We are not owners at any HGVC location, but here are my thoughts.
Living in Colorado, my wife I have been taking an annual winter pilgrimage to the islands of Hawaii since 1985. For the last several years we've been going in the month of January. In January of 2014 after spending a couple of weeks on Maui, we traveled to Waikoloa after receiving an HGVC promo. We were able to stay at the Hilton Waikoloa Village for 5 nights for $600 (including a car and $200 voucher) as long as we attended a sales presentation at Kings' Land. As CanuckTravlr experienced, we too experience a very high pressure presentation. However, we did like the Kings' Land property but cautiously decided to not buy.
In January 2015 we returned to Maui for 3 weeks. While on that trip (for a variety of reasons) we decided to try Kings' Land the next year.
In January 2016 we stayed at Kings' Land for 3 weeks booking our stay at Hilton.com (a 1BR Junior Suite in Phase 2) for $199 per night (AAA rate / no resort charge). We thoroughly enjoyed the stay except for attending an optional sales presentation that again was very high pressure. We did use this presentation to fully explore all the costs of ownership (up front costs, annual fees, assessments and even some reservation costs) and again concluded it made no sense for us.
In January 2017 we returned to Kings' Land (again a 1BR Junior Suite for 3 weeks and booking our stay at Hilton.com). This time we paid the same $199 per night but were assessed the required $25 per night resort charge. We chose to not opt-in to the sales presentation this time.
Next month, January 2018 we will be returning to Kings' Land this time staying in a 1BR Deluxe Suite for a bit more money. The $199 per night AAA rate is still available for a 1BR Junior Suite. We are not planning to attend another sales presentation.
In addition to not spending much more than the annual maintenance fee for a single week stay, by booking this way we get daily maid service that an owner does not get. IOW, IMHO we have found a way to enjoy the Kings' Land facility without the upfront cost of becoming an owner or the potential difficulty and/or financial loss of selling the ownership. We also realize that being able to book Kings' Land at Hilton.com com may not be an option forever.
Our choice may seem strange to all the owners here, but I thought an alternative perspective might be of some interest.