Hurricane Impact on Fixed vs Floating vs Points Owners vs Exchanges

[A.Win]

Please verify if my understanding is correct. I'm sure the exact handling of disasters will vary by resort though.

1. FIXED WEEK OWNERS - If you are unable to use your week, you are screwed. You will not be able to recoup any of your MFs and you cannot exchange it.

2. FLOATING WEEK OWNERS - You MIGHT be able to switch to another week. But it is late in the year, so there will likely be no availability. If your resort is nice and has lots of availability, I suppose you could get two weeks in the following year instead. In this case, I suppose the loss is partially shared by ALL owners indirectly.

3. POINTS OWNERS - You should be able to get all your points back. But this will create higher demand at all the other resorts in the system. Ultimately someone will lose because you have more points chasing a fixed supply of resorts. Some points will expire as owners are unable to use their points. Or owners could pay a fee to extend the life of the points. So the loss is indirectly shared by all point owners.

4. EXCHANGES - You are probably screwed because the cancellation period has ended. In a few cases, you might be able to get another exchange instead.

Some other related topics:

INSURANCE - If you have insurance, you will get most/all your money back. So people traveling during hurricane season should buy insurance. As people make more claims, premiums will eventually increase. Insurance companies and their stockholders suffer a big blow after major disasters.

FIXED VS. FLOATING UNITS - If your fixed unit cannot be used, but other units are open, I suppose some resorts will allow you to switch to another unit, subject to availability. If you have a floating unit, maybe you need to call to confirm or check in early? Or cancel early and select another week?

OWNING DURING HURRICANE SEASON - June to November is Florida's hurricane season. I can see the appeal of owning in the summer when kids are out of school, but it seems to me that owning in September is a big mistake. You generally pay the same MFs as other owners, but your vacation is always at risk and the exchange value is very low. One source showed that chances of rain in Orlando are 10-40% during these months. I imagine that owners are more likely to pay special assessments as well.

DEFAULTS - Some owners will stop paying MFs since they are angry about losing their vacation week. Of course, this hurts all owners.

If you think I got this wrong, please let me know. Or if you want to share how your particular resort is handling the situation, please share.

 

[Talent312]

HGVC refunded points + credited booking fees (including RCI bookings thru HGVC). I was prepared for, "Too bad, so sad." But I was able to rebook my RCI stay w/o cost.

Surprisingly, Hilton-affiliated resorts on Marco Island (Charter Club, Club Regency, Eagles Nest & Surf Club) will refund MF's to owners unable to use their week. It's likely that HGVC insurance is covering the refunds.

NOTE: That does not mean that owners at other resorts can avoid paying MF's, as they're intended to cover on-going, year-round expenses, regardless of closure.
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[tschwa2]

Some resorts with either fixed or float weeks that have unsold HOA controlled inventory that they don't anticipate being able to rent out will give those weeks to owners who have lost the use of their week. The owner has the option to use the week or deposit it with an exchange company. They may not be the best weeks but better than nothing.

 

[A.Win]

I didn't consider that Hilton or some resorts would be willing to refund all MFs to owners. That is indeed excellent service. But many owners buy insurance anyhow, so I suppose they are covered twice.

I think most people got a full refund on airfare, but maybe some had to pay change fees.

 

[dioxide45]

OWNING DURING HURRICANE SEASON - June to November is Florida's hurricane season. I can see the appeal of owning in the summer when kids are out of school, but it seems to me that owning in September is a big mistake. You generally pay the same MFs as other owners, but your vacation is always at risk and the exchange value is very low. One source showed that chances of rain in Orlando are 10-40% during these months. I imagine that owners are more likely to pay special assessments as well.

The only thing I see here is that special assessments don't only apply to those that own in hurricane season. So you have it applied to the wrong area. If someone owns in a hurricane prone area but owns a prime winter week, they will pay the same assessment as an owner that owns in hurricane season.

 

[classiclincoln]

Have to tell you, I was surprised with what II did. We had an exchanged booked for St. Thomas for the week of 12/16. I figured that since we didn't have insurance, we'd just lose the week. No biggie, considering what we lost was a hell of a lot less than those poor people who live on the islands that were hit by the hurricanes. We were just going to wait awhile to see what happened and had planned on contacting II the beginning of November to see what would be up.

Got an email today from II telling us that the week we were confirmed into was not available. If we had insurance, contact them and if not, contact II. We called and were told that we would get our deposited week back to use for another exchange. The only "hitch" was that we had to use the week within one year from today (since that's when we called), and we would have to pay the exchange fee again. The other options was to get a flex change week with no exchange fee. We took the first option and were very happy.

Again, very surprised since the II website says if you don't have insurance, you are screwed.

 

[dioxide45]

Have to tell you, I was surprised with what II did. We had an exchanged booked for St. Thomas for the week of 12/16. I figured that since we didn't have insurance, we'd just lose the week. No biggie, considering what we lost was a hell of a lot less than those poor people who live on the islands that were hit by the hurricanes. We were just going to wait awhile to see what happened and had planned on contacting II the beginning of November to see what would be up.

Got an email today from II telling us that the week we were confirmed into was not available. If we had insurance, contact them and if not, contact II. We called and were told that we would get our deposited week back to use for another exchange. The only "hitch" was that we had to use the week within one year from today (since that's when we called), and we would have to pay the exchange fee again. The other options was to get a flex change week with no exchange fee. We took the first option and were very happy.

Again, very surprised since the II website says if you don't have insurance, you are screwed.

This is no different than getting a cancellation replacement week that is available to anyone that cancels outside of 59 days from checkin. They didn't really do anything special. Anyone can do this, get a cancellation replacement week and pay a new exchange fee when they make a new exchange. The odd thing I notice is that they offered you a flexchange replacement that had no exchange fee. I didn't know that was an option.

 

[classiclincoln]

Oh, OK. Don't know much about that stuff because we only put in a request for places that we definitely want to go to and have never even thought of cancelling a trip.