Looking at several listing on Ebay for resale confused on systems :)

[pharmacistking]

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where? Florida, Northeast (we live in the northeast)

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time? Trade more

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations? South Carolina, Florida, Hawaii, Caribbean/Mexico

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself? 3

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule? Flexible

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance? Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time? Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars? 3-4+

9) How much do you want to spend upfront, without financing? Depends looking to stay under 4-5k

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? 4k

11) Are you a detail oriented planner? Yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do? Yes

We rented from owners Marriots Sabal Palms last year, Ocean Oak Hilton Head HGVC this year. Going to HGVC Seaworld and Orange Lake in october. We are frequent travelers with now a toddler so the 1/2 BR make more sense than a hotel.

I like HGVC for price/quality. Marriott seems complicated and expensive. Wyndham seems interesting but I do not fully understand the system.

 

[SteelerGal]

I believe you would like HGVC. We now own an affiliate in Hawaii. Read the HGVC stickies so you know what to buy. Hgvc is a week/points system which is very easy to utilize. However you need to buy enough points.

 

[Passepartout]

We rented from owners Marriots Sabal Palms last year, Ocean Oak Hilton Head HGVC this year. Going to HGVC Seaworld and Orange Lake in october. We are frequent travelers with now a toddler so the 1/2 BR make more sense than a hotel.

I like HGVC for price/quality. Marriott seems complicated and expensive. Wyndham seems interesting but I do not fully understand the system.

I agree with your take on the various systems. HGVC probably has a bit better quality, Marriott has fewer choices, but I think the winner here is Wyndham. It's a good system, and while it has a learning curve, there are plenty of TUGgers that can provide guidance. They have a lot of locations- many of which you can reasonably drive to- and it comes with an RCI membership for no more cost. You can easily afford the buy-in an the annual nut is well within your budget.

Welcome to TUG. Another suggestion- if you are going to be exchanging a lot, I'd suggest you blow the $15 to join TUG as a Member so you have access to the reviews of thousands of resorts and the Sightings of scarce and desirable exchanges that guest's don't see.

Jim

 

[pharmacistking]

I agree with your take on the various systems. HGVC probably has a bit better quality, Marriott has fewer choices, but I think the winner here is Wyndham. It's a good system, and while it has a learning curve, there are plenty of TUGgers that can provide guidance. They have a lot of locations- many of which you can reasonably drive to- and it comes with an RCI membership for no more cost. You can easily afford the buy-in an the annual nut is well within your budget.

Welcome to TUG. Another suggestion- if you are going to be exchanging a lot, I'd suggest you blow the $15 to join TUG as a Member so you have access to the reviews of thousands of resorts and the Sightings of scarce and desirable exchanges that guest's don't see.

Jim

Unsure on the number of points needed for a first buy... Any suggestions ?

 

[Passepartout]

Unsure on the number of points needed for a first buy... Any suggestions ?

I'm not a Wyndham owner, but iirc, folks here have commented that the 157K bundles will get you a 1BR for a week in high season most places. Charts have been posted in he Wyn Forum. Some resorts charge more-or less depending on a bunch of variables (season, size, demand, location, etc) which probably adds to your confusion about the system. I see comments from owners after someone has been bamboozled into a developer purchase of smaller packages that they didn't have enough points for a week. So I'd call the above a minimum. You can always buy additional at resale and add it all into your base account.

Consider posting your system-specific questions to the system's forum. You'll get more focused answers.

Jim

 

[SteelerGal]

Unsure on the number of points needed for a first buy... Any suggestions ?

For HGVC, you should purchase at least Platinum Season. Hgvc trades w/in RCI so you can always go to Wyndham/Worldmark or any other System that trades in RCI.

 

[pharmacistking]

For HGVC, you should purchase at least Platinum Season. Hgvc trades w/in RCI so you can always go to Wyndham/Worldmark or any other System that trades in RCI.

HGVC Probably around 7000 to 8400 pts correct?

 

[rickandcindy23]

I wouldn't buy Wyndham. I would buy the Hilton. But Hilton exchanges with RCI. This is why I haven't bought Hilton. It's really not the only reason. We already have too many timeshares, and that is my main reason for not buying Hilton. But our next purchase would be Hyatt before Hilton.

I have to say, as an owner of many of the brand names, and an experimenter (haha) in trading power, the absolute best timeshares I have are my Sheraton Broadway Plantation and Sheraton Desert Oasis. I get incredible value out of those weeks, and they are free on eBay. I paid resale about $1,600 for our first SBP years ago, and now the same thing is free.

For a MF of about $964 for a 2 bedroom at SBP, you can exchange into Westin Nanea (we are here now), Westin Ka'napali (probably just one bedrooms but still a great value), any Orlando resort you want, including any Marriott for any time of year, and Mexico is an easy one, too.

SBP is in Myrtle Beach, so you would have that, but it's not on the ocean, which was great when the hurricanes hit because SBP suffered very little damage.

Hilton Head is a tough summer exchange, but it's not tough to get a Marriott in April, May, or fall. Exchanges into Marriott properties are $209.

I would lean this direction, and I have advised a lot of Rick's friends (he was a Denver firefighter for 40 years) to buy SBP and SDO (Scottsdale, AZ). We saw one of his friends at Costco a month ago, and he was ecstatic at his trades with II. His wife was thanking me profusely for advising them. They are getting closer to retirement and traveling more, with kids in college.

Super trading power, low exchange fees, I think $159? (if you trade into another resort in the system). Lockoff units get two great trades, and those fees are $1204. You lockoff the unit into two one bedrooms, and they are great traders. The small one bedrooms trade as well as the larger one bedrooms.

We also own Marriott's Willow Ridge summer and get good trades with it.

I just like Interval International better. I use RCI and have a lot of RCI Points, but some RCI Points trades are priced way too high for what you get.

I do love the Hilton resorts. RCI allowed Hilton to charge $25 per day for exchangers forparking (?) and we won't be going to Hiltons anymore for that reason. Our family loved the SeaWorld resort, but we won't stay there now through exchange. Marriott is just as nice and no $25 fee.

 

[SteelerGal]

HGVC Probably around 7000 to 8400 pts correct?

Yes. We had 5k and couldn’t do much.