Hgvc - Is It Worthwhile?

[mommylo]

Hi everyone,
I need some help in determining whehther it's worthwhile to invest in HGVC. I currently own at DVCs but am looking into HGVC. There doesn't seem to be any recent discussions about HGVC. If someone can provide some insight into the following questions, it would be greatly appreciated:
1) Buy direct or resale? What are the pros and cons of each?
2) Are people happy with the upkeep of the vacation clubs?
3) Do they sell bi-annual ownership? What price are they selling per point?
4) When making reservations, do you generally get what you request?

Thank you again

 

[swilshire]

I suggest you go over to www.tug2.net and research the issue. Lots of owners there.

Sheila

 

[utahkennedys]

I am not an owner, but our good friends are. They use it to go to Hawaii and occasionally to Orlando. They always book last minute b/c of their work, so it works well for them. Initially they owned in Hawaii, but sold that and were able to buy more points in Orlando for less maintenance fees. They bought both through Hilton (they didn't know about the resale market, and I don't think they care as money/cost isn't an issue to them). They love HGVC, but it doesn't have tons of locations. I read a lot on TUG as well and that seems to be the consistent complaint I see. We stayed at HGVC Sea World last September and really enjoyed it. Althought it wasn't DVC for us, it was very, very nice. We had a 3BR villa and it had a huge amount of space. I also thought it was very well kept considering it is the older HGVC in Orlando. If you are going to buy, definately buy resale! From what I understand, there are no differences other than a big cost savings!

 

[mommylo]

Thank you so much for the advice. I have now signed on to TUG and doing lots of research and asking...

 

[dvcbnd]

We are DVC members and also HGVC members. We bought our DVC 10 yrs ago and our HGVC 5 yrs ago. We love the flexibility of owning both. We didn't buy resale and HGVC was giving incentives at the time (not sure if they still are). Also we have family who got some perks for referring us. The upkeep has gotten better. There have been times that we have complained to management about what seemed to be neglect in the past but they have improved alot. We enjoy extending our stays in Orlando thru both avenues and find that it's fun to do Disney parks when on property and then do Seawork and Universal when staying at our HGVC. (We own at the Seaworld location) Also, we can exchange thru Interval w/DVC and RCI w/Hilton. This gives us more options and flexiblity! Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[spiceycat]

they are definitely one of the Best on RCI - if not the best.

so you pay a price for having the best.

forgot go sign up for this
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hgvcinfo/

if it under

www.yahoo.com
then groups - then sign up for it under timeshares

 

[4Seasons]

We own at HGVC SeaWorld, 4800 Platinum points. Bought directly from Hilton. Had no intention when we toured. Loved the property and flexibility of the point system. We signed a "tentative" agreement there, but it took us 3 weeks before we closed the deal. We came home and shopped around resale. At the time we found a resale for the same # of points for $10k, but we would have had to pay closing. Price from Hilton was $12.9k. We negotiated and got 400k Hilton Honor points (which we subsequently used for 4 r/t tickets to Mexico during a holiday week) and 1 bonus week stay.
That was 7 years ago. I believe the 4800 pts you could get resale for $8k or so. Hilton always has right of first refusal on resale contracts.

If you do buy, get the most # of points with the smallest bedroom size. Our "deed" is 4800 platinum points, 1 bedroom unit week 26. Our maintenance is about $650/year. If you buy the same # of points in a 2 or 3 bedroom (gold or silver season), you'll pay a higher maintenance fee.

We never travel during platinum season (pretty much summer and holiday weeks), thus we are usually able to get 1 week in a 2 br, or 2 weeks a year in a 1 br for our points. You can also bank or borrow points (costs to bank but free to borrow).

We've stayed at both properties in Orlando and never had any issues with maintence. They are building a new property there, can't remember where offhand.

We've seen the Vegas properties and they are also nice.

Only thing we've had a problem getting is the Fiesta Americana Cancun, we've never been able to get a stay during the times we've traveled there.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

 

[mommylo]

Thanks DVCBnd and 4Seasons. I've been hearing a lot of good things with HGVC. I contacted the developer and buying direct from them is totally outrageous!! I was quoted 4800 Platinum, bi-annual use at Orlando International Drive for close to $15,000!! Resale for the same is around 7-8k. So we have to do a lot of research on this. We do only go at Platinum weeks therefore the bi-annual use. And I think the Hilton prices are a little cheaper than the Marriott ones.