Marriott vs. Hilton

Hi --

I am planning to buy a resale timeshare sometime soon, and have narrowed down my choices to buying into either the Hilton or Marriott systems. We plan to purchase a home resort in Orlando because that is what we will be using the next 5 years or so, but we like the thought of buying into a brand-name system and being able to use the point to go elsewhere later on.

My question for you is -- Hilton is more expensive. Is the cost worth it? Are the resorts that much nicer than the Marriott resorts? It is easier to use? Are there better ammenities?

Please let me know your opinion!

Thanks!

Jeanette

I think the quality of the resorts are similar. I think the decision depends on where you intend to visit.

The Orlando locations depend on if you want to be close to Disney or SeaWorld.

You should book a Promo trip to visit Hilton for something like $99 for 3 nights and take the tour. I think Marriott offers a similar package.

Buying HGVC and Marriott are a very different choice. With both Marriott and Hilton, you'll buy a fixed size, season and location. The difference comes when you wish you change size season or location. With Marriott you must trade your week and hope to get what you want even if it is the same resort during a different season. With HGVC, you just use your HGVC points to make a reservation at any HGVC resort, any size or season.

There are many more differences which you should read about before deciding were to buy.

My sense is that the Marriott system is larger and my experience regarding overall consistency of product and service has been better with Marriott.

We own both. Recently we purchased and additional unit with Marriott, not Hilton.

While Hilton has very nice resorts and a more flexible internal exchange system using points to reserve a unit rather than exhanging one unit for the other, I still like Marriott better.

Hilton has limited HGVC resorts in limited locations. The remainder they make up with "affiliated" resorts not built by HGVC but up to their standards. Not every owner at those resorts are HGVC members so every unit is not made available to Hilton members.

Recently it was posted on these forums that all new HGVC builds will require MORE points to reserve than current resorts. IMO, that devalues the points I know have as far as exchanging into the newer resorts. Something we understood wouldn't happen with Hilton and a sales point used as an advantage Hilton had over other points based internal reservation systems.

Marriott has more resorts in more locations around the world. The choices far out distance anything Hilton has to offer IMO. I also feel the quality of Marriotts accomadations are superior to Hilton's. However, the MF's are considerably higher as well.

One thing I especially don't care for with Hilton is that, while I'm a member of RCI, I don't have complete access to the RCI web site. Everything has to be done through Hilton. I'm one of those that likes to do my own reservations and search for my own exchanges. With Hilton, I have to call them, tell them where I want to go and the rep tells me what he thinks is the best resort. I don't like that.

With Marriott I can search online for exchanges and pick what I want. Sometime's I'll search for a couple of weeks, maybe longer. Having to call in to see what's available today is a major PIA.

There are vast differences between the two systems. Both are very high quality systems and both have their good points and their bad points. It will just depend on what fits your lifestyle and needs best as to which system will work best for you.