn't that interesting? I may have answered my own question and the answer isn't pretty. Just out of curiosity I took a gander at the Hilton Hotel website. There is all sorts of accommodation available at Ocean Oak for rent as hotel rooms on the Hilton Hotel site at around $300 plus per night on various dates in November and December. None of it seemingly available to us as Club season bookings!!

It looks like the developer, Strand Group, who also developed our home resort, Ocean 22, as well as Ocean Enclave in Myrtle Beach, is choosing not to deposit any unsold units into HGVC inventory. Not impressed at all.

Sorry everyone, it's my fault. I attended a sales presentation last week and didn't buy.

Salesman did have an interesting tactic. Upon learning that we would be staying at Ocean Oak for a week and then going to Myrtle Beach for a week, he told us "You look like Hilton Head people, not Myrtle Beach people".

Then, upon learning we have a deed at Ocean 22 (3BR, 9600 points) attempted to get us to swap and add 10,000 points for just $90,000. A great offer for sure, but we said no.

 

[GT75]

Sorry everyone, it's my fault. I attended a sales presentation last week and didn't buy.

I am glad that we finally know what’s the problem.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

I was curious, so i called to find out that the CSR was seeing the same. He said yup, they are completely booked for nov and dec.

I went a step further than that. I had to call in to book the last two days of another reservation I have been walking for the last week (yes, the walking of a reservation is not working again!!!). The CSR I had was very good, so when she asked if there was anything else she could do for me this morning, I mentioned the odd situation at Ocean Oak. I didn't just mention November and December, but that there is absolutely NO inventory (not even some stub 2-day amounts) showing anywhere from late March until January 1, 2021.

She agreed with me that she had never seen anything like that before either. She indicated that they are doing some "tweaking" of the site, which is causing some issues, so she took a screenshot of it to forward to the HGVC IT department. I mentioned several other HGVC owners on TUG were discussing it and we all thought it very strange. So who knows if anything will happen, but at least maybe it might bring it to their attention, in case it is actually a glitch. I am going to keep an eye on it.

 

[GT75]

Ocean Oak is showing availability starting January 1, 2021 for all 3 room types.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Ocean Oak is showing availability starting January 1, 2021 for all 3 room types.

Yes, my original post referred to that availability in the title of this thread. That is the weird part. Suddenly there is lots of availability as of January 1, 2021 in all three room categories. But the current club booking period is only up until December 17, 2020 and there is no inventory whatsoever from December 17, 2020 until January 1st, and this has been going on for at least the last two or three weeks, since I have been monitoring it. It will be interesting to see if that inventory is still showing when the time comes to actually be able to book at least the first three days.

The really weird part is that there is absolutely NO inventory from the end of March throughout the balance of 2020. Absolutely nothing...not even a single day or two-day stranded period left over from other bookings...for over 9 months!! I can't even start to figure out a scenario as to how that could happen, unless someone is deliberately suppressing inventory from being available on the HGVC booking site.

They seem to be moving it over to Hilton Hotels, where there is plenty available for booking at $300+ per night. I reiterate that I have never observed this before in HGVC, not even in the S/W Florida affiliates, which are notoriously difficult to book. Even there, there are usually numerous short, stranded days showing in inventory. Something very fishy seems to be happening with the inventory at Ocean Oak, IMO.

 

[GT75]

The really weird part is that there is absolutely NO inventory from the end of March throughout the balance of 2020. Absolutely nothing...not even a single day or two-day stranded period left over from other bookings...for over 9 months!! I can't even start to figure out a scenario as to how that could happen, unless someone is deliberately suppressing inventory from being available on the HGVC booking site.

I am now seeing some limited availability in March/April 2020. I was actually expecting to see more. It has continued to show more availability during the day today.

I would suggest that if anyone does cancel Ocean Oak, that they check back to ensure their dates update to show availability (it may take about 15 minutes to update online). It would actually be more conclusive to have an HGV Club Reservation Specialist cancel and then check availability.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

I agree. We should start to see some short-term inventory show up, if people start to cancel their bookings due to the Covid-19 coronavirus. We will have to wait and see if that prediction comes true.

 

[lds337]

I booked my early August 2020 trip in November when it opened up and walked it to keep adding days.
Based on prior experience I knew I had to be on top of the booking right when the booking window opened
I would think January should be a lot easier to obtain so probably don’t have to book 9 months in advance

Good Luck


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