Hilton HHonors - HHV Time Share Tour

I will be in HNL shortly and staying at the Doubletree Alana. From previous posts I have learned you are given a coupon for a tour of the HHV Time Share worth 20,000 pts. I don't want to miss out on this! My question is how much advance notification for a reservation is required? Could I call the day of arrival and book for the following day or the next day?
I would not be in HHV or HWV without stumbling on FT and the very informative members. Thanks to you all for so much information and help. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Dudrop, I took the tour when I last stayed at HHV. Signed up at the promo desk on the backside of the check-in area one day and made the tour the next. Got a special bonus on my tour....30,000 points. After the tour, I got a 30,000 point coupon that I had to mail in which then posted about 2 weeks later. Very nice property and tour but there was a small amount of sales pressure to make a decision to buy right then. Good luck!

pacman,
Thank you for the information. Now I know what to do/expect. This is a great board, thanks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

From my trip report to the HHV at
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/002972.html

We took time share tour. We were mildly interested in the concept and were happy to receive the 20K HHonors points. But don’t do it if you have a low threshold for annoyance. First, we were told it would take 90 minutes; it took 2 hours 10 minutes. The first 80 minutes fine and about what we expected in terms of “selling.” Then the salesman -- Mike -- got pretty pushy and did all the most annoying sales techniques I usually associate with bad car dealers. Overall, the presentation was fairly short on documentation and long on gee-whiz (he didn’t even have any sort of sheet to give us which had the prices and other info, just a hand-printed thing he did. When I asked for a copy of the spreadsheet of prices he was showing us, he seemed a bit put out but did get me a copy. He kept saying “What can I offer to get you to buy this today?” Geez, who spends $20-40K in that way with so little documentation and without a chance to see real documentation!). The concept does sound like a good deal in many ways. But we're not ready to buy, and our salesman simply clinched that fact by his attitude.

My wife and I did the Marriott timeshare thing at the Marriott Ocean Club on Maui. To our surprise, the salesperson was very nice, not pushy, and answered all of our questions -- except for one: "what's the resale value on these things?"

We spent 4 hours with her over two days. She got us quite interested in buying, but I did the math on a $25K purchase and, with the $850/year maintenance fee, things just didn't pencil in for us. However, with the nagging question of resale value, I called a timeshare broker and discovered resales in the $19K range, which we might end up doing, simply for the reason it's a great location and one that's impossible to trade into.

So, not all timeshare salespersons are pushy and uninformed about their product... But, I'd likely agree that 98% are!!

My wife and I were very interested in Hilton timeshare until a recent trip to Orlando and stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation resort.

In Orlando, we discovered that there are Timeshare brokers located in many strip shopping centers. It seemed that they were having a hard time selling them and undercutting each other's price.

With the Orlando Hilton Grand Vacation resort having rooms going for as low as $69-79/night, it just does not seem to justify buying a timeshare at all.

There are a few more reasons that I am less and less interested in a time share:

- $850/year maintenance fee, factor it a 2-week time share, the maintenance cost is already $70/night. Is it just the Marriott timeshare, or is it really that high for most timeshares.

- Not able to take advantage of the 50K promos. For my wife and I, they amounts to over 100K for just one such promotion a year

- Additional fee for trading with other timeshare companies' properties. I think it is about $100/year just for the "priveledge" was being able to trade. That's additonal $7/night.

- Different strokes for different folks, but I found it boring if I keep going to the same vacation spot and staying at the same resort, no matter how nice.

- As least for the Hilton time share in New York, it is a lease for 30 years, at the end of which you have no residue value. Sounds more like a pre-paid stay to me.

While the time share concept is interesting, I like to hear the experience of others that have owned their for a few years before I commit my hard earn money.

For those considering time-shares there is a wealth of information at the Time-Share Users Group.

http://www.tug1.net/

My husband and I went to the time share presentation in August at HHV. We were offered 20,000 points in a packet on arrival at the hotel. I went down to conciege desk the next day and inquired about the tour and requested 30,000 points. I was told that they would let me know and I did not sign up for the tour at that time. A few hours later I recived a message that I would receive the 30,000 points if I took the tour.
We signed up and took the tour which lasted about 75 minutes. The salesman attempted to be condescending and insulting when we advised him that we were not interested in purchasing at that exact moment. His attitude made him appear desperate in a comical way.
We did receive a certificate for proof of earning the 30,000 points. They posted within 2 weeks without any additional effort.

I have never been to the HHV. Did most people who took the HGVC (Hawaii) tour stay at the HGVC? On the home page of hhonors, there is an offer of $599 for 5 nights at HGVC(Hawaii) + 20,000 Points. This offer seems like a great deal (if the time share sales tactics don't kill you).

Also, is it worth using a 100,000 ALON award to stay 6 nights at HHV if they will let you stay for the $599 offer at HGVC. Are HGVC and HHV a very different experience?

We did the tour in June. Very low pressure & actually our salesperson was fun.

Our only problem was that our 30k points did not post automatically. Luckily, we had the receipt and were able to get credit, but it took a 2 month wait. We seem to be the only people that had the problem.

I believe that Hilton Golds get a coupon in their package for 30k points. There's a different coupon in the room for 20k - so, if you're a gold, check your envelope.

Mary

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kandid:
Also, is it worth using a 100,000 ALON award to stay 6 nights at HHV if they will let you stay for the $599 offer at HGVC. Are HGVC and HHV a very different experience?</font>

Depends.... back before the Kalia tower mold problem it seems that all of us golds were being upgraded to some VERY nice rooms in the Rainbow tower.

With Kalia still closed, your chances of getting a prime room on an upgrade don't seem to be too good, so I would seriously consider the Lagoon tower (HGVC) for $599 AND 20k points.

The lagoon tower is a very different experience. All the rooms have a kitchen (1-3 bedrooms) or a kitchenette. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the studio room with the kitchenette on our tour, but if it's anywhere near the bigger units, they are very nice.

The downside is that they are not that close to the beach.

I'm not 100% sure what I would do, but lately, on vacation, I'm beginning to enjoy having a fridge, toaster & coffee pot. It's all personal preference.

The $599 really does sound like a good deal though.

Mary

I bet with the special $599 HGVC offer, they will only give you 20,000 points for the tour rather than 30,000 because the special offer obligates you in advance to attend the time share presentation.

To get the 30k HH do you have to be a couple? Or, can single people do it alone?

If you're single and unmarried you can do the tour alone. Otherwise, your spouse has to be with you.. (they don't want you to get out of a purchase by saying, "I have to talk about it with xxxx."

As an owner of 3 weeks of timeshare in Cabo San Lucas, I can finally respond to something. Even if you are married and spouse doen't want to tour. For the purpose of the tour you are "best friends", unmarried therefore it is not necessary for the both of you to attend. Or you are brother and sister. Rarely have I ever been questioned about my partner. If you are in Cabo and want to rake in the bennies TOUR, last year recieved over $600 in dining vuchers (great resteraunts), ATV tours for 6, para-sailing, tequilla and mexican blankets. This is all for taking 4 tours, keeping an eye on the 90 min. sometimes getting out in 20 min. Free breakfast or lunch is always included. Done and out of there by 9am!

I only got 20,000 points. Oh well. The vacation club has a desk within the HHV where you can sign up for the tour and request your points.

We found that the salesperson was especially annoying, condescending to my wife (made several sexist comments) and was very PUSHY at the end. Glad to have the points, but it was not not fun.