World’s third largest timeshare company accused of deception and customer abuse
‘Bonus’ weekend stay
Greenwich social worker Raymond Hill, 53, and his wife Anthonia say they were invited to what was presented as a luxury “bonus” weekend stay linked to Hilton. They are now being represented by European Consumer Claims (ECC). “Raymond and Anthonia signed up to a membership. Hilton even arranged a £20,000 Barclays Partner Finance loan for the couple to pay for the purchase.”
‘Deception and broken promises’
Raymond alleges there were “blatant falsehoods” during the Hilton sales presentation, including a promise of “guaranteed availability” during peak holiday periods. He says this “proved to be entirely untrue. We consistently faced booking restrictions and lack of availability.”
Raymond also says a Hilton representative told him that the vacation points he and Anthonia bought would increase in value over time.
“This was completely false,” says Raymond. “In reality the value has depreciated substantially.”
The Hills also say they were promised that exchanging their timeshare points for worldwide destinations would be seamless and cost-free, apart from their maintenance fees.
“Totally untrue,” says Raymond. “We later discovered that there were actually very significant additional fees for every exchange requested.”
What angered the Hills most was what they describe as a lack of transparency around the ‘resale market’. “Hilton deliberately concealed the fact that identical packages are available second-hand for a fraction of what we paid,” explains Raymond. “Knowing this would have drastically altered our decision-making process.”
“In the four and a half years we owned these Hilton points, we ended up spending around £50,000 in total, including the joining fee, annual costs and exchange fees. Thank goodness we are free of them now.”
What Hilton really thinks of their “clown” customers
Raymond and Anthonia, upset by their experience with the sales presenter, initially assumed it must have been a local issue. “With a huge international brand like Hilton, you’d imagine they prioritised integrity, honesty and respect for their customers,” says Raymond.
“Our feeling was that if we took this higher up the corporate chain, someone would be very upset about the way we had been treated. We thought that Hilton would want to fix what had gone wrong and possibly organise some retraining for the staff at Craigendarroch. Never in a million years did we believe it could be a systemic, company-wide issue.”
Raymond and Anthonia say their requests for help were met first with silence, then with insults.
Self-described ‘Sales Leader’ Keith Saslov, a Hilton executive who has been with the company for over 17 years, described Raymond in writing as a clown in an email sent to Raymond.
“We were both shocked and horrified,” says Raymond. “The contempt and disrespect Keith Saslov shows towards me as a customer is extremely disheartening. £50,000 might not be a lot of money to Hilton, or even to Mr Saslov. But to us it represents our security and future.
“This attitude being openly displayed towards a client indicates a corporate culture within Hilton in which deception is acceptable in order to maximise profit.
“Clearly this Hilton manager regards us as ‘marks’, ‘mugs’ and specifically me as a ‘clown’. The friendliness and charm shown by the salespeople during the presentations is purely an act designed to get you to trust them so you will hand over your money.
“They don’t view us as human beings – just clowns to be lied to in order to boost their sales figures.”
Click to watch Raymond describe his Hilton timeshare experience
Help at hand
Greg Wilson comments: “The Hills’ experiences with Hilton are sadly characteristic of the thousands of timeshare customers that ECC represents.
“Deception, pressure sales and treating clients as commodities to be milked for money seems endemic throughout the timeshare industry.”
“The contempt demonstrated in this email by Mr Saslov towards Raymond is a serious case of customer abuse, and seems to offer a telling glimpse into Hilton’s corporate attitudes towards its customer base.”
