What other timeshare do you like?

[MillauFr]

Also if you are going to the sales presentations this shirt will help you get out much faster....

 

[Steelers0854]

I’d like to tell you a story about the Hilton timeshare presentation. My wife and I went into it open to hear how their system worked but was soured on it before we even arrived. We booked a site close to WDW 7 months in advance. 7 days before our trip I get a call that due to inventory constraints our location wasn’t available and they moved us to a different resort. 30 minutes further away from WDW. It took 4 phone calls over 2 days to get to a property that was actually just across I-4 from our original. So it was ok but not the type of experience you want to give someone who you are trying to sell a timeshare to.

The property we stayed at was just ok. Nothing special and it looked a bit tired. The staff was mostly unhelpful and disinterested.

We got to our presentation and it was a 1 on 1 meeting. The cubicle farm they have is massive. There must be 100 cubicles at this site. Music was blaring in the background. So it was hard to hear our soft spoken sales person. But we got through an hour of disjointed questions that seemingly had no goal. Finally she said they had to present us with an offer to review And asked us how many points. We asked for the lowest possible. Her manager came back 10 minutes later with a sheet of paper and started writing numbers and arrows in it. I felt like I was buying a used car from a business that has large billboard advertisements and giant inflatables out front. We told them that at this time their minimum buy in and style of timeshare didn’t meet our travel needs and politely declined. He then presented us with 3 followup offers. We declined.

He left and our original person just kept asking us what happened, like we had told her we wanted to buy and changed our mind somehow. Which we never did. I finally just had to tell her to stop and move on.

Then another manager came in and gave us 2 last ditch offers. We declined those as well. Then another person came in and walked us to the lobby where we checked out.

90 minutes from start to finish. This process could not be any more different than DVC. DVC is a blessing. I called my guide after this horrific process and told him I wanted to add on direct and closed the next day. No fuss no muss.

The Hilton program actually doesn’t sound bad and may be something we would have considered in a few years. After this experience it’s gonna be a hard pass from us though.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

The Hilton program

There are two different “Hilton” timeshares. Neither are actually Hilton. “Hilton Vacation Club” is rebranded Diamond Vacation Club (which is probably where you stayed), the resorts are not great and the program is bad. The properties have zero value and can’t be given away on the resale market. The maintenance fees for ownership exceed the rental rates for the rooms.

Hilton Grand Vacations Club is the better program, completely separate company, properties are decent, resale they have close to zero value but are worth picking up if you like the resorts for pennies on the dollar.

Never ever ever every buy any timeshare directly from the developer, except maybe DVC, and even then only in very limited circumstances with your eyes wide open about the fact that you are paying a lot of money for the direct perks.

 

[Girlstar30]

I’d like to tell you a story about the Hilton timeshare presentation. My wife and I went into it open to hear how their system worked but was soured on it before we even arrived. We booked a site close to WDW 7 months in advance. 7 days before our trip I get a call that due to inventory constraints our location wasn’t available and they moved us to a different resort. 30 minutes further away from WDW. It took 4 phone calls over 2 days to get to a property that was actually just across I-4 from our original. So it was ok but not the type of experience you want to give someone who you are trying to sell a timeshare to.

The property we stayed at was just ok. Nothing special and it looked a bit tired. The staff was mostly unhelpful and disinterested.

We got to our presentation and it was a 1 on 1 meeting. The cubicle farm they have is massive. There must be 100 cubicles at this site. Music was blaring in the background. So it was hard to hear our soft spoken sales person. But we got through an hour of disjointed questions that seemingly had no goal. Finally she said they had to present us with an offer to review And asked us how many points. We asked for the lowest possible. Her manager came back 10 minutes later with a sheet of paper and started writing numbers and arrows in it. I felt like I was buying a used car from a business that has large billboard advertisements and giant inflatables out front. We told them that at this time their minimum buy in and style of timeshare didn’t meet our travel needs and politely declined. He then presented us with 3 followup offers. We declined.

He left and our original person just kept asking us what happened, like we had told her we wanted to buy and changed our mind somehow. Which we never did. I finally just had to tell her to stop and move on.

Then another manager came in and gave us 2 last ditch offers. We declined those as well. Then another person came in and walked us to the lobby where we checked out.

90 minutes from start to finish. This process could not be any more different than DVC. DVC is a blessing. I called my guide after this horrific process and told him I wanted to add on direct and closed the next day. No fuss no muss.

The Hilton program actually doesn’t sound bad and may be something we would have considered in a few years. After this experience it’s gonna be a hard pass from us though.

Same thing for us off of a booth at the local fair, we went just to see what it was all about and omg what an awkward nightmare.

The prizes we were supposed to get never happened because of all the games they play. I dont know how this sales tactic works on anyone, but I guess it does. I also came super prepared to say no a million times.

We also got super lucky that we were supposed to do aMarriott one too and they let us stay at Cypress Harbor (beautiful) but we couldn't do the presentation because we had covid (its sad that you think getting sick is lucky to escape the presentation )

so they just put us in a zoom video call to verify we were actually sick and we got to stay without having to attend!

 

[Steelers0854]

There are two different “Hilton” timeshares. Neither are actually Hilton. “Hilton Vacation Club” is rebranded Diamond Vacation Club (which is probably where you stayed), the resorts are not great and the program is bad. The properties have zero value and can’t be given away on the resale market. The maintenance fees for ownership exceed the rental rates for the rooms.

Hilton Grand Vacations Club is the better program, completely separate company, properties are decent, resale they have close to zero value but are worth picking up if you like the resorts for pennies on the dollar.

Never ever ever every buy any timeshare directly from the developer, except maybe DVC, and even then only in very limited circumstances with your eyes wide open about the fact that you are paying a lot of money for the direct perks.

I didnt know that, this was Hilton Grand Vacation, now rebranded as HGV Max or something like that. Also I wanted to add, they never took us on a tour of the property, showed us any rooms etc. Just a cubicle and questions. Im like how do you want to sell me on this stuff without showing me what im buying. Clearly it works for them, but it will never work for me.

 

[heathpack]

In addition to DVC, we own two Marriott timeshares- one on Hilton Head Island and one in Park City. We bought them very inexpensively (resale). Each is an every-other-year ownership, for one we get use in even years and for the other we get use in odd years.

We use the Hilton Head one to stay in a 2BR condo every other year. We own gold season, which includes Memorial Day and Labor Day weeks, but not the summer. The condo is very nice and the resort is oceanfront.

We use the Park City one to trade in Interval or internally in Marriott's system. Its a lock off unit, so we can trade our 2BR unit for 2 weeks of Interval stays.

We previously owned two timeshares with Hyatt, one in Lake Tahoe and the other in Carmel, CA. Hyatt is now a terrible system and we sold the Tahoe week and gave the Carmel week back to Hyatt. Very happy to be done with them!

 

[Flash_Sloth]

We also own at Hilton Grand Vacations. It is OK, the properties are nice, but the salespeople are relentless. We're chilling on Hawaii's Big Island at the moment in one of HGVC's properties. I've lost count of how many times they've tried to pressure us into another owner's update meeting. At least 2 times over the phone and 1 time over email before arriving. They wouldn't give us our room keys at the check-in desk; they had somebody else hold those hostage while they tried to convince us to go to an owners update meeting. And after arriving, they've called my cellphone and the room's phone trying to get us to an owners update meeting. The day before check-out, they've finally relented. They don't acknowledge taking "no" for an answer.

Going to Aulani next, and the sales pitch pressure is worlds different.

 

[Girlstar30]

We also own at Hilton Grand Vacations. It is OK, the properties are nice, but the salespeople are relentless. We're chilling on Hawaii's Big Island at the moment in one of HGVC's properties. I've lost count of how many times they've tried to pressure us into another owner's update meeting. At least 2 times over the phone and 1 time over email before arriving. They wouldn't give us our room keys at the check-in desk; they had somebody else hold those hostage while they tried to convince us to go to an owners update meeting. And after arriving, they've called my cellphone and the room's phone trying to get us to an owners update meeting. The day before check-out, they've finally relented. They don't acknowledge taking "no" for an answer.

Going to Aulani next, and the sales pitch pressure is worlds different.

Wow this would really piss me off

 

[Brian Noble]

We're chilling on Hawaii's Big Island at the moment in one of HGVC's properties.

King's Land, or the new tower?

When talking with the body snatchers, I have two approaches that usually end the conversation quickly. FIrst, I tell them (truthfully) that I have never attended a timeshare sales presentation, and I am not about to start now. I think Wyndham's CRM has finally recorded some helpful notes for me. The last time I checked in to one, the body snatcher said, "Yeah, it says here you never go."

If that doensn't work, I ask for a slip of paper and a pen. I write what I would charge a client for a couple of hours in my consulting business. "If you can meet that number, in cash, we can talk."

That always works. In at least one case, the body snatcher blurted out: "I'm in the wrong job."

I also unplug the landline as soon as I get into the unit. My cell phone is trickier---I'm pretty free with my number in the recovery community, and I never know if it is someone who needs help on the other end, so I generally answer the phone. But, if it is a marketing call, I hang up. No words, no pretense, just click.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

In-laws own RCI but as far as I know they've only used it a handful of times since they bought it many years ago. Once was with us in Cape Cod area. That place was fairly dirty floors pretty sure the carpet hadn't been cleaned in decades but for Cape Cod in July it was a very affordable way to stay there. Another time a few years back they used it in Orlando (can't remember where) for a 2-bedroom and we were originally invited but my husband was out of town on business trip that could not be missed. They have also owned a KOA membership when they had a 5th wheel. That was heavily used for a short time then sat for like 5 years with no trip (and eventually they sold the 5th wheel). We have been to Myrtle Beach years back with them when they signed up to do a presentation (intent to say no and did say no) when we did a road trip with them.

For my husband and I we have stayed at a Hilton Grand Vacations in Vegas (the one a street back from the Strip) which was nice. We almost stayed a few months back at a Hyatt timeshare (as cash) in Albuquerque (I think that was where it was) but opted to go to Phoenix instead.

DVC and other timeshares are different because one is based strictly on a brand (Disney) the other is based on hotel properties around the world. DVC is limiting in where you stay but may have the benefits and/or ease of use someone is looking for but it is for a specific type of person...the one who is interested in Disney. Other timeshares normally are for those interested in the ability to variety in locations even if they may choose to stay in the same one time after time.

We've had offers from Hilton to come do presentations (especially in Hawaii) numerous times and also several times for Hyatt. We also had a heck of a time when we were searching for a resort in Mexico for a trip we took there in 2023 where it wasn't part of some timeshare where most people report very high pressured sales and being essentially held hostage right after arriving at the resort for hours.

Thus far my husband and I have found the most value out of using points related to Hyatt's reward program (including earned points from stays, earned points from the Hyatt cc and Chase points transferred). In the past we were more loyal to Hilton but rarely used their points because they don't go anywhere with exception that we used up 5 or so nights of points at a moderate amount back in 2022 for a Disney/Universal trip. Hyatt presently has the best. For example we stayed at a castle in Germany in 2024 under Hyatt's points system it was 9,000 and 12,000 points per night (we stayed 2 nights). That switched over after we booked but before we stayed to Hilton but we were grandfathered into staying there. We searched for what it would cost for Hilton and that same property would have been over 300,000 Hilton points total for 2 nights. Malmo, Sweden for that 2024 trip it was like 6,000 per night and gave us very easy access to get to Copenhagen.

The catch with just using points in our experience is international destinations are by far the best value. It's a very bad value for U.S. domestic hotels thus we more often than not pay cash and save the points for international. An example is we stayed at a castle in Scotland last September (not as cool as the Germany one but was also a different type of experience to be expected) which was a bit higher than we normally like to spend at 18,000 points per night. But we stayed at a Phoenix normal hotel not bad but that one was 9,000 points for one night we paid points for that because we were already using 2 reward nights so it just made that trip less out of pocket.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

King's Land, or the new tower?

When talking with the body snatchers, I have two approaches that usually end the conversation quickly. FIrst, I tell them (truthfully) that I have never attended a timeshare sales presentation, and I am not about to start now. I think Wyndham's CRM has finally recorded some helpful notes for me. The last time I checked in to one, the body snatcher said, "Yeah, it says here you never go."

If that doensn't work, I ask for a slip of paper and a pen. I write what I would charge a client for a couple of hours in my consulting business. "If you can meet that number, in cash, we can talk."

That always works. In at least one case, the body snatcher blurted out: "I'm in the wrong job."

I also unplug the landline as soon as I get into the unit. My cell phone is trickier---I'm pretty free with my number in the recovery community, and I never know if it is someone who needs help on the other end, so I generally answer the phone. But, if it is a marketing call, I hang up. No words, no pretense, just click.

We were in Ocean Tower. It is a beautiful property, but it is a long walk from the Hilton Waikoloa Village main entrance to Ocean Tower. They do have a tram that runs between them, but they were out of commission during our trip. There are actually 2 trams, and there is a section in the track where they can switch and pass each other going opposite directions. However, it looked like something must have gone wrong and the 2 trams collided and had busted windshields. They were working on getting them back to normal operation.

LOL, maybe I need to calculate my hourly rate and use that as a negotiating tactic!