What are the pros and cons of retail vs resale?

[alwysonvac]

So you cannot use bonus points for walking?

Correct.
You can only walk with a changeable reservation.

 

[Panzerman45]

Not sure why but I had a brain-spasm last night about what may be confusing you. On Plat vs Gold, stop thinking about Plat vs Gold. THINK POINTS.
Say you want to by a 1 bdrm in Lagoon Tower (or a 2 bdrm, doesn't matter for the following): the REAL difference between buying a Plat vs a Gold deed is the # OF PTS. If you buy Gold wk, you don't have enough pts to book any equivalent Plat week. You could actually book Plat nights, just not a full wk, due to not having enough POINTS.
Take it a step further: buy 2 x Gold wks. Voila. You now have enough POINTS to book a Plat wk (with some to spare). It was not the word 'Gold" on the purchase that limited which wks you can reserve. It was the amount of POINTS.

Points. It's what's for dinner. Stop thinking about Plat vs Gold. You buy POINTS, really, and those are fungible. I have stayed at only 3 HGVC sites, but afaik there is no restriction about using Gold pts to reserve Plat nights anywhere. Barbados? bHC? Idk but I doubt it

Excellent. It is the points that matter. I always watch resales on E-Bay and there are some great deals.

 

[Panzerman45]

Please don't ever feel that you need to apologize for not knowing everything about this. We all learned these nuances at some point and now want to try and share the information to help others learn them as well...and escape the clutches of the sales folks

Cheers

You are very correct. The knowledge is usually gained by retail experience. I started out Marriott retail in 1990. Now I know better. At this point we have three Wyndham resales which are perfect for us due to the extensive Wyndham collection country wide, and especially Hawaii. Wyndham is easy to obtain re-sale and very inexpensive. Hilton appears to be similar in opportunity with resale.

 

[alwysonvac]

Excellent. It is the points that matter. I always watch resales on E-Bay and there are some great deals.

Buying just for points works as long as you have flexibility and willingness to take whatever is available especially during high demand periods. Some locations and travel dates are easier to book than others. There will be lots of folks online trying to book high demand travel dates.

The other option is to buy where you want to stay but HGVC's home week reservation window has no flexibility. For home week, you have to book exactly what you own (unit size/type and season) on the designated check-in date.

Everyone's needs are different. Some folks don't have travel date flexibility and/or don't mind paying a bit more to have the ability to choose their desired dates before availability opens up to all owners.

For example, here's availability in Utah and Colorado for January 2026 (see below). This is months before the booking window opens up to all owners for point reservations. The light green color indicates availability. HGVC reservation system doesn't indicate how many units are available. It could be one or a few.
NOTE: Some owners own fixed ski weeks.

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Below is an older screen capture of August availability in the Lagoon Tower in Honolulu.​

It's another example of availability before the booking window opens up to all owners for point reservations.​

NOTE: Some Japanese members bought mulitple fixed weeks to guarantee reservations during Obon.​

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In the online reservation system, availability beyond the 9 month club reservation window is grayed out. We can see that most of the two bedroom unit types between Saturday 7/28 through Saturday 9/01 were completely booked before the Club Reservation window opened. And there is no way to tell online how many two bedroom (2RL) units were actually left.

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[frank808]

Thanks, so no way to get pro rating or anything for the HOA fees I just paid for the deed I am trading in towards the deed I would be getting retail? He did offer to delay the fee start ups, but then I cannot use it until the fees start and I need it right away to book for this December.

Just a bit torn between buying a resale and having double HOA fees, or paying $20,000 plus a whammy of another $2400 in HOA fees that I just paid last month, but only having one set of HOA fees in the future.

You got the points for paying your Gold HOA fees and you get to use those points. If you want the platinum points from new deed, then you will have to pay the HOA fees for those points. You are not going to be able to get free points without paying the dues.

Do not think of it as paying double HOA for nothing. You are getting the use of those points this year. If you do not want to pay MF this year then defer paying to next year. Though you will not get those points to use.

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

 

[chosshaul]

how hard is Hawaii to book at 9 months? For example if one bought a Las Vegas deed with less MF and tried to book Kingsland or Bay Club at 9 months would they have much of a chance at booking? (Not in holiday season but sometime in the Jan-Feb range)

 

[GT75]

how hard is Hawaii to book at 9 months? For example if one bought a Las Vegas deed with less MF and tried to book Kingsland or Bay Club at 9 months would they have much of a chance at booking? (Not in holiday season but sometime in the Jan-Feb range)

Easy

 

[brp]

Easy

Really easy.

The only caveat being that if you're looking for a very specific room type, i.e. specific room code, it can be tougher. We came across this on a recent Kingsland booking where we want a very specific room code. Most people are not this specific.

Cheers.

 

[cdwillie76]

We booked 2, 2 bedrooms, 1, 1 bedroom in Oahu for August 2025 9 months out without any issue. Using our bonus points (yea..we bought retail first, lesson learned) for my family (15 of us going).

 

[Wolfgheist]

Christmas is not so easy,

 

[alwysonvac]

We booked 2, 2 bedrooms, 1, 1 bedroom in Oahu for August 2025 9 months out without any issue. Using our bonus points (yea..we bought retail first, lesson learned) for my family (15 of us going).

There are 5 properties in Oahu with 4 located within the Hilton Hawaiian Village (Lagoon Tower, Kalia Tower, Grand Waikikian Tower and Grand Islander Tower) and one near the main shopping strip (Hokulani). Three are only available 9 months out (Lagoon, Kalia and Grand Waikikian). The other two (Grand Islander and Hokulani) become available 6 months out. Since Lagoon and Kalia towers cost less points (under the original point structure), they're normally grabbed first.

How did you manage to get three rooms in August using bonus points (which are non-changeable)?
Did you book the higher point Grand Waikikian rooms once all dates were available to book online or did you walk your reservations using your Club Points then release and rebook using bonus points for all three rooms?

 

[Wolfgheist]

There are 5 properties in Oahu with 4 located within the Hilton Hawaiian Village (Lagoon Tower, Kalia Tower, Grand Waikikian Tower and Grand Islander Tower) and one near the main shopping strip (Hokulani). Three are only available 9 months out (Lagoon, Kalia and Grand Waikikian). The other two (Grand Islander and Hokulani) become available 6 months out. Since Lagoon and Kalia towers cost less points (under the original point structure), they're normally grabbed first.

How did you manage to get three rooms in August using bonus points (which are non-changeable)?
Did you book the higher point Grand Waikikian rooms once all dates were available to book online or did you walk your reservations using your Club Points then release and rebook using bonus points for all three rooms?

I wonder the same thing, since for the past two years, all the rooms we wanted at Christmas were sold out the instant they became available in the 9 month window. This is year three of trying to do it.

 

[Wolfgheist]

Well, August is probably a lot easier to get than Christmas time I guess.

 

[heitmullerj02]

I purchased Gold HHV, Lagoon Tower. I can book 12 months out and do so every year. You can call in and get the booking window for each year and the next. Love Gold season, cheaper to purchase and I get May/June or Sept/Oct. If you want Xmas, purchase what you want, I would not even try for that. Too many points.

 

[Wolfgheist]

I purchased Gold HHV, Lagoon Tower. I can book 12 months out and do so every year. You can call in and get the booking window for each year and the next. Love Gold season, cheaper to purchase and I get May/June or Sept/Oct. If you want Xmas, purchase what you want, I would not even try for that. Too many points.

I am waiting on HGVC to respond if they are going to buy it, or if I get to buy it. Platinum, for Christmas.

 

[alwysonvac]

Well, August is probably a lot easier to get than Christmas time I guess.

With summer, families have several weeks to choose from for their summer vacation so the high demand is spread out.
For Christmas, there's just the fixed week (overwhelming demand with limited supply).. That's why everything is much higher for Christmas travel (airfare, hotel rates, car rental rates, etc). And that's why XMAS week is gone as soon as the booking window opens up.

 

[letsgobobby]

even for spring break (high demand but not like Xmas) we bought and use a plat home week almost every year. not willing to chance it.

 

[cdwillie76]

There are 5 properties in Oahu with 4 located within the Hilton Hawaiian Village (Lagoon Tower, Kalia Tower, Grand Waikikian Tower and Grand Islander Tower) and one near the main shopping strip (Hokulani). Three are only available 9 months out (Lagoon, Kalia and Grand Waikikian). The other two (Grand Islander and Hokulani) become available 6 months out. Since Lagoon and Kalia towers cost less points (under the original point structure), they're normally grabbed first.

How did you manage to get three rooms in August using bonus points (which are non-changeable)?
Did you book the higher point Grand Waikikian rooms once all dates were available to book online or did you walk your reservations using your Club Points then release and rebook using bonus points for all three rooms?

We are at the Grand Waikikian with 1 room on this years points and 2 were on bonus points (forget the room types). My wife was stalking it as soon as 9 months hit and we didn’t walk anything.

 

[Wolfgheist]

even for spring break (high demand but not like Xmas) we bought and use a plat home week almost every year. not willing to chance it.

a reserved week, or a floating week?

 

[SmithOp]

a reserved week, or a floating week?

This chart from the HGVC Club disclosure might help you identify the E Event weeks at the various resorts, they are sold at a high premium with automatic booking for the owners.

 

[letsgobobby]

i had no idea Thanksgiving was an event week in NYC

 

[sponger76]

i had no idea Thanksgiving was an event week in NYC

Maybe a lot of people want to be there for the parade.?

 

[letsgobobby]

yes it makes sense - i own 2 deeds there. that might explain why some units were booked even before the 276 day window - I thought Hilton was holding inventory but maybe it's all event week owners.

 

[brp]

yes it makes sense - i own 2 deeds there. that might explain why some units were booked even before the 276 day window - I thought Hilton was holding inventory but maybe it's all event week owners.

Even if not an event week, I'm sure that people use Home Week for this.

Cheers.

 

[Wolfgheist]

This chart from the HGVC Club disclosure might help you identify the E Event weeks at the various resorts, they are sold at a high premium with automatic booking for the owners.

That is helpful, thanks. I did not expect that Christmas as an event week, was only some of the locations at Hawaii, Vegas and NYC.