“Admit nothing. Deny everything.”
 
Sounds like a corny line from a second-rate spy movie.   
 
Or just another irresponsible marketing ploy by any number of timeshare companies.   
 
For example, read through the hundreds of complaints against Hilton Grand Vacations on file with the Better Business Bureau, and you’ll detect this very same theme.
 
The replies from Hilton all look pretty familiar. They respond to tales of broken promises with what else?  Denials…admitting nothing.
 
So, we were a little surprised to find a case of one owner who was able to get an admission – of sorts – out of Hilton.
 
“We are hoping that you may be able to help us cancel our timeshare with Hilton. We were lied to and misled with amazing benefits and low prices.”
 
Hilton Grand Vacations had taken over the owner’s Diamond Resorts timeshare property – so the owner had to attend a presentation about how Hilton would be changing things.
 
“At the sales presentation, the salesmen made it seem like we had no choice but to update to a higher offer & that our maintenance fees would go up if we didn’t upgrade immediately. Once I signed with Hilton my maintenance fees went from $282.44 to $356.61 monthly. They have gone up almost $75.00 a month.”
 
That’s about $900 per year!
 
In other words, Hilton claimed that unless the owner signed on to Hilton’s program, maintenance fees would go up. And then Hilton raised maintenance fees anyway!
 
“Once the reality and truth became known and fully discovered, I attempted to cancel the contract.”
 
We would too.
 
“I recently spoke with a Hilton representative… and I found their response unsatisfactory.”
 
“During our discussion I expressed my concerns about feeling misled and unable to utilize my points at Hilton locations. The Hilton rep, absent during the presentation, denied my claim of being deceived. It is perplexing how they assert knowledge on a matter they were not directly involved in.” 
 
Well, not that perplexing, given Hilton’s “admit nothing, deny everything” approach.
 
But then something truly unusual happened.
 
“Hilton offered us a $1000 maintenance fee credit for the fall out due to the lies.”
 
That’s a sort of an admission of guilt, isn’t it? The owner certainly thinks so.
 
“This tells me that Hilton knows that deception and lies were used in the sales process.”
 
That sounds about right.
 
But there seems to be a big difference between what Hilton knows and what it will admit to – and it uses denials to fill the gap.
 
We can test that theory by emailing Mark Wang, the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, at mark.wang@hgv.com. Let’s ask him whether this case is an admission that Hilton’s been deceiving and lying to customers.
 
We also have a question for Chris Nassetta, President and CEO of Hilton Worldwide: will he admit these kinds of deceptive sales pitches are damaging Hilton’s brand? Email him at christopher.nassetta@hilton.com and ask.
 
And what does Jason Gamel, the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), the trade association that represents the timeshare industry in Washington, DC, think? Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org to see if he is in denial about how this looks for the timeshare industry.
 
Is there something your timeshare company’s leaders know but won’t admit to?  Use this list of ARDA VIPs to let them know you’re on to their games.
  
What’s the biggest gap between what your timeshare company knows and what it will admit to? Share it with us at info@timesharefacts.com 
  
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