For those of you that missed it - HICV got rid of cleaning fees in 2015. Booking fee went up $10 to $59, but it's well worth it, and makes the costs of those shorter stays a little more manageable.
An unintentional side affect is that the effective cost per point went up, since now your maintenance fee doesn't include a free cleaning fee. Cleaning fees complicated cost/point analysis, so things are nice and simple now. I've been doing a little analysis on cost per points, and have the following for reference:
Borrowing Points: $4/1K Points Maintenance Prepay
Renting Points: $10/1K Points
Renting Points (Elite): $5/1K Points
My Average Maintenance Cost: $5.52/1K Points
Since Elite members can rent points at $5/1K, this puts a good bound on the fair cost of maintenance. Timeshares at a lower cost/point should be at a premium, while timeshares at a higher cost/point should be at a discount.
When calculating your average cost, remember to divide your biennial points in half!
-Scott
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Thursday, September 25, 2014
New units finally showing up on my account - it took more than a month from when copies of the recorded deed were...
New units finally showing up on my account - it took more than a month from when copies of the recorded deed were mailed to HIVC for them to add to my account. The 2015 points from the odd unit are not showing up on my account properly - I have a note into HIVC to fix it. Also, the description on the account page says it is an annual unit, so I might be getting more than I thought I was getting.
The new Lake Geneva 2014 points transferred as the seller said they would, so that's now confirmed.
The new Lake Geneva 2014 points transferred as the seller said they would, so that's now confirmed.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Called to check on transferring to IHG points - current pricing is $19 + $5 per 10K with a $69 minimum.
Called to check on transferring to IHG points - current pricing is $19 + $5 per 10K with a $69 minimum. Ratio is 5:4, so $69 and 100K HICV gets you 80K IHG points. You can use current year points until 10/1 and future year points by prepaying maintenance. It takes up to 3 business days to transfer, so you can't use it if you need to book right away.
I did a cost analysis and the value is not tremendous. Based on what I pay for my HIVC points, if you transfer 100K, I come up with around $33 per 5000 IHG points - so $66 for a 10K room and $99K for a 15K room. No hotel taxes on hotel rewards redemptions, so the pricing is usually better than you could get by booking directly, but not as good as something like Priceline. I just stayed in a 15K room that was out of rewards bookings for $79 including taxes via Priceline, but on Orbitz the price was $160 (~$190 with hotel taxes), so if you are scared of the uncertainty of Priceline, then it's not too bad.
I maintain balances in Starwood, Hilton, and Club Carlson so usually I can find a much better value than IHG points provide, but a 10K room would be comparable in my cost for a 10K Hampton stay, which we do occasionally in areas that don't have Starwood or Club Carlson properties. I value other points based on 2% credit card rewards, since I can shift spend from 2% cash back cards to points cards as needed to maintain points balances. We regularly stay in 3K Four Points rooms ($60 at 1pt/$), 15K Country Inn & Suites rooms ($60 at 5pt/$ for 2 nights with Gold card and 2nd night free), and 10K Hampton rooms ($67 at 3pt/$). All three programs have a category cheaper than this, but we almost never stay in places that have such rooms, so I am guessing that IHG would rarely be the best value.
I did a cost analysis and the value is not tremendous. Based on what I pay for my HIVC points, if you transfer 100K, I come up with around $33 per 5000 IHG points - so $66 for a 10K room and $99K for a 15K room. No hotel taxes on hotel rewards redemptions, so the pricing is usually better than you could get by booking directly, but not as good as something like Priceline. I just stayed in a 15K room that was out of rewards bookings for $79 including taxes via Priceline, but on Orbitz the price was $160 (~$190 with hotel taxes), so if you are scared of the uncertainty of Priceline, then it's not too bad.
I maintain balances in Starwood, Hilton, and Club Carlson so usually I can find a much better value than IHG points provide, but a 10K room would be comparable in my cost for a 10K Hampton stay, which we do occasionally in areas that don't have Starwood or Club Carlson properties. I value other points based on 2% credit card rewards, since I can shift spend from 2% cash back cards to points cards as needed to maintain points balances. We regularly stay in 3K Four Points rooms ($60 at 1pt/$), 15K Country Inn & Suites rooms ($60 at 5pt/$ for 2 nights with Gold card and 2nd night free), and 10K Hampton rooms ($67 at 3pt/$). All three programs have a category cheaper than this, but we almost never stay in places that have such rooms, so I am guessing that IHG would rarely be the best value.
I purchased a South Beach unit and another Lake Geneva unit - the South Beach unit is Odd, so I'm curious how much...
I purchased a South Beach unit and another Lake Geneva unit - the South Beach unit is Odd, so I'm curious how much it will cost to borrow 2015 points given that half of maintenance was already paid in 2014.
Also, I'm wondering how odd/even timeshares count toward membership level? Once these are transfer are done, I'll be at 145K annual and 150K odd, so won't be able to tell yet if the 150K fully counts towards the 300K membership level or not.
The Lake Geneva unit has 2014 points available, so I'm curious if those will actually transfer.
I'll update the group with my findings once the transfers are complete.
Also, I'm wondering how odd/even timeshares count toward membership level? Once these are transfer are done, I'll be at 145K annual and 150K odd, so won't be able to tell yet if the 150K fully counts towards the 300K membership level or not.
The Lake Geneva unit has 2014 points available, so I'm curious if those will actually transfer.
I'll update the group with my findings once the transfers are complete.
Monday, July 28, 2014
A couple of months ago, I purchased a resale unit in Galveston for $275 hoping to get into the club cheap since they...
A couple of months ago, I purchased a resale unit in Galveston for $275 hoping to get into the club cheap since they were still offering Galveston owners the $100 conversion. They billed me for the conversion and first year's club dues, but then called back the next day to say that I was not eligible because I purchased the unit after the acquisition by HICV - they wanted $7K to sell me a few thousand points and convert my fixed week :(
I also discovered that fixed weeks in Galveston are not eligible for exchange through RCI or Interval, which was the out I used to return the timeshare to the seller, since they advertised exchange through Interval.
A few weeks ago, I purchased a small Lake Geneva resale unit for $250 after doing some additional research, and I confirmed that Lake Geneva, Smoky Mountain, and South Beach grant automatic entrance into the club - I am now officially a member with a whopping 45K points! In a few weeks, I'm told I'll finally be able to access RCI :) I'm now on the lookout for additional units from these locations!
I also discovered that fixed weeks in Galveston are not eligible for exchange through RCI or Interval, which was the out I used to return the timeshare to the seller, since they advertised exchange through Interval.
A few weeks ago, I purchased a small Lake Geneva resale unit for $250 after doing some additional research, and I confirmed that Lake Geneva, Smoky Mountain, and South Beach grant automatic entrance into the club - I am now officially a member with a whopping 45K points! In a few weeks, I'm told I'll finally be able to access RCI :) I'm now on the lookout for additional units from these locations!
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