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Hilarious sales presentation experience at Residences / Hilton Midtown New York

HuskerATL

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Oh, they are not free, just heavily subsidized. I think we paid around $400 for a 4 day/3 nights at the Quin in a studio In return for attending a presentation.
Oh, those. We skip those. I thought you were talking about the gift for attending an owners update. Surprised that they put you in the Quin, I thought most of those, they put you in a hotel and then you go to the HGV for the presentation.
 

Nowaker

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Aren't you still limited to only one promotional package in a 12 month period?
Only if the invite says so. Mine didn't. It was a blanket invite with no requirements whatsoever. NYC properties might have a higher margin so they can offer more.
 

amirh

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Oh, those. We skip those. I thought you were talking about the gift for attending an owners update. Surprised that they put you in the Quin, I thought most of those, they put you in a hotel and then you go to the HGV for the presentation.
I learned my lesson after the first time I did one of these in myrtle beach and they put us in a crappy hotel. I will only do it if they put us in an HGVC TS. You just have to request it and insist. Usually though the presentation is at a different property.
 

brp

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Oh, they are not free, just heavily subsidized. I think we paid around $400 for a 4 day/3 nights at the Quin in a studio In return for attending a presentation.
We've been offered that before. At the time it was like 3 days/2 nights for $149 or so, and could add a day for like $50. I heard someone here (we're at W. 57th now) talking about this just yesterday, so they're still around.

Ours have been for stays at W. 57th.

Definitely a good deal.

Cheers.
 

Nowaker

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3 days/2 nights for $149 or so
That's still a case - I overheard a conversation between a "concierge" guy and a random person who inquired about West 57th hotel rates. Concierge gave them a pamphlet with 2 night for $149.
 

zjhasan1976

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Staying at West 57th via RCI now. I got invited to attend a 1.5h sales presentation at Residences 4 blocks down at 8.45am and was offered 100,000 HH points for it. I agreed and received a written invite.

We got in at 8.40am and checked in. A salesperson asked me to clarify some of my portfolio. He also asked if I previously attended a presentation, to which I said, yes I did, asked where (Orlando), and when asked why I didn't upgrade, I told him that they didn't want to accept a trade-in on my terms. He then said some random things like "We're NYC, we can do more things with inventory than others, bla bla bla". And I told him I'd like to trade in two Gold Blvds and one Plat Trump for a Platinum deed with better MFpp. Told him my target new-money-in is around $10K. He would call corporate to see. He then came back with $20K minimum (cite, "a little more than $20K" to fly), confirming what I already shared after the presentation at Parc Soleil: "The era of $10K new money trade-ins is dead". https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/t...-going-all-the-way-to-corporate.353118/page-2

Once I rejected the $20K-ish upgrade saying ("that's too much, we can only do around $10K"), the salesman said "that's what I thought, in that case, let's get you out of here" and walked us to the elevator/checkin at 9.40am. After we reached the check-in/check-out desk, he ostentatiously ripped the sheet of paper with my deeds list into pieces (I laughed internally). Then, as we were about to enter the elevator, he said "I will call corporate and get you on a do-not-invite list". I said "okay, thank you". He then said the same thing once again with just slightly different words, to which I said "okay" again. My wife and I laughed when the elevator door closed. :LOL::D:p That was the funniest presentation to date. Now waiting for the sweet 100K HH to post.

---

I always observe salesmen trying to decipher my deed list. HGVC-provided printout is so inconsistent (e.g. suggesting I have two annual Trumps, and not an even+odd Trump; has missing information on certain deeds that they don't even know what property it is), I'm finding it hard to believe I'll land on that "do not invite list". If it existed, I would have been on it for a long time by now. ;)
We were at HGVC Seaworld earlier this month and we were approached by the owners update person while still in the check in line. The second she noticed we had bought resale, she quickly moved to the ppl behind us. LOL. I guess they know now that resale buyers are probably the most difficult to bait.
 

HuskerATL

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We were at HGVC Seaworld earlier this month and we were approached by the owners update person while still in the check in line. The second she noticed we had bought resale, she quickly moved to the ppl behind us. LOL. I guess they know now that resale buyers are probably the most difficult to bait.
How did they know that? Most of the time, they don't know that unless you tell them. They figure it out later but it seems to take more effort and that doesn't happen until they have reason to dig more. They always think that we bought retail and it isn't until we either tell them or they did more when trying to make an offer, that they figure it out.
 

Eric B

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We were at HGVC Seaworld earlier this month and we were approached by the owners update person while still in the check in line. The second she noticed we had bought resale, she quickly moved to the ppl behind us. LOL. I guess they know now that resale buyers are probably the most difficult to bait.
They actually have all of us divided up into tiers based on how we purchased. Because we traded in a couple of resale weeks for a developer week once, they have us in the upper tier and we get invited for pretty decent incentives whenever we stay at an HGVC resort. The incentives vary not only based on what tier you're in but also how long it's been since you were subjected to a sales presentation - 90 days is the interval that gets you the most for a single one but I haven't checked to see whether it would be a better return doing them more frequently.

How did they know that? Most of the time, they don't know that unless you tell them. They figure it out later but it seems to take more effort and that doesn't happen until they have reason to dig more. They always think that we bought retail and it isn't until we either tell them or they did more when trying to make an offer, that they figure it out.
At least in NYC, the body snatchers can look you up to see what tier you're in. They also know who will be checking in that day. They might not know with a great deal of certainty whether a particular deed you have is a retail one but they will know what they're authorized to offer you as incentives and what they will get if you attend - that varies as well. It's a pretty rational way to set things up for the marketing and sales efforts; I do appreciate that they don't just try to get everyone in like some of the other systems do.
 

HuskerATL

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They actually have all of us divided up into tiers based on how we purchased. Because we traded in a couple of resale weeks for a developer week once, they have us in the upper tier and we get invited for pretty decent incentives whenever we stay at an HGVC resort. The incentives vary not only based on what tier you're in but also how long it's been since you were subjected to a sales presentation - 90 days is the interval that gets you the most for a single one but I haven't checked to see whether it would be a better return doing them more frequently.
I think you are giving them too much credit. I doubt they know as much as you think they know. They will know when you last attended an update, how many points/weeks you own, and when you last bought. They will also know your HGV Max Tier level or Elite level. I think that is all they initially know until they get to a point of really digging in and it is the finance folks who figure out that you have a resale deed. If they see that you upgraded to a developer deed recently, that will be easy to figure out and will raise your "bar" since you obviously bought into a sales pitch so may be open to more. They have known that we attended a presentation in Hawaii, accepted an upgrade, and then rescinded but they never know our Blvd weeks are resale until later....
 

GT75

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I think you are giving them too much credit. I doubt they know as much as you think they know
My experience is that they know exactly what you own and how much they can offer based on an algorithm developed by HVG predicting purchase potential. Now, the body snatchers probably don’t have details on what you own just what they can offer.
 

HuskerATL

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My experience is that they know exactly what you own and how much they can offer based on an algorithm developed by HVG predicting purchase potential.
I don't know. Again, I think you are giving them too much credit. That can be created but I don't buy that it is that specific/in-depth. The reason that I say this is that every time they come out for an offer, they present our resale as retail, with the original amount the first owner paid, and still do not seem to know it isn't retail until we tell them. I have had this happen multiple times. Even in our Hawaii offer that we accepted but later rescinded, the finance person didn't even seem to be aware that the Blvd weeks were resale. I think their systems aren't as robust as you think a multi-billion dollar company should be. I actually think they are a mess with the various ownership types, owned/managed/affiliate properties and now toss in DRI/Embarc. I just look at how poorly their club rules are released with tons of typos/errors, how many conflicts in the system they have like folks buying resale and getting into Max, etc.
 

Nowaker

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At least in NYC, the body snatchers can look you up to see what tier you're in. They also know who will be checking in that day. They might not know with a great deal of certainty whether a particular deed you have is a retail one but they will know what they're authorized to offer you as incentives and what they will get if you attend - that varies as well.
Except if you're coming to HC NYC via RCI. Then they know nothing about you and think you're a non-member and offer you 100K HH. Not my problem, though!
 

Eric B

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Except if you're coming to HC NYC via RCI. Then they know nothing about you and think you're a non-member and offer you 100K HH. Not my problem, though!
I wouldn't be too sure about that. When I've exchanged into W 57 through RCI using an external RCI account that doesn't reflect my HGVC ownership, I've been recognized as an HGV Max Premier owner. Big Brother is watching you.
 

Nowaker

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My experience is that they know exactly what you own and how much they can offer based on an algorithm developed by HVG predicting purchase potential. Now, the body snatchers probably don’t have details on what you own just what they can offer.
Not my experience. Somehow, I get into these presentations all the time. NYC was a special case (RCI booking and they knew nothing about me) but Parc Soleil had me twice, Elara had once (+two times mandatory on promotional package - but when they invited me in March, they knew I would be coming in April as my package was booked), Sunrise Lodge once, Kings Land once, and probably something more.

Once they found me in the system as a member, they (salespeople not concierge) still didn't know much. They didn't know when I attended a previous presentation. They didn't know what my deeds are and had to decipher them. If anything, their system is *bleep*. And I agree with @HuskerATL 's words: "you're giving them too much credit".

Their system doesn't indicate if a deed is retail or resale. They guess it by looking at the age of your account, and the age of that particular deed. If it predates it, it's resale. If not, it's retail. Seriously.
 

Reddart

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What is totally clear is their reservation computer system is *bleep*. So glad I’m done walking my reservations for next year.
 

Nowaker

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I wouldn't be too sure about that. When I've exchanged into W 57 through RCI using an external RCI account that doesn't reflect my HGVC ownership, I've been recognized as an HGV Max Premier owner. Big Brother is watching you.
That's not a hypothesis. These are exact words from the concierge person: I was marked as non-owner, and cleared for 100K HH offer.

There is no big brother. They could perform a manual search based on what names come from RCI. This probably happened to you but didn't happen to me.
 

Nowaker

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What is totally clear is their reservation computer system is *bleep*. So glad I’m done walking my reservations for next year.
Offtopic. This is a conversation about their internal sales systems, and not booking systems.
 

Eric B

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What is totally clear is their reservation computer system is *bleep*. So glad I’m done walking my reservations for next year.
I haven't done too badly with the reservations computer system for HGV. The Vistana/Marriott one has been a bit iffy on occasion for me this year due to the integration, etc. I've got most of my reservations made for next year, too, in any case.

How's the weather where you are?

Offtopic. This is a conversation about their internal sales systems, and not booking systems.
Ooops! Didn't mean to get off topic....
 

HuskerATL

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This tells them all they need to know. If you are Max, then you bought retail (either outright or upgraded a resale..but either way probably paid more than you should for what you own so you are a target for them) and if you are any level above member level, then you have probably bought multiple retail so they classify you as someone who is willing to spend money on a TS. You are their primary target versus a HGVClub Legacy owner. The Legacy owner has rejected Max or recently bought resale....so not a good target. Not much data required to figure this out.

1698158479773.png
 

HuskerATL

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A person just posted this on FB with questions about it. It was a voicemail left for them....not bad.

1698159354981.png
 

Talent312

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In HGVC;s early days (last century), the sales-peep knew so little, they seemed to think we were the original buyers. Our members cards showed their original sales date and we'd get regular calls. But in the last 10 years or so, they've figured out that (a) we always ducked their calls, and (2) bought resale only.

The last time I talked to one of their kind, he said, "I see your name. Well, have a nice stay."
.
 

HuskerATL

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In HGVC;s early days (last century), the sales-peep knew so little, they seemed to think we were the original buyers. Our members cards showed their original sales date and we'd get regular calls. But in the last 10 years or so, they've figured out that (a) we always ducked their calls, and (2) bought resale only.

The last time I talked to one of their kind, he said, "I see your name. Well, have a nice stay."
.
We are in the process of dumping our only retail...so we will only be resale soon.. so we will see if that changes how they chat with us. So far, we get invited to updates every trip....rarely go though. We have gone the most within the last couple years though because we wanted to hear about the Max updates. In 20 years, we have only gone to about dozen or so...if that.
 

GT75

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so we will only be resale soon.
But your resale includes purchases from HGVC resale agent (like didn't you obtain Legacy Elite status via this method). If I remember correctly, @Nowaker wasn't invited into an owner's update until he purchased a Scotland resale from HGVC resale agent. Honestly, I wish that I wasn't asked to attend either so I would love to be added to the "HGV blackball presentations list". Maybe there is a form that I could fill out.
 
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HuskerATL

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But your resale includes purchases from HGVC resale agent (like didn't you obtain Legacy Elite status via this method).
that is true so maybe it won't be quite the same as buying resale in the US...but those are still considered resale, do not qualify you for Max, are not upgradable, and really seem to confuse the sale's folks....that is why they focus on the Blvds for trade in.
 

dayooper

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Before our August 2021 trip to Elara, we got a call from their sales manager. He asked us about our trips. He told us he saw that we didn’t take any trips from when we “bought” our deed in 1994 (when the original owners purchased) and our 1st trip with our ownership in 2019. He flat out asked us if we were resale.

When we purchased in 2018, there was a small issue getting our account set up. The CSR manually set it up and never asked us if we are resale. Since Flamingo dies not have ROFR and they aren’t actively selling their deeds, I always wondered if there was issue with how our account was created.
 
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