- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
- Messages
- 4,893
- Reaction score
- 4,447
- Points
- 599
- Resorts Owned
-
Marriott:
Maui Ocean Club
Waiohai Beach Club
Barony Beach Club
Abound ClubPoints
HGVC:
HGVC at Sea World
I'll address this from a slightly different angle - we are in the process of adding HGVC as a supplement to our Marriott ownership. We've owned Marriott since 2014 - an off-season week in Hilton Head, Marriott Destination points, and are just now working on closing on the purchase of a Maui Ocean Club 2BR EOY unit. We're also adding a 7000 point HGVC contract at SeaWorld (closed last week; waiting on HGVC to transfer ownership) to give us access to HGVC. Hilton will offer us more options on the Big Island of Hawaii and in Waikiki, and give us access to some other places at a lower ongoing occupancy cost than Marriott points.
As to the other question of II vs. RCI, we have been RCI members since 1999 with an ownership at Kaanapali Beach Club. We sold that KBC right after we bought our Marriott points, but still have 51 RCI TPUs left over that we haven't been able to use yet. We keep paying to extend the expiration date so as not to lose them. We had two trips we had to cancel, and that has contributed to the long carryover on these TPUs. Other than the HGVC locations, we are singularly unimpressed with RCI. The quality is spotty - at best - and, other than a known brand like HGVC, we have found it hard to find consistent quality in RCI. Disney is obviously another quality RCI option, but those are difficult to find and since our kids are both basically out of the nest, Disney has limited appeal (My wife is still a big Disney fan, and we may from time to time do an 'adults' trip to Orlando, until grandkids come along, but HGVC and Marriott will serve us adequately there.)
Because II has Marriott, Westin/Vistana, and Hyatt, I think they have more quality offerings than RCI, but there's plenty of junk in II as well and it's overall, a smaller exchange company than RCI. We have only used II to trade to other Marriotts, though. I suspect that someone hoping to buy into an II resort just to trade into Marriott/Westin/Hyatt may want to consider that all of these resort groups have some sort of internal trading priority that gives other owners within each group priority over traders from outside those groups. So while it is certainly possible to trade into these high-quality systems as a non-member of each group, you would be behind other owners in that system. So, I think it's best to pick the resort system that works best for you for the internal booking/trading, with any external trades you can get as a bonus.
As to the other question of II vs. RCI, we have been RCI members since 1999 with an ownership at Kaanapali Beach Club. We sold that KBC right after we bought our Marriott points, but still have 51 RCI TPUs left over that we haven't been able to use yet. We keep paying to extend the expiration date so as not to lose them. We had two trips we had to cancel, and that has contributed to the long carryover on these TPUs. Other than the HGVC locations, we are singularly unimpressed with RCI. The quality is spotty - at best - and, other than a known brand like HGVC, we have found it hard to find consistent quality in RCI. Disney is obviously another quality RCI option, but those are difficult to find and since our kids are both basically out of the nest, Disney has limited appeal (My wife is still a big Disney fan, and we may from time to time do an 'adults' trip to Orlando, until grandkids come along, but HGVC and Marriott will serve us adequately there.)
Because II has Marriott, Westin/Vistana, and Hyatt, I think they have more quality offerings than RCI, but there's plenty of junk in II as well and it's overall, a smaller exchange company than RCI. We have only used II to trade to other Marriotts, though. I suspect that someone hoping to buy into an II resort just to trade into Marriott/Westin/Hyatt may want to consider that all of these resort groups have some sort of internal trading priority that gives other owners within each group priority over traders from outside those groups. So while it is certainly possible to trade into these high-quality systems as a non-member of each group, you would be behind other owners in that system. So, I think it's best to pick the resort system that works best for you for the internal booking/trading, with any external trades you can get as a bonus.
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