I thought bonus points could only be used for RCI or Open Season reservations, not Club reservations at 9 months out. If I am misinformed, someone please correct me.
Thanks,
Kurt
I have never looked really hard into it. All I know is how they're being sold by some salesmen and the literature I'm receiving indicates they can be used for hotel stays or HGVC reservations. Even if they're only good for RCI exchanges, I wonder if HGVC is having to give up inventory or if RCI is just providing extra weeks. If they're good for any exchange within the RCI system then I'd tend to believe that HGVC is having to give up inventory to RCI for the exchange.
I know that HGVC is building a TON of inventory in both Vegas and Orlando so there should be plenty of give away weeks in those locations. Of course, the salesmen always talk Hawaii vacations but sell Orlando and Vegas inventory. Eventually there has to be a point where it becomes difficult if not impossible to get into Hawaii using the club reservation system.
On the other hand, with airfare doing what it's doing there could be a balance of people who own in Hawaii wanting to go to Vegas, Orlando or some other affiliate resort within the HGVC system. If that happens, Vegas and Orlando may always have good availability because of the number of units available but the affiliates with their limited availability could become the tougher exchanges to get into.
Either way HGVC has, IMO, been paining itself into a corner by offering all those bonus points, building tons of units in Vegas/Orlando but telling people it's "easy" to get into Hawaii with those points and by not expanding into other vacation destinations that might be of interest to it's members for both exchange and new purchases. I know I have not interest in owning additional points with Hilton because of their lack of variety of Hilton built timeshares and reliance on affiliation with other resorts or resrort chains.