fquar:
I recently completed a purchase of a HGVC property through Seth Nock -- I would recommend talking with him as well.
You said you were looking at a 2BR gold week in LV. That will get you 5000 points annually. With HGVC, I think it is more important that you think about points instead of weeks, unless you are planning on going to your home resort for exactly the one week a year you purchased. Let me explain.
First sit down and think about what do you want to do, and how many points that will take. Take a look at the HGVC point charts and season charts. Remember, you don't have to stay a full week at a time with HGVC. Many people usually stay only 3-4 days per stay in Vegas, or maybe 8-10 days in Hawaii, for example. And remember that you can generally combine two years worth of points for a single reservation (use current year points + borrow from next year @ no charge). So w/ 5000 annual points, you could do a single 10,000 point reservation every other year. Here are some links to help you:
HGVC Point Chart
HGVC Season Chart
Next, you have to decide what point package would be best to purchase given how many points you think you will need. But remember that the HGVC maintenance fees are based on unit
size, not number of
points. So if you need about 5000 points, you could buy a 2BR gold week, but you will be paying the same maintenance fee,
every year, that a platinum season 2BR owner will be paying for their 7000 points. An alternative might be to get a 1BR platinum which is 4800 points, but will be less MF every year. Of course you have to also factor in initial purchase price, and how long you plan to own it to determine what is the better deal.
For example, we ended purchasing an 8400 point property -- 3BR platinum season. Since we only have a single child, we will most likely never make a 3BR reservation. Instead we will be making multiple 1BR reservations each year. Some for a week, some for less. But because we bought platinum season, we are getting the most points per MF verses purchasing two lower-point properties. We plan on keeping the property for 20 years or more, so purchase price was less important in our calculations.
I have ignored the RCI exchange feature, mainly because most people agree that exchanging your HGVC timeshare with RCI is not the best use of your points. But here is a link to the
point chart for RCI reservations.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do!
P.S. I see that you are in Colorado as well -- if you are a skier, access to the Valdoro Lodge in Breckenridge through HGVC is a great benefit. I have gotten two weekend reservations this year through the "Open Season" window. This is where you can rent a room for a very good discount rate for as little as two nights, without using any of your points. Feel free to contact me (PM) if you have any questions.