Hilton Grand Vacation vs. DVC?

[MickeyMouseCD524]

I got an offer to stay at a Hilton Grand Vacation property the deal was pretty decent so I took it. But the catch was I had to go listen to the spiel about their version of DVC. And the girl really seemed to sell me on it. And since it's cheaper and the points can be converted via RCI to use on Disney property I'm starting to think it might be a solid deal. Does anyone own and can offer an opinion of this vs. DVC. I need to let the girl know today apparently cause you can't purchase once offsite according to everything I've read.

 

[limace]

A. Never buy a timeshare direct! You can always get a better deal resale. Head over to the TUG boards (timeshare users group) and research and ask-they are experts there and won’t steer you wrong. The deal never goes away-telling you you have to buy today is just a sales tactic. (It sometimes can be worth it to buy a small DVC membership direct-but usually not, and DVC has historically held its value, unlike any other timeshare)
B. I know you CAN exchange into DVC with RCI but I don’t think it’s very easy-there often isn’t availability for members who own DVC at certain times of year (I’m one of them and I love it, but it’s not always easy to use). The DVC boards here are a great resource.

 

[Marionnette]

I got an offer to stay at a Hilton Grand Vacation property the deal was pretty decent so I took it. But the catch was I had to go listen to the spiel about their version of DVC. And the girl really seemed to sell me on it. And since it's cheaper and the points can be converted via RCI to use on Disney property I'm starting to think it might be a solid deal. Does anyone own and can offer an opinion of this vs. DVC. I need to let the girl know today apparently cause you can't purchase once offsite according to everything I've read.

Never cave in to a "now or never" pressure tactic. Of their product is so wonderful, they would not have to coerce you into purchasing it. Walk away. Go home. Read the DVC boards here and the HGV boards on TUG.

Trading into RCI for a DVC villa won't be easy. If you match for your dates, it will most likely be a 1-bedroom villa at SSR. You're not going to get VGF, PVB, BCV or BWV. If you want to stay DVC, either rent from an owner or buy into it yourself. DVC is more expensive to purchase than HGV but its resale value holds (or even increases) over time.

 

[littlestar]

Hilton can definitely be purchased resale for a LOT cheaper than buying from the developer. Check out the Tugbbs Hilton boards for more info.

The only thing that comes up thru RCI for exchange into DVC anymore are pretty much 1 bedroom’s at Saratoga resort. You would have a $230 RCI (approximate) exchange fee, a $190 inbound fee to Disney and maybe daily Disney parking charges, too. When you add your maintenance fees for your Hilton timeshare, it adds up. Say your Hilton fees are $1,000 per year plus the fees I mentioned for trading in, could make your costs over $1,600.

If you want DVC, I would buy DVC or rent points. Way more variety and not to mention the fact that Disney could leave RCI. If you like Hilton Grand Vacations system and want to stay at their resorts, definitely buy it resale and save a ton of money.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

We went down to Florida for Hilton. Came home sold on Disney.

Hilton was so, so pushy. I mean, we were happy to walk out with our finances intact. Honestly, it was awful. And we've been to numerous sell-a-thons.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We travel alot and Hilton is our preferred hotel brand. We are also DVC members.
We sat through the Hilton program in Las Vegas. We found the presentation to be rather laid back and not pushy.

We knew about the resale market and had no intentions of buying. They did play on my wife's emotions and came down well more than others had quoted on a direct buy during previous visits. We stood our ground and said no, then immediately went to the resale market to crunch numbers.

Hilton seems to have higher maintenance fees than Disney. We normally do a week in Vegas in November for the Rock and Roll Marathon, it's a high demand week. I can get a 1 br full condo through Hilton directly for around $1200 for 7 nights(Elara). The points needed to get 7 nights here had a fee of nearly $1400 a year, plus I had to buy into the program.

There may be better values at other resorts, but we found no benefit of owning Hilton at all. Disney on the other hand, our only wish with that one is that we would have bought more points than we did resale in 2013.

 

[tasha99]

Omg, no. Those high pressure timeshare sales are a rip off. And unless you want a 1BR at Saratoga Springs in the low DVC season, you probably won't find anything. Even that will be $$$ with fees--why not just rent points?

Whatever you buy, if you buy anything, don't get it direct. Even DVC (yes, you'd lose some perks, but they aren't worth the extra cost to most people.)

 

[Judique]

I got an offer to stay at a Hilton Grand Vacation property the deal was pretty decent so I took it. But the catch was I had to go listen to the spiel about their version of DVC. And the girl really seemed to sell me on it. And since it's cheaper and the points can be converted via RCI to use on Disney property I'm starting to think it might be a solid deal. Does anyone own and can offer an opinion of this vs. DVC. I need to let the girl know today apparently cause you can't purchase once offsite according to everything I've read.

Just a reminder that if you did sign there is a 'right of rescission' period where you can turn it back in if you are uncertain and I think for Florida it is 10 days if you bought while in Florida. Other states do vary.

And the 'you can't purchase offsite' stuff - once you leave the state and if you live in a state where they are not set up to sell, you would have to return to the state to buy or some other workaround - they are playing off that. They just want you to sign the papers.

Do your homework. HGVC may be best for you, but it's obvious you don't really know at this point in time. DVC is best for people who want to stay at Disney. DVC is not best for people who want to use the timeshare elsewhere in some years. Sometimes 2 timeshares are what works - small amount of points from DVC, cheap 'other' timeshare for trading out. Go to TUG. Don't make a quick decision.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

We travel alot and Hilton is our preferred hotel brand. We are also DVC members.
We sat through the Hilton program in Las Vegas. We found the presentation to be rather laid back and not pushy.

We knew about the resale market and had no intentions of buying. They did play on my wife's emotions and came down well more than others had quoted on a direct buy during previous visits. We stood our ground and said no, then immediately went to the resale market to crunch numbers.

Hilton seems to have higher maintenance fees than Disney. We normally do a week in Vegas in November for the Rock and Roll Marathon, it's a high demand week. I can get a 1 br full condo through Hilton directly for around $1200 for 7 nights(Elara). The points needed to get 7 nights here had a fee of nearly $1400 a year, plus I had to buy into the program.

There may be better values at other resorts, but we found no benefit of owning Hilton at all. Disney on the other hand, our only wish with that one is that we would have bought more points than we did resale in 2013.

Can I PM you about this? Our sales pitch was also in Vegas. Didn't buy in though.

Omg, no. Those high pressure timeshare sales are a rip off. And unless you want a 1BR at Saratoga Springs in the low DVC season, you probably won't find anything. Even that will be $$$ with fees--why not just rent points?

Whatever you buy, if you buy anything, don't get it direct. Even DVC (yes, you'd lose some perks, but they aren't worth the extra cost to most people.)

If I do buy into DVC I would probably buy in direct because those perks are worth it to me. But the thing that bothers me about DVC id the contract runs out in I think it's 40 years? And then what? I'm on the younger side of things and do plan to be around in my 60s.

Just a reminder that if you did sign there is a 'right of rescission' period where you can turn it back in if you are uncertain and I think for Florida it is 10 days if you bought while in Florida. Other states do vary.

And the 'you can't purchase offsite' stuff - once you leave the state and if you live in a state where they are not set up to sell, you would have to return to the state to buy or some other workaround - they are playing off that. They just want you to sign the papers.

Do your homework. HGVC may be best for you, but it's obvious you don't really know at this point in time. DVC is best for people who want to stay at Disney. DVC is not best for people who want to use the timeshare elsewhere in some years. Sometimes 2 timeshares are what works - small amount of points from DVC, cheap 'other' timeshare for trading out. Go to TUG. Don't make a quick decision.

You are so correct! I didn't buy in because I did find it hard to believe they wouldn't sell to me after I left. And when I did leave the girl told me if I changed my mind to just call her and they could work something out. She was really nice it was her I think it was her boss any way that was crazy pushy. I liked the girl I was talking with a lot and if I do decide to go in on it I will definitely call her back. Both DVC and Hilton seem to make the most sense for me. While we LOVE Disney we do want to travel the world a bit more and having tried to RCI exchange my parents DVC points for a hotel in Paris (which was a pain in the behind) it so wasn't worth it. But I know hilton has hotels in all these areas that we could take advantage of. And we go to Disney enough that buying in makes sense. Though if I had the money I would probably look into buying a second home down there since I do worry about what happens after the contracts up.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

We went down to Florida for Hilton. Came home sold on Disney.

Hilton was so, so pushy. I mean, we were happy to walk out with our finances intact. Honestly, it was awful. And we've been to numerous sell-a-thons.

Our girl wasn't pushy it was her boss. I am happy I didn't buy into but am seriously considering buying in via resale.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

Hilton can definitely be purchased resale for a LOT cheaper than buying from the developer. Check out the Tugbbs Hilton boards for more info.

The only thing that comes up thru RCI for exchange into DVC anymore are pretty much 1 bedroom’s at Saratoga resort. You would have a $230 RCI (approximate) exchange fee, a $190 inbound fee to Disney and maybe daily Disney parking charges, too. When you add your maintenance fees for your Hilton timeshare, it adds up. Say your Hilton fees are $1,000 per year plus the fees I mentioned for trading in, could make your costs over $1,600.

If you want DVC, I would buy DVC or rent points. Way more variety and not to mention the fact that Disney could leave RCI. If you like Hilton Grand Vacations system and want to stay at their resorts, definitely buy it resale and save a ton of money.

Thanks I didn't know Saratoga was really the only option. They made it feel like it was every resort. I'll definitely check the resale market. I'm always hesitant on that cause I'm afraid of getting burned but I'm sure it's a good option.

Never cave in to a "now or never" pressure tactic. Of their product is so wonderful, they would not have to coerce you into purchasing it. Walk away. Go home. Read the DVC boards here and the HGV boards on TUG.

Trading into RCI for a DVC villa won't be easy. If you match for your dates, it will most likely be a 1-bedroom villa at SSR. You're not going to get VGF, PVB, BCV or BWV. If you want to stay DVC, either rent from an owner or buy into it yourself. DVC is more expensive to purchase than HGV but its resale value holds (or even increases) over time.

Luckily I didn't cave. I did like the product but I do think they played to the fact I was there alone. And didn't really have an out if you will. Again had no idea saratoga was the only option. I'll definitely look around thanks!

A. Never buy a timeshare direct! You can always get a better deal resale. Head over to the TUG boards (timeshare users group) and research and ask-they are experts there and won’t steer you wrong. The deal never goes away-telling you you have to buy today is just a sales tactic. (It sometimes can be worth it to buy a small DVC membership direct-but usually not, and DVC has historically held its value, unlike any other timeshare)
B. I know you CAN exchange into DVC with RCI but I don’t think it’s very easy-there often isn’t availability for members who own DVC at certain times of year (I’m one of them and I love it, but it’s not always easy to use). The DVC boards here are a great resource.

The thing with DVC that concerns me is what happens when the contract is up. My parents are DVC and we were looking to buy in but the smaller price of the Hilton contract was definitely more enticing. I think we will eventually buy into DVC and maybe Hilton as well to fill the gaps where DVC can't help but you're all correct we need to do more research and take a look into our finances a bit more. Cause the interest on financing with Hilton was over 12% and that's just crazy talk.

 

[Anthony1971]

If I do buy into DVC I would probably buy in direct because those perks are worth it to me. But the thing that bothers me about DVC id the contract runs out in I think it's 40 years? And then what? I'm on the younger side of things and do plan to be around in my 60s.

First DVC is a timeshare period and nothing is another companies version... a timeshare is a timeshare no matter what they want you to call it or want you to believe you are buying.
The amount of years depends on where you buy if you buy direct at then newer resorts it is 55 or about years. This in itself can be a plus for many reasons. Do you really want to own a resort that is 100 years old? imagine the maintenance fees? what happens when you can not travel any longer? Are you leaving this to someone and will they be able to afford it? and many more. There are many factors to owning a timeshare you truly need to do your research and see what is right for you. One factor to not put much as much as people say weight on is the actual purchase price direct or resale as you maintenance fees will far outweigh the buy in price and always buy into a company that can be resold if you decide you no longer want it even at a big loss it is far better than paying to get rid of it.... DO NOT go by any timeshare that says you can trade out... you are buying a percentage of a room at a specific hotel and that is all you are ever entitled to period.... Buy where you believe you will and can afford to vacation and only buy once you are established in life and are living where you want to live (house for most and the $$$ costs that go with it). This is a luxury item that your taste and ability to afford the upkeep can change quickly. I like some i see who responded do own DVC and we have for 15 years..... I have considered others as well through the years as a second timeshare and did research them all before deciding not to buy... and a lot of research before buying DVC.

 

[Anthony1971]

the interest on financing with Hilton was over 12

Years ago you could not finance a timeshare period.... when they first started allowing it was basically a credit card and the rate was in the 20% range.... you will hear a lot of if you do not have the cash to pay for it you can not afford it from the older owners of any timeshare

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

First DVC is a timeshare period and nothing is another companies version... a timeshare is a timeshare no matter what they want you to call it or want you to believe you are buying.
The amount of years depends on where you buy if you buy direct at then newer resorts it is 55 or about years. This in itself can be a plus for many reasons. Do you really want to own a resort that is 100 years old? imagine the maintenance fees? what happens when you can not travel any longer? Are you leaving this to someone and will they be able to afford it? and many more. There are many factors to owning a timeshare you truly need to do your research and see what is right for you. One factor to not put much as much as people say weight on is the actual purchase price direct or resale as you maintenance fees will far outweigh the buy in price and always buy into a company that can be resold if you decide you no longer want it even at a big loss it is far better than paying to get rid of it.... DO NOT go by any timeshare that says you can trade out... you are buying a percentage of a room at a specific hotel and that is all you are ever entitled to period.... Buy where you believe you will and can afford to vacation and only buy once you are established in life and are living where you want to live (house for most and the $$$ costs that go with it). This is a luxury item that your taste and ability to afford the upkeep can change quickly. I like some i see who responded do own DVC and we have for 15 years..... I have considered others as well through the years as a second timeshare and did research them all before deciding not to buy... and a lot of research before buying DVC.

Years ago you could not finance a timeshare period.... when they first started allowing it was basically a credit card and the rate was in the 20% range.... you will hear a lot of if you do not have the cash to pay for it you can not afford it from the older owners of any timeshare

Well the Hilton contract was a "forever contract" meaning it could stay in my family for forever. And in terms of Disney I want to at least be able to use it until I die, and understand what happens when these contracts run out because at that point in my life I'm probably not going to want to invest in an entirely new contract of DVC. I will say my family has been fortunate enough to travel their entire lives, no one has really ever been told they can't and I hope to find myself in a similar situation. We're already established in our finances and life in general but we currently have no kids and are not tied down at the moment so we would like to travel a bit more before we settle in and then we eventually want to start traveling again with our children. My parents have owned DVC for years and I agree it's a great investment and if we didn't want to travel to places like Australia I would probably just get DVC and be done but I want something to fill the gaps. I have started doing more research since the meeting and I do agree that I need to understand it a bit better before I make a decision.

And we do have the cash for it, but I've been told by my family who are in real estate and finance that it's better to break up the payment if you can. But the interest needs to be way below 12%.

 

[tasha99]

If I do buy into DVC I would probably buy in direct because those perks are worth it to me. But the thing that bothers me about DVC id the contract runs out in I think it's 40 years? And then what? I'm on the younger side of things and do plan to be around in my 60s.

If the prices are close, then buying direct makes more sense. The thing is, the off dvc use of points (using them for hotels, cruises etc) are a horrible use of points value wise. If we don't want to go to Disney that year, we rent our points out and spend the cash on a different vacation. Much better return than trying to swap for something else, which I couldn't do anyway since I've only had my points a few years and am not grandfathered in. I am grandfathered in for the discounts though. Still . . . the discounts aren't that awesome, there are always other discounts that are close in value, and there is no guaranty that Disney will continue those. All I am guaranteed is a room and that's all I paid for.

I have owned at BWV, VGC, and SSR. I sold my SSR points last year, as we just had too many points for a family that is older and doesn't want to go every year. If I'd bought direct, that would have cost me a lot. Buying second hand meant I bought my points for about $80pp (loaded contract) and sold for $82 (stripped contract). The current rate for SSR is $151, which means as soon as you buy SSR points direct from Disney, your points will be worth a lot less--just over half-- what you would pay for them second hand.

This is magnified with other non-Disney timeshares, so if you buy from Hilton, be very careful to see what those points are worth on the second hand market.

I agree somewhat about the points eventually expiring. We will be selling our BWV points in a year or two to avoid dealing with that issue. Our VGC points are keepers. I'll be dead in 2060, and there is no place at Disneyland quite as nice as a 2BR at the Grand Californian.

 

[limace]

If the prices are close, then buying direct makes more sense. The thing is, the off dvc use of points (using them for hotels, cruises etc) are a horrible use of points value wise. If we don't want to go to Disney that year, we rent our points out and spend the cash on a different vacation. Much better return than trying to swap for something else, which I couldn't do anyway since I've only had my points a few years and am not grandfathered in. I am grandfathered in for the discounts though. Still . . . the discounts aren't that awesome, there are always other discounts that are close in value, and there is no guaranty that Disney will continue those. All I am guaranteed is a room and that's all I paid for.

I have owned at BWV, VGC, and SSR. I sold my SSR points last year, as we just had too many points for a family that is older and doesn't want to go every year. If I'd bought direct, that would have cost me a lot. Buying second hand meant I bought my points for about $80pp (loaded contract) and sold for $82 (stripped contract). The current rate for SSR is $151, which means as soon as you buy SSR points direct from Disney, your points will be worth a lot less--just over half-- what you would pay for them second hand.

This is magnified with other non-Disney timeshares, so if you buy from Hilton, be very careful to see what those points are worth on the second hand market.

I agree somewhat about the points eventually expiring. We will be selling our BWV points in a year or two to avoid dealing with that issue. Our VGC points are keepers. I'll be dead in 2060, and there is no place at Disneyland quite as nice as a 2BR at the Grand Californian.

I so agree-and also happy to hear this as we are using our GCV points for the first time for exactly that in less than two weeks

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

If the prices are close, then buying direct makes more sense. The thing is, the off dvc use of points (using them for hotels, cruises etc) are a horrible use of points value wise. If we don't want to go to Disney that year, we rent our points out and spend the cash on a different vacation. Much better return than trying to swap for something else, which I couldn't do anyway since I've only had my points a few years and am not grandfathered in. I am grandfathered in for the discounts though. Still . . . the discounts aren't that awesome, there are always other discounts that are close in value, and there is no guaranty that Disney will continue those. All I am guaranteed is a room and that's all I paid for.

I have owned at BWV, VGC, and SSR. I sold my SSR points last year, as we just had too many points for a family that is older and doesn't want to go every year. If I'd bought direct, that would have cost me a lot. Buying second hand meant I bought my points for about $80pp (loaded contract) and sold for $82 (stripped contract). The current rate for SSR is $151, which means as soon as you buy SSR points direct from Disney, your points will be worth a lot less--just over half-- what you would pay for them second hand.

This is magnified with other non-Disney timeshares, so if you buy from Hilton, be very careful to see what those points are worth on the second hand market.

I agree somewhat about the points eventually expiring. We will be selling our BWV points in a year or two to avoid dealing with that issue. Our VGC points are keepers. I'll be dead in 2060, and there is no place at Disneyland quite as nice as a 2BR at the Grand Californian.

Very good advice! This is a lot of food for thought and I so appreciate everything people are saying! So thank you!

The advantage to buying resale for DVC that I see right now is that I can buy a property I want as opposed to Copper Creek or Aluani. While I'm sure their great we're not big on Wilderness Lodge and there's no way we're going to Hawaii every year. BWV and VGF are what we would prefer.

Oh I'm sure that hotel is stunning. Yeah the points expiring is the only red flag for us with DVC and Disney won't answer the question about it for us.

You guys are giving such great budget advice on this and I'm so grateful!

 

[limace]

Go immerse yourself in the DVC boards here-they are experts and they won’t steer you wrong.

 

[supersnoop]

Well the Hilton contract was a "forever contract" meaning it could stay in my family for forever.

And you could continue to be on the hook for excessive maintenance fees when it’s run-down and not worth 1¢. Most timeshares are a liability, not an asset. The term on DVC was seen as a way to relieve concerns that you could be stuck paying for something that wasn’t worth it. Several other timeshare companies have right-to-use contracts that expire. This structure is also very common with real estate in places like Hawaii where most land is owned by a few families. You have a ground lease on the land but you own the improvements (the building). When the lease on the land runs out, you no longer have access to the building.

 

[cmwade77]

We almost got suckered into this as well and luckily things didn't work out for us, here are some key differences:

• DVC is more of a membership that has a set end date, the Hilton version lasts forever. While lasting forever sounds like a good thing, keep in mind when they say forever, they mean it, so your great, great, great grandchildren could still get stuck paying annual dues for something that at that point is useless and will be unable to even give them away.
• It is pretty much impossible to trade into Disney Owned Resorts from a non-DVC timeshare, because everyone wants to go to Disney. On the other hand, if you have DVC, you can pretty much get an instant confirmation that a trade through RCI has been approved.
• Hilton does have some nice resorts near Disney, some of which even have shuttles, but they do not get Extra Magic Hours, etc.
• At DVC resorts, Bell Services will handle your luggage (at the Grand Californian, they will even unload your car for you), yes you need to give them a tip for doing so, but still nice. With Hilton, there are no bell services, you have to deal with the luggage yourself.
• With Hilton you are expected to leave the room clean and tidy for the next guest, including making the bed, vacuuming, etc. and if you don't there is a fee of $50 to $150 per room. DVC does not do this.

As for buying direct or not, it depends on what you are offered, with DVC, you can often get enough in incentives to make it pretty close to the resale market these days, especially if you buy while on a cruise (probably the best time to add on points unless you are a cast member, as they get a pretty good discount from what I have been told).

I am not saying Hilton is or isn't worth it, but I am saying that if you go to Disney on a regular basis, DVC probably makes more sense.