Hi all! We are back from 2 weeks in Hawaii. The first week was at Aulani and was as always, Ah-mazing! The second week was at Hilton Ocean Tower Waikoloa and is a place I will not return to again.
So, I am now 1 for 2 on Timeshare presentation packages. The first was a Sheraton Vistana package in Maui back in September of 2018. I’d return to that resort which was the Westin Maui Resort and Spa in a heartbeat given the chance.
Last week’s was a Hilton Grand Vacations package on the Big Island of Hawaii. Now, in my limited experience, you are not put in an ocean view room on timeshare presentation packages so I was not expecting anything like that. I chose Ocean Tower because the rooms I saw on the website looked nice. I came to find out that those rooms are not available to be booked even on a cash reservation but they couldn’t explain why they’d be on the booking website. The room we were booked for on the package during the first 5 nights was dirty (my Lysol wipes came away dirty after wiping the room) and smelled like rotting wet towels.
This smell did not go away despite spraying Lysol each day. The room had not seen a renovation since the 70’s at least. This is not at all reflective of what is shown on the website. I was unable to get my room switched because they were at 100% capacity.
I was hoping the last two days, which was a separate cash reservation I booked would be better because I booked an Ocean view room. They claim any high floor is considered an ocean view room even if you can’t see the ocean. I was placed into another dated ugly room with a pool and lagoon view. I came back and explained this was not what I booked or paid for. I showed them the pictures of what was on the website and was told those rooms don’t exist except for the timeshare owners. Yet, they are in the hotel side picture gallery. They moved me to a 1 bedroom with a pool and lagoon view which was the only room available. Still not what I paid for and so they credited me the resort fee. The resort itself is dated and underwhelming. The walk from Ocean Tower to the parking lot is about 12 minutes. Otherwise, you can wait for the slow moving train to show up and take you to the other side of the resort. This is incredibly inconvenient. There is a $40 resort fee charge per night and $37 parking fee per night. Even with the resort fee you’d still need to pay extra for floats and pool toys.
This side of the island made me think of
a dystopian version of Iceland. We opted to spend time exploring the island instead of staying at the underwhelming resort which had nothing compelling to offer. The exception being a $269 30 minutes swim with dolphins in a very sad looking tiny shallow lagoon. We did not do this either.
The timeshare presentation itself was fun because I enjoyed politely asking how they expected to sell $50k to $300k timeshares to customers by giving them the most craptastic room experience imaginable. I truly felt sorry for the sales guy who was the nicest man! I told him I was sorry he was put in this position by his company. Of course I was nothing but polite and courteous to him and his manager. I asked for nothing but they offered to try and get me moved and were unable to do so. I had no expectations that they could since the hotel couldn’t.
They basically blamed marketing for putting them in that position of only having those rooms for the promotion and overbooking blah blah blah. They showed us lots of pictures of their timeshares around the world that looked very nice. I explained that we are timeshare fans, have lots of DVC points and that my SIL has a Hilton Grand Vacation timeshare too and loves it. However, seeing first hand that Hilton Grand Vacations has no problem with showing a potential customer a craptastic room, that is dirty, smells and hasn’t seen a renovation since the 70’s at a tired resort and think that the customer would be willing to drop $50k - $300k boggles the mind. I said the pictures you’ve showed me all look well and good, but so did the website and so does the marketing billboard outside their office. So, I could very easily expect accommodations at other properties to look like the pictures and reality be like my current experience and first impression right here and now.
I actually said the accommodations told me all I needed to know. The sales guy was telling me that they are spending over a billion dollars to renovate and even their owners can’t book the yet. So I was like, you mean they are paying maintenance fees on a product they purchased but can’t use. Uh ok. He tried telling me that it was a 50 year old Hyatt hotel that they bought and has to be renovated. I shot back with Hilton has owned those towers since 1988. I told him I am a DVC owner and both the Poly and Contemporary are 50 years old but whether I use points to book the hotel or timeshare side I know my room will be clean, look nice and if it isn’t or doesn’t Disney will make it right.
There was insistence that this is the only property like that and I insisted I had no way to know that and no reason to believe it either. So they took us to the current property they are selling which was a very nice 2 bedroom. DVC’s 2 bedrooms are larger. The view was what they called a Mountain View. I said that I would call it a parking lot view which happens to have a mountain way yonder. I went on to say that other than this timeshare package of which I was unable to choose a room category, there is no reality in which I would plan a vacation to Hawaii and not plan for an ocean view room.
I went on to explain that each of my Aulani stays have been ocean view and always would be. He said the only ocean view room properties they have on the Big Island in Waikoloa was where we were currently staying. It’s also the only one with beach access that doesn’t involve driving over or a shuttle. I started laughing uncontrollably and said I have the exact same experience at home in Florida
If I want to go to the beach I need to drive there. Why would I do this on a beach vacation?
So we went back and he gives me the offer. I said it’s a shame as their program looks like it could have some value to it but not a chance. Then I got the final offer which was for points every other year. I said that something like that would definitely fit in my vacation and timeshare portfolio but I am not about to risk good money after bad. Their package was too expensive for what they provided. He said the hotels there were over $500 a night and I said they weren’t worth that and I wouldn’t pay it.
Honestly, I’d look at their program on the resale market and see what it entails if I wanted to expand my timeshare options but I don’t. I’d sooner add more DVC. So if any of you have Hilton points or FN certs from Hilton credit cards you’re looking to burn on the Big Island be aware. One of my BFFS also bought the same timeshare package. She will likely forfeit it and lose the money than deal with the aggravation of a bad resort experience. She’s way more boujee and pickier than I will ever be.
For the record, I’m not super picky about where I stay as long as I am an not being misled. My Hyatt mattress run was at a very dated property with no real amenities to speak of and I had zero complaints and have stayed there since then. I stayed at Carousel Inn for the 60th at DLR and that wasn’t an asiprational property by any stretch of the imagination LOL I’d stay there again given the option and same circumstances. Not having my expectations match what they showed on the website was jarring. I would not stay at Ocean Tower again.
Now on to the good. There were areas of the island that were absolutely beautiful and worth visiting. We visited one of the only 4 green sand beaches in the world and the only one in the USA. That was pretty cool. There was a hike down on the northern most part of the island that brings you to a black sand beach which was gorgeous. Visiting Hawaii’s Volcano National Park was nice to cross off the list of National Parks. We explored much of the island and were quite happy to be off exploring.
