Cut HGVC Maintenance Fees When Buying or Upgrading

Are you interested in getting a usable amount of HGVC points, while keeping your maintenance fees as low as possible? In this article we’ll be exploring just that! We thought we would try something new, and show you a question the owner and President of our company answered on the popular timeshare forum TUGBBS (Timeshare Users Group Bulletin Board System), then expand on the subject with a few addition insights. So, Let’s get started…

Question From TUGBBS

Hi Everyone,

We have two 3400 points, Gold season properties in Las Vegas. So we have a total of 6800 points annually.

Here’s the question: How do I add 7000 or more points with the lowest maintenance fees? I’m going to keep these properties for years to come, so I’m sensitive to low MF. We don’t care where the property is located. We’re only interested in annual points.

Thanks Everyone,

Abraham

Answer From Seth Nock, Owner of STS, INC.

You have (2) 1 bedroom Gold weeks. Although the initial purchase price was low, your annual cost is much higher (about 50% higher, if not more). 7000 points Platinum would be a much lower annual fee. Las Vegas has lower annual fees than Orlando. However, Orlando tends to sell a little faster on resale (as many people feel that they will go to Orlando more often than Vegas). I am surprised your agent did not go over this information with you before you purchased. Feel free to contact me direct and I will give you the breakdown of all the annual fees.
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Seth Nock

So, as you can see above, this owner was probably very focused on getting a low purchase price when initially purchasing their ownership, but this may end up costing them more in the long run. It’s always a good idea to consider your average yearly cost for your ownership, as well as the purchase price.

Buying Just For The Points

Many clients that contact us are really just looking for the most vacation time for the least amount of money overall. To achieve this goal, our agents generally advise purchasing a property at one of the resorts in Las Vegas. Due to the fact that Hilton owners can only book 12 months in advance if booking their home resort, in the unit size they’re deeded to, in the season they own, many owners will not be able to use this 12 month window. Instead, they will opt to book 9 months in advance or sooner, to gain the flexibility to book at any of the HGVC resorts in the system. It’s for this reason that, unless you want to travel to Hawaii every year at the same time in the same unit size, we suggest going for the cheapest maintenance fees.

Although, in some cases, clients are glad to pay a higher initial price, as well as maintenance fees, to own in Hawaii or possibly in New York (the most expensive resorts in the club), simply to “lock-in” their preferred travel location, time, and unit size. These buyers will have to accept that using their points to book at any other resort, or their even home resort, but within a different season, they will not be getting the most value out of their vacation dollar. This is because….

A Point Is A Point, If You’re Booking With Points

Many clients are shocked to find that outside of booking their home resort booking window, the points that they own in Hawaii have the identical value as someone’s else points, owned in Las Vegas. This is because there are only a few types of reservations allowed in the HGVC reservations system. You can learn more about this subject by exploring the following articles:

After you’re done reading up on the subject, feel free to browse some of our listings below, or contact an agent for more assistance with any questions you may have left!