Jul 21, 2024

Doing the Hilton timeshare hustle

Poolside at the Hilton Las Palmeras Vacation Resort, Orlando, Fla.

It can happen to anyone on vacation.  No matter your level of travel experience, you’ve let your guard down, and now you’re cornered by someone I like to call the “pitch person.”

He or she may look like they’re acting in some official capacity for a tourism bureau or visitor’s center or maybe the place you’re staying, but they’re real job is to sell you something … and it’s very pricy.  It may start innocently with a question like: “Are you enjoying your stay here?”  “Have you seen this attraction or that site yet?”  “Would you like to come back?”

Then the pitch person hits you with the offer.  And it seems like it’s worth it at the time.  Maybe you’re offered free tickets to an attraction, or free dinner vouchers, or free points added to your hotel chain’s rewards program.  Perhaps it’s even a combination of freebies.  All you have to do is one thing – sit through a timeshare presentation. 

A commoner dines at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern, Monroe, Wis.

I wasn’t sure a place existed that could be the perfect representation of Wisconsin life, but then I traveled through Monroe, Wis., one week...