Well we are back from our stay at the Elara and here is the punchline in case you want to read no further: they don't provide extensions for the VIP packages and we didn't buy another timeshare. Now you can skip the rest of the post and do something productive with your day.
For those of you who have nothing else better to do, here is what our experience was:
This was our first Hilton presentation (I've done 5 with Vistana before so am well versed in the general timeshare pitch). In addition to trying out Elara, I was genuinely interested in learning more about the Hilton system directly from "the source" and three free nights in Vegas + $200 credit for a future stay was a pretty good deal for us (I already know how I will use this credit). We had booked our presentation for first thing in the morning to free up the afternoon since Vegas is pretty dead before 2 pm anyways. We took a shuttle from the Elara over to the Blvd location.
They have you first check-in at a kiosk and enter some information on vacation styles, desired locations etc. From there you go to a waiting area where they have snacks and a variety of beverages. After waiting for about five minutes a sales rep came over and introduced herself. After introductions she asked if we knew what they were selling and why we were there that day (of course). They then herded everyone into a room with a large TV and comfy chairs.
The sales rep sat beside us as an individual gave an opening presentation about Hilton, primed us for how to fill out the future value vacation calculator and the basic value proposition (i.e., you're going to spend money on vacation anyways - why not do it in a way that gives you higher quality accommodations and flexibility) and ended with an emotional appeal about how the presenter's mother had been so involved in work that they never took any vacation as a family and she died early
. He also stated that all they needed today was a simple yes or a no - they would not try to pressure anyone into a sale or hold us hostage. It was a very slick job and if any of you are a fan of Robert Cialdini's work on persuasion you can see a lot of elements incorporated in a short period of time.
After the presentation we went to a separate booth with the sales rep which had a large TV and a desk with embedded touch surface. It was quite elegant. We chatted about vacation preferences, filled out the future value calculator for vacations (apparently we'll spend a bit over $100k over the next 25 years - I didn't want to get into an argument over how that overstates present value). We talked about the Hilton system and I asked a lot of questions which she answered quite honestly based on my research in terms of booking windows etc. We then took a tour upstairs of one of the three BR model units.
What struck me most is that they focus solely on selling the packages as points rather than individual weeks. It didn't come up that you were actually buying an underlying week until I asked her about it. When I told her that we already had four intervals with Vistana, but we were interested in acquiring a Hilton week her eyes lit up and she excused herself so she could go see what was in inventory (at this point I didn't have the heart to tell her that when we do buy it will be resale).
When she returned she had two offers for us. She thought that we should become elite owners by starting out with a 14,400 "point package" as that would get us a prime unit in Hawaii during platinum season. This package sold for a low price $129,900 or monthly mortgage payments for ten years of only $1800. I asked about the underlying deed, and that is where she started to deflect quite a bit. I told her it would matter because I didn't know if this was two 7200 deeds put together with high MF's or not. After some prodding she went and got additional information and came back to say it was at the Grand Islander. The second offer that was on the table was a 8400 package for $69,000. I didn't probe on that one but I suspect it was also a Hawaii week given the MF attached.
After I made it clear we were not interested in either of those packages she brought in a second agent who talked with us about what we owned, talked about the Marriott merger (I countered with Apollo which made him squirm). I showed him our current ownerships on our Vistana app and he was familiar with the Westin Maui property we have. Being more familiar with Marriott he wasn't sure about the equivalency of StarOptions to the HGVC scale, but I guessed if we combined all of our Vistana properties it would be the equivalent of 21,000 to 28,000 HGVC points which seemed to impress him.
He said he understood our reluctance to jump into the Hilton program after being with Vistana and having a large commitment to them, but that we could start out small with a 7000 EOY point package plus 7000 one-time bonus points for a low price of $32,000. Sorry - I didn't see how that was a better deal. I didn't feel it was fair to start negotiating if I wasn't going to buy (and it would probably prolong everything) so I didn't even start down that road - so I don't know what their "best" offer would have been. He did ask me straight out if I was interested or not and I said no, especially knowing I could buy essentially the same 14,400 package resale for at least $100k less (one of the few fibs he did tell was that Hilton always exercises ROFR - so those resale prices aren't real). He said okay and that they would get us checked out after "quality control" had done a short survey with us.
The quality control guy came over and asked us how things went with the presentation and whether we had felt undue pressure and to rate the professionalism of the sales people. He then asked why we had not bought and I said we already owned four timeshares so we were good for now, but Hilton was high on the list for a future addition to our portfolio (wanting to give him an opening to present a VIP package). He asked what we owned, so I showed him the list. He then stated that the previous two individuals were from "sales" and their job was to get people to buy a week, but he was from "marketing" and his job was to get people back onto the property to consider another sales opportunity. I was actually struck by how blunt and straightforward he was about this. He then asked how big of a "bribe" (his actual word) he would need to offer us to come back.
He then offered us a package that would give us a chance to try out one of the Hawaii resorts to compliment our Maui week or alternatively we could go to Orlando, New York, Myrtle Beach or back to Las Vegas. It was the standard $1799 for 7200 points offer to see how we liked the system. I told him I was interested but since we already had timeshare plans booked that we would have to get a full 24 months rather than just 18 and whether an extension would be possible. He said no, but asked if it would be okay if someone from his team were to call us in about 9-12 months to offer us a VIP package then - I said sure. We spent a total of 10 minutes with him. He then walked us down to check-out and get our refund and $200 stay-a-night certificate. The shuttle then took us back to Elara.
Total time was about 2 hours and 45 minutes including the shuttle rides to/from Elara. I could have probably ended it earlier, but I asked a bunch of questions (plus our first sales rep was incredibly beautiful so that probably helped slow things down
).
Overall I was incredibly impressed by the sales job - just not enough to buy. I thought they were very low pressure and professional (I've found this to also be true at most Vistana presentations outside of Orlando). I would have no trouble going to another Hilton presentation and it's made it more likely that our next timeshare will be a HGVC.
I have to thank those on TUG who have helped document their experiences with the presentations as it allowed me to know about the general flow of the HGVC sales presentation. As a result I always felt like we were in full control of the situation, not stressed and never were in any danger of buying (although my wife did shoot me a dirty glance when we were left alone at the table and I suggested we could buy and rescind the $130k package to help get the TUG total savings number up!)
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Oh - and as we were checking out of Elara we did get offered a return package for four nights in a Las Vegas Blvd studio for $299 with $299 back at the presentation plus $100 future stay certificate to be used within the next six months. I negotiated this up to a 4 night stay in a 2BR at any of the Las Vegas resorts (including Elara subject to availability of course) for $349 (no resort fees) with $299 back + $100 future stay certificate that can be used within the next 13 months. We did get this as we're planning to be back within this timeframe when we meet up with my in-laws and the 2BR will allow us to have the kids along next time.
