Upgrade offer from HGVC

[ekpyr]

Hi guys,

I've been reading a little on the board after I got a call from HGVC to upgrade my retail purchase I made two years ago. I didn't know about this board, so I got a pretty bad deal to begin with ~$6/pt.

They called up offered to upgrade me to a new property (GOLD instead of PLT) at a rate of $2/pt with a 2% lower interest rate on a loan which would save me about $50/month on interest alone.

Question: Is this the best offer I can get from them? What should I do?

TIA

ekpyr

 

[Remy]

The upgrade is from platinum to gold?

 

[jestme]

Three questions:
Are you happy with your membership, regardless of paying retail?
Do you use your points to stay at your home resort? (And where is that?)
Besides the payments for what you own, (which will end sometime), do you really want to spend more in MF's per point forever? MF's are based on unit size, so gold pays the same per unit as platinum, but gets fewer points for the same MF's.

 

[GregT]

Hi guys,

I've been reading a little on the board after I got a call from HGVC to upgrade my retail purchase I made two years ago. I didn't know about this board, so I got a pretty bad deal to begin with ~$6/pt.

They called up offered to upgrade me to a new property (GOLD instead of PLT) at a rate of $2/pt with a 2% lower interest rate on a loan which would save me about $50/month on interest alone.

Question: Is this the best offer I can get from them? What should I do?

TIA

ekpyr

There are obviously specifics that we don't know, but I am skeptical that their upgrade is your best interest. Platinums tend to hold their value better than Gold Season, and it sounds like you have to increase the principal balance (and repayment period?) by some amount, even though the monthly payment will be lower.

I'd be very careful about this offer from Hilton. Please share more information and we are happy to help.

Thanks!

Greg

 

[ekpyr]

Hi guys, thank you for all your responses. Sorry for the lack of detail, first time writing these up. Here's more details and answers to questions so far:

1. We just used our bonus and rollover from the first year to pay for a vacation later this year. To date, we've paid about $6000 in monthly loan payments and MFs.

2. We don't use the points to stay at our home resort, which is Parc Soleil. We probably won't be staying there much either.

3. I don't understand what the best MF situation is for us. We would be going from Platinum 4800 every-other-year to Gold 5800 annual.

4. When we first bought this, we didn't think we would be vacationing all that often, but we now would love to vacation at least once a year.

==

Our current package is 4800 points every other year platinum. We purchased two years ago and paid ~$15,000.

Hilton is offering to upgrade us to a 5800 points annual gold property with a 5800 point bonus at $22,000. They deduct the $15,000 we paid for the original package from the $22,000 - adding about $7,000 to our principal while reducing the interest we pay from 17% to 14%. This will increase our payment period.

Having read a lot of the posts on this forum, I know we got a pretty bad deal. Without knowing any better, it seems we've been caught in an impossible situation.

Thanks for all your guidance.

 

[GregT]

Hi guys, thank you for all your responses. Sorry for the lack of detail, first time writing these up. Here's more details and answers to questions so far:

1. We just used our bonus and rollover from the first year to pay for a vacation later this year. To date, we've paid about $6000 in monthly loan payments and MFs.

2. We don't use the points to stay at our home resort, which is Parc Soleil. We probably won't be staying there much either.

3. I don't understand what the best MF situation is for us. We would be going from Platinum 4800 every-other-year to Gold 5800 annual.

4. When we first bought this, we didn't think we would be vacationing all that often, but we now would love to vacation at least once a year.

==

Our current package is 4800 points every other year platinum. We purchased two years ago and paid ~$15,000.

Hilton is offering to upgrade us to a 5800 points annual gold property with a 5800 point bonus at $22,000. They deduct the $15,000 we paid for the original package from the $22,000 - adding about $7,000 to our principal while reducing the interest we pay from 17% to 14%. This will increase our payment period.

Having read a lot of the posts on this forum, I know we got a pretty bad deal. Without knowing any better, it seems we've been caught in an impossible situation.

Thanks for all your guidance.

It's an interesting offer, but I still don't think it makes sense. You will have a significant increase in Maintence Fees going from the 1BR to the 2BR -- I can't find the Parc Soleil MFs, but it is probably $200/year going from a 4,800 to 5,800 point package (ignoring EOY and EY -- just straight higher cost for the larger package) -- but you're only getting an additional 1,000 points annually for that higher cost.

If you are looking to acquire more points, I don't think this is the best way acquire more points. Going to the Every Year from the current Every Other Year makes it seem like more points, but your MFs will go up alot more than the double you expect going from EOY to EY.

So...long answer, but I'd pass on the upgrade:

1) $7,000 in more debt
2) extra 1,000 points isn't that much considering Mf payment going up alot
3) Gold Season won't hold its resale value as well as Platinum

Good luck -- your 4,800 EOY is a good property, once the debt is paid off, you'll love it even more, perhaps you'll buy a 4,800 EOY to match it, or a 7,000 EOY?

Best,

Greg

 

[ekpyr]

Greg, thanks so much. We will reject the offer.

 

[JM48]

I think any offer from them HAS to be better for them than you.

They aren't going to do anything that won't benefit them!

JM

 

[PigsDad]

It's an interesting offer, but I still don't think it makes sense. You will have a significant increase in Maintence Fees going from the 1BR to the 2BR -- I can't find the Parc Soleil MFs, but it is probably $200/year going from a 4,800 to 5,800 point package (ignoring EOY and EY -- just straight higher cost for the larger package) -- but you're only getting an additional 1,000 points annually for that higher cost.

It's worse than that. 5800 points is a 3BR Gold (a 2BR Gold season is only 5000 points). I would say that the maintenance fees would go up more like $300 - $400 per year over a 1BR, for a measly extra 1000 points.

And they would be increasing the loan repayment period.

And charging an extra $7000.

Don't walk away from this deal -- RUN!!! FAST!!!

Yikes!

Kurt

 

[semicycler]

It's going from 4800 EOY to 5800 annually. The increase is 3400 pts on average annually not 1000 points (4800 EOY / 2 = 2400 each year on average going to 5800 each year)

3400 more points for $7K is $2.06/pt, still quite high. Resales can be found easily below $1.50/pt. Plus the maint fees going from 1 bd to 3bd would be a deal breaker for me.

Your call on next steps. Me personally, I'd look to refinance outside of Hilton as 17% is pretty high. Credit cards, home equity, personal loan, etc. And then if you wanted more points, look for a resale as a completely separate transaction.

 

[PigsDad]

It's going from 4800 EOY to 5800 annually. The increase is 3400 pts on average annually not 1000 points (4800 EOY / 2 = 2400 each year on average going to 5800 each year)

True, but I was just commenting on the increase of maintenance fees. On the years that they currently get points, the OP would be going from getting 4800 points for a 1BR MF, to getting 5800 points for a 3BR MF. That would be a very large increase of MF cost per point.

It is true the OP would get 5800 points every year if they took that deal, but they would also be paying that much larger 3BR MF every year.

Kurt