New TS Ownership or Resale - Marriot/Hilton

[ChrisO Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ChrisO]

Looking forward to your comments - I am interested in point ownership in one of these 2 chains. So what are your thoughts on:

resale vs purchase from the chain itself.
(resale w/ the lower purcahse price, but less flexibility...?)

and which chain is more desirable
(Marriot seems to have a slight edge w/ longer time in the business)

Looking forward to much feedback.
Thanks.
C-

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

I have Hilton and bought on the resale market.
They treat their resale buyers very fairly unlike Marriott.
You get all the perks except for qualifying for status.
I don't think it's worth it considering all the money you save on the resale.

I wouldn't buy Hilton direct as it's way cheaper to buy resale.
They do have ROFR and do seem to be exercising it lately but you can still get a decent deal on the resale market.

Hilton allows resale buyers to trade into RCI in either points or weeks without having to maintain your own RCI account, you also have access to open season rates which is Hilton's version of bonus time. This can be great if you live near any of the resorts and can go on short notice. I live in Florida so have been able to do 3 bonus time stays with my short year of HGVC ownership.

It's a very versatile ownership if you like the collection of resorts. You can choose the size that you need for each trip without having to stay within what you purchased. It's not a weeks for weeks exchange system but a points system. It's not as complete a collection of resorts as Marriotts are but do have some nice resorts.

Hilton is heavy in Florida, Hawaii, New York, Vegas and California. They don't seem to be expanding very quickly either although they did just add a new resort in Myrtle Beach. I don't believe that the Marriott points system is as flexible as HGVC's and costs much more to join than HGVC. HGVC does not skim your points the way Marriott does either so you get a fair share of your points.

I'd recommend you look at the resorts in both clubs and determine which one will work best with your own personal needs and desires. I love Marriott's but find that I don't need to own them since I travel off season and have been able to either rent units from II or do inexpensive exchanges into the Marriotts I want to visit. With Hilton it's a bit more difficult to get into some of their affiliate resorts thru RCI or II so it's best to own HGVC for those resorts.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

If you want to buy into the old Marriott system of floating weeks at a single resort, I think buying that resale can be a GREAT DEAL right now. Marriott resale owners are treated the same as developer bought except being able to turn in for hotel points.

BUT That has changed with the new points program. New resale owners can not join the points program and buying into the points program from a current points owner has sever limits. Therefore don't buy marriott resale if their point system has an appeal for you.