Sales rep makes homophobic and transphobic remarks, then calls us broke
I just had the absolute WORST experience at the HGC presentation. We are staying at the Elara in Las Vegas and we had the rep named Denny aka Dsource. He is a sports writer in the Philippines and apparently used to have a promising career in the states. We only know this because he spent an hour talking about himself and his career showing off pictures of him with celebrity athletes during his “career peak”. Idk if this was a sales tactic to make himself look cool or if he just genuinely just wanted to brag but it was super cringey.
He decided he didn’t want to do the traditional tour where to walk around and explore the property because his boss “let him do things his way.” He instead scrolled through photos in his phone showing us his vacations (cool to see other properties), talk shit about his coworkers (I don’t care about your work gossip), and honestly just rant.
Here’s where I got uncomfortable. He started talking about how he’s the “leader of the workplace culture and makes the workplace fun.” He showed us a meme in his work group chat that was something along the line of a someone saying “I promise I’m not gay.” He started tell us about one of his coworkers who they are “giving shit to” because he has a crush on someone (very high school but okay). He said they were giving him shit because, and this is a direct quote, he didn’t know his crush was a “lady boy.” And then he goes on a rant about how they were looking at the persons listed gender which was female and Denny “just knew that wasn’t true” and “used his journalistic skills” to find out that she was trans. The trans and homophobic rhetoric made me extremely uncomfortable, especially as someone who is bisexual and has trans friends.
At this point I knew this man was 1- a shitty person and 2- highly unprofessional but we were already there for an hour and essentially trapped there and at this man’s will.
He then decides now it’s time to actually get into the sales portion of the presentation (we’re already past if not approaching the 90 min). He tells us again he’s going to do the presentation his way. He says that usually at the end he has to send in his manager Angie, he’s going to “make up something so she doesn’t have to come. I’ll probably just lie and say you’re rude. You’re not, but that will save you time.” Foreshadowing. He decides he wants to show us the cheat code and the cheapest way to get in as an owner. During this time he starts showing us text messages from other owners (showing us names, photos and phone numbers) of Hilton owners who were reaching out to him via text because they are “friends” once you buy through him. The reaching out to him personally I actually thought was a nice touch but I doubt these owners have given you permission to show us their texts, phone numbers, names and even photos.
He keeps presenting and then we get to the point where we’re boiling down to numbers. He is saying we should open a Hilton card to finance the 15k for the cost of the plan. This was a hard no for me. The card was 0% for the first year and then something like 18-28% apr after that. I was absolutely not putting 15k on credit card and scrambling to pay it off within 12 months. I told him from there I would rather wait until I have the whole amount for the plan and then only need to worry about maintenance fees (which were expensive in itself and rising every year). This is where I visibly see him start to get anger.
He starts ranting about “so this whole presentation was a waste of time” and “you were going to say no matter what I said”. I told him that wasn’t true but I also was not opening a credit card. He starts to say “well you know how this goes you do this all the time”and “you guys are timeshare pros.” We’ve done the presentation only once before. We were genuinely interested in becoming owners. My bf and I don’t have kids and love to travel. We were intrigued with all the perks and discounted stays, and we discussed seeing how much the cheapest ownership fee was. So implying we are “timeshare pros” is both untrue and insulting.
He then starts asking us about our credit. He goes on to say “if you don’t want to open a 0% card you must have bad credit. Just tell me if you have bad credit.” He then pulls out a PHOTO of someone who tried applying for the card holding up their credit score of like 580. He then shows us another photo of someone holding up their declined application. These are photos HE took of CUSTOMERS and used them as an opportunity to laugh at others financial situations. He did preface with “I took these with consent” but I was appalled either way. Humiliating others to try and bully us into a sale is disgusting. He goes on to say that if we’re one of these people then just tell him. I put my foot down and say I’m not financing 15k on a credit card. He then saying if you’re broke and didn’t come whole then we wasted our time. Speaking of time, we are now way past 90 min. He tried to walk back the broke comment, but what’s said has been said. At this point I’m furious and he’s furious, but I’m know the best way to further piss off someone mad is to stay calm and unmoved. So I sit there and let him talk.
He then says if we don’t purchase or apply for the card the manager needs to speak with us before we can leave. I’d love to speak to her at this point. He comes back a few minutes later, no manager. He says “you know you can’t keep coming back right? I let my manager know you aren’t interested and Hilton probably not going to do this again.” Fine by me. He the shows us one more pitch of like 10k. We say no and he leaves. Doesn’t say anything about anyone else coming to get us, just leaves us at the desk. Then a guy names chip comes, he’s got a much friendly demeanor, sits down and says “so how was your experience?”
I say “do you want the honest answer?” “Unfortunately yes.” I then say that Denny was rude, unprofessional, and has turned me off to Hilton for good. I’m like so angry my voice is shaking, I’m trying not to cry. He apologizes on behalf of Hilton. Offers us an “introductory package” that’s like 1800. I say now’s not the time I really want nothing to do with Hilton rn. He says let me give you my number, I going to talk with my manager about compensating you for your experience. I take his number and give him mine. He says he’ll be back on Sunday and invites us back for the “compensation”.
I don’t want to go back, but I do want to voice my concerns and see what this “compensation” is. Should I go and see what they have to say or am I walking into another sales pitch that will further ruin my trip?
I also know these presentations are recorded. He mentioned that several times during the presentation. If anyone from Hilton sees this, I urge you to review the recording. If what I’ve described isn’t accurate, the recording will show that. If it is, I hope you’ll be just as appalled as I was.
TLDR; sales rep makes homophobic, transphobic remarks, calls us broke timeshare pros, shows us photos of customers holding up their low credit scores to embarrass them, shows us names, phone numbers, text messages and photos of other owners, and keeps us way past the 90 minutes.