ask-redweek-timeshare-sales-presentations

" Both scripts lean on the long-held adage that timeshare ownership is a great hedge against the always inflating costs of hotel travel — and much more comfortable and luxurious, too, especially for families with little kids." True, a timeshare unit is more like "at home" living and comfortable for vacationing. However, the cost of "maintenance fees" continues to rise, negating the argument about inflating costs of hotel travel. The number one thing most people forget and need to remember if sitting through a "presentation"....at any time you can simply use your two legs, stand up, and announce "no thanks, we're leaving" and do just that.

It's all smoke and mirrors. They throw around these huge numbers of points and say things like "this number of points could take you anywhere in the world", but truth be told, they don't amount to much. After spending about $35,000, we couldn't find one 2 bedroom anywhere for the number of points we owned.

All my timeshares were bought as resales, but I attended a lot of sales pitches because they helped me learn more about how timeshares work. I only attended the sales presentations that offered a worthwhile incentive. I never paid more than $1200 for a resale even for a one bedroom week 1 across from the beach in S.Fla (no one was giving away their weeks when I originally bought mine ). I only bought premium prime time weeks with reasonable maintenance fees.. Before I go to a presentation I look for resales at the Property they will be pitching. When they tell me I can have theirs for only $20,000 I ask them if they will match the $400 resale unit I found on Red Week. Suddenly I'm no longer their best friend and they tell me we're done and I can collect my gift card on the way out. I don't feel even slightly guilty of not buying, because the person who signed me up for the pitch always promised me it was just a informational update for the property, not a sales event.

Dear Charles, do you even slightly understand timeshare sales? You take away the opportunity of a sales person to make a living, taking away his time, stroking him for free info and gifts and then , hahahaha asking him to match a cost of some resale on the internet ? Have you also tried to ask a sales person at Lewis to sell you your jeans in original Lewis store for some internet price of used ones ? Ppl like you make me laugh. Looser If you dont have the money, stay home, dont bother ppl and buy used stuff online.

Jeff, I hope Red Week is paying you well. You deserve a raise, sitting through all those presentations. We go only when the incentive to attend is worth 1/2 day of our life. And we just laugh ourselves silly when we hear "It's a no-brainer". And no apology due when I am deceptively invited to 'an update'. You lie to me, I don't owe you a thing. The thing that annoys me the most is the wait to get the 'gift' when you don't buy, But I am honest from the get-go, they know I am not going to buy, We will put up with a little chatting to make it look good so the sales person doesn't get fired, but if you are a sales person, do you really want to waste your time with us when the next prospective buyer goes to another sales person.

Great post Jeff - I would like to hear an overview of a Disney presentation. Current presentations work it's simply a numbers game. Regardless of the logic of purchase most timeshare companies need to be working towards a plan B.

The only players that will be able to continue on this basis will be the big brands but even they in time will have to adapt and will want to reduce costs they just have not figured out how yet. .

We stopped being invited to Wyndham presentations! We are platinum, Presidential Reserve owners; started with Fairfield years ago. TWICE, we were invited upon check-in at Wyndham resorts, and then someone quickly called with a cancellation because "the time was no longer available". We aren't complaining but the abrupt change is very curious.

The worst investment my husband & I ever made was purchasing 2 weeks from Marriott! $26,000 could have been a down payment to a vacation home. A mistake we will always regret. It was the "in" thing. Our goal was to take a trip once a year to see the world with our children. With complicated schedules of our kids athletic programs we lost so many weeks and never got the help to understand the ins & outs of timeshares. The maintenance fees are ridiculous, & the point system now is costing us 2 weeks to take a week in Hawaii. All the changes which members have asked for over the years are now those that we Must pay for & benefit little. Marriott isn't building more timeshares, and the global areas are very limited. Red week is a great forum. Also, there are so many travel sites which cost significantly less. There is the consistent issue with confirming a request unless you pay for the destination program's different levels. Timeshares are being sold for nothing, for the maintenance fees still make the investment a poor choice.

I have never rented so I am a little reluctant about this. I have a 4 bedroom that can be split into 2 - 2 bedrooms. Which a better choice to post (which is better marketable)?

As an owner with WESTGATE you still are subject to yearly sales pitches where they try to get you to 'upgrade' your week to a much higher priced week where you fees increased and your payment increases. Or in my case since I have paid off the mortgage, it will put you back to making monthly payments. Since they carry you to a update look at the resort before the sales pitch, you are at their mercy to leave. The meetings are never where you can park your own car. I have made their appointment time since they WILL NOT leave your condo till you do, and then just been gone before they arrive.

I wanted to learn more about timeshare so my husband and I agreed to a 90 minute presentation. We paid 40.00 each to see vegas at night in a helicopter and tickets to a burlesque show in exchange for attending. As soon as we met our new best friend, Simon, i wanted to throw myself into oncoming traffic. Simon had a Russian accent from Angola. Huh? Anyway lunch was a yummy buffet if you like Swansons TV dinners. I would of been happier with road kill. Then the sales pitch...lots of art work and algebra. My eyes started to cross. Then the questions: do you like to travel? No, not anymore. Do you ewe

hi i consider myself a professional timeshare taker, over 100 tours under my belt, love those gifts. but when i first started timeshares were $5000 for a week . last one i took about 2 months ago started at $80,000 for 4 weeks with yearly maintenance fees over $3000 a year, i have to ask myself who would pay that for a few weeks a year . when i first started there was no internet, no cell phones. how can anyone justify spending this amount of money with no research, i have driven the same brand of automobile for 45 years yet if i go to buy another i still compare prices at a few places before i give up the bucks. but for some reason people get into these presentations and almost feel obligated to buy that day? i have 4 weeks of timeshare that work great for me, maintenance low with getaways and bonus certificates from II my wife and i travel about 12 or more weeks a year and i figured it out to approx $600 a week 90% of the time 2 bedroom 3-5star resorts so it works for me. but the large corp have ruined it for many with high maintenance fee's. why would anyone pay $1200 and up per year plus cost of timeshare, just find a cheap resale with low maintenance fee's use the get aways and bonus weeks . you can get some nice resorts for $300 to $1000 week depending on time of year and have fun,good luck future owners.oh yeah forgot got my last resale here thanks redweek, nice 2 br lockout with annual fees $600 trades for 2 weeks on II

I just attended a timeshare sales pitch for Marriott this weekend. I haven’t ever attended a timeshare pitch before. Everything seemed friendly enough at the start. It seemed like a great program with options for properties around the world through the point system. However, when I began asking detailed questions on how the program works, the sales team became hostile. I was told the points never expire, so I asked to confirm that all points earned year over year can be accumulated and used all at once later. The answer is no- they are only good for 2 years unless converted to hotel points to be used for that purpose vs. vacation timeshare rentals. When asked about the conversion factor in actual dollars, they refused to answer. In the presentation, they show various properties around the world, and the number of points needed to rent. The locations outside of the US require an exorbitant amount of points. Once they realized this, the sales team attempted to quickly delete these locations from the presentation. When I pressed them on the fact it seemed it would be more economical to just pay for a Marriott hotel at those locations (and had those prices pulled up in my Marriott app), they suggested a timeshare purchase “was not for me.” The staff was not able to tell me the difference between a Deed on a standard property and the Warranty Deed provided with a timeshare. They also took serious umbrage to the fact I asked about language in the contract that may prohibit me from renting to others. These were all major red flags for me. I’m no expert or real estate agent, but as a consumer, I expect to have valid and legitimate business transaction questions answered. Case in point, when I asked why the financing interest rate was 12.99% rather than a standard mortgage rate of approximately 4%, I was told it was because the amount borrowed was smaller than a standard mortgage, so the company had to make money somewhere. Finally, I asked to review specimen contract language up front. The sales team leader stood up and asked me to leave. I was told that there was no specimen language to review because “all the contracts are numbered and only people that agree to lock into the contract and pay the thousands of dollars deposit are allowed to review.” They went further to say that “if I thought they were tricking me and if I didn’t trust Marriott as a company, then timeshare rental was not an option for me.” ON WHAT PLANET?? The last time I checked, Marriott is a for-profit organization. If blind trust without any opportunity to review contract language coupled with turning over thousands of dollars on the spot is the only way they are willing to conduct a real estate transaction, then they are right, it’s not for me.

Timeshare is nothing more than a “strategy” inside your financial ownership portfolio that offset overtime leaving just an hoa and other small fees.. All we do is buy, sell, and hold products so think strategy first Vs product first over the longterm (true retirement years).. DIVIDE the amount of nights you stay with points into your HOA after you own the deed with points “free and clear”.. NO MORTGAGE BALANCE is where I experience a “reduced condo cost” offering 5 star Gold Crown quality resorts with awesome service... You should use metrics to measure your Time horizon (lifespan) and risk tolerance for room inflation and financial loss collecting receipts add up rental room receipts factor inflation over time to see facts and make real assertions about the timeshare ownership strategy for you and your family... I agree Experts say you will not get back what you originally paid for your timeshare. This is often the most difficult truth for a seller and homegrown timeshare salesman to hear. I also agree Resale timeshares often sell for only 50% of the original price - some for as little as 20-30% or less just depends on the Realestate metrics.. ****Timeshare Presentation Warning ****Don’t buy into oceanfront hype *****Timeshares do not rise in equity value nor do they rise in value like owning a Beachhouse or oceanfront condo year round!!!

Having read all the comments below, intimating that timeshare sales people are sneaky and underhanded and waste your valuable time, I have to say that I think it might be the opposite. It appears that many "customers" brag and boast of feigning interest in a timeshare in order to get the free stuff (food, tickets, etc.). And while there may be some dishonesty involved in these presentations, it is likely on both sides of the table. If a person agreeing to attend a presentation later complains that their valuable time has been wasted, I would remind them that at least they are walking away with the free stuff they were out to get. Not so much for the employee who sat with them and got nothing for the same amount of time. I picture the "customers" leaving, after playing with the sales person like a cat does with a mouse, high five-ing each other, and gloating about their savvy ability to one-up the system that they complain so much about. Sorry, folks, I have no sympathy for you. You are willing participants and are as phony as the salespeople you are criticizing. My husband and I love our timeshare and we are usually offered a presentation when we exchange. We politely decline, because we don't want another timeshare and don't want to pretend we do, so that we can have a free buffet or whatever. Our vacation time is valuable and we are comfortable paying for our food and entertainment. As far as our own timeshare goes, all the new info is on the website so we don't need to go to a presentation and pretend, with an innocent face, that we are there because we sincerely need to learn more about our program. I would not waste the time of any salesperson in any industry if I were not really and truly considering purchasing their product. It's just plain creepy and it's bad juju.

This wasn't my experience but negative people have negative experiences. I just am blown away that some someone would invest time unloading short sited opinions on a topic they obviously have a problem with for alternative or personal reasons. Although I doubt anyone seriously follows, cares or reads Redweek the fact of touting more subscribers for a free blog compared to tangible vacation options is laughable. Not to mention the industry with a bad reputation for honesty and self serving bs, seems to be the media as of late, that would include blogs like redwack or redweek, or whatever. How much was your hotel in vegas? Exactly.

sharonw275 wrote:

If a person agreeing to attend a presentation later complains that their valuable time has been wasted, I would remind them that at least they are walking away with the free stuff they were out to get. Not so much for the employee who sat with them and got nothing for the same amount of time.

My complaint with these is not the valuable time being wasted. If I go into the presentation where the agreement is that I get the gifts after the agreed-upon time (usually 90 minutes), then I expect to be dismissed with the gift at the 90-minute mark. These sales people do not give you the gift until long after the agreed-upon time.

And as for feeling sympathy for the sales person, the sales person can just pass the potential buyers on to another sales person. This happens often while the potential buyers have to sit through long, drawn-out presentations. As well, the sales people know that they have no accountability if they hold the guests there for longer than the agreed-upon time.

So in short, if I am released from there with the gift that they promised me for showing up, I won't complain if they release me with the gift at the agreed-upon time. What I despise is when they callously hold my gift for long after the agreed-upon time.

The reality is that these presentations are orchestrated to make the potential buyers feel obligated to listen to the endless barrage of sales pitches . Ninety minutes is more than long enough to hold people prisoner for their gifts . Another reality is if this product was marketed the same way as any other product on the market the companies would go bankrupt . The whole point of keeping people in the presentation rooms is to wear them down to make a poor decision on the spur of the moment while enjoying the euphoria of a much needed vacation .

I expect to see many of these timeshare companies to start suffering financial difficulties due to the virus . The domino effect might be severe depending on how long this crisis drags on . Each owner has to decide what is right for their circumstances .

Don't feel sorry for that employee that got nothing for your free time! How many consumers go into the sales presentation knowing that there is a clause in the contract that allows every salesperson, including managers and closing agents to outright lie? Not one person is told going into these hours-long presentations that if they purchase they will be signing something that basically states "I am NOT relying on anything the sales reps told me". If I were told that in the beginning, I would NOT have allowed the presentation to go on at all because the timeshare is taking advantage of that clause to make money and I was not allowed to make an educated decision on a life-changing purchase. Ever wonder why there are so many complaints from owners about being lied to? It's because they are being lied to and we aren't talking about the expected embellishments like future amenities. We are talking about financial lies, lies that cause financial harm for a lifetime because there is no legal way out. Timeshare Companies and employees want you to feel like you are "moochers" if you walk away with the free gift. I applaud everyone that walked away with that free gift and not a timeshare because that "mooching" is nothing compared to the "mooching" timeshare. Timeshares will take money from owners for life by lying and they get away with it legally by taking advantage of a clause placed in the contract and they care nothing about those that fell for the lies. When an owner needs out the only solution the are given: you can always rent or sell and we all know that is not a legitimate solution.