Ranking the Top Timeshare Systems

[Carmel85]

This thread reads like a bunch of timeshare salespeople at a bar seeing who can outdo the next huckster.

GOD you are good KAl!!!

Im sure glad im not a agent nor do i work for any timeshare company Im just a Happy Happy Hyatt timeshare owner..

Hyatt only raised my MF's 2.5% that to me is like free!!!

 

[Kal]

...Hyatt only raised my MF's 2.5% that to me is like free!!!

I only wish, I'm looking at 8.5% for one of mine.

 

[Carmel85]

I only wish, I'm looking at 8.5% for one of mine.

What Hyatt??? Florida???

 

[Kal]

Sunset Harbor

 

[Steamboat Bill]

This thread reads like a bunch of timeshare salespeople at a bar seeing who can outdo the next huckster.

I love this statement.

 

[Carmel85]

Sunset Harbor

yes but you have a prime location that everybody wants in Keywest and Im sure you saw all the new upgrades..

kal you need to get on that HOA board!!!!

 

[Kal]

yes but you have a prime location that everybody wants in Keywest and Im sure you saw all the new upgrades..

kal you need to get on that HOA board!!!!

Agree, Sunset Harbor has the highest owner occupancy of any Hyatt Resort in the system. However, just because it is in high demand shouldn't impact the maintenance fees. And yes, there are significant new upgrades, but all those were covered in the reserves for upgrades. No new monies were needed from maintenance fees. Go Here to see the line item budget breakdown. As you might notice, Hyatt certainly got their share of the budget.

I sat in on the HOA board when those upgrade decisions were made and in every case the defining criteria was "included in the budget". If the cost of a particular item exceeded the line item in the upgrade budget it was not allowed. Good fiscal management!

With regard to getting on the HOA Board I am very satisfied with the current members. Matter of fact, there is no Hyatt member on the board....all owners.

 

[Carmel85]

Agree, Sunset Harbor has the highest owner occupancy of any Hyatt Resort in the system. However, just because it is in high demand shouldn't impact the maintenance fees. And yes, there are significant new upgrades, but all those were covered in the reserves for upgrades. No new monies were needed from maintenance fees. Go Here to see the line item budget breakdown. As you might notice, Hyatt certainly got their share of the budget.

I sat in on the HOA board when those upgrade decisions were made and in every case the defining criteria was "included in the budget". If the cost of a particular item exceeded the line item in the upgrade budget it was not allowed. Good fiscal management!

With regard to getting on the HOA Board I am very satisfied with the current members. Matter of fact, there is no Hyatt member on the board....all owners.

Kal,

Can you get the board to fight HYATT to take off the II charge for your HOA club ???

 

[Transit]

I'm using the oldest and best points system there is to stay at the Hyatt Windward point 01/02/08-01/05/08 there is no other system that gets you where you want to go and at any resort and any veiw.

 

[Carmel85]

I'm using the oldest and best points system there is to stay at the Hyatt Windward point 01/02/08-01/05/08 there is no other system that gets you where you want to go and at any resort and any veiw.

oops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Transit]

CASH U.S.C. 1 DOLLAR=1 POINT

 

[thinze3]

I think SFX has tried to do somethinh similar to this - 5 star only. Of course there is no cooperation from the parent companies.

.......ALL WESTIN,MARRIOTT,DVC,HILTON ,Four Seasons AND HYATT owners all coming together to start a great exchange program!!!
.......

I would love to see this happen!!!! BUT for only 5 star resort and not all the other junky timeshare resort companies out there!!!

 

[Carmel85]

I think SFX has tried to do somethinh similar to this - 5 star only. Of course there is no cooperation from the parent companies.

Very true but who need all those fees like Benji said if we could start with about 12-20 people from all different 5 star resorts we could have a nice little exchange company or group to trade with!!!

so ALL Marriott,DVC,Hilton,Four Season and Hyatt owners lets get this going it can work if we are all welling to make this happen.

 

[thinze3]

I will be going back to Waiohai in early to mid summer '09 but am willing to try another similar resort in HI at the same time.

I have put this info on Tug Direct Exchange and on ownertrades. I have had a few nibbles.

 

[DeniseM]

TUG needs an effective and visible private exchange board. I have heard that one is in the works, but that was several months ago. The way it's handled now is so archaic as to be nearly useless. I think this would be very popular with Tuggers, if it was set up right. I'm not talking about TUG becoming an exchange company, I'm just talking about an effective private exchange board here, on TUG.

 

[benjaminb13]

I will be going back to Waiohai in early to mid summer '09 but am willing to try another similar resort in HI at the same time.

I have put this info on Tug Direct Exchange and on ownertrades. I have had a few nibbles.

Ive owned at Waiohai- Nice resort-kauai is beautiful
I 2006 I visited the then--newly built- HGVC waikoloa resort and was really impressed - with this resort and its access to the opulent HILTON Waikoloa Village- I sold my Waiohai and bought waik-

If you have a chance visit there-

 

[benjaminb13]

TUG needs an effective and visible private exchange board. I have heard that one is in the works, but that was several months ago. The way it's handled now is so archaic as to be nearly useless. I think this would be very popular with Tuggers, if it was set up right. I'm not talking about TUG becoming an exchange company, I'm just talking about an effective private exchange board here, on TUG.

I agree with you
What do you think?a Hotel Chain exchange forum- to start-? I would include Disney-
the older exchange forum can be used for smaller timeshares- perhaps?
There is always a need for them--- especially when a vacation is planned around the location- not the resort.

 

[Sandy VDH]

A year or so later would you vote differently?

Is there an update on the vote count?

I would have to vote

1) Hilton - Great flexibility, best points program, nice units and properties, not resale penalty, a little weak on locations (Paris Hilton has nothing to do with the business, and name by association is not a reason to vote it down.)

2) Hyatt - good true points system, lovely resorts, just not enough of them

3) Sheraton - good system, good locations, a little hit and miss on properties and units, but punish resale purchaser

4) Marriott - full weeks ONLY is a deal breaker for me.

 

[jlhorne]

A year or so later would you vote differently?

Is there an update on the vote count?

I would have to vote

1) Hilton - Great flexibility, best points program, nice units and properties, not resale penalty, a little weak on locations (Paris Hilton has nothing to do with the business, and name by association is not a reason to vote it down.)

2) Hyatt - good true points system, lovely resorts, just not enough of them

3) Sheraton - good system, good locations, a little hit and miss on properties and units, but punish resale purchaser

4) Marriott - full weeks ONLY is a deal breaker for me.

I somehow missed this thread the first time. Thanks for the reply.

I bought Hilton after checking all 4 of them out years ago. It seemed that Marriott and Sheraton would not let resales buyers utilize the points system so they were not considered. Hilton was the most flexible so I bought that. So I would rate them the same as you did, with Marriott last considering they don't even give owners priority for their purchased week. Hilton's drawback is that they only focus in a few markets. The affiliates are hard to get into, but possible.

1) HGVC - most flexible, low MFs possible, limited building markets
2) Hyatt - flexible, nice locations, more coming
3) Starwood - top notch but few locations, punish resale buyers
4) Marriott - best selection, punish resale buyers, weeks only, punish owners (insufficient priority for own unit)

Don't get me wrong - I would love access to locations with all 4. Marriott probably has the best selection overall. I would love to see an exchange mechanism within Tug between the big 4, which was mentioned earlier in this thread. Did anything ever happen with that? If so, it would be easier to own 1 system and exhange occasionally with other tuggers.

That dream aside, I also also wanting to buy Hyatt but have some investments that have gone south (familiar story). If some things go well I hope to eventually try and purchase into Hyatt. I love traveling west and hate dealing with external exchanges. I also love partial weeks too and Hyatt has some desireable locations and more coming online. I do need to learn more first about Hyatt split weeks.

 

[MaryH]

I missed this first time around. I looked into HGVC, SVO and Hyatt seriously but not Marriott since they are only a weeks program.

My rankings are:

1. Hyatt - Pros great points program allowing you to book partial weeks i.e. 3 day weekend or lower points 2 or 4 day weekdays. I love KW properties and Carmel and had heard great things about other locations Cons: not as many locations as the others.

2. SVO - Pros lots of locations and nice resorts with some mandatory SVN able participate in Staroptions. Cons - high MF - Westin Kauai is over $2000 for 2bdrm

3. HVC - Pros flexible points program Cons - if you are not fond of Orlando, Vegas and Hawaii, other locations are only affiliates and can change. Waikoloa is beautiful but the original Hotel was a Hyatt.

4. Marriott - the only one I did not do a tour to find out about the system since I ruled it out for being a weeks only program.

 

[jamstew]

I wasn't around when this thread started, but I'm really glad that it's active again. This has been extremely helpful to me in considering a points system.

 

[Elsie Mae]

Ranking the Top 4 Hotel Based Timeshares

I am an Owner of HGVC, not any of the other top 3.
But I am very happy with HGVC because of the number of locations worldwide (hotels or club locations). I will never exhaust all of the places that I want to visit (i.e. Bora Bora and Moorea just added, Conrad Maldives, Conrad Bali, new locations in China, plus all the major cities in Europe).

 

[scooter]

Very true but who need all those fees like Benji said if we could start with about 12-20 people from all different 5 star resorts we could have a nice little exchange company or group to trade with!!!

so ALL Marriott,DVC,Hilton,Four Season and Hyatt owners lets get this going it can work if we are all welling to make this happen.

Sign me up. We own 6 Starwood, 1 Hyatt, and one Aruba (unaffiliated). You have to be soooo particular with Interval's resorts. In gereal though they are better than RCI for caribbean/ski/hawaii. RCI is better for Europe.

 

[lizap]

We seriously considered Westin, Hyatt, and Hilton. Ultimately decided on Westin and Hyatt. My ranking would be:
1. Westin- excellent quality properties and good locations
2. Hyatt- very good quality properties in interesting locations
3. Hilton- good quality, properties tend to be concentrated in specific locations
4. Marriott-good quality, lots of properties, must use II for internal exchanges

All of these tend to have relatively higher resale values and hold value better. Rarely do you see a Hyatt, Westin (mandatory), or Hilton in bargain basement.

 

[mesamirage]

Top 4 revisited

Since starting this post 6-7 years ago shortly after our first resale purchase... and now 8+ timeshares later, some bought and sold. We now would change our rankings based on the enjoyment of the vacations we have had and the value of those vacations to the following:

1 - Hyatt (Fantastic more personal properties) Moving more uptown now in price and product, but many fantastic locations. We own 2. Siesta Keys is the single best destination anywhere right now. We have been the last 2 years. Hard to get into, most amazing resort. We own 3.

2 - Starwood. 3 words... Sheraton Desert Oasis (SDO) the little trader that could. Been to Maui, Kauai 5 straight years, all 1 bedroom lockoff trades for 2 bedroom ocean view. If I don't get another Maui trade for another 5 years we are still way ahead on the value of our vacations and the wonderful vacations. We enjoy the Westin decor, we own the heavenly bed, we personally have a dark "Westin" like feel in our home. Our only knock on Westin is the super resort that feel like Apartments. Rooms are always consistent and fantastic! We own 2.

3 - Hilton. A great VALUE play for Hawaii and ownership means you can ALWAYS get in Las Vegas on any occasion or weekend. Vegas all booked up for New Years, E3, July 4th.. etc.. You can 99% of the time rent a room at Vegas Hilton timeshare on short notice for $70-$120 a night. If you leave on the West coast and like Vegas, this alone is a reason to own. We own 1.

4. Marriott - A distant 4th. In fairness I don't own so I dont have a full perspective. But still, what the heck is Marriott doing?? They still have some very nice locations and newer property. Its the management of the overall system I don't trust. We have traded into 4-5 locations over the last 6 years. Newport Beach, Scottsdale, Palm Springs, Manor Club, and Hilton Head. Would never own personally and I think their lighter decor feels cheap. Sorry Marriott owners, I dont own so its just my limited perspective.

Whatever you own... Enjoy as many vacations as you can!!