Hilton West 57th

Has anyone purchased? Did you know that they would charge 85 dollars per day for maid service? Did they tell you that it would not be used as a hotel too?

I just purchased, 5 days ago and I do not want it after my due deligence, what do I do.

thanks

Send Cancellation/Revocation letter to the addresses indicated in your contract via certified mail return receipt requested. That is what it said in my contract. There is a time limit on cancellation and revocation. Act quickly. You might also fax copies to everyone that you dealt with (the nice folks who gave you their business cards). Good luck!

I just bought one too!!! Now I am extremely nervous after reading your comment. Why did you change your mind?

Did you cancel your commitment? If so, why? I just bought into it 4 days ago and am nervous!!!

Look - I've investigated this inside and out - $85 is per STAY of 3 nts or less - not per night!!!!!! If you go 4 nts or more there's no FEE! Also, did you know that they provide complimentray breakfast and evening hors de vours every single day!!!! That alone during a weekend will pay for the housekeeping charge. If $85 is a deal breaker- you probably should not own NYC and consider something cheaper like Orlando or Vegas. I will say this - I travel to NY for business all the time - my company pays an avergae of $400 per night for a decent hotel - not a luxury one....Log on to any website and see for yourself - it's a great value, otherwise a CFO for a Fortune 100 Company wouldn' t own!

Your response is not unanticipated. I do believe that you were told what is represented in your posting.

Perhaps you overlooked the actual text of the Second Amendment to the Timeshare Offering Plan. In paragraph 3, it says: "Additionally, there is a complimentary mid-week cleaning for a 7-night Home Week or Home Resort reservation and daily maid service is available for a fee, currently $85 per day." This daily fee of 85 dollars is clearly different than what you have posted. Can you reconcile your posting with the Second Amendment to the HGV Timeshare Plan for West 57th? Unless you have something more authoritative, then I suspect that you will be bound by the 85 dollar per day maid fee. Candidly, if your business has you in NYC less than a week, it will impact you (or anyone who stays for less than a week) more than me as I rarely am in NYC for less than a week.

After questioning this charge (the documents were amended after we purchased), I received a letter from HGV General Counsel that includes these statements: "The $85 daily maid service is also an entirely optional feature that is not a requirement of ownership...[T]he operating budget contemplates only a weekly clean." It is quite clear from the Offering Statement and the letter that this is a daily fee.

I suspect that your posting reflects what you were told in the course of your investigation, but not what your dicuments provide. And, it is possible that HGV has changed its position, perhaps as a result of our protests and challenge or because of the soft market. We were one of the first purchasers as was a friend of ours who is also protesting this fee. We each purchased multiple weeks for cash, so no, the 85 dollars is not the issue. And , no, we were not told of the "complimentary" breakfast or hors de vours, but we all know that nothing is free. No one has mentioned the free snacks and candidly, there has been plenty of opportunity to do so. Offering "free" snacks is not going to resolve this issue. Our issue is that the maid service is in the budget and described in several places in the prospectus as a common/association expense, not as an owners' extra optional fee. Those provisions were not amended out in the Second Amendment. That is our only issue.

Another example of representations by HGV sales persons that were later contradicted by reality is that both my friend and I were told in that this property would be unique in that it would not have a Hilton Hotel operation. It was to be 100% timeshare/interval ownership. The prospectus did not agree with that representation, nor do their actual operations. We are not challenging those representations as the documents support HGV. In short, please be careful when considering what the salesperson tells you. It may not be accurate. Read the documents.

We were also told that as penthouse owners, we would not ever have to pay the 85 dollar daily maid fee for any stay. That too appears to not be true.

Again, the issue is whether we (and others, including you) have been mislead. Your posting as to what you found in your investigation does not agree with the Second Amendment to the Timeshare Offering Plan provides or what General Counsel for HGV has written about this specific fee. Do you have writings backing up what HGV represented to you? Am I missing an amendment to the offering statement that changes the Second Amendment? Do you not have the Second Amendment to the offering statement?

I really appreciate your posting and hope that you can amplify your understanding and the findings of your investigation. Perhaps someone from HGV will post the corporate position, which is not likely since you appear to have been told something that is inconsistent with their Second Amendment to the Offering Statement. Or, we will all know in a few months what the reality is!

My husband and I have owned timeshare for years, I'm assuming this is your first one? I definitely understand your frustration; however my experience with Hilton has been terrific. MY salesperson fully disclosed fees and reservation windows - if fact, I will be experiencing West 57th Street with my husband and children during the Christmas holiday. I am confident that when we check out of our 1BR unit, we will not get an $85 housekeeping charge. I will be more than happy to notify you if we are charged PER DAY (but I seriously DOUBT it).

You are correct when citing the text of the Second Amendment to the Timeshare Offering Plan “there is a complimentary mid-week cleaning for a 7-night Home Week or Home Resort reservation and daily maid service is available for a fee, currently $85 per day." You may be confused by the phraseology “and daily maid service IS available for a fee" – not required. As the letter that Hilton had sent you states - the $85 cleaning fee is "optional” not a requirement. I would encourage you to bring the letter with you during your stay (just in case they try to charge you).

Since you have purchased, there appears to be a few Amendments that have been made to the Timeshare Offering Plan (6 in total). Hilton did provide us with the West 57th Street Ownership Information Disclosure Sheet (recapping our ownership and a list of fees) that outlines everything including "3 Nights or Less - $85 Checkout Cleaning Fee" and beneath it "Housekeeping upon request - $85."

I would like to ask why you did not cancel your ownership? Obviously you spent time reviewing the contracts in detail. I'm assuming by your postings that your findings were made within the review period? You seem very comfortable dissuading individuals from this incredible opportunity over something so trivial? This baffles me.

Also, may I recommend that you run for the Homeowners Association? It appears by your persuasive dialogue that you would be a great liaison between the owners and Hilton? If you are able to negotiate a better system for housekeeping in NYC, I welcome any savings. With that said, if the housekeeping charge disappears, I'm sure it will reappear in an increase in our maintenance. That I would not welcome.

Good luck to you! Maybe we'll bump into one another in the owners lounge, over "snacks"? Best!

Hi:

No, I am not a stranger to timeshares (both personally and professionally). Two of the weeks that we own are in Manhattan. The daily maid service is included, regardless of the duration of the stay. Most of the sales people at West 57th used to work at the other timeshare.

I can tell you that the "daily maid fee" has been the subject of class action claims in other states. It is a problem in the industry. Here, we are talking about a property that is being marketed as a luxury property. As such, one would not expect to have to pay extra ("optional" ) for clean towels and having the trash taken out on a daily basis in Manhattan. The original offering clearly did not contemplate the extra (optional) fee as it was only introduced in the second amendment.

Your first posting appears to differ from your second posting. Were you told something different? There is no 85 dollar clean out fee in the second amendment either. And, I only have two amendments, not six. I can only wonder what the other amendments say and when they were approved!

Yes, we (both my friend and I) did attempt to cancel the contracts. Hilton is resisting that effort. You have to wonder why given that our purchase prices were probably lower than the current prices. We are not done with that effort. We have discussed the facts with others who have decided to not purchase.

The 85 dollar (optional) fee does send the wrong message for this type of property. Tell them to keep the "free" snacks and apply the cost of the food to the cost of the normal Hilton hotel level maid service. Let's face it, we are either their best or the their worst advertising. Clean towels, an emptied trash can, once over with the vacuum cleaner, and a made bed would go a long way towards happy owners. It also reduces wear and tear on the units and allows management to monitor maintenance needs and it allows management to monitor damages, thefts, and violations (i.e. smoking, pets, etc.).

Yes, if I am going to remain an owner, I would consider serving on the Board, but I suspect that Hilton would not support that concept for the same reasons that you have cited in your encouragement to me to serve.

I look forward to seeing you there in December (??) and hope that they are going to provide us with the "free" snacks at least until they give us the housekeeping services that are contemplated by the documents and the (original) marketing.

I looked at the deal too, but did not buy for several reasons mostly because of the Hilton control of most everything, including the Home Owners Association. I asked but did not get an answer my question of when the conrol of the HOA is turned over to the non-Hilton owners. Most HOA bylaws requier the developer to turn over control after a certain percentage of the units are sold. My reading of the 57th street bylaws showed that Hilton will have a controlling interest until the LAST unit is sold. Will it hold on to the last one?