Sick to my stomach!!! Feel taken!

[billymach4]

What took you so long to find TUG?

That being said we had been to dozens of TS presentations before and never bought we just decided we wanted Hilton so we went back. Never even considered we were being lied to by the huge Hilton brand. I didn't think it was like West Gate.

Thanks for the warm welcome. It means a lot. I guess I'm a little calmer now i feel like I'm coming out of literal shock. Need a beer...

You have been around the block a few times and are knowledgeable about Timeshares, and you even knew enough to stay away from Wastegate... What took you so long to find TUG?

 

[VegasBella]

I happen to think the retail prices of timeshares are inflated AND the resale prices are undervalued. Just because you can buy something for nothing doesn't mean the something's worth nothing.

A lot of sellers are desperate (can't afford loan payments or MF) and a lot of buyers are ignorant of the resale market (thus too few buyers) so that makes the entire resale market a little off. Add in the recession and... I'm just saying you're timing was off. Probably could have saved some money but the product is still valuable.

 

[RX8]

You didn't throw away $34,000.

You got 40,000 bonus points. That is worth about six years of maintenance fees, or about $6,000. This timeshare also has true resale value. Some people have to PAY someone to take their timeshare off their hands. You can sell yours for about $10,000.

I just went through a presentation. The salesman told me he could show me how I could "get rid of" my maintenance fees. His whole spiel in trying to get me to buy more points was the "value" of all those vacations far exceeding my maintenance fees. So there you have it, use RCI to spend two weeks at Disney and you will have at least five years of "value" considering the cost to rent at Disney.

 

[pianodinosaur]

Welcome to TUG and welcome to the club. Make lemonade and have some great vacations.

 

[silentg]

A timeshare is just that a share of time. Look at it this way, you bought the vacation of a lifetime. Timeshares are not like other real estate, they are buying a week of time to use as a vacation, better than a hotel. Enjoy the timeshare, you will learn how to trade it rent it, or stay at it. Remember the reason you bought it. We bought our first timeshare in 1981 and still have it. No regrets, just have to stop buying more weeks and enjoy what we have. You will get a lot of advice from all of us! Join TUG and enjoy Timesharing!
TerryC

 

[FatPedro]

Gift cards!

Hello Tuggers and takenbyhilton!

I've been reading all the posts from our Tuggers over the last year and a bit and they have great pointers, especially alwaysonvacation, pigsdad, Greg, and Presley, just to name a few, and to all of you, a big thank you!

Our fellow Tuggers are right - learn and use the system to your advantage and take fantastic vacations! No point in stressing out on what could have been. This is a great system and I'm already planning my 2016 vacations!

We too bought from the developer (KL2 - 1 BR gold) which DH and I decided to keep, even though we knew about the resale market. We then decided to get more points via the resale market and added 2 more deeds (Flamingo and Sea World 2BR's). We have since gone back to the developer and upgraded to a Lagoon 2BR Plus platinum as we wanted to be able to book home week. This all happened over the course of 12 months.

Yes we paid a bucket load of $ to HGVC both times. Yes we are still happy. Yes it is a great system. Yes we look forward to our vacations. Yes we smile every time we think of HGVC. We've never had high pressure sales people; in fact we found them to be quite pleasant and cheerful - perhaps it's the Hawaiian aloha...?:whoopie:

We now have 3 vacations booked - just booked our third vacation tonight - our first RCI exchange - for 1 week in Manhattan; we are pumped! Waiting to book 2 weeks at Lagoon for latter part of next year, for a family reunion.

As for the bonus points, you can also change them into gift cards - car rental, spa, shopping, etc. I'm thinking of a nice spa gift card right about now, for a nice massage!. My other thought is to convert to Hhonors points to go towards my dream vacation in the Maldives at the Conrad.

I hope you keep enjoying HGVC's system and have many fantastic vacations!!

 

[mclyne]

Don't feel too badly. We purchased , from the developer, a 3 bedroom villa in St. Thomas for $42,000!! You can now buy them for half the price. Our only saving grace is that we use it yearly and enjoy it very much. It is our family vacation. Our kids and grand kids love it. But, I must admit, I do get annoyed every time I see a villa for sale at such a reduced price.

 

[Hilton_Lemonade]

You have been around the block a few times and are knowledgeable about Timeshares, and you even knew enough to stay away from Wastegate... What took you so long to find TUG?

I have no good answer. Never thought about a timeshare community before the other day. I thought maybe i would find a HGVC forum or something, ran by Hilton or hgvc owners.

 

[Hilton_Lemonade]

I happen to think the retail prices of timeshares are inflated AND the resale prices are undervalued.

I agree 100%

 

[Hilton_Lemonade]

All of your info on what the salesperson told you was similar to what they told me. It is wild that they can say this stuff and get away with it. In fact we bought direct while in Hawaii on a vip trial trip and recsinded when we got home.

We got almost all our incorrect information from Hawaii as well. That is where we purchased originally. Then we upgraded at Parc Solei.
We bought from a "high up" salesman. Middle aged clean cut black guy.

 

[Hilton_Lemonade]

Go read the Wyndham thread - almost all the Wyndham resorts are not near as nice as your Hilton properties - but as a much BIGGER system, a lot more people who feel TAKEN by Wyndham and many for a similar amount of money.

Can you give me a link? I cant find anything really? Maybe i am just looking in the wrong place.

 

[chriskre]

I have no good answer. Never thought about a timeshare community before the other day. I thought maybe i would find a HGVC forum or something, ran by Hilton or hgvc owners.

Don't feel bad, I purchased Disney from Disney directly before I found TUG.
No regrets because once I'm at a Disney resort it makes the pain go away.
You will feel the same way once you start enjoying the HGVC club which is a great system just like Disney.
It's only money and life is short.
Enjoy your luxury purchase, you're worth it.

 

[Ron98GT]

We do love it. We almost bought Disney but didn't because of the 50 year lease period.

We have 6 vacations planned with HGVC / RCI now, and more to book because we don't want to lose the 7,000 bonus points. We are looking for nice places in Gatlinburg and Key West now but no luck as of yet.

Check out the HGVC TS's in Marco Island, FL (all 2-Bdrms) or even Miami Beach. Marco Island was an interesting & fun place to stay. It's straight West out of Ft Lauderdale, South of Naples, and next to the Everglades. Although there are a number of HGVC TS's in Marco Island & Captiva (harder to get into), check out Eagle's Nest and Charter Club. If you book Marco Island thru the HGVC portal, you'll use a MAX 4800 points instead of the full 7K, and depending upon the season it could be as low as 2400, but with 40,000+ points to use I guess that's not a problem.

 

[Hilton_Lemonade]

Check out the HGVC TS's in Marco Island, FL (all 2-Bdrms) or even Miami Beach. Marco Island was an interesting & fun place to stay. It's straight West out of Ft Lauderdale, South of Naples, and next to the Everglades. Although there are a number of HGVC TS's in Marco Island & Captiva (harder to get into), check out Eagle's Nest and Charter Club. If you book Marco Island thru the HGVC portal, you'll use a MAX 4800 points instead of the full 7K, and depending upon the season it could be as low as 2400, but with 40,000+ points to use I guess that's not a problem.

Yeah we are struggling to use our points. But I think we will just make it. We have 1 big trip planned and a bunch of small ones.

 

[RX8]

First step in your recovery is to change your user name!

 

[presley]

Yeah we are struggling to use our points. But I think we will just make it. We have 1 big trip planned and a bunch of small ones.

Remember that they will expire 2 years from date of issued and need to be used by then. Seems many think they can book something in the future, past expiration, if the booking is done prior to expiration and that is not the case. You may want to mark on your calendar about a month before they expire to call in and have any leftovers used towards hhonors (hhonors won't expire).

 

[Hilton_Lemonade]

First step in your recovery is to change your user name!

I figured that was a good idea. But I cannot find out how. Can a Mod give me some guidance?

 

[presley]

I figured that was a good idea. But I cannot find out how. Can a Mod give me some guidance?

You need to message a moderator and ask if they can/will do it for you. Chances are that they will since it looks like you chose your user name out of frustration, but now would like to stay and learn. I don't think they are fond of changing user names in most situations.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Welcome to TUG,

If it makes you feel better, you may have received a better deal than we did, you certainly ended up way more bonus points than the 10K we received..

We did not plan to buy either, but really like the program after the presentation... I still love the HGVC program, just not thrilled by the 29K for 5000 annual points... But now i can look back and can honestly say the two HGVC timeshare vacations have been some our best trips..

 

[Sandy VDH]

My other thought is to convert to Hhonors points to go towards my dream vacation in the Maldives at the Conrad.

That is exactly what I did this year. I spent 10 day at the Conrad Maldives. It is divine. If you are a diver it is even better.

With Hilton Gold or higher Status you get free breakfast and there is a free cocktail hour every evening except the night of the managers party.

Even the entry level Beach Villas are fantastic. If you have to have an overwater bungalow they offer paid upgrades, which seem to work out better. You could also split your time and do some days at beach villas and them move up for some night to an overwater bungalow.

I loved my beach villa, large, and just a short walk to the beach. Mine was just across from the dive shop which was great, because that I all that I did when I was there.

Fellow Canadian, go for it.....make super good use of those bonus points.

 

[LisaH]

We bought from a "high up" salesman. Middle aged clean cut black guy.

Where did this happen? In HHV on Oahu?

 

[Hilton_Lemonade]

Where did this happen? In HHV on Oahu?

Yes. He said he had a wife just bought a high dollar house etc. etc.

 

[bastroum]

It completely normal in the industry. In fact, many timeshares have NO resale value, so you actually bought one that does - give yourself a pat on the back for that.

At this point, you have zero recourse, so put it behind you, hang out with us, and enjoy your ownership.

This is the best advice you're going to get. I bought more than one timeshare from a developer (and spent much more than you did). Now that I'm semi-retired we spend about 6 months a year in timeshares (right now in Boston at the Marriott Custom House) and never have enjoyed myself more.

If this is something you like to do there are many timeshares you can buy on eBay for almost nothing and you can chalk up the developer purchase to experience.

BTW...your Hilton purchase will have more value when you sell then most timeshares.

 

[Ron98GT]

Remember that they will expire 2 years from date of issued and need to be used by then. Seems many think they can book something in the future, past expiration, if the booking is done prior to expiration and that is not the case. You may want to mark on your calendar about a month before they expire to call in and have any leftovers used towards hhonors (hhonors won't expire).

That's a good idea. Not sure what the current conversion ratio is, but at 25:1, 40,000 Bonus Points * 25 = 1,000,000 HHonors points. With an average Hilton nite requiring 30K to 50K HHonor points per nite, that's about 25 nites, which is worth at least $5,000.

Could also apply the bonus points towards a cruise (12,400 Bonus Points per cabin) and/or airfare. You probably have enough points for a Mediterranean cruise (or Caribbean, Alaska, or Hawaii), airfare (R/T about 7,200 bonus-points/person), and a couple nites at Hilton hotel. We just did an Eastern Mediterranean cruise out of Venice to/from Greece and stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice (50K points/nite or $400/nite): it was fantastic.

https://www.hgvclub.com/hgvclub/pdf/CRP-MKT-0090BonusPoint.pdf

http://www.2013clubprogram.com/content/2013-Club-Program_v31.pdf

Some different ways to turn your lemons into Limoncello, or lemon-aide.

 

[Zeethee]

It may not make you feel any better, but this is the nature of timeshare sales. When you buy from the developer, the price is far higher than the resale market - at nearly every resort on the face of the earth.

However, you are in good company - about half the regulars on TUG also purchased their first timeshare from the developer, and we like timesharing, and we are still here.

At this point, your best bet it to hang out with us, and learn how to get the most enjoyment out of what you own - WELCOME!

I am a newbie too. IS that all we can do ... just hanging on? sucked in the pain? I dont fully understand what you guys are talking about nor why you guys ahve 3 or 4 resorts up your sleeves.