HGVC points - Hilton Grand Vacation Club

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

Is there any advantage to purchasing a HVC points with a home resort of Park City near Dallas Texas ? The amount of points is about 8400 point.

Things I need to know are

1. Can I easily reserve at the other Hiltons ?

2. Is there a better way of getting into the Hilton Park City ?

3. Who sells these resale ?

Thanks

Bill

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

Bill -- maybe I am not understanding your question. Are you referring to Hilton or Hyatt? There is Hilton Grand Vacation Club (HGVC) and Hyatt Vacation Club (HVC).

But you mention "Park City" which is a HGVC resort in Park City, Utah (a ski resort). There is a "Park Cities" Hilton hotel in Dallas, but that is not a timeshare and has nothing to do with HGVC. So I am not positive we are on the same page here.

So, assuming you are talking about HGVC (the Hilton timeshare club), I could certainly answer some questions you have as I have been an owner for about 7 years. HGVC is a very flexible system and you can access all of the other HGVC properties with your points, no matter which property you own. However, owners have a home resort booking priority so in order to get a reservation at a high-demand location, owning at that location is the only way to guarantee to get the week you need. HGVC timeshare weeks are best purchased resale (obviously) and there are plenty on ebay, etc. There are also a few well-respected brokers that several owners on these timeshare boards (myself included) have used for purchases.

If you have more specific questions, I would be happy to answer. Let me know.

Kurt

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Is there any advantage to purchasing a HVC points with a home resort of Park City near Dallas Texas ? The amount of points is about 8400 point.

Things I need to know are

1. Can I easily reserve at the other Hiltons ?

2. Is there a better way of getting into the Hilton Park City ?

3. Who sells these resale ?

Thanks

Bill

1. Yes you can easily reserve at other Hiltons but of course if you want to go in prime times to certain resorts the home
priority people will be ahead of the line with their option to reserve their season and week first.
If you just want to travel off season then it's less of an issue.

2. I don't really follow the HGVC in Park City but I'd imagine you could do an ongoing search in RCI and snag a unit.

3. I purchased my HGVC from a real estate broker Seth Nock. He sells all Hiltons. Easy to deal with. He's a TUG member.

HGVC is a great system to own resale. As a member of the club you can book "open season" anywhere in the system 30 days out.
It's not just reserved for developer sales which is a nice perk.

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

Thanks for the info. Its for my wifes cousin who is interested in buying a hilton time share. They are in Park City Utah but live in Texas and went to a presentation. I thought they should buy resale and look for a different home resort like Vegas because most of the year is mud season in Park City. Actually I advised them to cancel and buy resale. They seem to like Hiltons and liked the idea of using points for hotel stays. How does the hotel stay work out, is it worth it ?

Also, how well do these trade. With RCI and WM my price point is very low to grab inventory. With rci fee's, mf and housekeeping I recieved a 1 bed Manhatten Club for late Sept for a cost of under $1100. Im thinking the HVGC mf is higher and have read that there are other fees added to the mf.

Thanks

Bill

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Hilton is a great timeshare if you want to stay in their resorts not the hotels.
It's not worth converting to HH points as the exchange is very poor.

Using them thru RCI can be okay for the occasional trade in the smaller units
but it gets expensive if you routinely want 2 bedrooms.
For example I own 5K points for $1100 MF's plus $135 club fees.
A studio exchange is 2400 points in high season,
1 bedroom is 3400
2 bedroom is 4800 points
3 bedroom is 5800 points.

I would only use my HGVC points in RCI for the toughest most
expensive TPU exchanges, not for a routine exchange.
There is the occasional jewel of a unit deposited only to the HGVC portal.
You won't see it in the regular RCI so that's also a time to use RCI thru HGVC.

Recently I used 3400 points to go to Manhattan Club in a 1 bedroom for New Years Eve. That was worth it IMO.
I wouldn't use 3400 points to go to my frumpy favorite motel converted beach resort. That exchange would only be 21
TPU's but with the fixed grid would still be 3400 HGVC points. Not worth it for me at all.

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

I see. For you HGVC owners it wouldn't really be worth trading unless its a gem. What would you consider a good home resort ?

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

I see. For you HGVC owners it wouldn't really be worth trading unless its a gem.

Not necessarily. One of my weeks is a 3BR Platinum season worth 8400 points, with a MF of about $1200. So for me, a 2BR RCI exchange costs me less than $700 in MF. A 1BR RCI costs me less than $500 in MF.

What would you consider a good home resort ?

Las Vegas or Orlando have the lowest MFs. But this part is key: maintenance fees in HGVC are determined by 1) the location and 2) unit size. Note: MFs are not determined by the number of points. The number of points are determined by the size and class of the room, and the season of the week.

So for example, a 2BR Plus week at the LV Strip property in Platinum season is worth 8400 points. A 2BR standard in Platinum season is worth 7000 points. A 2BR standard in Gold season is worth 5000 points. Because they are all 2BR in size, their maintenance fees are all the same. So based on what you buy, your MF per point can vary greatly, even at the same resort.

Of course the Platinum season weeks sell for more than the Gold season weeks, so you have to determine if it is worth paying more up front for a lower MF/point cost year after year.

Hope that is as clear as mud.

Kurt

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

Yup, that helps Kurt. So a person should look for at least a 2 bed platinum in an area with a high season. Since Vegas is high season for most of the year a resale Hilton membership at one of the Vegas resorts that is 2 bed plat would be the best bang for the buck.

Does HGVC have its own RCI rep ?

Thanks again

Bill

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

All of the resorts have Platinum season (the highest). Then there is Gold, Silver and finally Bronze -- not all resorts have all seasons. You are correct, a 2BR Platinum season seems to be the sweet spot for points, as you can do a lot with 7000 points as the system is very flexible.

With HGVC, you interact with RCI via the HGVC web site and customer service, and the HGVC annual club dues include the RCI membership. HGVC uses their own portal into RCI, and does not deal with TPUs, only HGVC points (see the point chart above). Because of that, your HGVC ownership cannot be combined with your personal RCI membership (if you own other RCI properties). There are positives and negatives with this.

You don't really "trade" your week in RCI, instead you use your HGVC points. Because of this, the week you own doesn't determine what you can trade for -- all of HGVC has the same trading power and you can see basically all inventory. If you have enough HGVC points, you can book it.

Kurt

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Bill, I only own a biennial and I get 5K every other year but Hilton is very flexible and allows you to
borrow 2 years ahead so I find that I don't need anymore points than what I own.

I make very good use of the Open Season rates since I live near so many Hilton's.
I've done more open season reservations than club reservations since I've purchased.

The reason I like the biennial is that I'm rarely paying to save points and since I own cheaper RCI
traders I'm not paying high retail for RCI trades.

If you are going to go to Hawaii or high ski season resorts then I imagine you'd need to own Platinum
points, but for just general club use that could be overkill if you own other timeshares.

It could be more cost effective to own a biennial HGVC contract and a biennial in another club like
Wyndham or WM that trades more cost efficiently with RCI.

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

Thanks... I wasnt considering a HGVC but may grab one if the right deal pops up.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Thanks... I wasnt considering a HGVC but may grab one if the right deal pops up.

See what happens when you start getting curious.
We are such enablers around here.