Open House Tour--hard sell or worth it?

[RS Applecore]

We've been to the World 5 times in 15 years, and we've thought about purchasing DVC. This isn't about whether we should or not, but whether we should go to the Open House Tour. We've been putting it off because we're worried that A. it'll be a hard sell and B. that it will take time away from our vacation. But we're going for 10 days this time, and we aren't super concerned about a couple of hours--as long as it's not more than that. They say 60-90 minutes.

Anyone have any experience with the Open House Tour? And I want to mention that they offered us a $50 gift card for attending.

 

[OKW Lover]

Its not a hard sell at all. Its pretty entertaining and I'd agree that 60-90 minutes is all it takes if you don't decide to buy.

 

[disneynutz]

It's not a hard sell, it's a psychological sell.

Bill

 

[davidl81]

If you are there for 10 days then why not. It is not a hard sell at all, and I think you still get free ice cream, lol.

But I would not be surprised to see you make a post later on with us congratulating you on buying dvc

 

[JimMIA]

A. it'll be a hard sell

No, it won't be.

The DVC timeshare salesman will try to present his product in the most favorable light, and minimize any possible objections -- as would any good salesman of any product. They don't usually tell outright lies, and there will be minimal pressure. They may offer you a "deal" that is only good for a few days, but no real pressure.

You should be aware that there is a wide variance in experience and understanding among DVC timeshare salesmen. Some are pretty knowledgeable, others not so much.

My suggestion is not to purchase on the tour. While you are still at WDW, come back on the DIS and fact-check anything you didn't understand, as well as all of the factors which are important to you. There are many very knowledgeable people here, and none of them are trying to sell you a timeshare.

If you decide that DVC is right for you, I would also urge you to educate yourself on the resale marketplace because it offers the possibility of major savings. This particular DIS forum is an outstanding place to do that research.

and B. that it will take time away from our vacation.

It will. But a couple of hours is not a bad trade-off for the opportunity to really explore the possibilities and ask questions.

 

[tasha99]

I say go--when I went years ago, it was not a hard sell at all, and I got some ice cream and fast passes afterwards. Not sure about the fast passes anymore, but I think they still feed you. I ended up buying resale about 7 years later (would have bought immediately, but finances just didn't allow it). I thought the tour was fun. I did a hardsell timeshare sales pitch at the Sheratan Vistana Villages about 10 years ago, and DVC was nothing like that. Go, but unless you want the Poly or Grand Floridian, consider resale.

 

[Shadedaces]

We have done the tour a couple differant times in the last few years for the $50 gift card. For us, the time we spent there flew by and we enjoyed looking at the demo rooms. The open house is not high pressured, but like Bill said above it is an emotional sale. The only time that we had felt pressured, was because we have done multiple tours and had talked to them a lot on the phone (in which they keep records of everything).

Anyways, we felt an hour or so at an open house with coffee, snacks, ice cream afterwords and the gift card was worth it, IMO.

 

[RS Applecore]

Thank you so much, everyone! We did decide to go, our appt. is on the morning of our second full day, and they say they will drop us off at the park of our choice afterwards. I am hopeful for ice cream.
And really, thank you--I was afraid it would be a hard sell, that was what was holding me back.

Now, as for coming back here with an announcement that would garner congratulations--I don't know about that! I'd love to, but it's probably not in the cards. But we have been checking out the resale market...

 

[PACVII]

Good luck to you and go in with an open mind and be honest with yourself as you know your finacial situation better then anyone. After many years of looking and talking about it with my wife and crushing number we bought just yesterday. It was great to talk with them and ASK question. Lots of questions. None of them are dumb they will answer them all. The general tour just took about an hour then I asked everything I could think of and we decided it was right for us and we even had been a bit surprised the numbers came out better then I was thinking. I even did a lot of homework been all over a number of sites reading everything I could over the past two years. I even have a relative that is a member and asked them questions.

It really comes down to how you vacation and what your looking to get out of it. We started going to the world in 2000 and staying at values. As our family grew a bit we started to enjoy the moderate resorts. Now yaers later our enjoyment of disney is still there and our income gives us the ability to enjoy some of the delux resorts. After going to talk and tour the open house it came tighter and makes sense to us. But it's not for everyone. Just be open with the questions. Our guild was awesome took the time to answer our question and really wanted to know how we what to vacation and if it did not make sense to us I'm sure he would have said it. If your staying at values going off season and taking advantage of promotions being offerEd and your stays are shorter it may not make sense for you

It will not take long for you and your guide to know if it's worth the investment for you or not.

 

[theyoungs07]

We ended up spending around 2 hours and did not buy. It was a good air conditioned break and my kids were well entertained. It was not a hard sell, but when the salesman asked "Does this make sense for your family?" I told him I need to run the numbers to make sure it isn't a stupid decision for my family and he came back with something about it not being about the numbers but about making sure that we will keep our family together with regularly scheduled vacation time. I thought it was kinda lame, but I'm a numbers guy. I told him that this has to be a financial decision for me as well as a decision as to whether staying onsite mattered that much to me. I think after he realized I knew about resale and the fact that the extra direct benefits weren't necessarily benefits to my family, he dropped the sales level down and kinda tried to get us on our way.

I was very glad to see the demo units, but Poly is not a place that I find ourselves staying (especially at $165 pp!) and I explained that to him. He did take us to a 3BR SSR villa (an actual live one, not the demo) so that was awesome...if we land anywhere I think that'll be it.

We were there in late April and we did get 3 fastpasses for each family member (couldn't use on the really big stuff or meet n greets, but were NOT subject to FP+ availability on MDE) and ice cream.

I've been to executive sales locations for my work and this was very similar...they desperately hold up a facade that they are OK with you deciding not to buy. It was definitely not high pressure, but as Bill said, they wanted it to be a psychological sell instead of one based on financial sense.

 

[RS Applecore]

Well everybody, we went to the DVC open house, and you were all right: it's not high-pressure, there are plenty of snacks, the demo rooms are gorgeous, and the ice cream was fab But! You forgot to mention one thing:

If you buy, you get a nifty tote bag that says Disney Vacation Club! LOL!

And it comes pre-loaded with approximately twenty pounds of freshly printed paperwork for you to sign and date

As I said in my original post, we've been a handful of times in 15 years, have been looking at DVC for a long time, and were prepared with questions. My DH was on the fence, but our rep, Mark, was great with explaining things, and he knew when to leave us alone ("You guys want to freshen up your coffee and get some pastries?"), and we had ample time to discuss things. There was no pressure to buy that day, but we were ready, and we bought Poly.

We are pretty stoked about our purchase, actually, and can't wait to return... in 2-3 years LOL. That's typically how often we go to WDW, so we'll be renting our points on non-vacation years.

Thank you to everybody who offered input. And I want to echo what was said just above me, in which theyoung07 said, "Does it make sense for my family?" Only you can answer that. That's ultimately what it comes down to, and you need to go in well-educated.

Thanks, folks!

 

[EllieBride]

Congratulations! That's awesome!

 

[pangyal]

Congratulations on your purchase and Welcome Home!

 

[Minniesgal]

Well everybody, we went to the DVC open house, and you were all right: it's not high-pressure, there are plenty of snacks, the demo rooms are gorgeous, and the ice cream was fab But! You forgot to mention one thing:

If you buy, you get a nifty tote bag that says Disney Vacation Club! LOL!

And it comes pre-loaded with approximately twenty pounds of freshly printed paperwork for you to sign and date

As I said in my original post, we've been a handful of times in 15 years, have been looking at DVC for a long time, and were prepared with questions. My DH was on the fence, but our rep, Mark, was great with explaining things, and he knew when to leave us alone ("You guys want to freshen up your coffee and get some pastries?"), and we had ample time to discuss things. There was no pressure to buy that day, but we were ready, and we bought Poly.

We are pretty stoked about our purchase, actually, and can't wait to return... in 2-3 years LOL. That's typically how often we go to WDW, so we'll be renting our points on non-vacation years.

Thank you to everybody who offered input. And I want to echo what was said just above me, in which theyoung07 said, "Does it make sense for my family?" Only you can answer that. That's ultimately what it comes down to, and you need to go in well-educated.

Thanks, folks!

Congratulations and hope you love your points we love ours no regrets.

However, i think you must understand now the psychological sell. You went in saying we are not buying now and came out with points. (We did the same and have no regrets)

 

[AZMermaid]

Congrats!!

 

[theyoungs07]

We must be special...we did not buy but we got the tote bag with the books/brochures in it.

 

[kristenrice]

 

[RS Applecore]

Congratulations and hope you love your points we love ours no regrets.

However, i think you must understand now the psychological sell. You went in saying we are not buying now and came out with points. (We did the same and have no regrets)

I really didn't think my DH was ready, even though I was. I was completely surprised when he said to me that he thought it was a good idea for us. And he's still happy.

Thanks!

 

[RS Applecore]

We must be special...we did not buy but we got the tote bag with the books/brochures in it.

It's a bribe. Like a "gift" from the Godfather.

An offer you can't refuse...

 

[Toffeewoffy]

We were only shown the GF and Poly mock-ups - I'd loved to have shown several different, but as they were selling GFV and Poly (and Aulani) that day, that's all we were shown.

On reflection, I would have left it at that time and gone for a cheaper resort on resale or something: it's only since coming home I've found out you can't just book an alternative resort at 7 months because chances are there'lll be nothing left! Sadly, we could only afford 100 points, and it's not enough for a week's stay at GF. But, do I regret buying at all? Actually ... no!