Buying a vacation club to fit my needs. Suggested prices?

I have been using my grandmothers HGVClub membership for the past 3 years and have decided I want my own. I mainly want to use it for a yearly, week long trip to southern florida in January/Early February. The places at the Hilton club have all been really nice. I wish to have a comparible quality 2 bedroom vacation club plan with lots of options in southern florida. Cany anyone recommend vacation clubs that fit my needs and know what I should expect to pay (re-sale values only).

Make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Hilton uses vacation club in the name of their timeshare program but there are many vacation clubs out there that do not have an underlying timeshare system in them. They just charge you big $ for supposedly discounted rooms, cruises, etc. However, a savvy shopper can easily match the rates of those vacation clubs without the big investment.

mdh2861 said:

I have been using my grandmothers HGVClub membership for the past 3 years and have decided I want my own. I mainly want to use it for a yearly, week long trip to southern florida in January/Early February. The places at the Hilton club have all been really nice. I wish to have a comparible quality 2 bedroom vacation club plan with lots of options in southern florida. Cany anyone recommend vacation clubs that fit my needs and know what I should expect to pay (re-sale values only).

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I can't quite tell if you're looking for your own HGVClub membership, or simply a comparable experience with lots of options in the S. Florida area? Either way, I think there are plenty of options you can get fairly cheaply.

Since you're familiar with HGVC and know you like them (and they have several places you can go in S. Florida), you might start there. There have been some pretty good HGVC deals noted on TUG lately, but it will still cost you a fair "chunk of change". You didn't mention how many HGVC points your grandmother has, but I'd guess you'd probably be looking at getting a minimum of 5000 points. Looking at some of the recent sales on eBay, this would put you back as little as $2200 up to $6000 or more. You can also work with a couple of the brokers that have a good reputation around here (Judy Kozlowski and Seth Nock....do a search on them and you'll find plenty of info/details).

I'm not familiar with any other vacation clubs that have a large presence in S. Florida...but you can go the less expensive initial outlay route of finding a nice resort on eBay (one located in a place you wouldn't mind going to on a regular basis) where you can often pick them up for as little as $1 (usually plus several hundred in closing costs), and then use II or RCI for trading to other locations. My RCI experience is that Florida generally has more availability of resort units available for trades than anywhere in the world...with the caveat that I live in California, so most anywhere on a beach in Florida is a nice vacation for me....you might have more specific locations in mind that have less availability. But I still think there's plenty of "resort inventory" to pick from in Florida. I would guess the yearly cost for doing it this way will be your maintenance fee (probably around $600-$900/yr for a nice 2-bdr place), plus your RCI or II membership fee (>$90/yr), plus your RCI/II exchange fee ($139/II, $164/RCI). You can see a chart at http://www.alltimeshare.com/exchange.html listing the differences between II & RCI fees, and if you search through TUG, you'll find plenty of info about both companies (good and bad!).

There are other trading companies too, but I don't have any experience with them.

Hope this helps a bit...

Wow, thanks for the great post. I will clarify and answer some of your questions.

My grandmother has a 7000 point plan, which does approximiatly 2 weeks.

You are correct, I am interested in 5000 point plan that will give me 1 week in south florida.

I am interested in Hilton OR "a comparable experience with lots of options in the S. Florida area".

Are you saying I should likely be able to find a place for $1.00 and just get away with having to pay maintenance fees?

I am going to try to contact the brokers you mentioned.

Thanks for the excellent replies, I hope i've clarified things.

Why don't you just BUY the ownership from your grandmother? If you have used it for the last 3 years (and she hasn't), she might like the cash and getting out from the MFs each year.

As for getting South Florida in January and February thru exchanges or lowball ebay bids, might want to add about 3 zeros and then start multiplying as that is SNOWBIRD season. Yes, the first 2 weeks after NYE week can sometimes be found - but it is very windy. The first 2 weeks in February, very hard.

Now it you like the Orlando area (instead of further south and beachy), you have improved your chances greatly and lowered your cost a bit.

I would not contact any brokers yet. I would spend some time time reading TUG, and investigating the possibilities. I would start with the Hilton Board here on TUG. Read the articles at the top of the board and browse through threads.

Anther good place to do some research is the Advice Page.

The Florida Page may also be of interest to you.

There are so many different options, you want to do some homework now, and make sure you find the best TS for your needs, before you make a purchase.

Good luck!

I agree with Linda - if your GM is willing to sell you her ownership, that seems like it would be the best/easiest way to get what you're looking for. And for clarification - Judi & Seth are the 2 main HGVC "reference brokers" around here, so if your GM wants to keep her points and you're looking for HGVC, they're the 2 I'd recommend (although I'm sure they sell other stuff too).

Also - Linda obviously has more experience with Florida trades than I do...we only go every 3-4 years, and often end up in the "beach corridor" NE of Orlando between Ormond-by-the-Sea and New Smyrna Beach or farther south between West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. We've always enjoyed these areas, and usually go in Feb/Mar to avoid the summer heat/crowds, and I guess we've been lucky with the weather and getting good trades.

So I guess I'm back to "since HGVC has plenty of availability in Florida (also on the Gulf side) and you know you like them, you're likely to be most satisfied by either trying to pick up your GM's points, or get your own (especially since you can also trade your points through RCI, and get the off-season benefit of taking mini-vacations using smaller numbers of HGVC points)

The basic principal of BUY where you want to vacation is a good plan and generally works.

If you are looking at Hilton level quality, you need Hilton, Marriott and Starwood. Wyndham is a cheaper cousin only because it has a nice resort or two around (and it really is much cheaper if you can forget about the nickle and dime fees in the points system).

Yes, there are FIXED weeks at many resorts in South Florida - generally, older resorts. If you are looking at those, BUY exactly what you want as far as unit location, size and most importantly, the week number. I am a happy camper in any of my South Florida fixed weeks ... and all my family & friends try to tag along.

Denise's recommendation to RESEACH is very important. Easy to buy, difficult to dump a timeshare ownership. And believe if or not, TS resorts seem to have personalities unique to location and sometime, the season. Resorts that have a large number of fixed week owners even more so.

And robert55, thank you for those kind comments. I have been to many different TSs in South Florida on the Atlantic side ,sometimes stay or doing a day visit (only have traded into South Florida a few times). You must have a decent trader and deposit & request early to get Feb and Mar trades; I was definitely down on the idea that a $1 eBay special would be exchanging into a prime season 2/2.

I always talk to the people out at the pool, hot tub, elevators, lobbies, and front desk staff everywheres. At the resorts I own, I know as many names and faces of owners, exchangers, renters, and staff (including the housekeepers, not just resort managers). It is amazing how much you can learn as to where people are from, why they pick that resort (either 15 years ago to buy or last week to rent). It is great when several people get into the conversation, sharing tips and secrets. Just last month, I did a 4 day tour of the resorts to find out 2010 MF projections and delinquences for 2009 MFs. Yes, it was hot - but no big hits in MF increases ~2%, but one resort is planning a Special Assessment, also .

vacationhopeful said:

Denise's recommendation to RESEACH is very important. Easy to buy, difficult to dump a timeshare ownership. And believe if or not, TS resorts seem to have personalities unique to location and sometime, the season. Resorts that have a large number of fixed week owners even more so.

And robert55, thank you for those kind comments. I have been to many different TSs in South Florida on the Atlantic side ,sometimes stay or doing a day visit (only have traded into South Florida a few times). You must have a decent trader and deposit & request early to get Feb and Mar trades; I was definitely down on the idea that a $1 eBay special would be exchanging into a prime season 2/2.

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MDH - I would just add to what both Denise & Linda are saying...very easy to get into TS's (especially now when everyone's dumping them)...much more difficult to get out of. The research is particularly important...read everything you can on this and other sites...sometimes just the littlest comment or mention of something can sway you toward or away from a resort. You're in a great position to spend time doing the research if you can keep using your GM's points (you get to enjoy the positives w/o getting stuck with the negatives, at least not yet ). If you find a non-HGVC resort that you're interested in, either visit it and ask everyone questions like Linda, or even trade into it using your GM's points (if she'll let you ).

Also, just FYI, Linda brings up another good point when she says that we have "a decent trader & deposit early...". We used a couple of studios to trade, but they are in Hawaii, and we did deposit them & make our request early. Also - we were pretty flexible on time/location (basically any time in Jan-Mar, anywhere on a Florida beach in a 2-bdrm). Since my impression is that Florida has a lot of inventory available, I'm not sure how one Florida resort would trade for another one...still seems like you might want to stay with HGVC unless something else in your research causes you to find a price point or location that really exceeds what HGVC offers...just take your time, I doubt prices are going to skyrocket anytime soon

Thanks everyone for your comments, you guys are FANTASTIC. I REALLY appreciate all the input. My "main" concern is value. I am very happy with the hilton places that I have been to. By the way, buying my grandmothers timeshare is out of the question as she paid WAY to much for it. However, she is getting much enjoyment out of giving free trips to all the family. Anyway, that is off the table.

As stated, I love the hilton places and I desire to go to South FL every year, a bit OFF of peak season (end january, early february). It seems that a hilton 5000 point annual plan would accomplish this for me. The maintenance & other fee's appear to total about $750 with the Deed + closing costing me about $6,700. This doesnt sound too bad to me. My BIGGEST concern is that I am getting value, and I judge value by "resale & risk". I would like to feel confident that I could "re-sell" this for at least $5,000 2-3 years down the road (in other-words, i'd be ok with a $1500 total loss). If 2-3 years down the road, my HGVC membership is only worth $1.00 on ebay, well, that is a different story. I'm completely comfortable with the maintenance fees, the quality of hilton, the whole hilton reservation plan/policy and the availability of units in the south florida area during the time i want to go. The ONLY question that remains is the long standing value. I want to know that if I buy it at 6K, it is still worth "somewhere near" what I paid for it in the future, else, i'm just better off renting a timeshare....

HGVC buy only 7000 points

In the long term if you have a 2 bedroom that is gold 5000 HGVC points or Platium 7000 HGVC points you still pay the same in M.Fees year after year but with the 7000 points you get more for your money! Timeshares are for a lot of years so just add up 15 years losing 2000 HGVC points is over 30,000 HGVC points . So maybe you pay more ONE TIME but them over the years you make it back!!! I have 3 HGVC units email me anytime with ?'s!!!!

mdh2861 said:

My BIGGEST concern is that I am getting value, and I judge value by "resale & risk". I would like to feel confident that I could "re-sell" this for at least $5,000 2-3 years down the road (in other-words, i'd be ok with a $1500 total loss). If 2-3 years down the road, my HGVC membership is only worth $1.00 on ebay, well, that is a different story. .... The ONLY question that remains is the long standing value. I want to know that if I buy it at 6K, it is still worth "somewhere near" what I paid for it in the future, else, i'm just better off renting a timeshare....

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I'll assume you know there's no guarantees around future pricing...only risks. Having said that, I'd guess based on the open-market (eBay) pricing we're seeing in the current economy, the least-risky TS purchases are the higher-end companies, Hilton included.

I can't tell if you're seriously looking at a 2-3 year timeframe - are you thinking of selling then, or just worried the TS may have lost all its value by then? Because if there's a possibility you'll be selling, I'd say you should definitely just rent. But even for the high-end companies, many of them are selling now for maybe half of their value a year or two ago, so there's nothing to say that kind of drop won't happen again over the next year or two (I don't think it will, and certainly wouldn't like to see my TS values drop like that, but I've got a much longer "vacation horizon" so I'd just enjoy what I have and not worry about selling).

If you do have a longer future in mind for you TS, then you should also think about what Cappy said....Hilton charges MF's based on size, so a 2-bedroom Gold (5000pt) costs the same per year as a 2-bd Platinum (7000pts), so the more years you own the higher-point TS, the more points you get for your money (although it costs more initially). The extra points could be used for mini-vacations, moved into HHonors points for flexibility, traded into RCI for something else, etc.