“We’ll listen politely to their presentation and then tell them we aren’t timeshare people.”
That was the conversation my wife and I had in the elevator ride up to the sales floor at Hilton Grand Vacation’s Parc Soleil resort in Orlando, Florida.
We had had a lovely weekend experiencing the theme parks without children in tow and were bracing ourselves for what we expected to be an hour-long, high-pressure sales pitch.
It was far from that.
The atmosphere was cordial, and the one-on-one presentation was more a discussion about what we liked to do on vacation.
The sales associate, Adam, asked us what our long-term travel plans and goals were, explained the flexibility of ownership and resort stays, and probed what we thought that experience would be worth.
We discussed a budget but then tried to let him down gently with the declaration that, while the actual timeshare mechanism was different and far better than we expected, we weren’t timeshare ownership people.
I knew the final question to overcome our reluctance: It was something like, “What would it take for you to join Hilton Grand Vacations and purchase a property with us?”
Unhesitatingly and with confidence that our answer would get us out of there quickly, my wife said, “Being able to use our ownership for canal boating in England”—she knew that was an insurmountable objection to purchase.
Calmly, Adam brought up a search window and turned his monitor to us: “There are 8 narrow boat basins in England where you can use your membership.”
My wife and I shot shocked glances at each other.
I almost literally saw the gears turning in her head.
The Main Attraction May Not Be the Main Attraction
While the presentation was understandably about all the possible vacation and resort experiences in the Hilton Grand Vacations family of properties, Adam had tapped into the RCI site to locate the available canal boat basins in England and explained points transfers and making reservations between HGV and RCI.
From that moment, my wife and I were working out value-for-money taking the Hilton Grand Vacations property route compared to our long-term plans for canal holidays in England (we had been on eleven week-long trips by then).
We reasoned that buying with HGV was essentially prepaying our next 10 narrow boat trips in the U.K.
After making the purchase, six months later, we were back on the canals, enjoying another beautiful waterway getaway.
We hadn’t planned to buy with Hilton Grand Vacations, but the benefits of the RCI reservations convinced us of its value for our travel dreams and goals.
Here’s the crazy part, because we saw the value of using RCI through HGV, we traveled to locations we probably never would have, simply because the cost of each trip would be prohibitive.
We went back to Orlando with our daughters and their children, San Diego (again with the grandchildren), Chicago and New York City, Hawaii, and of course, another canal holiday in England.
Everyone’s Journey is Their Own
The opportunities that timeshare ownership opened for my wife and I now have us traveling more than we ever planned and as well as to destinations we only dreamed of before. All this because we initially purchased property to use RCI and feed our passion for narrow boating in England.
Everyone has their reasons for traveling and for purchasing a timeshare property. Our journey to Hilton Grand Vacations ownership was roundabout. Because of it, our vacation experiences were transformed, and our travel horizons broadened.
We are so glad we changed our minds from that elevator ride five years ago.
Read on to learn what more you can expect when you buy a timeshare from Hilton Grand Vacations.