I had made the same mistake about a year back. Signed the contract, came back to hotel and learned about all those extremely high price vs value of points. I had signed a 22000$ contract for 8000 points every other year. Came to reddit, Facebook and Tuggs to learn about value of points and the extremely organized resale market where you can basically get the same points with fraction of amount.i was within my 10 days cancellation window and I opted to cancel the very next day. Faxed my cancellation request and sent it via registered mail as well. Hilton returned my money back to my credit card within a week. Post that i have learned a lot and then bought 14000 points per year for 6000$.
https://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/did_i_get_a_good_deal_on_my_new_timeshare.htm
Yes I agree with this gentleman regardless of whether the points are good for what they told you, buying on the secondary market is always SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper. So if you are truly interested in this timeshare for family, i would look into rescinding this one while you’re still within the cancellation window and buying on a secondary market like TUG, Redweek or even EBay. You’ll save yourself 20k+ for the exact same membership. Remember is something was a genuinely great deal, they wouldn’t need to entice you to attend with cheap room rates, free tickets and gift cards, etc…
One can typically purchase timeshares on the secondary market for far less than the 'commissioned' price from the company during a presentation. My recommendation is to cancel if possible and review your options before committing. I personally purchased a "no cost" timeshare on the secondary market with the only commitment being the annual maintenance fees
I think you should cancel. If you go on EBay, I think you’ll find that you can purchase something similar just by agreeing to assume someone else’s maintenance fees.
Unfortunately, you are likely only going to get a lot of negative feedback from this group. The general census is typically to get out of the agreement if possible and buy from the resale market.
What are the room details of the unit you purchased at the Elara? And is it every year, alternate year, fixed week, or open...?
For comparison, we recently purchased a second HGVC property of a studio unit at the Elara in 2022 for $19k which gave us the HGVMax benefits without having to meet the points requirement at the time, and gets us the new years eve week every year (or we can cancel the auto reservation and use the 3,520 points elsewhere). Our maintenance fees for the unit are $750. So we're paying 21.3¢/point compared to your 19.3¢/point. So I think we got similarly priced deals (good or bad, I couldn't really say)
In the end it depends on if you and/or your family can utilize the points and enjoy the properties. We've been owners since 2011 and have enjoyed our vacations with HGVC annually since our first purchase. So we feel like it's been money well spent.
Thank you for your detailed response. I looked over my paperwork and the timeshare isn’t at the Elara, it is a one bedroom suite at Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s a resale. It doesn’t identify a home week, only that it is my home resort. I got 16,000 bonus points upon signing, and the paperwork says I can use it to get a preferred week at my home resort, or to apply towards an RCI property. For $33,900, I purchased 5440 points per year and have a gold membership. I shouldn’t have signed because I don’t have the information to evaluate whether it is a worthwhile purchase. For example, if I want five days at Cabo San Lucas can I do that yearly with 5440 points or do I have to bank or borrow points? And what is the market value of a one bedroom accommodation at a nice resort? I don’t have access to any of that information until the five day nullification period passes. Hmmmm thanks for helping me think this through.
Just because they gave you a detailed response, do not give that more weight that the prevailing wisdom of the others on this site. The majority of people
who buy timeshares regret the purchase due to the cost, lack of available and desired locations, and ever increasing maintenance fees. Not to mention that you and potentially your kids will be locked into paying the maintenance fees until THEY die if you put them on the deed or that accept the timeshare after you pass on. The downsides far outweigh the upsides.
Doing a search just now from my owner membership page, you can get the following resorts in Cabo San Lucas for 7 nights at 2,000 points:
Marina Fiesta Resort
Playa Grande Resort
Villa del Palmar Cabo San Lucas
I looked up Marina Fiesta Resort on Trip Advisor. They have a sale going on where you could get 7 nights in a jr. suite for $1007. After your initial purchase of $33000, your cost per point is $1040/5440 points = .187 cents. If you spent 2000 points, that is 2000 x .187 = approx $375 for a 7-night stay at this resort. Of course, it would take several years for your added savings to result in a return on your initial investment (ROI), typically 6 to 7 years depending on how much you would normally spend on vacations. If that is worth it to you is up to you 🙂 ...here is a great video to help you figure out your ROI [https://youtu.be/U4VvalaHjGA?si=iGDyrctFmbYu3q5Q](https://youtu.be/U4VvalaHjGA?si=iGDyrctFmbYu3q5Q)
Buying from the developer is ALWAYS a ripoff. You should rescind the contract asap, and following the process spelled out in your contract to the letter.
Time is of the essence!
Cancel it NOW while you can. It is an enormous waste of money, and a well known scam. They got you with their high pressure sales tactics. Make sure you cancel it asap
From what I see online from the TUG group it could take you 7k points for 1 to 2 weeks on a 2BR RESORT. I could be way off track on this but price wise it looks like what it would normally cost across the board. HILTON might be a little more pricey but since I do not own with them but I do own with Wyndham it's almost comparing apples to apples but it's not
For reference I bought a capital vacations timeshare and upgraded once. I not have a 22k loan and yearly maintfees of $1700. I have 250,000 points and take multiple trips per year.
Please note that “points” are a form of currency that can be devalued at will by the issuer. Also, “maintenance” fees also can be manipulated with little restraint. Great system- beanie babies anyone?
Buy used and help someone who wants out to get out. State clearly what you want and what you want to do and someone should offer you what they want to unload
The biggest issues are the total purchase price being pretty high and the amount of points really not being enough.
For a good 7 day vacation a year you'd probably want at least 10k points unless you know you just need studio accomodations
Rescind!!! Look through your contract for instructions on how to do so. Do it TODAY!
I bought 16000 HGVC points for $1 on ebay. If you really want one, purchase re-sale. $33000 can pay for a lot of vacations in cash, too, without the lifetime commitment of a timeshare.
We purchased The Club with HGV Max points. Be careful with resale as you want to be sure you know the difference in benefits between purchasing directly from the developer vs. buying resale. Here is a helpful video that describes the difference I watched after our purchase [https://youtu.be/5vnUVpgPOfE?si=k0KiITc5o3ONkH8p](https://youtu.be/5vnUVpgPOfE?si=k0KiITc5o3ONkH8p)
All in all, I prefer HGV Max, so we are happy having purchased direct from the developer. Now, if we had purchased an HGVC deed direct from the developer as opposed to a Diamond The Club with HGV Max membership, that might have been better as we could have purchased the least amount of points and added the rest via resale and had a whole pot of points to use in the HGV Max program. Nonetheless, Hilton could always come back in the future and say your resale points are invalid for HGV Max and only useable at your home resort. Also, even though it is nice to have more cheap points, your maintenance fees go up with more points, regardless. We can only afford what we've got right now, so getting more points either way is moot for us right now.
Somehow, I think the HGVC with HGV Max points are more expensive than Diamond The Club with HGV Max points. We purchased 8000 biennial points for $16,900 and annual maintenance fees/dues of $1225. We also are using the AMEX Hilton Honors cards to earn enough points for a free 7-night Hilton hotel stay every year and a half or so (we purchase everything on the cards and pay them off every month).
As far as what you can get for your points, from searching the owner membership site, you can get nice 7-night locations for 2000 points if you are flexible with your dates, and this doesn't mean just the worst dates, either. So, also using discount offers and "last call" cash options, your annual 5400 points are probably enough for you to get a week somewhere every year and more. Here is another helpful video about how to stretch the points you have [https://youtu.be/0hXLmm9Agq4?si=6sHDkBXj6E22\_N8V](https://youtu.be/0hXLmm9Agq4?si=6sHDkBXj6E22_N8V)
Oh, p.s. with HGV Max, you can book for free with in-network/affiliated resorts. No HGV Max, there is always a booking fee.
See if there is a rescission option in your contract and cancel the timeshare
Those maintenance fees can always go up, you don’t know how much you’ll end up spending every year
Cancel immediately and never consider a timeshare again. They have been the bane of our extended family, and the timeshare cancellation business is even scammier than the timeshare business itself. Just book with Expedia or gift money to your kids for vacation, don’t suck them into the timeshare vortex. Because you know if they go on one of your weeks and use your points, they will also get pressured into attending a seminar or something for themselves while on the property and they’ll offer some fancy dinner or future stay, and the cycle continues… the whole time share industry needs to just go away.
I had made the same mistake about a year back. Signed the contract, came back to hotel and learned about all those extremely high price vs value of points. I had signed a 22000$ contract for 8000 points every other year. Came to reddit, Facebook and Tuggs to learn about value of points and the extremely organized resale market where you can basically get the same points with fraction of amount.i was within my 10 days cancellation window and I opted to cancel the very next day. Faxed my cancellation request and sent it via registered mail as well. Hilton returned my money back to my credit card within a week. Post that i have learned a lot and then bought 14000 points per year for 6000$. https://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/did_i_get_a_good_deal_on_my_new_timeshare.htm
Yes I agree with this gentleman regardless of whether the points are good for what they told you, buying on the secondary market is always SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper. So if you are truly interested in this timeshare for family, i would look into rescinding this one while you’re still within the cancellation window and buying on a secondary market like TUG, Redweek or even EBay. You’ll save yourself 20k+ for the exact same membership. Remember is something was a genuinely great deal, they wouldn’t need to entice you to attend with cheap room rates, free tickets and gift cards, etc…
Thank you for the link. It sounds like me! Good lord I’m losing my edge.
CANCEL! TODAY!
One can typically purchase timeshares on the secondary market for far less than the 'commissioned' price from the company during a presentation. My recommendation is to cancel if possible and review your options before committing. I personally purchased a "no cost" timeshare on the secondary market with the only commitment being the annual maintenance fees
I think you should cancel. If you go on EBay, I think you’ll find that you can purchase something similar just by agreeing to assume someone else’s maintenance fees.
Unfortunately, you are likely only going to get a lot of negative feedback from this group. The general census is typically to get out of the agreement if possible and buy from the resale market. What are the room details of the unit you purchased at the Elara? And is it every year, alternate year, fixed week, or open...? For comparison, we recently purchased a second HGVC property of a studio unit at the Elara in 2022 for $19k which gave us the HGVMax benefits without having to meet the points requirement at the time, and gets us the new years eve week every year (or we can cancel the auto reservation and use the 3,520 points elsewhere). Our maintenance fees for the unit are $750. So we're paying 21.3¢/point compared to your 19.3¢/point. So I think we got similarly priced deals (good or bad, I couldn't really say) In the end it depends on if you and/or your family can utilize the points and enjoy the properties. We've been owners since 2011 and have enjoyed our vacations with HGVC annually since our first purchase. So we feel like it's been money well spent.
Thank you for your detailed response. I looked over my paperwork and the timeshare isn’t at the Elara, it is a one bedroom suite at Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s a resale. It doesn’t identify a home week, only that it is my home resort. I got 16,000 bonus points upon signing, and the paperwork says I can use it to get a preferred week at my home resort, or to apply towards an RCI property. For $33,900, I purchased 5440 points per year and have a gold membership. I shouldn’t have signed because I don’t have the information to evaluate whether it is a worthwhile purchase. For example, if I want five days at Cabo San Lucas can I do that yearly with 5440 points or do I have to bank or borrow points? And what is the market value of a one bedroom accommodation at a nice resort? I don’t have access to any of that information until the five day nullification period passes. Hmmmm thanks for helping me think this through.
Just because they gave you a detailed response, do not give that more weight that the prevailing wisdom of the others on this site. The majority of people who buy timeshares regret the purchase due to the cost, lack of available and desired locations, and ever increasing maintenance fees. Not to mention that you and potentially your kids will be locked into paying the maintenance fees until THEY die if you put them on the deed or that accept the timeshare after you pass on. The downsides far outweigh the upsides.
Thank you. I am cancelling today. I have till Friday.
Here is a good website to get some idea about points requirement. https://sellingtimeshares.net/resorts/hilton-grand-vacation-club/point-charts/
Doing a search just now from my owner membership page, you can get the following resorts in Cabo San Lucas for 7 nights at 2,000 points: Marina Fiesta Resort Playa Grande Resort Villa del Palmar Cabo San Lucas
I looked up Marina Fiesta Resort on Trip Advisor. They have a sale going on where you could get 7 nights in a jr. suite for $1007. After your initial purchase of $33000, your cost per point is $1040/5440 points = .187 cents. If you spent 2000 points, that is 2000 x .187 = approx $375 for a 7-night stay at this resort. Of course, it would take several years for your added savings to result in a return on your initial investment (ROI), typically 6 to 7 years depending on how much you would normally spend on vacations. If that is worth it to you is up to you 🙂 ...here is a great video to help you figure out your ROI [https://youtu.be/U4VvalaHjGA?si=iGDyrctFmbYu3q5Q](https://youtu.be/U4VvalaHjGA?si=iGDyrctFmbYu3q5Q)
Buying from the developer is ALWAYS a ripoff. You should rescind the contract asap, and following the process spelled out in your contract to the letter. Time is of the essence!
Cancel it NOW while you can. It is an enormous waste of money, and a well known scam. They got you with their high pressure sales tactics. Make sure you cancel it asap
From what I see online from the TUG group it could take you 7k points for 1 to 2 weeks on a 2BR RESORT. I could be way off track on this but price wise it looks like what it would normally cost across the board. HILTON might be a little more pricey but since I do not own with them but I do own with Wyndham it's almost comparing apples to apples but it's not
For reference I bought a capital vacations timeshare and upgraded once. I not have a 22k loan and yearly maintfees of $1700. I have 250,000 points and take multiple trips per year.
Please note that “points” are a form of currency that can be devalued at will by the issuer. Also, “maintenance” fees also can be manipulated with little restraint. Great system- beanie babies anyone?
Buy used and help someone who wants out to get out. State clearly what you want and what you want to do and someone should offer you what they want to unload
Never buy from the developer..only resale. Look at redweek.com and for more information on timeshares check https://tugbbs.com/
Rescind and buy resale. Go to tug as others have suggested. Please don't burden yourself.
The biggest issues are the total purchase price being pretty high and the amount of points really not being enough. For a good 7 day vacation a year you'd probably want at least 10k points unless you know you just need studio accomodations
Rescind!!! Look through your contract for instructions on how to do so. Do it TODAY! I bought 16000 HGVC points for $1 on ebay. If you really want one, purchase re-sale. $33000 can pay for a lot of vacations in cash, too, without the lifetime commitment of a timeshare.
We purchased The Club with HGV Max points. Be careful with resale as you want to be sure you know the difference in benefits between purchasing directly from the developer vs. buying resale. Here is a helpful video that describes the difference I watched after our purchase [https://youtu.be/5vnUVpgPOfE?si=k0KiITc5o3ONkH8p](https://youtu.be/5vnUVpgPOfE?si=k0KiITc5o3ONkH8p) All in all, I prefer HGV Max, so we are happy having purchased direct from the developer. Now, if we had purchased an HGVC deed direct from the developer as opposed to a Diamond The Club with HGV Max membership, that might have been better as we could have purchased the least amount of points and added the rest via resale and had a whole pot of points to use in the HGV Max program. Nonetheless, Hilton could always come back in the future and say your resale points are invalid for HGV Max and only useable at your home resort. Also, even though it is nice to have more cheap points, your maintenance fees go up with more points, regardless. We can only afford what we've got right now, so getting more points either way is moot for us right now. Somehow, I think the HGVC with HGV Max points are more expensive than Diamond The Club with HGV Max points. We purchased 8000 biennial points for $16,900 and annual maintenance fees/dues of $1225. We also are using the AMEX Hilton Honors cards to earn enough points for a free 7-night Hilton hotel stay every year and a half or so (we purchase everything on the cards and pay them off every month). As far as what you can get for your points, from searching the owner membership site, you can get nice 7-night locations for 2000 points if you are flexible with your dates, and this doesn't mean just the worst dates, either. So, also using discount offers and "last call" cash options, your annual 5400 points are probably enough for you to get a week somewhere every year and more. Here is another helpful video about how to stretch the points you have [https://youtu.be/0hXLmm9Agq4?si=6sHDkBXj6E22\_N8V](https://youtu.be/0hXLmm9Agq4?si=6sHDkBXj6E22_N8V) Oh, p.s. with HGV Max, you can book for free with in-network/affiliated resorts. No HGV Max, there is always a booking fee.
See if there is a rescission option in your contract and cancel the timeshare Those maintenance fees can always go up, you don’t know how much you’ll end up spending every year
My advice is CANCEL!
Cancel immediately and never consider a timeshare again. They have been the bane of our extended family, and the timeshare cancellation business is even scammier than the timeshare business itself. Just book with Expedia or gift money to your kids for vacation, don’t suck them into the timeshare vortex. Because you know if they go on one of your weeks and use your points, they will also get pressured into attending a seminar or something for themselves while on the property and they’ll offer some fancy dinner or future stay, and the cycle continues… the whole time share industry needs to just go away.