Any disadvantage to buying HH?

[skygirltkw]

I really want to become part of the DVC family, and it looks like I could get into HH for what I have saved up, BUT, if I do that is there any disadvantage? Seems like it is way cheap (as opposed to other resorts) Will my 100 pts still be the "same" as someone with 100 AKL or BWV points? Can I still use those points to book @ WDW, or a Dis cruise?

Any advice would be great...TIA!!

 

[erionm]

While your initial buy in cost may be lower, annual dues for Hilton Head are very high and will eat away a good portion of that savings (if not all).

 

[treehugnmama]

Well I am not sure how much you know about dvc but I would want to own on property because that is where I want to stay. Example at 11 months out I can book my home resort of ssr but at 7 months I can change to another resort if there is availability. If it is a busy time and everything else is booked atleast I still have ssr. For you in that same scenario you would be stuck with hhi? Does it come up often..... That I don't know but we were going to add on at vb because we love it but didn't want to take the chance incase we wanted a wdw stay. It may become more of an issue as they sell more and more offsite think Hawaii that's just my 2 cents though

 

[skygirltkw]

Hmm...good points, something to think about...thanks!

 

[DebbieB]

I really want to become part of the DVC family, and it looks like I could get into HH for what I have saved up, BUT, if I do that is there any disadvantage? Seems like it is way cheap (as opposed to other resorts) Will my 100 pts still be the "same" as someone with 100 AKL or BWV points? Can I still use those points to book @ WDW, or a Dis cruise?

Any advice would be great...TIA!!

If you buy resale, you will not be able to book the cruise or non-DVC WDW resorts.

Also take into account that HH points expire in 2042. SSR expires in 2054, AKL in 2057, BLT 2060.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2532406

 

[LeslieLou]

Somewhere on the boards is a thread about calculating $/point over the life of the contract. I did this to determine where I would buy. It will surprise you - those MFs will add up over the lifetime of the contract...

 

[Lost in Neverland]

HH is a great property but if you are buying resale even though the points are cheaper initally the MFs are much higher than onsite properties. Also you will be giving up the window to have home resort advantage at the more popular onsite resorts. There are recent changes in what you are allowed to use your points for in the past year if you are buying resale so do your homework before you decide to go that route. If you want to go to HH every year the 11 month window would give you a great selection prior to "open season" as I call it. We purchased our first contract resale 4 years ago and almost went Vero Beach but when I added up the higher fees as well as not being gaurenteed a room at my favorite onsite resort we changed to OKW.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If your purpose for buying DVC is to stay at HHI, buy HHI. If your purpose for buying DVC is to stay at WDW, buy a WDW resort. Buy where you wouldn't mind staying if you couldn't stay anywhere else but your home resort. Because that is the only thing that is guaranteed.

There is always the possibility that VB and HHI could be spun off of DVC at some point.

 

[Dean]

I really want to become part of the DVC family, and it looks like I could get into HH for what I have saved up, BUT, if I do that is there any disadvantage? Seems like it is way cheap (as opposed to other resorts) Will my 100 pts still be the "same" as someone with 100 AKL or BWV points? Can I still use those points to book @ WDW, or a Dis cruise?

Any advice would be great...TIA!!

There are many variables. IMO, VB and HH are poor choices as a points cow to stay at WDW due to higher fees and no 11 month window. Their fees are also more vulnerable due to natural disasters than WDW resorts. At some price difference, it will become worth the risk for some. That price difference is likely somewhere around $30 a point buy in at the current prices for the other WDW resorts. I think a slightly higher investment at SSR is the best value in that it gives you a later expiration, reasonable dues and an 11 month window. The bonus is it has a fair chunk of 3 BR units plus the THV. Just buy less points now and see how the program works for you. Then when you've saved up for more points you would be in a better situation to know what home resort and how many additional points you'd really need rather than guessing now. Alternatively, stay off site or rent from a member while you cont to save up.

 

[lmb]

I own at HHI and my BWV maintenance fees aren't much less pp. Depends on what WDW resort you're looking at.

 

[TPBChick]

I bought my all of my points at HHI several years ago. I think the MF have gone up more there than almost any other resort. Not thrilled with that. Still I love owning at HHI. That is because we love going to HH. We want to be able to stay there in the summer. I also love going to WDW but I really don't mind which DVC resort we stay at. I think that they are all great. At 7 months, I have been able to stay at BCV (2x), VWL and SSR. For our November trip, I called right at 7 months, BCV, BWV and BLT were already full so I booked AKV and am very happy. I have heard that sometimes everything can be full by the 7 month mark at Holiday time so be careful if you want to go then. If you want to go to HHI on a somewhat regular basis, I think that it is a good place to buy. If you are only going to use your points at WDW, I agree with looking at SSR.

 

[CMOORE185]

Didn't HH dues get so high because they had to collect money to do some maintenance they didn't expect to have to do so soon. And I thought I read that after this money was collected the dues would be decreased by this amount. Anyone know anything about this?

 

[JBx3]

You are correct. Since then they have seemed to level off. Take a look at last 2 yrs. Then last 5 yrs. You can see the increases have narrowed a bit

 

[JBx3]

To the OP. If you want to go to HHI during summers months. I think your thoughts are fine. Disney HHI resort is very outstanding. If you buy in is just to get points at a good price, I would take the advice offered by others and buy where you want to stay the most at 11a mos.
Regardless of what you choose DVC in general has some of the highest MF's. In the industry. With that being said we have been very happy with what we get in return.

 

[Pixieflip]

There are many variables. IMO, VB and HH are poor choices as a points cow to stay at WDW due to higher fees and no 11 month window. Their fees are also more vulnerable due to natural disasters than WDW resorts. At some price difference, it will become worth the risk for some. That price difference is likely somewhere around $30 a point buy in at the current prices for the other WDW resorts. I think a slightly higher investment at SSR is the best value in that it gives you a later expiration, reasonable dues and an 11 month window. The bonus is it has a fair chunk of 3 BR units plus the THV. Just buy less points now and see how the program works for you. Then when you've saved up for more points you would be in a better situation to know what home resort and how many additional points you'd really need rather than guessing now. Alternatively, stay off site or rent from a member while you cont to save up.

Yep, very good points.

We do own at VB, no one seems to admit that, but we do. We bought it when it was closing out in 2001, and yes our fees are higher, it was the way it worked for us and still does. We never planned to stay anywhere over Christmas or Easter because it just costs too many points, so we go other times. We have never ever had a problem at the 7 month window.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[gray52]

If DVC totally collapses and maybe some day they might force you to stay at your resort and ONLY your resort, then take the "buy where you want to stay" line to heart. Otherwise, i wouldn't worry too much about that.
The maintenance fees probably wouldn't worry me much either. You have all year to save for that, if needed. Yes... over the 30 years you'll pay more... and looking at it after the 30 years as a total cost seems like a lot... but like i said... the cost is spread over 365 days each year.

 

[famgel]

Just my opinion, but if you look into HHI Rentals you'll find you can rent a 3BR townhouse in Palmetto Dunes (5 min walk to the Disney Beach compared to driving or bus to Disney beach) for $1300 - $1500 a whole week, 7 days. We found out the hard way after going to DVC HH years ago and spending at least 230 for only 5 days, it was cheaper to rent with cash. We now save our points for WDW only, maybe RCI once in a while, but again it's a waste of money to do RCI also. I say buy in WDW so you have at least an 11 mo ressie window, especially during the holidays, if needed. Like I said this is my opinion.

 

[lmb]

famgel - what complexes do you like to stay in palmetto dunes? We are using your approach but staying in Sea pines for the first week and Disney for 5 nights after. We may try Palmetto dunes next year if the Sea Pines beach club area is too crowded.

 

[marynvince]

We bought into DVC direct in 2008 at SSR. Discovered HHI and bought resale at HHI in 2011. After staying at HHI DVC we tried a palmetto dunes rental and it's just not the same, at least for us. I've stayed at most DVC resorts and have been able to book over xmas/NYE at resorts other than SSR. Resale on HHI can be had in the low $40 point range and I believe that is a pretty good deal for what you get, plus the CMs at HHI are the very best!! Good Luck

 

[famgel]

We have only stayed in Queens Grant, it's to the left hand side, once you're on the road to beach access. It's great I can get a bigger unit (3BR) for half the price of using my DVC points at their HH resort and stay for 7 days instead of 5 or 6. You can walk to beach (10 min) or rent bikes (5 min). We usually go 1st week in June. We found Sea Pines to be too busy. Palmetto Dunes is much quieter. Every section has a pool available and we went thru HH Rentals, here's link to our unit: http://www.hiltonheadrentals.com/vacation-rental-property.asp?rental-id=7287. Hope this helps.