I had previously written that Holiday Inn Club Vacations (HICV) was offering me a free stay at Myrtle Beach by sitting through one of their timeshare presentations but I changed plans and decided to do it in Vegas instead. I got to stay at their Holiday Inn Desert Club Resort in Vegas which is one block east of the strip (Review here).
Here is my Presentation Recap:
I had set an appointment with the property when I set the date for my stay with HICV. The presentation office was onsite at the Desert Club Resort so I walked over and they verified my ID, made sure I had a major credit card, and asked me questions to make sure I qualified. Questions include if I was married or single, if I’m working or retired, and if I make 50k or more annually.
You could get drinks and snacks while you waited but I was seen by someone within 5 minutes. The sales agent went over the HICV program, I watched a 10 min video, and talked more about the brand and how it all started. The agent then showed me the standard package that they offer.
You can imagine my shock of that price of $41k for 200k HICV points per year. Of course everything that they offer afterwards is going to look better and more inciting. Just a word of warning that these points are different than IHG points. Another person came by to give the final offer which was 100k points every other year for about $13k in total. I was also offered a one time bonus of 100k points if I signed up that day. So what are you suppose to be able to do with these points? You can only use them for one of the 13 properties in the US. If you wanted to use them at any IHG property, you have to transfer them to IHG at a value of 5 to 4 points for a fee. So those 100k HICV points will turn into 80k IHG points, an extremely terrible exchange. They also tell you that you can use them at any RCI property but what they failed to mention was that it costs around $200+ every time you want to book a week vacation using your exchanged week (which I reminded them of). Also the total payment of 13k that they offered does not include the annual maintenance fee of around $300 that you are stuck with for the rest of your life and there is no guarantee that this won’t increase. (Hint: it will increase over time).
I obviously declined saying that I get better value out of the co branded credit card. They brought in a last person for “quality control” and I told them that I was not interested because it is not a good value. So that is the basic breakdown of the HICV presentation.
I went to the front desk and I received the $200 in cash which I was offered when booking this deal.
Now for those of you who are considering a purchase, I am warning you that it is a terrible value and wast of money. Why? Because you can earn points with the Chase co-branded credit card. This card, which I’ve included a link from the Chase website here, can earn you a one time bonus of 70k IHG points after you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. You will also earn 5x points at any IHG property, 2x points gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants, and 1x points everywhere else. You will also get an annual certificate to use at any IHG property anywhere in the world. You will also get Platinum status for as long as you hold the card. This is a huge value for an only $49 annual fee which is waived the first year. So you can put your regular spending on this card to earn points towards hotel nights. This is a whole lot better that the thousands of dollars that HICV is wanting to charge.
Now lets say you were interested in staying at one of their 12 resort properties using points. One resort is the Orange Lake Resort in Orlando Florida. Well you can book a 2 bedroom villa for 35k IHG points a night. This credit card already gives you close to 2 nights for free because the annual fee is waived the first year. Of course looking at the price, $153 for a 2 bedroom villa for a family is a pretty good value.
If you are also interested in reading about my Hilton Grand Vacation timeshare presentation in Vegas, then you can check it out here.
How long were you there?
Probably around 2 hours. I should have timed it but forgot
how do you get the offer to take this preview?
what about the hilton, how do you get a preview trip?
thanks
When I called to book a Hilton reservation, at the end they gave me this offer to do a presentation.
I still have one of these presentations I need to attend, a three night stay I think, but I’m not going to have time, nor desire. Guess I’m just out of my 200 bucks.
You win some and you loose some I guess
Great review! Thank you!
I’m going to attend the Hicv timeshare presentation in Vegas in a few months. Is this a high pressure timeshare. How could you handle to get out without buying any packages that they are trying to sell. This is my first time. I just want to my 4days/3 nights for free and $199 cask back.
Thanks.
Great post . Thank you!
The Holiday Inn one was not high pressure when I did it. The person I had was great at just telling me about the program and sharing our interest in travel. They always bring in a second person to give you another offer after you decline the first but always say you are not interested and you can say that you travel with hotel and airline points which has minimal costs. Hope this helps and have fun on your trip!