Non-DVC Timeshare Presentation for Park Tix?

[PrincessSarah314]

Yes, I know they are high-pressure but we are DVC members looking to tour some of the other timeshare resorts and figure we may as well get some free tickets thrown in and save some $$$ while we're at it.

We're going in June, just 2 adults, so no need to worry about missing park time with the kiddos. Anyone know of any resorts currently running this promo?

TIA!

 

[littlestar]

Not free tickets here lately, but I've heard of American Express gift cards or Visa cards given - anywhere from about $100 to $150 per tour.

If you don't want to suffer through horrible high pressure, I'd consider HGVC (Hilton) or Marriott Vacation Club presentations. The worst ones are Westgate and Wyndham in my opinion. Starwood offers tours (Sheraton/Westin), but I don't know how high pressure they are - probably high pressure, though, no doubt.

When I stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek back in January, they started offering me $100 and then upped it to $150 when I said no. I never had time to take a tour, I was too busy having fun.

Plus, the DVC discount on annual passes is the way we go anymore.

Here's the short list: Marriott's Lakeshore Reserve, Wyndham Bonnet Creek, Hilton Grand Vacation Club Parc Soleil, or Sheraton Vistana Villages. These are very nice resorts to tour. Just don't buy retail if you get the itch - you can save a lot by buying resale.

 

[lilpooh108]

I don't know about free park tix, but I will echo the PP's suggestion about Marriott.

I've taken 3 of their tours for the package vacation getaways (to Maui & Newport) and I actually found the presentations to be very pleasant and informative. I had no intention of buying in, but it was nice to learn about their system especially since at the time we were considering buying "something" resale. We never got any nasty comments (to our face) for not buying in. We ended up, of course, buying DVC resale.

 

[Dean]

Yes, I know they are high-pressure but we are DVC members looking to tour some of the other timeshare resorts and figure we may as well get some free tickets thrown in and save some $$$ while we're at it.

We're going in June, just 2 adults, so no need to worry about missing park time with the kiddos. Anyone know of any resorts currently running this promo?

TIA!

I can't count the number of times I seen people do this saying there is absolutely no way they will buy and then end up signing up including those who knew up front they could buy resale for pennies. Realize that 60-90 minutes can turn into 2.5-4 hours if you're not careful. If you want to see the resorts then could just drop by and look around. Most will let you see a unit by just going to the front desk or tour desk. Some (The Fountains and Wyndham BC for sure) will have units for show that they will direct you to if you ask. Many will also show you around on the fly but that's hit or miss if they're busy. We enjoy them generally but then I know enough to generally understand when they're being truthful and appropriate, most DVC members likely don't (there I go generalizing again). I think the only resort I've had issues with along this lines in Orlando is Harbour Lakes and we are Marriott and Horizon's members (the 2 have merged).

 

[cwdefouw]

Definitely plan for more time than they say it will take. We have done the Hilton Grand Vacations Club, Parc Soleil about a year ago. It was a nice tour, however, my plans to tell them we are DVC owners and then jet, did not pan out. They quickly brought in a manager who owned both DVC and HGVC who then spent 45 minutes telling us how we would benefit from owning both. Their relatively small number of villa properties was really the deal breaker for us. We are so used to having all of the easy exchange options with DVC's concierge collection, disney collection, LBV trading collection; that their program seemed to be quite limited if you didn't want to use points for the hotels. We thought about buying just to use the points at the hotels, not the Vacation Club resorts, but thankfully we came to our senses and realized what a waste of money that would be. We got a discounted rate to stay at the HGVC International Drive property for three nights for agreeing to the tour, plus a certificate for a free night at a Hilton hotel after the tour.

We also did the Marriott tour at Disneyland Paris a few years ago and that was real low pressure. Not sure about the ones in Orlando though. Our incentive for that one was something like 50000 Marriott Reward Points.

 

[Dean]

We also did the Marriott tour at Disneyland Paris a few years ago and that was real low pressure. Not sure about the ones in Orlando though. Our incentive for that one was something like 50000 Marriott Reward Points.

With Marriott (Hilton also) it tends to vary with your salesperson. As a rule both tend to be fairly low pressure by industry standards but certainly more than DVC on average. I'd generalize to say they are professional but insistent as a rule. 50K points sounds like a lot. Often it's 10-15K with 20K being on the high side. Valued at around 1¢ a point, that's be like $500. It's very likely the "closer" did not own both and pretty likely they didn't own either. As a group timeshare salespeople are very skilled at what they do, the good ones make a top car sales person look like chopped liver.

 

[JimMIA]

It's not just high pressure.

With many timeshare presentations (Westgate and Wyndham, in particular), you are also going to be subjected to repeated blatant lies about every aspect of their program and competitive programs. DVC timeshare sales people don't usually tell blatant lies, and if a DVCer goes into a presentation thinking they are going to be treated respectfully and professionally, they're likely to be disappointed by many companies.

Also, don't underestimate timeshare sales people. They may be sleezy, but they are also effective. They are very good at what they do for a living, and they suck many people into purchases they never thought they'd make...including a decent percentage of those who went into the presentation knowing they absolutely, positively were not going to buy anything.

I'm not very familiar with Westgate, but with Wyndham, their sales strategies are really not reflective of the timeshare system they are selling. Wyndham is a very good system, but their sales force really stinks. Wyndham's sales force has an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau, and they work hard to live up to that rating. They are so bad that the first thing most experienced Wyndham owners do when they get to their room is unplug the telephone...seriously. Some owners like to do "owner updates" just to torment the sales weasels, but I have better things to do on vacation. I would never take a Wyndham tour.

 

[CarolMN]

It was several years ago, but my brother had to take out his cellphone and threaten to call 911 if they didn't take him to his children immediately. They wouldn't tell him where the kids were being entertained when their "timeshare presentation hour" was up and he wanted to leave. The threat worked and he got the tickets or whatever they were giving away that time. They were mad, but my brother didn't care.

The next time (again, he traded into the place and was told the session was mandatory) he brought his youngest with him who usually had a poopy diaper about the time the session was scheduled for. He did - that kid was like clockwork, LOL) The salesman let him leave after only a few minutes.

The last time (now he comes with us to DVC when he visits WDW), he took the phone off the hook and erased all the messages inviting him to a session or a "maintenance" unit review. Found out nothing happened to you at that place if you didn't attend the session. Since he traded in, they couldn't charge him more for the stay if he didn't go.

Again, this was all several years ago. (Westgate). Maybe things are different now. I don't care to find out!

 

[JimMIA]

Again, this was all several years ago. (Westgate). Maybe things are different now. I don't care to find out!

Nope. There was a post in the last few months on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions forum about similar Westgate tactics. The poster was given 3-4 nights in a DTD hotel for taking their tour. They were picked up at their hotel and taken to Westgate for the tour. When they didn't buy, the sales team refused to provide transportation back to their hotel. They had to take a cab.

They are also famous for basically holding your children hostage to make you stay until you buy.

Not all timeshare folks are bad, of course. At our home Wyndham resort (Smoky Mountains) they came by with "welcoming gifts," we said no thanks, and that was the end of it. They are much more pushy at WBC.

 

[lilpooh108]

It was several years ago, but my brother had to take out his cellphone and threaten to call 911 if they didn't take him to his children immediately. They wouldn't tell him where the kids were being entertained when their "timeshare presentation hour" was up and he wanted to leave. The threat worked and he got the tickets or whatever they were giving away that time. They were mad, but my brother didn't care.

Wow that's pretty serious, keeping your children away from you. If they didn't take me to my kids, I actually would call.

On a different note (now thinking about timeshare experiences), I've never had a DVC sales person lie to me, but when touring the Aulani model at DLR I overheard a salesman lying to another family considering Aulani: (1) about the beach being private [no beach in Hawaii is private]; and (2) about resale points not being able to be used for cruises, RCI, Disney Collection [which at the time, was not true]. I wanted to stop and correct him, but my husband gave me a dirty look . . .

 

[Dean]

It was several years ago, but my brother had to take out his cellphone and threaten to call 911 if they didn't take him to his children immediately. They wouldn't tell him where the kids were being entertained when their "timeshare presentation hour" was up and he wanted to leave. The threat worked and he got the tickets or whatever they were giving away that time. They were mad, but my brother didn't care.

The next time (again, he traded into the place and was told the session was mandatory) he brought his youngest with him who usually had a poopy diaper about the time the session was scheduled for. He did - that kid was like clockwork, LOL) The salesman let him leave after only a few minutes.

The last time (now he comes with us to DVC when he visits WDW), he took the phone off the hook and erased all the messages inviting him to a session or a "maintenance" unit review. Found out nothing happened to you at that place if you didn't attend the session. Since he traded in, they couldn't charge him more for the stay if he didn't go.

Again, this was all several years ago. (Westgate). Maybe things are different now. I don't care to find out!

Their pretty notorious. I know of instances in MX where they had a similar experience but were some distance away from anywhere and didn't know where their kids were, another where they were refused return transportation and the worst one, threatened with bodily harm.

 

[littlestar]

The next time (again, he traded into the place and was told the session was mandatory) he brought his youngest with him who usually had a poopy diaper about the time the session was scheduled for. He did - that kid was like clockwork, LOL) The salesman let him leave after only a few minutes.

Your post made me laugh out loud.

My husband almost got in a fist fight when we took a tour years ago near Indian Rocks beach on the gulf. That tour was so bad, it might have been worth it for "me" to poop my pants to get out of that room.

When we first bought DVC, my husband would only buy over the phone (bad memories from timeshare tours). Later, after we met our DVC guide in person, Betty, hubby never had a problem buying more DVC points in person from Betty (sweet lady - retired now).