[Targeted] Hilton Grand Vacations Offering 500,000 Points To Join

The Offer

  • Hilton has sent out e-mails to a lot of loyalty members offering them 500,000 Hilton points to become a Hilton Grand Vacations owner

The Fine Print

  • This offer is not valid with any other promotional offer and is only available through the Hilton Grand Vacations Club Direct Department by calling 877-246-2832 and not available on-site at any Hilton Grand Vacations Club resort.
  • This offer expires on January 31, 2019.
  • Offer valid for Hilton Grand Vacations Ownership Interest purchases equal to at least 7,000 annual ClubPoints.

Our Verdict

I’m no timeshare guru but this isn’t a good deal. The minimum you need to spend looks t be $9,490, I suspect you can get that down more but the real cost of timeshares comes in the maintenance fees. I don’t think 500,000 points is a particularly good offer even if you did want a timeshare. I think you’d be better served by doing a time share presentation (and not accepting the first offer they present for attending) and then if you still want to buy one (I can’t recommend against anymore strongly) they will be throwing points at you like crazy to get you to sign up. This is a bad deal. I don’t think any readers should do this deal. I posted this in the hopes that readers won’t do this deal.

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Allison Toth
Allison Toth (@guest_760233)
May 16, 2019 20:30

HGVC. Hilton’s Greatest Victims Club. Don’t do it.

Parkerthon
Parkerthon (@guest_708122)
January 18, 2019 03:43

My parents are in their late 70’s and have timeshares in all the major hotel chain brands. According to them, hyatt is worst, marriott is best. Hilton is okay. It’s def a complicated system, but they played it well for last decade and half. the value they get out of it overall is fantastic. I disagree timeshares are always a bad deal. I just think anyone that considers them really needs to research and make sure it’s a good fit and that they’re buying into a good place. In a lot of ways it’s like credit cards, the hapless consumers pay for the benefits of those that really work the system.

Chris
Chris (@guest_708283)
January 18, 2019 13:05

The sales process for timeshares is horrible and should be avoided, but the product is excellent. This is why buying resales or renting is best – plus you save tens of thousands of dollars buying resale.

IMO Hilton system is the best and treats their owners (incl. resale owners) well. Very flexible product for trades. Low chance of devaluation because the points are tied to a deed. Straight shooters, great customer service.

Westin/SPG has been good and their trading system is similar to Hilton with StarOptions, however I don’t trust Marriott to avoid tinkering with Westin. Always trying to devalue with new rules and programs and get more money out of owners; death by a thousand paper cuts. Marriott Vacation Club has more locations than Hilton Grand, but Hilton is aggressively adding new properties.

Parkerthon
Parkerthon (@guest_708372)
January 18, 2019 15:02

I’m not an owner, but I’ve heard similar stories from my parents on how they approached things. They’re sharp people on having a nose for deals and they always do their homework. My father once owned a car dealership, so my family knows how salespeople work, lol. I think they work through Interval International often to move around. Seems to have worked out rather well for them. I think they maybe pay avg $1100/week across all their timeshares they bought into and have had great flexibility in trading for other very nice properties around the US and in the Carribean via Interval International. Sure it’s not free, but 4 adults and a couple kids to have a 2 bedroom place with a kitchen that’s on the beach year over year for $1100 a week? Can’t see how people would say it’s a horrible deal. That to me is an awesome cheap vacation you can schedule well in advance. I mean good luck trying to get a place like that on points during high season.

Chris
Chris (@guest_708446)
January 18, 2019 17:15

Your parents sound like they are smart and know how to hack the system. Similar to the credit card points game, there are a small set of people who know how to hack the timeshare system and save a ton of money on premium travel and then there are the masses that don’t know what they are doing and pay for the overall system to work.

Timeshares together with the credit card game can really pay off but it is complicated. Most people don’t take time to bother to figure it out. I am glad people are scared, ignorant or too busy to figure out the hacks because that’s less demand for the supply of inexpensive resales of premium oceanfront and ski week properties at top rated resorts that I pick up for pennies on the dollar.

Peter
Peter (@guest_713249)
January 28, 2019 16:47

I agree that $1,100 per week is fantastic for a family beach vacation, IF (and only if) you want a family beach vacation, year over year. Personally I prefer roaming busy foreign cities for vacation so these resort destinations don’t attract me, but I realize that for many Americans the timeshare locations can be quite desirable. More so, though, is the rather limited footprint even the largest timeshare network tends to have… some people are okay with the idea of returning to Orlando, Las Vegas, and Honolulu over and over and over. They would find that $1,100 well spent every year. To me (especially after catching the wanderlust bug after I started following the travel hacking community) that’s paying $1,100 to be tied down from being able to visit the more fascinating corners of the world. Oh and timeshare generally comes in 1-week increments, with flexibility costing owners extra. All in all, timeshares can provide deeply discounted nice travel for people who are happy with predefined vacations that come in fairly rigid molds.

Paris
Paris (@guest_707981)
January 17, 2019 19:25

Quote “I posted this in the hopes that readers won’t do this deal.” Nice 🙂

Alex Bad
Alex Bad (@guest_707977)
January 17, 2019 19:24

I’ve been to Hilton’s HGVC and they’ve offered me usually up to 300K points before. equivalent of 3-ish stays at an Italian Villa, which is how they try to compare the points with me. Getting multiple trips is nice,, but paying the fees over time and being stuck with them, not so much

Holiday Inn Cub VacationsBerkshires, Massachusetts
Holiday Inn Cub VacationsBerkshires, Massachusetts (@guest_707925)
January 17, 2019 18:18

I recently did the timeshare sales presentation Holiday Inn Vacation Club Berkshires, Massachusetts. Beautiful property. My wife loved it. We saw Bethoven dog movie in their movie theater. We ate one meal at Subway sandwich restaurant on property. Server was extremely generous. Great modern kitchen esp stove in room. This location is approximately two hours driving above Westchester, NY. They have an indoor pool. We did not buy timeshares. Saleswoman was a gem, glad we met her.

Tom
Tom (@guest_707833)
January 17, 2019 16:11

Thanks for the recommendation. I was doubting hahaha

Chris
Chris (@guest_707808)
January 17, 2019 15:45

Buying a timeshare from the developer is never a good financial decision. Too many stupid people do no research and overpay for bad properties. It’s akin to people who sign up for credit cards for points but cannot manage their credit.

However, buying a resale timeshare can get you vacations for a fraction of the price if you do your research and find the good resale pockets of value. Its about buying resale from a reputable broker and location, location, location. You also need discretionary income to play this game – if you are living paycheck to paycheck you should run away from all timeshares.

Good TS properties (location, season, size, low maint fee) from Hotel-branded timeshares companies will always sell for what you paid RESALE or you can give it away easily. The best properties sell quickly and don’t need to be given away. The people getting stuck did no research before buying so the property has poor location, season (e.g. mud week at a ski resort) and a high maint fee (aka stupid buyers complaining).

If you own the right location such as oceanfront Maui, Waikiki or Disney Vacation Club you can rent them out out for more than $1500 profit over MF when you cannot use. Better yet, using the unit saves you more than $1500 than renting, and you will never get access to 2 bedroom Oceanfront units during high season from the hotel portal with points.

If you you research the ins and outs to stretch your ownership you can save thousands. If you are too lazy to do the legwork, don’t buy a timeshare but rent from an owner.

To research, check out: https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php.

To rent from owners: http://www.redweek.com

P.S. I have no affiliation with the TS industry or these sites. However I have saved thousands on iconic vacations all over the world for premium 2 bedroom oceanfront accommodations in Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean with our resale timeshares.

Lia
Lia (@guest_707785)
January 17, 2019 15:07

“Our Verdict” section in this site is the very helpful. Appreciate it.

Bill M
Bill M (@guest_707772)
January 17, 2019 14:23

I wouldn’t buy a full priced timeshare if they gave me 5 million Hilton points. I often rent timeshares for less per week than the annual maintenance fees the owners are paying. That makes the actual value of most timeshares a negative number. Indeed many people pay someone to take timeshares off their hands. A couple years ago I rented a 4 bedroom presidential suite at a Destin timeshare for 5 nights at Easter for $450 total out of pocket. I also rented an ocean-front 2 bedroom penthouse unit in Hollywood Beach, FL for the week of the 4th of July for $725. Both were well below the cost of the maintenance fees.

Sevillada
Sevillada (@guest_708078)
January 17, 2019 23:49

Damn, those were good deals, what site/how did you book?

Joe
Joe (@guest_707768)
January 17, 2019 14:13

Smart marketing. Give someone a $2500 discount on a time share, and it’s “meh”. Give someone $2500 worth of points, and heads will turn more.

With that said, timeshares are just terrible ideas. There’s a mental piece in all of us that says, well heck yes, I would love to own something in a place I love to travel to. The cost, limitation, and commitment is just too much.