I would highly recommend that people look at the yearly cost of the maintenance fees when they are buying HICV.

I would highly recommend that people look at the yearly cost of the maintenance fees when they are buying HICV.  The costs can very between $550 per week to over $1200 per week.  If you are converting to points.  There is no advantage to paying more for the same amount of points.

If you can reach the higher status levels and get free upgrades you can almost double your vacation time by booking a one bedroom and upgrading for free to the 2 bedroom.

Another advantage to getting to the higher levels is Points Sheild.  It makes the program so much more flexible.  You can reserve all of the weeks you may want to book and simply cancel them 48 hours in advance if you change your mind.  Which brings up my final topic you really need to book your vacations out as far as possible.  There seams to be very little availability at most of the resorts you want to go unless you book them as far out as possible.