Hilton Honors. Now that’s a membership program that sounds…well, special!  
 
Hilton’s frequent customers sign up for exclusive Hilton Honors perks, like easy booking, check-in and preferential room access.  According to Hilton’s latest 2025 corporate data, there are now over 235 million Hilton Honors members.
 
So, it must be special, right?
 
But if you are one of these hundreds of millions of members, how special do you feel when you discover that Hilton Honors may not so honorably share your personal information for marketing purposes? 
 
As Hilton Grand Vacations admitted in a recent annual report it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the personal customer information it receives from the Hilton Honors program is crucial to its timeshare marketing efforts.  
 
“Changes in privacy law could adversely affect our ability to market our products effectively.”
 
“…laws regulating marketing and solicitation, or data protection laws that govern these activities (such as increasing number of state laws that grant individuals certain rights such as the right to delete or restrict sharing of their personal information), or changes to existing laws, could adversely affect current or planned marketing activities and cause us to change our marketing strategy.”
 
“If access to these lists were prohibited or otherwise restricted, including access to Hilton Honors loyalty program member information, our ability to access potential members and guests could be significantly impaired.”
 
Randy certainly didn’t feel special when Hilton Honors shared his personal information with Hilton Grand Vacations, as we learned from this Reddit posting.
 
“This is a scam!”
 
An opening like that certainly doesn’t sound honorable.
 
“While making reservations with Hilton over the phone, I was asked if I wanted to purchase a Hilton Grand Vacation package. It included 4 days/3 nights at a hotel in Chicago for $350 to be booked within a year or so after I paid for it.”
 
“I asked multiple times if there was any catch to this. I was told absolutely not – I was a valued Hilton Honors member, and this was a vacation package exclusive for Hilton Honors members. I accepted the deal and paid $350.” 
 
A marketing effort that all seems to work seamlessly.  
 
“However, when I went to book the hotel for the specific dates we wanted a couple of months later, I was told we had to SIT THROUGH A 2 HOUR TIME SHARE PRESENTATION or the hotel would cost the standard rate.” 
 
That sounds like catch to us. A BIG DISHONORABLE CATCH.
 
“There was ZERO mention of having to listen to a time share presentation when I paid the $350.”
 
“Had we known we had to sit through 2 hours at 8:30 am on the Monday after we arrive, we never would have purchased this ‘vacation.’”
 
There’s no doubt in this poster’s mind who is to blame.
 
“This was devious, misleading and dishonest, and while we will be listening to the presentation so that we are not out of more money, we will NEVER buy into this business, nor will we ever buy this package again.” 
 
“Shame on you, Hilton!”
 
Shame. Not Special. Not Honorable.
 
Hilton is a big, global company. Can we really expect that someone like Chris Nassetta, President and CEO of Hilton Worldwide, is keeping track of everything that Mark Wang, the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, is doing?
 
Let’s email Chris Nassetta at christopher.nassetta@hilton.com and ask if it was his idea to funnel Hilton customers into the hands of Hilton Grand Vacations.
 
While we’re waiting for a reply, let’s email Mark Wang at mark.wang@hgv.com to see if he gives the same answer.
 
Regardless of who at Hilton is to blame, we should also email Jason Gamel, the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), the trade association that represents the timeshare companies in Washington, DC.  Let’s see if he agrees with Hilton Grand Vacations, that changes in privacy law could adversely affect the ability of timeshares to market effectively. Jason’s email is jgamel@arda.org
 
Need to find who is responsible for your own timeshare company’s misleading and dishonest practices? Use this list of ARDA VIPs to ask your company’s leaders who is to blame.
  
Did your timeshare company team up with anyone to suck you in? Tell us who at info@timesharefacts.com 
  
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