cooling off a bit to HGVC

Hi all,

Before purchasing HGVC I owned at *wood & Wyndham. I was attracted to HGVC with its lower, more stable maintenance fees and the reputation of HGVC points for RCI exchanges. After some ownership time under my belt, I am cooling off just a bit to HGVC. I am sure the white cloud period lapses for all our purchases and I am wondering where other TUGGERs have settled in this...

1) the HGVC system is mainly built around Hawaii (far for east coast travelers), Orlando (unexciting for me as an 'adult destination'), and Vegas (again somewhat distant for east coast travelers and a bit of a 'one trick pony'). New York is a nice exception though.

2) Outside Hawaii, true HGVC beach resorts = nil. South Beach does not sit on a beach and has no pool. Wyndham has many beach resorts, *wood has Myrtle beach and Cancun.

3) The affiliates, while attractive in the book, are frequently unavailable and not searchable online.

4) yes, the maintenance fees are lower than *wood, however each reservation within the network is a minimum $49 fee. The points do trade well in RCI, however RCI online search system is pedantic, frustrating and inconsistent. Add $159 exchange fee into the mix to gain decent inventory and *wood begins to look slightly more competitive, at least financially.

My overall biggest frustration I think is lack of outright HGVC properties. In using 'affiliates' that are not searchable online, your options and inventory appear painfully small by having one set of properties you can check online and another you have to call each time you want to look. In this day of technology the lack of affiliates searching online is pretty crummy and detracts from the overall ownership experience.

I guess no system is perfect.

I am very close to buying into HGVC. I want to buy it to be able to trade into somewhere on VA Beach in the summer every few years, Orlando every few years and maybe another beach or ski location every few years. Is the exchange much harder to come by than I thought?

poleary2000 said:

I am very close to buying into HGVC. I want to buy it to be able to trade into somewhere on VA Beach in the summer every few years, Orlando every few years and maybe another beach or ski location every few years. Is the exchange much harder to come by than I thought?

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Owning an expensive system like Hilton to trade out is the height of poor timeshare choice. An expensive system need to have internal choices to satisfy your travel the majority of the time or you are spending way too much for things you could get without the big fees. Unless you want LV, Hawaii or Orlando Hilton doesn't offer much. And those are all considered easy trades and easier rentals by many people. If you don't plan to use the outstanding Hilton resorts in those locations the majority of the time why buy it?

timeos2 said:

Owning an expensive system like Hilton to trade out is the height of poor timeshare choice. An expensive system need to have internal choices to satisfy your travel the majority of the time or you are spending way too much for things you could get without the big fees. Unless you want LV, Hawaii or Orlando Hilton doesn't offer much. And those are all considered easy trades and easier rentals by many people. If you don't plan to use the outstanding Hilton resorts in those locations the majority of the time why buy it?

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4800 HGVC pulls 2 bedroom disney resorts all the time, pulls major ski resorts, southern california summer beach resorts. MF for 4800 is around $500-600 (assuming that you buy 7000+ packages), and the timeshare itself can be purchased for few thousand dollars these days. So, HGVC is not expensive for trading anymore if bought in resale with some thought and research.

levatino said:

Hi all,

Before purchasing HGVC I owned at *wood & Wyndham. I was attracted to HGVC with its lower, more stable maintenance fees and the reputation of HGVC points for RCI exchanges. After some ownership time under my belt, I am cooling off just a bit to HGVC. I am sure the white cloud period lapses for all our purchases and I am wondering where other TUGGERs have settled in this...

1) the HGVC system is mainly built around Hawaii (far for east coast travelers), Orlando (unexciting for me as an 'adult destination'), and Vegas (again somewhat distant for east coast travelers and a bit of a 'one trick pony'). New York is a nice exception though.

2) Outside Hawaii, true HGVC beach resorts = nil. South Beach does not sit on a beach and has no pool. Wyndham has many beach resorts, *wood has Myrtle beach and Cancun.

3) The affiliates, while attractive in the book, are frequently unavailable and not searchable online.

4) yes, the maintenance fees are lower than *wood, however each reservation within the network is a minimum $49 fee. The points do trade well in RCI, however RCI online search system is pedantic, frustrating and inconsistent. Add $159 exchange fee into the mix to gain decent inventory and *wood begins to look slightly more competitive, at least financially.

My overall biggest frustration I think is lack of outright HGVC properties. In using 'affiliates' that are not searchable online, your options and inventory appear painfully small by having one set of properties you can check online and another you have to call each time you want to look. In this day of technology the lack of affiliates searching online is pretty crummy and detracts from the overall ownership experience.

I guess no system is perfect.

Click to expand...

Levatino,

I'm very curious to hear the feedback from other HGVC veterans. I'm not surprised to hear your comments as HGVC appears so one dimensional around its 3 primary locations, and RCI offers few equitable trades when you give up your valuable HGVC points. The economy makes future expansion even less likely, unfortunately.

Personally, I'm buying into HGVC specifically to get to Hawaii, as I have the West Coast advantage, and I love point systems (especially lower MF ones).

The silver lining, such as it is, is that HGVC is still a high quality system that has some residual value when you choose to sell it (versus Starwood and Wyndham). It's a shame that Marriott didn't incorporate a flexible point system like HGVC or it would truly dominate the space because it has such great properties. Now we have to build our own collection to get what we want.

I'll hope for other feedback on your comments from experienced HGVC'ers.

All the best,

Greg

Newbie

I'm a newbie to HGVC... But have wanted a timeshare for years. I fnally bought resale after staying at the HHV in Hawaii on a promo (which I never intended to buy).

Since getting my ownership at the beginning of July, I've booked a week in Hawaii and exchanged for a week at the Manhattan Club next spring.

I am very pleased.

I will say not being able to see the affiliates online is disappointing but overall I'm impressed for the low buy in price I paid (eBay- seaworld) and my modest MFs.

I will note that there is less quality of offering in rci than I hoped...but I'm hoping that dilengence in looking for exchanges will win out.

As an "old timer" here...your complaints are valid and voiced frequently.

Yes, HGVC is a great system, with great resorts.

BUT...they apparently are deaf to TUGGERS who have repeatedly spoken of our desire to see HGVC build out of the big three (Orlando, Vegas, Hawaii), with the exception of the super pricey NYC location.

You in my view are correct in your critique of the faults of the Hilton system.

As an owner of a variety of timeshares (HGVC, DVC and Marriott) I agree that the major problem with HGVC is the lack of diversity in their development locations. Unfortunately when exchanging through RCI you are usually unable to find a resort that is equitable in quality to the HGVC's, another complaint.
Overall I have been very happy with HGVC (owner since 1994) but I would like to see some changes to the program, specifically by adding resorts in other locations. As previously stated no program is perfect.

The lack of diversity is a common complaint; however, RCI bookings offer a significant point advantage (and with no prior deposit), which sort'a offsets that.

The relatively new feature of searching+booking RCI online has made the the system far more user-friendly. The addition of online connections to affiliate-reservation systems would be nice, but I suspect that's a pipe-dream for now.

HGVC may be a bit clunky, but its short-stay minimums, Open Season discounts, tie-in with RCI and HHonors, and relatively easy change policy, makes it seem remarkably consumer friendly to me... there's almost too many options. Also, they treat resale buyers quite well.

It may have a few chinks in the armor and the shine may be wearing a bit thin, but all in all, its still one of the better systems out there.

I don't mean to hijack the thread. Although, I guess I am.

Based on what I stated above, do you feel there is a better TS for what I would like to do then?

I'd like to be able to trade into DVC occasionally too.

I have been with HGVC since 2001. I agree that it would be very nice for HGVC to build in locations other than Orlando, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. However, HGVC is not going to build new resorts with the intent that we save money by purchasing resale. HGVC builds new resorts with the intent of selling them direct for a profit.

We have been very pleased with my HGVC ownership. We have taken numerous vacations that I would not have taken without timesharing. We have traded into lovely resorts in Aruba, Colorado, Rhode Island, and Mexico via RCI. We will be staying at The Residences at the Crane in Barbados later this year. We have also taken three cruises using HGVC points. We have stayed in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Hawaii using HGVC points.

HHonors is an excellent customer loyalty program. The points accumulate very rapidly using the HHonors AmEx. We have used HHonors redemptions for trips to Barcelona, Budapest, Amsterdam, Lake Tahoe, San Diego, New Orleans, and Puerto Rico.

No timeshare or hotel system is perfect. However, HGVC membership has greatly improved the quality of our lives.

I agree that HGVC is a good system. We have owned at the Charter Club for 3 years and are in the process of buying another week there. Many Charter Club owners own multiple weeks. So far, we have been able to use our home resort twice and have also visited Orlando, South Beach and Grand Pacific Palisades near San Diego. We also booked a stay at Club Intrawest Tremblant, but had to cancel. We have an upcoming vacation planned which combines 3 nights at one of the HGVC timeshares in Scotland with award stays at 3 different Hilton hotels in Edinburgh, Aviemore and Glasgow. We have also used Hilton Honors points to take great trips to beautiful hotel properties in Paris, the Big island of Hawaii, Barbados, New York, San Diego, Los Cabos, Naples, Florida and Columbus, Ohio (not to mention other award stays in Homewoods, Hamptons etc. which were invaluable when we were doing college visits and Parents weekend).Using the Hilton AMEX for almost all of our purchases (including things such as cable, phone and college tuition) has helped with HHonors points accumulation, although you have to be able to pay your credit card bill in full every month.

I think that the key is flexibility and a willingness to consider several vacation options. For example, this year we had originally thought about a trip to Portugal, Oregon or British Columbia (HGVC or Club Intrawest), but the resorts that we wanted either were not available or involved very high air fares. Then we took a look at Scotland, which had some availibility and air fares which were not low, but significantly lower than air fares to Portugal.

For me, the jury is still out on RCI-we have not used it to trade yet, and found no availibility when we wanted specific resorts for specific time frames. I also HATE their cumbersome search function and the fact that I seem to have top perform separate weeks/points searches. I have started looking at RCI for next year, and see several possibilities. I also think that HGVC becomes more valuable when you can travel off peak-until recently, we were tied to our kids' school schedules.

Open season and the last minute RCI deals are a nice benefit-we have not taken advantage of these yet-too little vacation time.

Pianodinosaur-what were the resorts that you traded into via RCI? Did you search yourself or have the HGVC counselors search?

sjuhawk_jd said:

4800 HGVC pulls 2 bedroom disney resorts all the time

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Can you reliably book a 2 bedroom in Disney's Grand Californian Villas (Anaheim) during peak periods, using 4,800 HGVC points via RCI? I am thinking of buying into HGVC specifically for this purpose. Or is it unreliable?

echino said:

Can you reliably book a 2 bedroom in Disney's Grand Californian Villas (Anaheim) during peak periods, using 4,800 HGVC points via RCI? I am thinking of buying into HGVC specifically for this purpose. Or is it unreliable?

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From wht I've seen, don't hold your breath.
With any high-demand resort (like this or DVC in WDW), you occasionally see
units available, but you'd better act fast (don't dither), cuz they won't last long.

Bxian said:

[RCI] -- Did you search yourself or have the HGVC counselors search?

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In the olden days (before 2009)... when we had to walk 5 miles to school in the snow and it was uphill, both ways... we depended on the kindness of HGVC counsellors.

The portal into the dedicated RCI website has been in operation only since... what, the end of 2008 or so? Its still a bit clunkly, but now, the only reason to call HGVC for RCI is to clarify a point-issue or set up an on-going search.

Bxian said:

Pianodinosaur-what were the resorts that you traded into via RCI? Did you search yourself or have the HGVC counselors search?

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Talent312 is right again as usual.

We will be staying at Residences at the Crane in Barbados for the first week of November 2010. This search was done via the HGVC RCI website connection. We will also be staying at The Sunset Harbor Resort in Willis, TX over the Labor Day Weekend 2010. The Residences at the Crane is considered one of the finest resorts period. The Sunset Harbor Resort is relatively new and has not yet been rated on TUG. Its reviews elswhere have been checkered at best. However, we want to spend the holiday near home and on Lake Conroe. I will be submitting TUG reviews on both stays.

All previous TS exchanges via RCI were done using HGVC club counselors. We have stayed at Casa del Mar in Aruba, The Steamboat Grand in Steamboat Springs, The Worldmark Steamboat Springs, Fairfield Longwarf Resort in Newport, RI, The Grand Mayan Riviera Maya, Club Intrawest Whistler, BC, and The Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge in Lake Tahoe.

I agree completely with the OP. One of the important reasons why I bought HGVC was to trade within RCI. But HGVC's RCI search function is SO CUMBERSOME that it completely takes the fun and spontaneity out of looking. Compared to the Interval site, it's prehistoric.I am very glad I only bought a EOY.

We love our HGVC ownership, but we are in driving distance to Orlando (from GA) and enjoy it there. I only own 4800 points, and we have made it go very far by often traveling offseason and by using open season cash rates. We have done multiple trades thru RCI (Keys, Del Mar, and 3 nights in San Fran) and also stayed at South Beach, Marco Island, Sanibel, and Breckenridge too. We are going to Hawaii next year with an SFX trade to Kaanipali (which netted a CBR studio bonus week) and then a week an HHV.

We have been to the Tuscany property about 12 times in 5 years, sometimes with family and sometimes during travels to South FL. We don't always do parks, we just love to relax there in a resort setting.

I would love to see more locations too and this does take a lot of work for some reservations. But it is very flexible. And I agree - most of the affiliates that are not in the online system are hard to get.

echino said:

Can you reliably book a 2 bedroom in Disney's Grand Californian Villas (Anaheim) during peak periods, using 4,800 HGVC points via RCI? I am thinking of buying into HGVC specifically for this purpose. Or is it unreliable?

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I am not familiar with this trade, but if you can not with HGVC 4800 points, then you can not with any other resort either (except may be if there is any priority for the DVC owners). In other words, HGVC is the strongest trader in RCI (there are many others too such as Southern California Summer weeks beach locations, Virginia Beach summer weeks, etc). If you are not flexible with trading, you are likely to be disappointed. If you are flexible and willing to put in the hours, you will be writing here after 5 years how happy you are with HGVC.

echino said:

Can you reliably book a 2 bedroom in Disney's Grand Californian Villas (Anaheim) during peak periods, using 4,800 HGVC points via RCI? I am thinking of buying into HGVC specifically for this purpose. Or is it unreliable?

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Don't do it.

There's RCI availability for the Disney Vacation Club(DVC) resorts in Orlando, Hilton Head and Vero Beach. There's only a small number of DVC units at the Grand California. If you really want to go to that resort you need to own there or rent from an owner.


From DVCNEWS.COM - http://dvcnews.com/index.php/resorts/villas-at-grand-californian
Total # of Rooms: 48 (max 71)
Dedicated Studio: 0
Dedicated One Bedroom: 0
Dedicated Two Bedroom: 23
Lockoff Two Bedroom:
(Each can be booked separately as One Bedroom + Studio)
23
Three Bedroom Grand Villa: 2

echino said:

Can you reliably book a 2 bedroom in Disney's Grand Californian Villas (Anaheim) during peak periods, using 4,800 HGVC points via RCI? I am thinking of buying into HGVC specifically for this purpose. Or is it unreliable?

Click to expand...

I agree with the others. IMHO, HGVC is a very strong trader but you cannot expect to reliably trade into any high demand week in RCI. If you really want to go repeatedly to somewhere specific during peak season you should consider owning there.

Offpeak is another story.... but then it depends on how much inventory a resort supplies to RCI. It seems that some resorts in RCI hardly ever deposit inventory. Disney should be different as they likely have a lot of folks trading out also.

I've been happy with my trades into RCI resorts through HGVC over the years.

Just remember that good HGVC/RCI trades, like the rest of the RCI exchange system, are getting progressively harder to get. HGVC trades get the best of what is a slowly shrinking RCI exchange pool.

I'm finding that I have better exchange power and get several bonus weeks when trading through SFX.