As you likely know if you have had to call the Hilton customer service line, they will ask at the end of the call if they can transfer you to the Hilton Grand Vacations sales department in order to try to sell you a timeshare presentation vacation package. They offer 500 points for being transferred, regardless of whether or not you take the offer, so I always do it.

My Hilton Phone Call

This time around, I called the number to book a stay using a Hilton free night certificate, which had to be booked over the phone. When they transferred me, I was offered a mediocre offer of a 4 day, 3 night stay plus 15,000 points for $249, with the only possible destinations being Orlando, FL or Las Vegas, NV.

I happened to be on the Hilton app while on the call and saw that there was an offer for the same trip, but they were offering 25,000 points with a cost of only $129. In addition, the offer in the app gave me several other interesting destination choices.

I mentioned this to the sales rep, and after emailing screenshots of the offer, he was able to match it for me without any issue.

The Weird Part

The problem is that I previously booked an HGV offer in June 2023 and went on the trip on April 16, 2024.

Generally, the terms for these offers say that you must not have completed a trip within the last 12 months, but I specifically asked the rep if it would be an issue.

He told me that I could do it as long as I haven’t done one in the 6 months prior to this trip, and it must be to a different destination. With this info, I signed up for the offer and received a confirmation email.

What Happens Next?

Based on what he said, I’ll wait until at least November to book to ensure that it has been at least 6 months since my last trip. I expect that there will be 1 of 3 possible outcomes from this:

1. They don’t mention it, and I am able to complete my stay and receive the points without issue.
2. They decide that I shouldn’t have been given the offer in the first place, refund the cost of the trip, and cancel the reservation. Certainly not ideal, but a neutral outcome overall.
3. They tell me that I should have known that I wasn’t allowed to book that offer despite the representative specifically telling me that there was no issue, refuse to issue a refund, and cancel the reservation.
   • If this happens, I will argue with them until they agree to either give me a refund or allow me to complete the offer as promised.

Considering that they are a major corporation, I expect that they will stick to what their sales rep told me and honor the reservation, assuming they notice at all. At worst, I suspect that they would be willing to issue a refund without any hassle in order to avoid any conflict or a poor customer service experience.

If they don’t notice or choose to honor it anyway, this could potentially be a way to bypass the 1 year rule that generally applies, since they seem to have completely different rules for signing up over the phone.

I wouldn’t push it by trying to do it constantly, but it’s not a bad way to get an extra trip every couple years or so.