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Rebranded DRI resorts to HVC or HGVC

I don't agree with bHC being called luxury, it's not at all for the way we like to vacation. We much prefer a resort like Kings Land with resort locations and amenities. We enjoy the beaches, pools, and golf while staying in a well appointed two bedroom condo.

We stayed at W57th once and it was no better than a Hampton in our opinion. I've stayed in hotels in much better locations, like right on Daytona Beach. The room was tiny, no pool with bar and grille, everything was offsite at NY over rated prices. We took the tour and told the salesman just that, bHC was not for our style of vacation.

bHC brand is not for us, never will be.

I've stayed at several DRI resorts and enjoyed them, would rate them as 3+ star resorts easily. Comparing resorts to city hotels is not a valid comparison IMO.

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SmithOp said:
I don't agree with bHC being called luxury, it's not at all for the way we like to vacation. We much prefer a resort like Kings Land with resort locations and amenities. We enjoy the beaches, pools, and golf while staying in a well appointed two bedroom condo.

We stayed at W57th once and it was no better than a Hampton in our opinion. I've stayed in hotels in much better locations, like right on Daytona Beach. The room was tiny, no pool with bar and grille, everything was offsite at NY over rated prices. We took the tour and told the salesman just that, bHC was not for our style of vacation.

bHC brand is not for us, never will be.

I've stayed at several DRI resorts and enjoyed them, would rate them as 3+ star resorts easily. Comparing resorts to city hotels is not a valid comparison IMO.

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There are 1 BR condos at W57th albeit without full kitchen, though who goes to NYC to cook? If you get a studio it may be like a Hampton, but the owner experience overall is still superior to that of renting a week at Hampton Times Square for $3500.
 
letsgobobby said:
There are 1 BR condos at W57th albeit without full kitchen, though who goes to NYC to cook?
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If you normally cook and eat in some when staying in timeshares to save money, when taking a family to NYC it is a real cost. One of the reasons we usually use RCI to book the Manhattan Club and at least have a mini kitchen, dishes, and dishwasher.
 
escanoe said:
If you normally cook and eat in some when staying in timeshares to save money, when taking a family to NYC it is a real cost. One of the reasons we usually use RCI to book the Manhattan Club and at least have a mini kitchen, dishes, and dishwasher.
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We view NYC as one of the best restaurant cities in the world, so we don't cook when we visit. We also don't cook in Paris :)
 
HuskerATL said:
Interesting that they put Embassy Suites in the Upper Upscale category. I would put them in the same category as DoubleTree and Homewood Suites. I have stayed at many and they are the same or sometimes worse except the free breakfast and happy hour. I do like Homewood Suites though also and tend to try to stay there for domestic work travel.
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My Embassy Suites experience is above DoubleTree, even if only by a little, so this seems reasonable to me. Of course, the chocolate chip cookies do pull up the DoubleTree :)

Cheers.
 
brp said:
My Embassy Suites experience is above DoubleTree, even if only by a little, so this seems reasonable to me. Of course, the chocolate chip cookies do pull up the DoubleTree :)

Cheers.
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I have stayed at some pretty crappy Embassy Suites before though, such as San Diego by the Convention Center where your socks turn black walking across the carpet, and some very nice DoubleTrees, like San Jose, Costa Rica...this is our go to when we go to Costa Rica while in San Jose.
 
HuskerATL said:
I have stayed at some pretty crappy Embassy Suites before though, such as San Diego by the Convention Center where your socks turn black walking across the carpet, and some very nice DoubleTrees, like San Jose, Costa Rica...this is our go to when we go to Costa Rica while in San Jose.
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Surer, it can happen. Having down several of both, just talking about my overall impressions.

They have a San Jose in Costa Rica, too? :D
 
brp said:
They have a San Jose in Costa Rica, too?
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It is the capitol of CR and if you haven't visited CR, it should be on your bucket list. Very easy to fly to, nice places to stay, good food, and great places to visit. There is a DoubleTree resort that I would like to visit there but haven't been yet. It is on the Pacific Ocean side:
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HuskerATL said:
It is the capitol of CR and if you haven't visited CR, it should be on your bucket list. Very easy to fly to, nice places to stay, good food, and great places to visit. There is a DoubleTree resort that I would like to visit there but haven't been yet. It is on the Pacific Ocean side:
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Oh, I know about SJO. Just a joke since my home airport is SJC. We've not been to Costa Rica yet, but it is on the future list, definitely.

Cheers.
 
SmithOp said:
We stayed at W57th once... I've stayed in hotels in much better locations, like right on Daytona Beach.
...
Comparing resorts to city hotels is not a valid comparison IMO.
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or Daytona Beach vs Manhattan
 
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letsgobobby said:
There are 1 BR condos at W57th albeit without full kitchen, though who goes to NYC to cook? If you get a studio it may be like a Hampton, but the owner experience overall is still superior to that of renting a week at Hampton Times Square for $3500.
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I get it, some people value that type of vacation, and there are several owners here that will defend it. It's not for us, and was a bucket list item, stay in NYC and go to a few B'Way shows.

There are people that don't value my home resort, and may only visit Hawaii once, fine by me.

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The best Hilton Brands are out of the U.S. hands down. Not sure why, but there is a definite difference when you stay at a Hilton, Conrad, Waldorf out of the U.S. Much much better experience, and those Hiltons still have fantastic executive lounges when you are out of country.

And don't get your hopes up for the old Club Intrawest properties unless you join Max. It's just not happening. HGV has been loud and clear on that.
 
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mandl said:
The best Hilton Brands are out of the U.S. hands down. Not sure why, but there is a definite difference when you stay at a Hilton, Conrad, Waldorf out of the U.S. Much much better experience, and those Hiltons still have fantastic executive lounges when you are out of country.

And don't get your hopes up for the old Club Intrawest properties unless you join Max. It's just not happening. HGV has been loud and clear on that.
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I agree. The best Conrad's that we have stayed at are international. Bangkok is one of my favorites with a great executive floor and lounge. The US ones that we have stayed at are ok.
 
mandl said:
The best Hilton Brands are out of the U.S. hands down. Not sure why, but there is a definite difference when you stay at a Hilton, Conrad, Waldorf out of the U.S. Much much better experience, and those Hiltons still have fantastic executive lounges when you are out of country.
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To be a little bit pedantic in the name of clarity, the same "brands" pretty much exist within and outside the US. The better locations of those brands are outside the country.

Internationally, they have not cheaped out on breakfast for Gold and Diamond and, as mentioned, they have proper Executive Lounges. Recently staying at a Hilton in London that I found mediocre by London standards still had it better than local Hiltons.

That's why we've switched to Hyatt domestically.

Cheers.
 
brp said:
To be a little bit pedantic in the name of clarity, the same "brands" pretty much exist within and outside the US. The better locations of those brands are outside the country.

Internationally, they have not cheaped out on breakfast for Gold and Diamond and, as mentioned, they have proper Executive Lounges. Recently staying at a Hilton in London that I found mediocre by London standards still had it better than local Hiltons.

That's why we've switched to Hyatt domestically.

Cheers.
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We were blown away by the breakfast buffets in London (Marble Arch), Bath, and my hometown Northampton when we stayed in UK Hiltons. Full English then a huge spread of cold choices rivalling any deli, I made sandwiches and packed them out for lunches every day. This was over ten years ago, hope they haven't changed. I did it all with HHonors points, 14 nights. Nothing in US has ever come close.

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SmithOp said:
We were blown away by the breakfast buffets in London (Marble Arch), Bath, and my hometown Northampton when we stayed in UK Hiltons. Full English then a huge spread of cold choices rivalling any deli, I made sandwiches and packed them out for lunches every day. This was over ten years ago, hope they haven't changed. I did it all with HHonors points, 14 nights. Nothing in US has ever come close.

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It's a little pared down from this (cold cold selection may not be quite as extensive), but this describes the current situation well. We have seen this in the US (Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, for example), but not as widespread, to be sure. And likely not at present as this was pre-domestic-rule-change.

Cheers.
 
HuskerATL said:
I have stayed at some pretty crappy Embassy Suites before though, such as San Diego by the Convention Center where your socks turn black walking across the carpet
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I enjoyed Embassy Suites in the 90s, but my more recent experiences have all been extremely disappointing: Dallas, Philadelphia, Detroit, none of them up to Hilton standards by any stretch. I have a meeting next week where my choices were an Embassy Suites in Memphis or a full-service Marriott. Both have horrible recent reviews, but I've stayed in that particular Marriott and REALLY hated it for several reasons. The worst was the location. It was like sleeping in the median of the Interstate.

So Embassy Suites it is. I hope it isn't too awful! At least it will push me over the threshold to renew my Hilton Diamond status for next year. I'm lifetime Titanium with Marriott but I started staying in Hiltons too late in the game. I won't make it to Lifetime status with them.

Sheila
 
sfwilshire said:
I enjoyed Embassy Suites in the 90s, but my more recent experiences have all been extremely disappointing: Dallas, Philadelphia, Detroit, none of them up to Hilton standards by any stretch. I have a meeting next week where my choices were an Embassy Suites in Memphis or a full-service Marriott. Both have horrible recent reviews, but I've stayed in that particular Marriott and REALLY hated it for several reasons. The worst was the location. It was like sleeping in the median of the Interstate.

So Embassy Suites it is. I hope it isn't too awful! At least it will push me over the threshold to renew my Hilton Diamond status for next year. I'm lifetime Titanium with Marriott but I started staying in Hiltons too late in the game. I won't make it to Lifetime status with them.

Sheila
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Hope your trip goes well. I agree. I have stayed in some that have seen better days but also some nice ones. For domestic work travel, I like the newer Hampton or Homemade but for international Conrad or Intercontinental and Crown Plaza. Since I am Diamond on the Hilton side and Ambassador/Platinum on the Intercon/IHG side, I often get upgrades and lounge access so that is nice.
 
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