What should I buy?

[LilMisAdventures3]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Not for a week every year but would like to be able to purchase extra vacations/weekends at a resort in Lake Tahoe and/or San Diego (my parents are able to do this with their Hilton resort. They own in Florida but can go to Tahoe and pay out of pocket around $150/night for the 2-bedroom at the Hilton resort there).

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time? Trade (purchase extra vacations/nights at home resort IF in Lake Tahoe or San Diego)

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Lake Tahoe, San Diego, Mexico, Hawaii, North Carolina

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? Varies - as few as 2 and as many as 6. Would like 2 bedrooms, usually.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Some flexibility now while my daughter is young (2) but eventually will be locked into school schedule

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Yes!

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Usually, yes. Might be nice to have flexibility though especially for places closer to home like Lake Tahoe and San Diego but not required. The option to buy extra vacations would work (my parents can do this with their Hilton week - only cost us $150/night to the place they own for extra vacations)

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 3+

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? Looking for the cheapest option possible but no more than $5k.

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? Maintenance fees, property tax, etc. - Under $1500/year ideally. Some wiggle room if absolutely worth it especially for increased trade value.

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do? Yes

I'm looking for recommendations for places with low(er) fees and high(er) trading power, ideally. Biggest bang for my buck so to speak. Any and all recommendations/suggestions welcome! Thanks for your help. It's greatly appreciated.

 

[chapjim]

First question should be, "Should I buy anything at all?"

From the survey responses, you may be better off renting.

 

[Hindsite]

Consider employer or profession related vacation wholesale clubs such as the Armed forces vacation club.

Use your parents ownership to continue to make reservations and get a guest certificate so it is in your name.

Any ability to exchange or association with an exchange company, such as RCI is a discretionary benefit of ownership and can be changed or removed at any time. It happens infrequently, but it does happen so understand the risk of being locked into an enduring ownership that may not deliver what you want at some point.

 

[Passepartout]

You keep mentioning that access to Extra Vacations is important. As has been suggested, piggybacking on your parents' membership seems the easiest way to do this. You should know that one bedroom units outnumber two bedrooms by a large margin. Of course, if it's a rental situation, you can rent as many as you need. (based on availability).

Along with the Extra Vacations, there are 'Last Calls' that are for availability within about 45-to- 60 days before move-in, they are only around $300 for 7 nights, all-in, but you should know that these are leftovers. Don't look for ski resorts in January or ocean front units in Summer. It ain't gonna happen. Units may have a delightful garden view or be near the elevators or dumpsters.

Good Luck!

Jim

 

[iftravel]

A small WorldMark (5-10k points) will do most you want. Pretty cheap to acquire on eBay and easy to get rid of. Lots of locations to book in the west (San Diego and Lake Tahoe included certainly). Plus if you like Extra vacations, you can use WorldMark to unlock both RCI and II.

 

[sponger76]

You keep mentioning that access to Extra Vacations is important. As has been suggested, piggybacking on your parents' membership seems the easiest way to do this. You should know that one bedroom units outnumber two bedrooms by a large margin. Of course, if it's a rental situation, you can rent as many as you need. (based on availability).

Along with the Extra Vacations, there are 'Last Calls' that are for availability within about 45-to- 60 days before move-in, they are only around $300 for 7 nights, all-in, but you should know that these are leftovers. Don't look for ski resorts in January or ocean front units in Summer. It ain't gonna happen. Units may have a delightful garden view or be near the elevators or dumpsters.

Good Luck!

Jim

I think rather than RCI Extra Vacations OP is referring to Hilton's Open Season. HGVC owners can book available inventory at Hilton timeshares for cash. Much cheaper than the general public would pay, but can only book 30 days or less in advance.

 

[Passepartout]

I think rather than RCI Extra Vacations OP is referring to Hilton's Open Season. HGVC owners can book available inventory at Hilton timeshares for cash. Much cheaper than the general public would pay, but can only book 30 days or less in advance.

Could be

I find it hard to read the mind of posters, and the semi-recent merge of HGVC and Diamond (and others) to form HGV doesn't help. I think that's by design. Smoke & mirrors if you ask me.

I sure wish somebody would roll back the curtain and show who's pulling the levers.

Jim

 

[LilMisAdventures3]

You keep mentioning that access to Extra Vacations is important. As has been suggested, piggybacking on your parents' membership seems the easiest way to do this. You should know that one bedroom units outnumber two bedrooms by a large margin. Of course, if it's a rental situation, you can rent as many as you need. (based on availability).

Along with the Extra Vacations, there are 'Last Calls' that are for availability within about 45-to- 60 days before move-in, they are only around $300 for 7 nights, all-in, but you should know that these are leftovers. Don't look for ski resorts in January or ocean front units in Summer. It ain't gonna happen. Units may have a delightful garden view or be near the elevators or dumpsters.

Good Luck!

Jim

I think rather than RCI Extra Vacations OP is referring to Hilton's Open Season. HGVC owners can book available inventory at Hilton timeshares for cash. Much cheaper than the general public would pay, but can only book 30 days or less in advance.

Correct and owners have to be present. I can’t go on a guest certificates like I can if they give me one of their weeks.

The more I investigate, learn, and consider, I think I’m leaning towards buying my own in San Diego/Carlsbad area. We’ll use it there most years (especially with small kids) and always have the option to trade if we opt to do so.

Any thoughts on floating weeks?

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Not for a week every year but would like to be able to purchase extra vacations/weekends at a resort in Lake Tahoe and/or San Diego (my parents are able to do this with their Hilton resort. They own in Florida but can go to Tahoe and pay out of pocket around $150/night for the 2-bedroom at the Hilton resort there).

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time? Trade (purchase extra vacations/nights at home resort IF in Lake Tahoe or San Diego)

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? Lake Tahoe, San Diego, Mexico, Hawaii, North Carolina

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? Varies - as few as 2 and as many as 6. Would like 2 bedrooms, usually.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Some flexibility now while my daughter is young (2) but eventually will be locked into school schedule

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Yes!

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Usually, yes. Might be nice to have flexibility though especially for places closer to home like Lake Tahoe and San Diego but not required. The option to buy extra vacations would work (my parents can do this with their Hilton week - only cost us $150/night to the place they own for extra vacations)

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 3+

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing? Looking for the cheapest option possible but no more than $5k.

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? Maintenance fees, property tax, etc. - Under $1500/year ideally. Some wiggle room if absolutely worth it especially for increased trade value.

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do? Yes

I'm looking for recommendations for places with low(er) fees and high(er) trading power, ideally. Biggest bang for my buck so to speak. Any and all recommendations/suggestions welcome! Thanks for your help. It's greatly appreciated.

So I've changed my thoughts on this a bit since posting this......

San Diego/Carlsbad would be the best location for regular/annual use for us. We've been looking at GPP and MarBrisa specifically. We LOVE San Diego and have young kids so to have an annual trip with access to Legoland, Disney (the drive is fine), San Diego, etc. we think it would be a GREAT fit for what we're looking for.

We really like GPP but if I'm understanding correctly, HGVC points no longer transfer when purchasing resale, correct? We'd only be able to use our week there or trade via GPX or RCI (if we chose to join RCI)? That's fine, I just want to make sure I'm understanding what we're considering purchasing so there are no surprises later.

What about MarBrisa? Again, if I'm understanding correcting, MarBrisa used to be a Grand Pacific Resort but is now a HGVC resort (whereas GPP is an HGVC affiliate resort), correct? Does this mean if I buy a resale I need to check what the original contract/purchase is to determine whether or not HGVC points transfer? If it's a original GPR contract/purchase, points advertised do not transfer? But if it's an original HGVC contract points do transfer?

Thanks for helping this newbie out.