Question: For anyone that owns more then one time share

[Sandy VDH]

I own 2 weeks with HGVC for 14K points annually. I own Wyndham at nearly 1M points. I also own 1 week in Holiday Inn (cheap conversion for a week I already owned).

HGVC

I like HGVC for the high quality resorts and some of the locations, especially Hawaii. Lately I have been renting out my HGVC to family and friends instead of using my weeks. This is a short term situation.

Oahu HI has been harder and harder to get. I do not want to pay the premium in points to stay at GW but prefer LT, which everyone else does too. The Lagoon Tower at HHV is likely the hardest trade in HGVC. You have to plan early at exactly the 9 month mark, are hope for a last minute cancellation.

I don't use HGVC much for RCI trades. I use other RCI deposits or my Wyndham account if I am going to trade into RCI. My points are of more value to me to use in HGVC.

HGVC is getting a bit more locations, by buying already built inventory, but in general they are too Orlando, Vegas, Hawaii centric. They need more locations.


Wyndham

I also have a Platinum VIP membership with Wyndham. I use these a lot for personal use and I use a lot for rentals. Wyndham offers a discount at 60 days prior to check in. I book about 85% of my reservations in this timeframe. I only do 1 or 2 booking ahead of time during the standard reservation window. I wish that HGVC has such a program that they offer discounts at last minute, but they do not.

If you got a presidential unit, they are very much on par with HGVC units. If you got a regular unit, they are nice, but not as luxury. I do book a lot of presidential units for my personal use. I rent out a lot of the regular units to friends and family.

Wyndham has nearly a 100 resorts with the new Shell units that will be available in July. They have a lot of resorts in a variety of location, city locations and resort locations.

I really like my Wyndham, and getting into Wyndham is cheap, however buying to get the VIP via resale in now impossible.

Others
I own a few other weeks that are deposited in RCI and the Holiday Inn vacation club. I use these for some off locations, or at times I use them to trade into HGVC when they make the annual deposits (which they just did for many but not all of the resorts).

 

[CJinPHX]

HGVC Affiliates and II

Just a quick note that one downside often noted to owning Hilton is lack of access to II. I have concentrated ownership in Hiltons, but have Southwest FL affiliates.

The downside of the affiliates is higher maintenance fees per point, but for me a big upside is that individually they trade in II, RCI and SFX as well as being able to convert to HGVC points. Plus, they are all in great rental areas.

Another upside is that they can often be purchased so cheaply that you can offset the higher maintenance fees for many years with the value at purchase.

So, depending on the year, I have lots of choices with what to do with my HGVC Florida weeks.

 

[Bxian]

Not all HGVC South Florida affiliates trade within II. We own at the Charter Club which is RCI only.

 

[Bxian]

we have mulled over buying into another system as well. Too much work, not enough time off at this point. I have considered Hyatt-does anyone know if it is easy to trade within Hyatt if you buy one of the less expensive resorts? I would imagine that Bonita Springs would be cheaper than some of the other locations-a week there would compliment our HGVC Marco Island weeks-but I worry about the ability to trade elsewhere. We love our home timeshare, but bought 2 weeks so that we could either keep 1, trade 1 or try to book 2 weeks close together.

We have also considered Sheraton Desert Oasis for Starwood trades, Worldmark because we enjoy visiting the West Coast, and Wyndham because of its East Coast presence. I still hesitate, though-we use hotel points and miles to great advantage, and also like the occasional cruise. So many places to travel, so little time

Would love to hear more feedback about VRI and Bluegreen (quality of resorts, areas where they have a presence), as they are an option that I have not considered and appear to get decent TUG feedback.

 

[johnrsrq]

thank you all.

I think one's DRI experience is based upon how/when you were able to acquire DRI. If I was starting out today, the price-point for getting into The Club would probably keep me away. When I got in (many years ago), I was able to take some of the deeded Sunterra and DRI (Polo Towers) weeks I already owned and pay $2995 to buy-into The Club and overnight was able to become a Gold Elite member with access to any/all DRI resorts and affiliates. This was important to us since we love Maui and wanted to visit frequently. Since I own deeded weeks and not Club Points, I can actually use my points for a cruise for close to break-even costs and a few times I booked a cruise, got my $$ back and then cancelled the cruise and pocketed close to what the MFs costs are each year. But I hear the days of being able to buy-in to The Club for the $2995 are over. I really like some of the new benes being added to DRI Club Elite levels lately like the Luxury Collection, last minute points rentals, VIP Airport Lounge Access, etc.

I later added HGVC via two affiliates (GPP) I purchased resale. One off of EBay (worth 8400 pts) and one direct via the GPP resale dept (worth 6200 pts). Back then you could buy one unit resale from GPP and bring in existing GPP ownerships into HGVC, so I was able to do something similar with HGVC and get Elite status once I joined. Similarly, I hear that too is no longer allowed. But to be honest, the Elite status in HGVC isn't worth as much as the Gold Elite status benes in DRI (IMO).

We like to travel to all of the Hawaiian islands so having DRI and HGVC is a good mix since I have all islands covered via both companies. The most important thing to do before jumping into another purchase is do a lot of reading on each of the TS companies on TUG and other sites and ensure whatever else you purchase will "fit" into your family's needs and that you can make full use of the timeshare(s) purchased. Watch out for the MF costs of pure points based systems. I know the MF costs in DRI for a deeded week vs. Points is quite different. So much so that I owned some DRI Points and gave them back several years ago due to the $ per point price difference between my deeded weeks points value vs. the Club Points. Good luck!

"how did you give them back". I am in a very similar circumstance which you were in. I picked up resale US collection points for .015 and with usage for this year. Some friends will use/clients. But the MF on these points are higher than my TS deeded DRI silver acct and I may want to rid myself of these newly acquired points. Repercussions? I just bought points fom someone else , no deeds, no DRI documents- so can I surrender these eoy?

I had found this site years ago, too bad I hadn't stayed, learned quite a bit here. Thanks everyone.
I like DRI for the most part and the wifi is free for me and my guests other than those resale points I think.

 

[lizap]

SDO is not a mandatory resort, which means you can't use it to trade with StarOptions within Starwood. You can get priority within II to exchange into other Starwood resorts. Regarding Hyatt, the internal exchange system is more challenging to use than Hilton, Starwood, et . Hyatt is a smaller system and as such, can be more challenging to get the trades you're looking for, depending on your date and desired resort. For example, it is difficult to get the Beaver Creek resorts during ski season. On the other hand, some Hyatts, such as San Antonio and Branson are relatively easy to get. With Hyatt, you can increase your chances of being successful by putting in a request, which can be done 18 months prior to your desired arrival date. Additionally, Hyatt trades very well within II. I have gotten 2 great Marriott exchanges with my Hyatt so far. One of the things I like about Hyatt is the unique locations of many of their resorts, such as Key West, Carmel, Sedona, San Antonio, etc.. Hyatt has a new resort going up in Maui, which is supposed to be first class.

we have mulled over buying into another system as well. Too much work, not enough time off at this point. I have considered Hyatt-does anyone know if it is easy to trade within Hyatt if you buy one of the less expensive resorts? I would imagine that Bonita Springs would be cheaper than some of the other locations-a week there would compliment our HGVC Marco Island weeks-but I worry about the ability to trade elsewhere. We love our home timeshare, but bought 2 weeks so that we could either keep 1, trade 1 or try to book 2 weeks close together.

We have also considered Sheraton Desert Oasis for Starwood trades, Worldmark because we enjoy visiting the West Coast, and Wyndham because of its East Coast presence. I still hesitate, though-we use hotel points and miles to great advantage, and also like the occasional cruise. So many places to travel, so little time

Would love to hear more feedback about VRI and Bluegreen (quality of resorts, areas where they have a presence), as they are an option that I have not considered and appear to get decent TUG feedback.

 

[gnorth16]

For me, HGVC is great since I always borrow points (before paying MF's) at no extra cost and open season for Vegas is wonderful. I love the resorts, but currently, is it more cost effective to trade in with a different RCI TS.

 

[TheWizz]

"how did you give them back". I am in a very similar circumstance which you were in. I picked up resale US collection points for .015 and with usage for this year. Some friends will use/clients. But the MF on these points are higher than my TS deeded DRI silver acct and I may want to rid myself of these newly acquired points. Repercussions? I just bought points fom someone else , no deeds, no DRI documents- so can I surrender these eoy?

I had found this site years ago, too bad I hadn't stayed, learned quite a bit here. Thanks everyone.
I like DRI for the most part and the wifi is free for me and my guests other than those resale points I think.

DRI used to allow one to give back DRI Club Points for a small admin fee several years ago. I called to do so in Jan. one year and was told it had to be done before the end of year in Q4, so to call back around Nov-Dec and they would let me do so. That was the year Poipu happened and they ended the give back option. So when I called in Dec., was told they don't do that anymore, however, it was documented in my records that I was told to call back and they would do so, so they honored that and did take them back. If it wasn't documented, I would have been SOL.

 

[momeason]

Best advise is that every member of tug has a different opinion of what they like best. Obviously it is based somewhat on what they own. My approach is to travel to as many timeshare shares and locations, and use your first hand experience to influence your decision to buy.

I am a multi-group owner, and inpart that is because after 20+ years going to 10-15 marriotts(i love marriotts), i wanted to experience starwood.

Past 10 years, i have enjoy hgvc. Far to often after I try a new group i want to acquire one.

So i am a victim of easy to buy & hard to sell. My advise to all newbies is rent, rent, rent and avoid the free unit on tug until you have a broad base of time at different timeshares.

Am i the only tugger who is not sorry for every ts that i have bought? But i truly did not need to buy some.

Hope this provides another opinion.

I have no regrets. I first purchased Wyndham, an II affiliated Wyndham. I was very happy for years and then sold it when Wyndham changed some rules. I got some great deals and 4-8 weeks a year from my 1 week allotment of points. Purchased resale and used it well. I then bought Starwood, SDO, and I love my great trade value and upgrades and Starwood priority. I am a happy owner. i have always resisted buying the great resorts I stay in. The thought always crosses my mind but I always succeed in reining those thoughts in. I have always managed to get everywhere I wanted to go with a a lot of patience. Research, Research, research before and after the purchase and you should be fine. Do not buy on a whim.