Bonnet Creek timeshare presentation - is it worth going?

[2DisneyIgo]

I've always used these boards when I planned my Disney resort vacations. This year I've planned an offsite vacation at Bonnet Creek for 2 weeks late in July. Disney resorts are just too expensive and July is when I can go on vacation.

I completely forgot about these boards until today. I usually post questions on Tripadvisor and someone mentioned that if you go on a timeshare presentation while staying at Bonnet Creek you get a better room. Is that true? Are the incentive gifts they give worth the 3 or 4 hours that it will take? If I get a better room I might consider going.

Has anyone gone on a presentation and gotten an upgrade or a better room selection?

 

[JimMIA]

I completely forgot about these boards until today. I usually post questions on Tripadvisor and someone mentioned that if you go on a timeshare presentation while staying at Bonnet Creek you get a better room. Is that true? Are the incentive gifts they give worth the 3 or 4 hours that it will take? If I get a better room I might consider going.

NO, it is not true that you will get a better room. Room assignments have nothing to do with the sales presentation.

If you decide to do the presentation, understand two things.

First, Wyndham's resorts are great, but their sales organization is among the sleaziest in a sleazy industry. They have an "F" rating with the Orlando Better Business Bureau and virtually ALL of that comes from the sales operation. The presentation will be high-pressure and there is no lie they will not tell to get you to buy. Don't believe one word they tell you -- if their lips are moving, they are lying.

Second, if you are interested in purchasing a Wyndham timeshare contract you should know that you can buy Wyndham for pennies on eBay. Literally for $1, often with free closing. Once you purchase Wyndham anywhere, your points are exactly the same as anyone else's points. The Wyndham sales weasels will lie about that, but points is points. They will tell you that you can only get VIP status by buying from them. That is correct, but VIP status is not worth paying $20,000-$40,000 extra.

 

[tndisneyfan]

NO, it is not true that you will get a better room. Room assignments have nothing to do with the sales presentation.

If you decide to do the presentation, understand two things.

First, Wyndham's resorts are great, but their sales organization is among the sleaziest in a sleazy industry. They have an "F" rating with the Orlando Better Business Bureau and virtually ALL of that comes from the sales operation. The presentation will be high-pressure and there is no lie they will not tell to get you to buy. Don't believe one word they tell you -- if their lips are moving, they are lying.

Yep I pretty much agree with this. Wyndham will lie like a dog to get you to buy. They told my mom a bunch of stuff about Bonnet Creek that was just lies to get her to buy.

When I went they asked if I had park tickets. When I said yes, they were going to give me a $100 visa to go to the presentation. $100 isn't much in the big scheme of things, and I hear the presentation lasts for 3+ hours.

Just to let you know, we got our room assignment before we were sent to get our parking pass. So it made no difference in our room.

 

[2DisneyIgo]

If you don't have a car can you just skip the parking pass area altogether or do you have to go there to get the shuttle schedule and other info that a person would need?

 

[ez]

we have stayed at bc several times and we always bypass the sales thing. My vaca time is too precious to be thrown into something nasty like that. I have a friend who did it on one visit just to get the freebees and she really regretted. She wound up shouting and telling the guy off at the end and she is normally a sweet calm person. They kept saying they didnt want to buy and give them their free stuff after like the two hour commitment they honored to be there, and they weren't allowed to leave, weren't given their stuff and my friend finally had to throw a huge public tantrum. It kinda soured their whole trip that year, I know they wont be doing that again. When I get my parking pass and other stuff I just tell them I am traveling without my husband. we never get bothered.

 

[JimMIA]

If you don't have a car can you just skip the parking pass area altogether or do you have to go there to get the shuttle schedule and other info that a person would need?

If you HAVE a car, you can skip the "parking pass" desk. The parking pass is a scam -- you don't need it.

If you tell them you don't have a car, they will ask you to fill out a short survey about your experience at WBC. Another scam -- the "short survey" turns out to be a full-blown sales presentation.

The other thing they'll try is coming to your room to bring "welcome gifts," either after calling you first, or just unannounced. If you let them inside your room, they WILL NOT leave. It's a sales presentation.

The sales weasels have nothing to do with the shuttles.

Also, you should know that there is a DISNEY desk in the lobby, staffed by Disney employees who can help you with any info you need about WDW itself. I believe there is also a legitimate concierge desk in the lobby, next to the Disney desk.

 

[Familytradition]

If you HAVE a car, you can skip the "parking pass" desk. The parking pass is a scam -- you don't need it.

If you tell them you don't have a car, they will ask you to fill out a short survey about your experience at WBC. Another scam -- the "short survey" turns out to be a full-blown sales presentation.

The other thing they'll try is coming to your room to bring "welcome gifts," either after calling you first, or just unannounced. If you let them inside your room, they WILL NOT leave. It's a sales presentation.

The sales weasels have nothing to do with the shuttles.

Also, you should know that there is a DISNEY desk in the lobby, staffed by Disney employees who can help you with any info you need about WDW itself. I believe there is also a legitimate concierge desk in the lobby, next to the Disney desk.

I'm a little confused .....everytime we've gone to BC - 4 times and counting ....we've had a car and they send us over to get our Parking Pass.....that's when they tell us about the "welcome breakfast" "owner update" or any other made up reason to get us to go. We politely tell them tno thank you and they leave us alone You need the parking pass so how can you NOT go to the desk ?

 

[JimMIA]

I'm a little confused .....everytime we've gone to BC - 4 times and counting ....we've had a car and they send us over to get our Parking Pass.....that's when they tell us about the "welcome breakfast" "owner update" or any other made up reason to get us to go. We politely tell them tno thank you and they leave us alone You need the parking pass so how can you NOT go to the desk ?

You don't need the parking pass.

It is never checked. It doesn't get you past the guard gate (need your room key). Even when we have a parking pass, we don't display them at any Wyndham resort...and we've never been questioned, had a note on our car, or anything else.

It's just a ruse to get you to the sales weasels.

 

[ez]

I always get the pass, I guess I think it would be my luck to not get it the time they start enforcing it. When we checked in last week, they sent me for the pass and it took like 3 extra minutes. When they say, have you stayed here before or something, I say oh yes we come here a lot I am with the kids but my husband couldnt get off from work, or something like that, just put that out there in conversation that my spouse isnt with me, and they drop me like a hot potato. I had relatives coming over and they said I should get a pass for them too even if they werent staying overnight, so they gave two passes.

 

[Cdn Gal]

We are owners there who purchased off of eBay. eBay is a four letter word there just so you know too! . We go tO the owner updates and stay exactly 45min. And then stand up and say that we have stayed the allocated time and would like our free gift. We go bc we want to hear about the new resorts and the new things that are planned for BC and for other Wyndham resorts. We have never had a problem saying no, and we only do an owners update if it fits into our schedule. If you are nt owners though it is 2 hrs and I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[JimMIA]

We are owners there who purchased off of eBay. eBay is a four letter word there just so you know too! . We go tO the owner updates and stay exactly 45min. And then stand up and say that we have stayed the allocated time and would like our free gift. We go bc we want to hear about the new resorts and the new things that are planned for BC and for other Wyndham resorts. We have never had a problem saying no, and we only do an owners update if it fits into our schedule. If you are nt owners though it is 2 hrs and I wouldn't recommend it.

Pretty soon, they will not let you do the owners update. The only purpose of the update is to sell you more points, and once they realize you will not buy, they won't even ask you. Some of the old-timers on TUG have asked to attend the update and they won't let them!

As far as Wyndham news, you can get much more accurate info on the Wyndham website or on the TUG Wyndham forum. Wyndham is doing some good things, including new resorts in NYC and Chicago.

 

[Teacher03]

This past June was our second visit to BC. When we checked in, we were told the presentation would only be an hour, and it included breakfast. Breakfast was packaged muffins and coffee, and the presentation dragged into almost three hours. A total of four salesmen talked to us after we continually said no. I had to use my forceful teacher voice to get them to back off ! We did get a $100 gift card, but not sure if it was worth it.

 

[Dacky619]

Don't believe one word they tell you -- if their lips are moving, they are lying.

This almost has my interest piqued to see how far they go to try to get a sale.

 

[disneycrazy01]

Two years ago I went on vacation with a friend who owns a timeshare. We spent a week at Star Island. Since I was on a tight budget and they were offering $200 off theme park tickets I went on a presentation. I've never been on one before so I didn't know what to expect.

They pushed so hard. They lied so much. Even if you say "No" a thousand times and with bad credit they will still try to sell something. I was there for 4 hours and went through 4 salesmen. By the time it was over they had me purchasing the Club Wyndham Discovery Program which was good for a year. The package was for 154,000 points. They convinced me that I could get a 2-week vacation during the summer from those points.

By the time I got home and realized what I got myself into, it was too late to cancel. I called Wyndham's corporate office to complain. I guess I complained so much that they gave me a Sunday-Thursday free of charge stay at Kingsgate in a one-bedroom and I ended up using the 154,000 points for a week at Governor's Green in West Virginia. We had a good time and I learned from my mistakes.

I'm leaving in 4 days to go to Bonnet Creek for 2-weeks and I might consider going on a presentation if the gift they give is worth it. If they only offer $100 I'll pass it up. This time I am going in there with some knowledge about timeshares and how cheap I can buy one on Ebay. I will give them a run for their money. If it's raining I just might do it to see how fast they will want me out of there.

 

[BeerMe]

We went in February. We own RCI and I wanted to see what the conversion was. My advice is to RUN. It was a terrible experience for us. Never, ever again!