Hilton timeshare complaints UK: “deceived us, cost us £50,000, then called me a clown”

World’s third-largest timeshare company accused of deception and customer abuse

‘Bonus’ weekend stay that led to a Hilton timeshare purchase

Greenwich social worker Raymond Hill, 53, and his wife Anthonia say they were invited to what appeared to be a luxury ‘bonus’ weekend stay connected to Hilton, which later led to a timeshare purchase. They are being represented in this matter by Hilton’s prestigious 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.”

Sales presentation complaints: alleged deception and broken promises

Raymond describes what he says were “blatant falsehoods” during the Hilton timeshare sales presentation, including an alleged promise of “guaranteed availability” during peak holiday periods. He says that claim later “proved to be entirely untrue. We consistently faced booking restrictions and lack of availability.”

Raymond also says a Hilton representative misled him by claiming 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 told exchanging their timeshare for worldwide destinations would be seamless and cost-free (aside from their maintenance fees).

“Totally untrue,” says Raymond. “We later discovered there were very significant additional fees for every exchange requested.”

What angered the Hills most was what they describe as a lack of transparency about the ‘resale market’. “Hilton deliberately concealed the fact that identical packages are available second-hand for a fraction of what we paid,” says 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.”

“Called me a clown”: how the Hills say Hilton responded

Raymond and Anthonia, upset with Hilton’s sales presenter, initially assumed the problem must be local. “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 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, and 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 demonstrates 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 of deception being 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.”

Watch: Raymond describes his Hilton timeshare experience

Help for timeshare customers

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 be a telling glimpse into the corporate attitudes of Hilton towards its customer base.”