Number one reason for buying Hilton

Mine was the fact that I love Hilton hotels and I have many good memories at Hilton hotels!

We had done previous ts presentations prior to HGVC (Marriott and Independents) None of them seemed to work for us at the time. But when we did the HGVC presentation(yes, before TUG & learning of resales), it made sense for us at the time. Our kids were the right age and we liked what Hilton offered.

Now that things have changed a bit in our family situation (primarily kids who don't travel with us any more), we are thinking of selling our 1 week.

So, I guess it was a decision of what was good then and now a decision of what no longer really meets our needs.

Short term, getting HHV at $60-80 / night in open season.
Medium term, it forces me to take vacation, and Hawaii is where I want to go. Long term, my great great great grand kids will be able to go to Hawaii, because they are owners. I don't know what will happen 125 years from now when they decide to tear down the Kalia building, but but I'm sure there will be some value for the family there.

When I travel, I rarely spend more than a few days here and there on the way to somewhere else, which does not lend itself well to TS's. So my initial inclination was not to buy anything at all.

Yet, I found myself drawn by Hilton's:
-- reputation for quality;
-- user-friendly point-system;
-- flexibility in reservations; and
-- tie-in with Hilton Honors;
... all of which has held-up well.

So, I can't say it was any one thing, 'cept maybe the ease in which I could merge the TS-experience with my style of travel.

Rick,
our kids also went through the "I don't wanna go away with the "rents" (parents)" time in their life. (looking back, so did we..) Now, married, they have figured out that getting access to Mom and Dad's TS is awesome. Yes, there was an empty period where they wanted nothing to do with us on vacation, but not anymore. All their friends are very jealous of them when they go to Hawaii. My wife still looks forward to seeing them enjoy time with us there, even if it is because we know it is their cheapest option.

I bought 3 annual Hilton weeks because :
1) I like flexibility - I am not tied to a full week stay in one place. I can borrow/deposit points when I cannot or need more travels.
2) I like HGVC resorts' average quality. Overall, HGVC is higher end than others except Marriott, several Westin, Hyatt and Four Seasons
3) I like the way HGVC system is getting improved. They have online reservation system which Marriot, Starwood and Four Seasons still don't have. HGVC has limited number of resorts but they are getting more affiliations and club partners.
4) I am very satisfied with HGVC/RCI exchanges. I could reserve 3 peak season DVC weeks. Each week is well over 4k value if I reserve it from DVC site.
5) In case I move to a foreign county in near future (very likely), I still can use HGVC points by converting them to HHonors.
6) HGVC is well established system, there is (or will be) no major system change like Starwood or Marriott did.

We love HGVC because..

1. Ease of reservations.
2. We like Hawaii, Flordia and Las Vegas.
3. Having 2 bdr makes 10 - 14 day vacations family freindly since we all have our own space.
4. A kitchen is essential for $ saved on food and for special dietary needs.

I have more than one reason:

Because it's points-based, it makes more sense to me and is easier to use since I've been accumulating and using hotel points for years.

I like being able to start my vacation in the middle of the week. Flights are cheaper and first-class upgrades easier on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

I need to be able to see availability and book online. I don't have time to call at a certain time to get a reservation--or to spend a lot of time on hold while someone looks at what's available when.

I get more bang for my buck. HGVC is less expensive to buy into than Marriott and Starwood, and MFs are more reasonable with smaller annual increases. Plus I can get more nights for the week I own on paper (i.e., 3+ weeks for 5,000 points, all in Hawaii if I so choose).

I like the quality. Hilton hotels are my brand of choice and where I have top status.

I like HGVC for many reasons but my number one reason for buying Hilton years ago was for the Hilton Hawaiian Village and International Hilton hotel stays. We fell in love with the Hilton Hawaiian Village during our first stay in 2000 and took the HGVC tour for HHonors points. We bought the HGVC VIP "try it before you buy it" and found TUG after we got back from our trip.

At the time I traveled a lot for work, and Hilton was my primary hotel system for frequent stay points. I was very familiar with the HHonors program and the best bang for buck .

At the time, I also thought it may come in handy if I wanted to book a two bedroom or larger for extended family trips since at that time Hilton.com only offered rentals in the studio and one bedroom villas. (like it states today for Vegas & Parc Soliel at hilton.com "There are no two bedded rooms available"). However today for the older Orlando resorts it currently displays "Two bedded rooms available on a limited basis with 2- and 3-bedroom suites only." There are no unit size limitation for the resorts in Hawaii which wasn't the case years ago. I'm assuming eventually all unit sizes will be available for Hilton.com at all HGVC developed locations.

Of course, my first Hilton purchase was also before I knew about Orlando rental rates for luxury pool homes, II Getaway Rates & RCI Extra Vacations

I have no regrets and still enjoy our Hilton trips. It has allowed us to take our extended family members with us on our Hawaii vacations

Hard to pinpoint one exact reason.

We have three kids. Staying in one hotel room isn't really an option. For me TS is a more cost effective option than trying to book suites or two adjoining rooms.

With the kids, love the idea of the kitchen and washer and dryer.

I have family members that own HGVC and have stayed in the past on their points. We loved the resorts we visited.

The only presentation we went to was DVC. While we love the Disney resorts the cost of meals, tickets, etc... would make it impossible to go there every year. HGVC was way less money and offered a better value. Plus we can always look to trade into DVC when we are ready to go back to Disney.

I switched to HGVC from Starwood because of the flexibility. Short stays, banking/borrowing, OS, HHonors, etc. Resale buyers get all the same benefits as original buyers which is not the case at Starwood.

Resons not necessarily in that order

Flexibility
User Friendly
HHonors
Quality of the Resorts and Hotels
Hawaii, Orlando, Vegas
RCI trading power
Customer Relations

We have had an excellent experience with HGVC since 2001. We recently completed an RCI exchange to The Residences at the Crane in Barbados. We took a 10 day Southern Caribbean Cruise on Holland America earlier this year.

The fact that in 3 short years of ownership, and not a ton of vacation time, we have gotten to:
1. 2 weeks in a gulf view unit at our home resort in Marco Island, where the staff really makes you feel like it is your home away from home.
2. Scotland.
3. California
4. South Beach
5. Orlando
6. Manhattan

if all goes well, we'll have 12 nights in Montana and Idaho this summer using a combination of timeshare and Hilton hotel points, plus a week in Florida at our home resort. I haven't even scratched the surface with RCI Extra vacations and Open Season yet.....

Dumb luck?

Mine was because that was the timeshare presentation I went to. Luckily, I found TUG & rescinded the developer purchase, but I immediately purchased a resale unit, still off the high of the salesperson's presentation.

Luckily, I have loved it and it has worked perfect for me. In fact, I'm in the middle of purchasing my second one.

"Tiger trader" in RCI.
Pretty much sees everything on the sightings board.

Nice affiliates in SW Florida near my home.

Open Season when I need a quick mouse fix.

3 bedrooms on open season when I'm bringing everyone.

Yup, those are my top reasons.

There are others but these were my tops.

We own HGVC and non-HGVC TS's and I always figured HGVC were more costly.

In a conversation I went through and looked at the cost per point (including MF's) for each of our properties using RCI as the common exchange rate between them all. What I found was that while HGVC was a bit more expensive, its only by a little. Effectively costs of staying at the HGVC's and non HGVC's were on par with each other.

The HGVC system however is very, very flexible. The company is a class act and the properties all shine no matter which one we've stayed at. We've used our non-HGVC's to exchange in to other non-HGVC's and I can say while some were nice, many more are good to average.

One of my three sons is getting married New Years Eve and we've already been told they'd like to take us up on our offer to give them use of our HGVC timeshare to go to Hawaii. I expect as time marches on the TS's will be increasingly popular with them as they learn how nice it can be for comparatively little $$, particularly using ours.

I'm glad I have both in & out of HGVC, but the HGVC's are really the nicest of our collection.

Quality, flexibility and trading power. We bought 8400 points at LV Strip via resale in 2009. Paid just over $11k. This year, we traded just 3400 points for a Sept week in Victoria, BC (1 bed) at a fabulous downtown resort called Parkside. That left us 5000 to use at Bay Club in Hawaii this Feb to add to our week at Kingsland that we snagged with our RCI points. So for our 8400 points which is considered to be one week in a two bed plus unit at LV Strip, we got 12 days of accommodation. That works out to $70 per night as the cost of maintenance. That's Hilton Club for a Super 8 price! I love it!