cd5
TUG Member
Before I start, I have to say that the salesperson was very nice and no pressure. It's not his fault that they haven't told him much about Embarc nor that some of it is inaccurate. I couldn't help myself and corrected him at times. It took me 30 minutes to get there and 30 minutes to come back and 1.5 hours at the resort itself.
Here we go with my Member Review Experience:
1- it's not at Embarc (HGVC) it's at Palm Canyon Resort (30 min away which is why $200 gift card) a former DRI resort - therefore not HGVC but HVC. The preview centre has been reno'd at Embarc but is not open - I believe they need to sell Diamond points as a priority so are sending Embarc (HGVC) members to an HVC resort in the hopes they bite (are confused) and buy the points which are of lesser value in my opinion.
2- you go to preview centre and they check you in. Next they bring you to see a marketing video in a mini-theatre, showing all the fantastic Hilton properties you could go to and emphasizing the relationship with Hilton Hotels/Honors
3- they bring you back to the preview centre where your salesperson comes to get you and bring you to his desk
4- they ask about you and where you own and then proceed to tell you that Embarc is only 60% sold and that there is 40% of points available for sales (error #1 - those are Diamond stats, we're 94% sold). (They've done their research with your member number as to what you have and when it was bought.)
5- isn't made clear (intentionally?) but the points you'd be buying to get into Max are HVC points (so now you'd have Embarc + former DRI points in the US Collection). Why is Max booking only 6 months out? More availability then . Talks about the reservation timelines as being part of Max (11, 12,13 months) without distinguishing which "collection" offers these - gets corrected again, I know that 11 months is Embarc and Diamond 13 in home collection)
6- points are selling at $8usd per point and the minimum you need to be at the lowest level of Max is 11,000 pts. I have 7,500 so you do the math...the extra points would be US Collection, but no mention of that made until I ask for confirmation.
7- I ask about the possibility of buying into Max at a flat rate (which according to rumors may be possible) and he tells me that only members who bought in "phase 1" could do that. Phase 1 ended in Dec 2022. I tell him that it was impossible for us to be in phase 1 because Max was only launched in Apr 2023 for us. He's smart - he kept a note of that in his head to make me an offer (lower than the stated $8/pt) later based on that
8- he shows me the points requirements charts for HGVC, The Club in the sales brochure, but doesn't understand the distinction between these - I show him our page (for EE) on the next page and explain to him that these are the current values for each group, Hilton, Diamond and Embarc for their own members, not Max.
9- he is showing me The Club points chart (which seem lower than ours for similar rooms) as being what we could get with Max - it's not, Hilton locations cost more points per night than ours, Diamond less. Naturally emphasis is on what you can get within the US collection (but what could you really get with 3,500 points??)
10- we discuss the fact that I'm not really interested in getting Diamond points, that it would make more sense for me to buy into Max with Embarc or even Hilton and so he goes back to sharpen his pencil and make me a different offer.
11- I can get 3,500 Diamond points to get to the 11,000 minum Max number for $12,000 USD. That's around $3.5 per point versus the original $8
12- selling point for Hilton points (which are deeded) is that they don't lose value . I didn't bother setting him straight on that one.
13- I decline the offer saying that buying 3,500 Diamond points for $12000usd at $1.38 exchange rate makes zero sense and so he brings me to get my gift card
Conclusion: Not high pressure, pleasant experience but buyer beware - a lot of what is said for us (Embarc) and probably for others as well, is inaccurate because of the salesperson's lack of knowledge.
Going to Spencer's in Palm Springs for brunch on Sunday with my daughter and her family with the gift card.
Here we go with my Member Review Experience:
1- it's not at Embarc (HGVC) it's at Palm Canyon Resort (30 min away which is why $200 gift card) a former DRI resort - therefore not HGVC but HVC. The preview centre has been reno'd at Embarc but is not open - I believe they need to sell Diamond points as a priority so are sending Embarc (HGVC) members to an HVC resort in the hopes they bite (are confused) and buy the points which are of lesser value in my opinion.
2- you go to preview centre and they check you in. Next they bring you to see a marketing video in a mini-theatre, showing all the fantastic Hilton properties you could go to and emphasizing the relationship with Hilton Hotels/Honors
3- they bring you back to the preview centre where your salesperson comes to get you and bring you to his desk
4- they ask about you and where you own and then proceed to tell you that Embarc is only 60% sold and that there is 40% of points available for sales (error #1 - those are Diamond stats, we're 94% sold). (They've done their research with your member number as to what you have and when it was bought.)
5- isn't made clear (intentionally?) but the points you'd be buying to get into Max are HVC points (so now you'd have Embarc + former DRI points in the US Collection). Why is Max booking only 6 months out? More availability then . Talks about the reservation timelines as being part of Max (11, 12,13 months) without distinguishing which "collection" offers these - gets corrected again, I know that 11 months is Embarc and Diamond 13 in home collection)
6- points are selling at $8usd per point and the minimum you need to be at the lowest level of Max is 11,000 pts. I have 7,500 so you do the math...the extra points would be US Collection, but no mention of that made until I ask for confirmation.
7- I ask about the possibility of buying into Max at a flat rate (which according to rumors may be possible) and he tells me that only members who bought in "phase 1" could do that. Phase 1 ended in Dec 2022. I tell him that it was impossible for us to be in phase 1 because Max was only launched in Apr 2023 for us. He's smart - he kept a note of that in his head to make me an offer (lower than the stated $8/pt) later based on that
8- he shows me the points requirements charts for HGVC, The Club in the sales brochure, but doesn't understand the distinction between these - I show him our page (for EE) on the next page and explain to him that these are the current values for each group, Hilton, Diamond and Embarc for their own members, not Max.
9- he is showing me The Club points chart (which seem lower than ours for similar rooms) as being what we could get with Max - it's not, Hilton locations cost more points per night than ours, Diamond less. Naturally emphasis is on what you can get within the US collection (but what could you really get with 3,500 points??)
10- we discuss the fact that I'm not really interested in getting Diamond points, that it would make more sense for me to buy into Max with Embarc or even Hilton and so he goes back to sharpen his pencil and make me a different offer.
11- I can get 3,500 Diamond points to get to the 11,000 minum Max number for $12,000 USD. That's around $3.5 per point versus the original $8
12- selling point for Hilton points (which are deeded) is that they don't lose value . I didn't bother setting him straight on that one.
13- I decline the offer saying that buying 3,500 Diamond points for $12000usd at $1.38 exchange rate makes zero sense and so he brings me to get my gift card
Conclusion: Not high pressure, pleasant experience but buyer beware - a lot of what is said for us (Embarc) and probably for others as well, is inaccurate because of the salesperson's lack of knowledge.
Going to Spencer's in Palm Springs for brunch on Sunday with my daughter and her family with the gift card.
Last edited:
