u/quebramar

I genuinely love HGVC properties. Every time I stay at one, I'm impressed with the quality of the accommodations, and I really like the consistency of the experience.

I've also figured out a pretty good way to get access to them without owning: I do a sales presentation maybe 1-2 times a year. Usually I'll get something like 100k-150k Hilton Honors points for each presentation, plus 3 nights in Las Vegas or Orlando. At this point, I actually enjoy the presentations because the incentives are pretty damn good.

Eventually, I'd love to become an HGVC owner through the resale/secondary market. But every time I run the numbers, I just can't make it work for me.

The $70 fee to make a booking outside of your home week really bothers me. Then you have maintenance fees, the upfront purchase price, and all the other ownership costs. Meanwhile, I can stay at HGVC properties through these promotional stays, earn a pile of HH points, and avoid being responsible for a timeshare year-round.

Obviously, the big catch is that I'm probably going to get blacklisted from sales presentations eventually. 😂

So I'm curious what existing owners think:

Am I actually better off just continuing to play the sales-presentation game for as long as they'll let me?

Or is there a point where owning through the resale market makes financial sense despite the maintenance fees and booking fees?

I'm not looking for the usual "never buy a timeshare" lecture. I already understand the arguments against developer purchases. I'm specifically wondering whether resale HGVC ownership provides enough value over the long term to beat my current strategy of getting 3-night stays + 100k-150k HH points for sitting through a presentation once or twice a year.

Would love to hear from people who actually own resale and have run the numbers.

TLDR: never ever buying a timeshare, but happy to collect the perks from attending presentations.

Am I the only one who thinks it’s ridiculous that HGVC owners are being charged $70 just to make a reservation using their own points?!

You already paid a significant amount of money to own the timeshare. Then you pay annual maintenance fees, and those fees keep going up. The entire point of owning points is that we can use them to book stays.

And yet, every time you actually want to use those points, there’s another $70 booking fee.

It feels especially absurd when the reservation itself might only be a few nights. At that point, the fee starts to feel less like an administrative cost and more like a penalty for actually using the product you paid for.

I understand charging a fee for things like changes, cancellations, or certain special services. But $70 simply to make a reservation with points you already own? That seems excessive.

For longtime HGVC owners: has this always been the case? And do you consider the $70 reservation fee reasonable, or is this just another example of the nickel-and-diming that comes with timeshare ownership?

I've now completed seven 10-day courses and served three times. Overall, this was a good course, but also one of the scarier ones I've experienced.

For about six days, I wasn't able to enter deep sleep. I would sleep, but it felt like I was hovering somewhere between sleeping and being awake. In some ways, it was fascinating and seemed to help with meditation, but at the same time, it was quite scary to experience. Thankfully, around days 8–9, I started feeling like I was finally able to sleep more normally again.

Another interesting change was my relationship with time. Usually, I find myself counting the days and thinking, “Only X more days until this is over.” This time, that gradually disappeared. I stopped caring about how much time was left. The days just passed, and it didn't seem particularly important whether I was on day 5, 7, or 9.

I also noticed that meditation stopped feeling like a chore. Sitting for a meditation period no longer felt like something I had to force myself to do. It became much more natural: almost like it was simply a part of me.

And I think that's probably the biggest takeaway from this course.

My biggest challenge has always been maintaining the practice outside the course. I'm very busy, but if I'm being honest, I'm also pretty lazy when it comes to meditation. Outside of a course, I still tend to view Vipassana as a self-improvement tool, something I do to make myself better, rather than as a way of living.

Maybe that distinction is finally starting to change.

I'm hoping I can carry this feeling with me after leaving the course and make Vipassana less about doing a course every once in a while and more about incorporating the practice into everyday life.

We'll see how it goes.

They recently had $199+tax 150K HH points. Is this one gone? Any others?

They recently had $199+tax 150K HH points. Is this one gone? Any others?

They recently had $199+tax 150K HH points. Is this one gone? Any others?

I completed a 10-day Vipassana course at Dhamma Talaka in February 2024. I've debated writing this for a long time, but I think it's important to share my experience.

I arrived at the center 4-5 days before the course started so I could serve. Serving itself wasn't the issue: I was genuinely happy to help. The problem was having to interact with one particular long-term server.

From the moment I was picked up at the train station late at night, I felt something was off. During the days before the course, I asked about nearby trails and places to walk during my free time between work periods. Instead of simply answering the question, I was immediately told that it sounded like I wanted to stay there just so I could go party in Amsterdam. That wasn't my intention at all, and I explained that, but from that point on the atmosphere between us felt tense.

Over the next few days, I found this person consistently rude, condescending, and unnecessarily controlling. I witnessed him frequently shouting at and berating other servers over relatively minor tasks. Curious whether this was normal, I asked another server why the atmosphere at the center felt so tense. The response I received was, "It shouldn't be, but that's how things are." During that same period, members of several committees visiting the center also appeared uncomfortable, and I shared my concerns with them as well.

I also remember this individual openly flirting with one of the female servers in front of others, which I found unprofessional given the setting.

On the day my course began, the assistant teacher asked whether I would consider continuing to serve instead of sitting the course. I genuinely considered it. Serving wasn't what concerned me; the thought of continuing to interact with this individual was enough to make me decide to sit the course instead.

I spent the remainder of the 10-day retreat there without any issues.

After the course ended, I cleaned my room, packed my belongings, and took a shower before leaving. While I was back in my room, partially dressed after showering, the same long-term server entered abruptly without knocking or giving me time to get dressed. Looking directly at me, he said, "Do you mind?" referring to my being undressed. He then immediately began criticizing me for not cleaning the room. As he looked around, it became clear that the room had already been cleaned, and the conversation ended almost as abruptly as it had begun. The entire interaction left me feeling that my privacy and personal boundaries had not been respected.

Later, while I was waiting outside for my ride, I again felt uncomfortable because this person kept watching me. As he walked past, he bumped into me and my backpack. I can't know whether that was intentional, but it added to my discomfort. Immediately afterward, he casually started a conversation, saying, "You know, there's always something to be done here. You shouldn't leave."

Looking back, I don't think the responsibility lies solely with one individual. I believe the greater responsibility lies with those who decide who is suitable to serve long-term. Long-term servers represent the center, and students, especially first-time students or those serving before a course, should feel safe, respected, and welcomed. When someone repeatedly creates the opposite experience, it reflects on the center as a whole.

Ironically, this experience taught me that, for me, anonymously sitting in a course feels much safer than serving beforehand. I've often heard that serving can deepen one's meditation practice, and I believe that's true in a healthy environment. However, serving also means spending much more time interacting with staff, and if those interactions are negative, they can overshadow the entire experience.

This experience affected me more than I realized. Until now, I avoided returning to any Vipassana course because I didn't want to risk going through something similar again. I recently sat a course and I couldn't be happier about my experience.

I still value Vipassana and what the technique has to offer. However, I would not return to Dhamma Talaka, and I hope the center takes a serious look at how long-term servers interact with students. A meditation center should be a place where people feel safe, respected, and supported.