HGVC VIP cancellation?

[Seanandcaitlin]

Hi all,

I attended Hilton's HGVC sales pitch this weekend in Las Vegas. After we turned them down, they came back with the VIP pitch, $1695 for 7000 points to use at one of a few resorts sometime in the next 18 months. We have been wanting to take the kids to Waikoloa next year, so this seemed to be an okay deal.

After signing and escaping sales pitch hell, I went online and priced out a week at King's Land for the class of room we'd been looking at. I found it was slightly less to just book it in advance with cash rather than use these points and get stuck with another sales pitch. I saw some earlier threads that suggest a ten-day cancellation period, but I don't see anything about that in my documentation. Does anybody know if there's been a change in policy here?

I've been surprised at how sleazy the sales people were behaving through the whole process. I mentioned the resale market and the sales woman told me there really wasn't one because Hilton would ROFR anything that was less than their prices, which was a blatant lie. The high pressure tactics were a real turnoff, and I can't imagine it gets them a lot of positive word of mouth. I'm still considering the program with a resale, but compared to the positive experience I've had with DVC resale, the whole thing is giving me a bad feeling.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[lizap]

We bought the same package and rescinded. Send in a letter of recission immediately. If you decide to buy Hilton resale, you can apply what you would have spent on the resale purchase.

Hi all,

I attended Hilton's HGVC sales pitch this weekend in Las Vegas. After we turned them down, they came back with the VIP pitch, $1695 for 7000 points to use at one of a few resorts sometime in the next 18 months. We have been wanting to take the kids to Waikoloa next year, so this seemed to be an okay deal.

After signing and escaping sales pitch hell, I went online and priced out a week at King's Land for the class of room we'd been looking at. I found it was slightly less to just book it in advance with cash rather than use these points and get stuck with another sales pitch. I saw some earlier threads that suggest a ten-day cancellation period, but I don't see anything about that in my documentation. Does anybody know if there's been a change in policy here?

I've been surprised at how sleazy the sales people were behaving through the whole process. I mentioned the resale market and the sales woman told me there really wasn't one because Hilton would ROFR anything that was less than their prices, which was a blatant lie. The high pressure tactics were a real turnoff, and I can't imagine it gets them a lot of positive word of mouth. I'm still considering the program with a resale, but compared to the positive experience I've had with DVC resale, the whole thing is giving me a bad feeling.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Seanandcaitlin]

Just posting this in case it is useful for others in this situation:

I called the reservations number as it was the only piece of contact info I had for them. The woman I spoke with gave me an email address, 'vipinfo@hgvc.com', and said I needed to send my recission request there. I asked what the recission period is, and she said three days for contracts from Nevada.

I sent in an email and got an automated response saying they would service the request within three days. That at least gives me a timestamp for when they received my request showing that it was within the three-day period. I'll post again when I get an update.

 

[lizap]

Do you have time to overnight it?

Just posting this in case it is useful for others in this situation:

I called the reservations number as it was the only piece of contact info I had for them. The woman I spoke with gave me an email address, 'vipinfo@hgvc.com', and said I needed to send my recission request there. I asked what the recission period is, and she said three days for contracts from Nevada.

I sent in an email and got an automated response saying they would service the request within three days. That at least gives me a timestamp for when they received my request showing that it was within the three-day period. I'll post again when I get an update.

 

[presley]

If you paid with credit card, you can start a dispute if you don't hear back right away.

 

[Bill4728]

I do not know about the HGVC VIP program but for most all TS purchases an Email or phone call is NOT good enough. You must mail a letter within the recession period.

 

[SmithOp]

Where did you find a lower price? I checked a gold week, Sep 20-27th on Hilton.com and a Kingsland 2 bedroom is $289 a night and up. One bedroom is $193, but 7000 points would get you 10 days in a one bedroom, so your average nightly rate would be $169.50

Cancel because you don't want to go to the sales presentation, but it's not a bad deal for nightly rate. Hawaii HGVC sales are not as bad as Vegas.

You can use the points any way you want, you could split into several short stays, and there is no reservation fee with VIP points, they spend just like any HGVC points at 9 months.

 

[GTLINZ]

Where did you find a lower price? I checked a gold week, Sep 20-27th on Hilton.com and a Kingsland 2 bedroom is $289 a night and up. One bedroom is $193, but 7000 points would get you 10 days in a one bedroom, so your average nightly rate would be $169.50

Cancel because you don't want to go to the sales presentation, but it's not a bad deal for nightly rate. Hawaii HGVC sales are not as bad as Vegas.

You can use the points any way you want, you could split into several short stays, and there is no reservation fee with VIP points, they spend just like any HGVC points at 9 months.

The VIP package is not a bad deal at all if you can book what you want. However, I was in your shoes years ago and did rescind - but it was because I knew I wanted to buy resale and preferred to use the cash towards a purchase. We live near FL and have been able to really utilize our points. I would suggest you evaluate if you can and want to travel to HGVC locations first. Otherwise, it could be a nice trip to Hawaii !

Maint fees and club fee for a 7000 point package are at least $1200 a year. The package really has no commitment. If you know you want to buy, maybe it is best to rescind. If you are not sure, and REALLY want to go to Hawaii, test the package and try to book Hawaii NOW. It sure could cost more than you paid - and staying in hotel rooms after timesharing (with a kitchen, separate rooms, etc is a letdown - even a studio w/ mini kitchen is far better than a standard hotel room). If you have any issues booking what you want, maybe it is best to rescind. If you love HGVC, you can set your mind to buy at market rates and should rescind. Either way, plan a nice vacation now or set yourself up for years to come and ENJOY yourself.

We are so spoiled, we find it hard to stay in a standard hotel room after our experience with "ownership". My experience with my ownership is that we have traveled more than we would have if we did not buy. For us, it has been well worth the investment.

FYI - I ended up buying a DRI package years ago when in Kaanapali thru a trade and we just used the package and enjoyed ourselves. We did not buy - but they were awfully anxious to help us book what we wanted and the 1 hour "sales update" was worth the 10 days we enjoyed at San Luis Bay Inn. It was not the BEST deal in the world, but we had a great vacation and it was well worth the trouble.

 

[Seanandcaitlin]

Where did you find a lower price? I checked a gold week, Sep 20-27th on Hilton.com and a Kingsland 2 bedroom is $289 a night and up. One bedroom is $193, but 7000 points would get you 10 days in a one bedroom, so your average nightly rate would be $169.50

I was comparing a week in March, so it's platinum time. A one-BR at King's Land would be 7200 pts for a full week, and I'm seeing $217 advance purchase, $249 without purchase. The total would be $1722 for a week, which is totally worth not sitting through the presentation, and that's assuming they'd let me book 7 nights with my 7k points. I do know the advance purchase would be nonrefundable, but that's a situation I'm already in anyway. The VIP deal also stipulates a 7 nights maximum over a maximum of two trips, so there's no way to use more than 7 anyway.

I still haven't heard back, but I did pay by card so if they give me any crap I have the option to dispute. The deal is not horrible, so it might not be worth pushing that far, but it will guarantee that I will not be a receptive (or happy) customer for the sales pitch.

 

[Seanandcaitlin]

Quick update...yesterday I received an email saying that they received my request and that it was being processed. Refunds may take 14-21 days. So far so good.

 

[vegasVIP]

Glad to hear your refund is on its way. I purchased resale and have attended 3 "Owners updates/sales pitches". I am happy with my resale purchase and I must say the updates are almost painless. On top fo that, I am out with the $100 + dining credit. Hopefully if you decide to purchae, thigns will go smoothly for you.

Ken

 

[Seanandcaitlin]

I'm definitely considering a resale. We already have DVC (resale) and just need to see how we'd fit HGVC into our vacation plans. I'm not sure the HGVC resorts hit most of our frequent destinations, but if we can exchange for RCI easily, that opens things up a lot.