Other ways into HGVC - buying an affiliate?

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

I am finally home from holidays so I have decided to look into buying into HGVC (and getting rid of our Aust holiday club)

In my other thread someone said "You can buy an affiliate and convert"

Can any one give me some more info on this please, does it work out much cheaper then buying resale, any benefits, what is the process?
any help appreciated
Haylee

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

Several of the affiliates can be had on the resale market for less than a "core" HGVC property, but it is not a given. If you buy an affiliate, depending on the property you may have to pay a one-time fee of $399 or $499 (can't remember which right now) to join "The Club". However, this is optional -- without being in the club, you can treat it as any other independent timeshare week, and use it, deposit it into RCI or II (depending on the property), etc.

The Club gets you the benefit of being able to get HGVC points for your week to use within the HGVC system, access to Open Season (cash reservations 30 days out), etc. just like any other HGVC owner. You will pay a membership fee (currently $125) every year, even if your ownership is EOY.

You just need to shop around for price, but also pay attention to MFs. Often MFs of affiliates are more expensive than the HGVC properties, mostly because they tend to be in more high-maintenance areas (beach, ski resort, etc.). The other thing you need to watch is when buying an affiliate, you are not necessarily guaranteed it will translate into a fixed number of HGVC points each year. For example, several of the SW Florida affiliates sell floating weeks, but in the HGVC system, the weeks over which your affiliate week floats may be over multiple HGVC seasons (Silver, Gold, Platinum). So depending on the year, if you own a 2BR you may get a reserved week (based on the property's lottery / reservation process) that could fall into the Silver season and it would only be worth 3500 points. If you were luckier, you could get a Gold week and that would be worth 5000 point, and if you were able to reserve a Platinum week, it would be worth 7000 points that year.

I know that sounds confusing, but the bottom line is that you may not be guaranteed a certain number of HGVC points when owning an affiliate (depending on the property).

Kurt

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

Oh Ok, so am am not buying an affiliate and then Hilton lets me transfer into their actual program for a fee, that was the way I had reading it.
I can get HGVC through rci in my current club but have a one in 4 year rule which is one thing I would like to avoid
I have been looking and saw a 4800points for $6500 and the yearly fees were under $600
I would of course like to keep the MF's to a minimum

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

I would of course like to keep the MF's to a minimum

You may want to consider an (every other year) EOY contract.
I own an EOY but vacation every year within the HGVC system by using the open season benefit.
You will pay the $100 a year club fee but will have access to unlimited rentals within 30 days for cash at a nice discount.
That way you could enjoy the resorts anytime you wanted without having the ongoing commitment to MF's.
I do more open season rentals than I do club reservations. There is no reservation fees for open season use.

My MF's on 5000 points is around $1000 EOY or $500 a year plus the club fee of $100.
With HGVC you can borrow ahead for free so you could use points every year.
That would put your MF's around $600 a year

So far it's worked great for me and no blocking of access to the resorts that I like as RCI tries to do to exchangers.

[buzglyd Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close buzglyd]

Does anyone know which affiliates can be converted?

I'm pretty sure Bay Club in Hawaii can.

I live in Carlsbad and would love to pick up a Seapointe so I could have day use and also have the points in my account. EOY would be perfect.

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

Does anyone know which affiliates can be converted?

I'm pretty sure Bay Club in Hawaii can.

I live in Carlsbad and would love to pick up a Seapointe so I could have day use and also have the points in my account. EOY would be perfect.

Yes Bay Club can.

I believe the Grand Pacific resorts require the purchase of the unit from the onsite sales department in order to gain entrance to HGVC.
Hopefully Presley will come along, since she owns in a So. Cal affiliate.

The Southwest Florida affiliates can all be converted without a developer purchase.
I'm not familiar with how the other affiliates function.
Many of the SW Florida units are floating weeks that use a lottery system to book units to deposit to HGVC so getting those 7000 point weeks isn't a guarantee just because you call first.
The seasons for the SW Florida units don't match up exactly with the HGVC system which is why some weeks can get 7K one year and then 5K another.
There are no biennials in SW Florida affiliates that I am aware of unfortunately.

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

Does anyone know which affiliates can be converted?

I'm pretty sure Bay Club in Hawaii can.

I live in Carlsbad and would love to pick up a Seapointe so I could have day use and also have the points in my account. EOY would be perfect.

I have read several recent posts about people converting Bay Club to HGVC. It sounds extremely easy. The only downside to that is that the MFs tend to be higher in Hawaii.

Seapointe resales can only be converted if you buy a developer week from HGVC in Carlsbad. The Carlsbad properties won't convert with a purchase in any other location. You can buy a Seapointe week from the Grand Pacific Resales department and they will convert it for free. The buy in would be about 1/3 of buying from the developer. Day use at Seapointe is awesome because they have all the beach equipment that you need and there exercise room is very clean and never crowded.

[buzglyd Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close buzglyd]

That really is my goal. I live in Carlsbad and day use is what I'm after with the added perk of some EOY Hilton points to add to my account. I have a 7000 point Waikoloa Beach Resort now.

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

Here's something I just saw on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HGVC-HILTON-...item19d8dd5597

Do your due diligence because it says resort transfer fee is $450. My experience is that the resort transfer fee for non-HGVC weeks is $400. and that HGVC conversions are $997.