Hilton vacation club

[jcodespoti]

Has anybody had any expirience w/ Hilton Vacation club? I was at Embassy suites and they had a rep there saying how great it was.


Joe in CT

 

[WDWguru]

Not with the club itself, but with their presentation. We avoided the DVC presentation for years before finally doing it, then kicked ourselves for not buying sooner. The bad thing was, it was so low-key and no-pressure that we got lulled in and figured Hilton wouldn't be too bad. After all, it's a big corporate name, right? WRONG!!

We got sucked into a presentation in Vegas in exchange for free tickets to a show we were planning to go to anyway. Three hours and four sales people later, we were finally allowed to leave. The units were nice and they do use a point structure, but they seemed to have a lot of fees for everything and the system is a lot more complicated. The presentation itself started out nice, but turned high pressure at the end. We were passed off from the first lady who gave us the basics and showed us the models, to her "supervisor" who started dickering down and throwing in Hilton hotel points. Another "supervisor" came in after him, with even more pressure. After DH told them that we don't buy anything before researching it, and even if we were interested we were NOT buying that day, he got mad and very short with us. HE passed us off to yet ANOTHER guy doing a "survey" -- really it's one last try to get some money from you. He offered us a trial membership and some trip for a couple thousand dollars, but by this point we just wanted out of there. The last guy was pretty nice, but the whole experience put us off.

We claimed our tickets and got out!

 

[dvc_john]

I wonder if it's a Vegas thing? I toured the Hilton at the Flamingo a few years back, and was turned off by the presentation. Needless to say, I didn't buy. But two years ago I toured the Hilton at Waikiki, and the presentation was very much like DVC. Very friendly and low-key. No pressure. And no supervisors. I didn't buy at the presentation, but did a week later.

Anyway, besides Hawaii, I own at Hilton resorts in Sanibel (these are affiliated resorts, not Hilton developed). I like Hilton very much, but it's not as flexible as DVC. But I think it's more flexible than Marriott or Hyatt. The one thing I don't like about Hilton is that they use R.C.I. for exchanges. I much prefer I.I.

 

[JimC]

My wife and I took the Orlando Hilton timeshare tour package in 1998 -- 3 night hotel stay and tickets to Universal for $219. The property was beautiful, but for some reason they put us up in the Doubletree, not very impressive. The presentation was very high pressure. Every "no" brought out another hand off to try again with a new offer. We finally just got up and walked out. We had arranged to get our tickets the first day since they made our presentation on our last day there. So there was little they could do about it. Our mandatory 90 minute presentation lasted a tad over three hours. As much as I enjoy Hilton properties that experience really set me off.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have friends who own HGVC and just bought more points at the new on in Orlando near the Premier Outlet Mall. Can't remember the name, but it looked pretty nice. Also own on at Sea World and at Las Vegas. They really like them. We did the HGVC tour last June. Similar to DVC, but the points are about 7HGVC points to one DVC point. So you need a whole lot more. It's deeded and doesn't have an end like DVC. Their dues are a whole lot less, too. But they aren't on WDW property, only close. If we wanted a timeshare to use around the world, we would consider this one. But we are hooked on Disney so that's where we own.

 

[living la vida mickey]

We did the Hilton presentation in Vegas over spring break. They put us up at the Vegas Hilton which was a hotel that I would NEVER stay at again. The presentation started out to be more high pressure, but when they realized that we were DVC owners and knew what we were talking about things changed. I questioned why Hilton used RCI instead of II, questioned their fees, etc. Our guide handed us off quickly to the "manager" who did not try to pressure us because he knew he couldn't sell us or even compete with DVC. We were out in an hour.

PS: I think the negative experiences that we related about the Vegas Hilton when we first got there was a factor too. We asked for a non-smoking room for medical reasons at the time of reservation. We got there and were told there were NO non-smoking rooms available. I made a stink ( I have never done this before or ever had to at DVC) and asked for a supervisor. We were put in a handicapped room and assured that we would be changed in the morning. It took 6 phone calls the next day to get a non smoking, non handicapped room. I have stayed in handicapped rooms at DVC and they are wonderful compared to the handicapped rooms at the Hilton. It was not a pleasant experience. The hotel is old and, I feel, not well kept. Interesting experience. Just makes me even happier that we bought DVC in '93!!!!

 

[DeeP]

I don't own at the Hilton but a very good friend has owned at HGVC for years and they love it. The villas (in Orlando, have never seen any other HGVC resorts) are very, very nice. I know they paid a lot less for their membership then I did with DVC and they get a little bit more time per yr than I do with my DVC membership, their dues are less than DVC and it is a deeded timeshare so they own it forever. It is a very close commute to WDW (not really much farther than the resorts located near DTD) and it is a beautiful resort but I personally was not interested because I wanted to be IN the thick of WDW not on the outskirts and I wanted the ability to get to parks, restaurants etc without riding in a car or bus so my BWV membership is prefect for me and the price difference was well worth it to me. My friends, who own at HGVC, had orginally looked into DVC when it was only OKW but they decided to go with the Hilton because they did not like the much higher DVC price for the location of OKW and they also do not like the fact that DVC has an ending date.

 

[onlyholly]

We have been owners at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club for the past 5 years, and only last week we traded our Seaworld property for the new Tuscany Village (going to be a real gem).

Buying with Hilton was the best decision we ever made and definately no regrets. We have travelled the world with our points, and had fantastic holidays we would otherwise never have been able to afford. We have the property for our lifetime and then pass it on to our DS.

Holly

 

[jcodespoti]

Thanks for the responses, I was looking for something world wide for travel and I know Hilton has a good name. I did not have time to sit for there presentation so i was just curious how others liked them.


Joe in CT

 

[Deb & Bill]

One last thing. I remembered from the presentation that you can use your HGVC points for Hilton (any Hilton brand) hotels, so they advertise the thousands of places that you can visit with your points.

What I like about DVC is the fact that I get the luxury lodging at DVC and not just a hotel room. I told the sales guy that I wasn't the least bit interested in using points at an ordinary hotel.

My friends bought at Tuscany Village, too, onlyholly. They looked real nice to me as well. And not that far from WDW.