HICV questions, new to timesharing

[richardjc]

Good morning,

I am looking into purchasing my first timeshare and had some questions about HICV. Hopefully you guys can help me with this.

• What do you "lose" by purchasing resales?
• If I buy points out of the three resorts that continue as points (Lake Geneva, Smoky Mountain, South Beach)[If that is right]. Is there a difference to which resort is your home resort? Are there any advantages? Or should I just purchase wherever?
• Can you still use resale points to book with other partner companies(RCI?)? Is there a significant difference in ability to do so with resales?
• The HICV sales manager said that you cannot use resale points with RCI, can't borrow, rent or save, and only have a limited inventory for reservations. Are these arguments true or was he trying to pressure me into not rescinding?

Obviously I'm interested in HICV because I've been given their sales pitch. Are there other timeshares that are a better value?

 

[tschwa2]

The arguments that the sales person is giving, applies to the trust points that they are currently selling. It does not apply to resale points at the 3 properties you named.

When buying resale at MB or Gatlinburg you want to look for larger high season weeks. These will get the better MF to point ratios. If you buy an off season studio you will get very few points and pay the same MF's as someone with a much better week that gets 2-3 times the number of points. At Lake Geneva the points are UDI so you don't need to know the underlying week as there is none.

 

[tschwa2]

You do lose the ability for the points to count toward any elite status and perks that go along with those. If you are starting from scratch now with no points and have to build up to those levels with retail purchases the cost would be very high.

 

[richardjc]

The arguments that the sales person is giving, applies to the trust points that they are currently selling. It does not apply to resale points at the 3 properties you named.

When buying resale at MB or Gatlinburg you want to look for larger high season weeks. These will get the better MF to point ratios. If you buy an off season studio you will get very few points and pay the same MF's as someone with a much better week that gets 2-3 times the number of points. At Lake Geneva the points are UDI so you don't need to know the underlying week as there is none.

I'm not sure what you mean about weeks ay Gatlinburg. All the Gatlinburg resales I've seen refer strictly to points and not weeks.

 

[tschwa2]

I'm not sure what you mean about weeks ay Gatlinburg. All the Gatlinburg resales I've seen refer strictly to points and not weeks.

They are based on weeks. If you don't see the week you can at least judge by the points given and the MF charged. Ideally for MF's alone (not counting the annual membership fee) you don't want to be paying more than $5 per 1000 points. Maybe you might be willing to go up to $6 but I wouldn't go any higher.