Hilton has an excellent timeshare system. They call themselves The Hilton Grand Vacation Club. We bought into the Hilton system back in 1998, purchasing 7000 points, resale and have used it every year since. Our deeded week is in Las Vegas at the Hilton Flamingo Timeshare. Their resorts are all top quality and located around the United States, Mexico, Scotland and other foreign locations. They do have a number of affiliate resorts, but most of these are on Marco, Captiva, and Sanibel Islands in Florida.
THE SYSTEM
Hilton operates on a point system. You buy a deeded week at a given resort and it is converted to points. You then use your points to reserve time at Hilton timeshare resorts. Larger units require more points and prime seasons cost more points. We recommend you buy the largest unit in prime season because you get more points for the same maintenance fees. Those fees are based on unit size, not on seasons of the year. You can use points to reserve part of the week with at least a three- day- use required.
You can reserve your home resort at 12 months out in your season, or you can reserve other Hilton timeshares at 9 months. You can use cash or Bonus Points for Open season reservations starting 30 days before check in.
You do have the option of turning your Hilton Timeshare points into Hilton Honor Points at which time you can use them to stay at any Hilton Hotel property.
RCI
Hilton is affiliated with the RCI system which allows you to choose from all of their resorts. They have a chart showing how many Hilton points you need for a resort in the RCI system. A 2 bedroom in prime time is 4,800 Hilton points and a one bedroom in prime time is 3,400. Points are adjusted for smaller or larger units as well as different seasons of the year. They seem to have good pulling power in the RCI system.
One of the problems with the Hilton Timeshare system is that they have concentrated their resorts mainly in Las Vegas, Hawaii and in the state of Florida, while other timeshare systems seem to have resorts all over the United States. They also have fairly high maintenance fees, but the resorts are very nice and updated on a regular basis.
The system is easy to use and we have had few problems with getting locations where we want to vacation. Their web site works smoothly and their call center is very friendly and helpful.
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If you are thinking about buying a Hilton Time Share – THINK AGAIN!!! It is extremely expensive for what you get. Booking vacations is a nightmare – especially if you have converted your points to RCI. And putting unused points into Hilton Honors is the biggest rip off. There are a host of hidden fees and you are not able to take advantage of the flight/hotel deals that are offered on sites like Expedia.com. If you have the ability to waste money and you simply do not have anything else to spend money on – then by all means, waste it with Hilton!
Funny, our experience with Hilton has been quite the opposite of yours–no trouble booking with RCI. We’ve done it several times. Yes, there are fees to use some of the different options, but most timeshare systems operate that way. Overall, our experience has been very positive.
There’s a huge disparity between the timeshare properties in the hilton family, twice we’ve found ourselves in propertis that we’d not book into for even 10% of what we pay for association fees per year(let alone booking fees et al). both those times we took part in tours of other properrties in the area, and fund them no better than the local “motel 6″ (marco island and Berkeley, CA), all in all not worth the ownership, add to that the growing yearly cost of ownership and it comes out at $120 a night for even the most basic accomodation, not a good deal all round.
I have spent my working life investing my money in retirement. I decided recently to also invest it in a timeshare. I do not view the timeshare as a financial investment. It is a lifestyle investment. My wife and I have taken more vacations in the last year than we did in the previous 5. In addition, the quality of accomidations is far greater than we experience previously. As an Elite HGVClub members, we have seen great customer service, very good resorts, and excellent point use flexibility. In a sense, I have diversified my investments to include not only those that provide monetary return, but also this new one-the timeshare-that provides lifestyle return. For me, investing the money that I used to purchase the timeshare would have emotionally limited me taking vacations in lean return years. But I have now purchased the right to vacation at a large number of high end locations for the rest of my life and provide this benefit to my children if they wish. I have set aside the funds into a non financial investment-the timeshare-so I am emotionally freed to use the benefit (weeks of vacation accomidations each year) that that purchase provides me. Yes, there are maintenance fees, but this is the cost of ownership. If I had a vacation home, there would be substantial maintenance fees plus the emotional energy of keeping the vacation home. I have maintenance fees but no emotional/time investment needed-so I feel more free than (I think) I would feel with a vacation home. So why not just take the money I spent on timeshare, put it in the bank, and pull out the money needed each year for vacation? Because, for me, this would take more emotional investment. Putting the money into a timeshare that I trust frees me to vacation with less concern about money spent in the future because I have already spent the bulk of it in the past. Maintenance fees are simply the marginal cost of doing vacations.
Bottom line: I have counted the cost and feel very good about the lifestyle returns that my timeshare purchase have given me. My wife is delighted also. In the final analysis, the decision to purchase a timeshare is not merely a financial issue. It includes lifestyle and peace of mind issues also. It may not be for all people or temperaments, but it works for me.
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