Just returning after a two night stay at this property and I have to say I'm very disapointed.
First impression #1: This property is not near ANYTHING. Technically, it is on the Strip. But, so is the Westward Ho, the Stratosphere, and I'm sure things that are a mile north of that. While it's technically on the strip, it is so far from anything fun. There can't be a good restaurant or show within a good mile and a half and the closest casinos (Sahara, Stratosphere, Rivera, and Circus Circus are all very cheesy. While the property is relatively close to the monorail (a couple of blocks to the back side of the Sahara), it's still far from convenient. Plus, this is going to add another $8-$12 per day or more to your stay depending on your monorail usage and package. Of course, this is cheaper than cabbing it everywhere. The location here really is awful if you want to leave the property at all. Of course, part of the fun of Vegas is to go out and have fun. If you don't want to get out and see Vegas, why are you even there? Maybe location is ok for a convention traveler.
First impression #2: At check in, the front desk attendant didn't even look up. She just seemed cold and impersonal. She asked for my id and credit card. I took out my license from my wallet and it took me like two seconds to find my credit card and she was all over me, "I will need your credit card, sir". Um, if you would look up, you would see that I already had it in my hand and was about to give it to you. Just kind of rude which you honestly don't expect at a Hilton property from a front desk attendant. The service at the property was hit or miss. I'd say maybe a third of the workers seemed nice and would greet you in the hall. The others, really not so much. Overall, just not a warm feeling from anyone.
First impression #3: So we check into the room. We are in a studio in Tower 1, which I guess I wish I would have read some of the reviews here first. The room is tiny. Small bath, pretty tight all the way around. Then, we hit the bathroom. I am not making this up. There are little poop marks in the toilet and pubic hairs on the rim of the bowl. The wife goes to use a shelf in the bathroom vanity only to find that it is covered with dust. The paint is peeling along the ceiling of the bathroom. I honestly felt like we were staying in an old Travellodge or something (not to hurt their name or reputation). This was supposed to be in a Hilton property.
Fourth impression: Upon return to the hotel on my first night, we are stopped by security to ask to see our room keys. Other guests walked straight in from the street, but we were right with them and we got stopped. We had just returned from a nice dinner and were dressed up so it wasn't like we were homeless people trying to sneak in. I understand that there is always a concern about safety and I appreciate that. But, if you are going to stop people at the front door to the hotel, then stop everyone. I felt like a criminal for going to my hotel.
Fifth impression: It's late and we're tired, but we can hear our neighbors like they are in our room. I'm not sure if they're across the hall, but most likely through the connecting door to the next room. The walls are ridiculously thin. The neighbors weren't being loud or anything; just talking at normal levels. But, the wife and I could hear them as we lay in bed the same as if they were having a conversation in our room.
All in all, a pretty disappointing day and this is only my first day!
Day two: The big sales meeting. I had been offered these rooms for a decent rate over the phone some months back and knowing that the wife and I planned to visit Vegas anyway, I thought that we were given a good rate to stay on the strip, and after a quick look on TripAdvisor, the hotel seemed to be rated pretty high so I took the offer. Part of the offer was that we would need to sit through a 60-90 minute sales presentation on the HGVC and after that, we would receive a hotel voucher for another night's stay at a Hilton property and $50 in gaming chips. What a complete waste of MY vacation time! I feel sorry for anyone that has ever had to endure that bunch of bs and I feel even more sorry for anyone conned into buying one of these things.
The individual presentation (just me and my wife with our own high pressure sales guy, Chris) started off well enough with a little chit chat and questions about our past vacationing and our annual vacation budget. Then, the pitch. Why spend a total of $XXX,XXX over the next 30 years of vacations and just throw that money away when you can spend that same money today on a deed that will be your for life and where you could stay in hotels you would have never stayed in before? Chris, our sales guy, said about 100 times, "Sounds great, doesn't it?" Fact is, my wife and I both have finance degrees and I work in finance. His little sales analysis (they show you some numbers) was so off in so many ways. He tries to get you to spend as much on a new deed (for just hotels) as you're currently spending on total vacation expenditures (hotel + air + food + everything else). The sales talk neglects the time value of money. They really try to avoid bringing in the $1500/year maintenance charges and all of the costs for booking, converting points, rolling over points, etc. After a good two hours of this, he still hasn't given us the cost. The presentation was supposed to last a total of 90 minutes. We finally get the cost (something like $55k). Oh really? Oh, I can finance for 17%? Only 10% down? Oh really? Oh, and today only, $12k off since we're really trying to get sales through by the end of the month. After another 30 minutes, we get the manager to stop by with the additional push. Once they get us to the point where we're upset and definitely not buying right now without further analysis (which I can do in my head a little to know that the numbers aren't even close to working out), our sales guy Chris gets mad, the manager gets mad and they both pretty much stomp off like a whiney 5-year old. Then of course, we get the Relationship manager to come over and do a survey of how things went and our impression of our sales guy. Of course, the relationship guy also tries to sell us smaller versions of the plan and even some ridiculously expensive option to try the plan for a year. We say no (for about the 500th time). Then, we get sent off to the rewards center to pay us our crummy reward for sitting through that hell. We get a gaming voucher for the Hilton. Fortunately, we already had a pass for the monorail, because it is a really long walk to the Hilton. Plus, they can only give you chips; they can't give you cash. Well, I wasn't giving them another dime so I had the wife bring the chips back to the cage to get cash. Just a ridiculous amount of work to try to get my $50 for sitting through 3 hours of hell.
One note on the value of these points: there is a HGVC deed for sale on ebay right now in which the current bid (2 days left on auction) is about 1/10th the cost of the offer we received.
I could go on and on as to why this is such a bad deal financially for anyone. Please contact me with questions on this.
Finally, we got done with our presentation. I apologized to the wife about 100 times for staying at this property and for putting her through such hell. There was a point where she almost got up and just walked out. I felt so bad about this place.
Anyway, the rest of the stay went without incident. The pool was tight, but ok. The workout room was nicely equipped, but way too small for the usage there. The little gift shop made a nice sandwich, but prices were unreal on some of the things. My hard lime drink marked at $4.95 on the bottle was actually wrong up at $6.00 each. The pool bar made a decent cocktail. Our bathroom was properly cleaned on our second day.
All in all, the place was more Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn than Hilton in my opinion.
It is possible that all of the good reviews here are from people staying in tower 2. That is where they brought us for a tour of a unit which was very nicely equipped. The bigger one and two bedroom units were VERY nice compared to our little dirty room.
Either way though, the location sucks, the service was pretty cold and impersonal, our room on arrival was dirty, and the walls were thin. Can't imagine why ANYONE would ever stay here. We never will again and could nenver recomment to anyone.
