Review of several timeshare presentations

[Belle1962]

As I had some free time on my hands this week, I decided to try several timeshare presentations. Since so many people ask about how high pressure they are I thought I'd check it out myself. What follows is a description of MY experiences at these tours.

The Palms: got this from the orlando4free website. Very low key presentation; after my sales rep there were two other people who had to "sign off" on my form. None of them were high pressure, they took no for an answer and I was out in under 100 minutes. (offer: various I took two onde WDW tickets)

Westgate Lakes: Would never ever never ever never ever do Westgate Villas and was leary of trying Westgate Lakes but figured to be fair I'd give them a try. They were the most high pressured of the ones I did but again, when I said no they only tried to very lightly push. There were again two additional people who had to "sign off" on my form. I found this one at an "information center". There about 130 minutes. (various: I took two one day WDW tickets)

Marriott Horizons: Of all of them this was the most low key, low pressure one. Would highly recommend this to people. The best part was---my sales rep was IT. None of that fooling around with other people needing to "sign off" and make me better offers. Marriott was in the lobby of the hotel (Courtyard at Downtown Disney). Out of there in under 90 minutes (various: I took $75 in Disney Dollars)

Hilton Grand Vacations: Found this one at the Orlando Premium Outlet. Not as low key as Marriott but definetly more low key than Westgate and Palms. Only had one other person who needed to "sign off" on my form. Just a tad over 90 minutes to do it all. (various: I took $75.00 in Red Lobster certs)

I wouldn't schedule my vacation around these things but when you visit WDW as often as I do, I didn't find it detracting from my stay do one of these per day. The "perks" or thank you gifts were pretty decent and EVERY PLACE offerred me a variety of gifts...ranging from free park tickets to $100.00 in a mall gift certifcate or restaurant certificates. It was my choice which gift I would like.

Hope this helps anyone looking into doing timeshare tours as part of their vacation.

 

[CarolA]

Just out of curosity what was Marriott offering as their gift? I did one of their presentations in Hilton Head and found it very low key. They gave me about $100 worth of Marriott dollars that my BF and I spent at merchants in the area. I did consider them, but the "new" price is so high that I felt you would be better with a resale. I would like to see what they are offering in Orlando.

 

[disneydawn]

I'm curious as to which ones give out park tickets. Anyone know??

 

[DisOrBust]

How much personal info do you have to give? Do they require to see your DL or any ID? Can it "haunt" you later with telemarking calls,etc...

 

[Belle1962]

Most required name, address & phone. When they asked for email I declined to give it. I asked each one if a credit report was done and they all said "no"....I will verify this in amonth or so when I get a copy of my report. This may result in a few "follow up" calls but we screen our calls anyway. They looked at my DL and a credit card but did not write anything down---and with the way the numbers on my card are worn down there is no way they could have looked at it and memorized it.

They ALL offered theme park tickets. I checked with guest services at Disney yesterday and they would allow me to do a one for one trade to trade up to a park hopper. For instance, I have TWO adult tickets...I could trade each one in and get two park hoppers but I couldn't apply two of them to the same park hopper.

Marriott was offerring the Marriott $$, Disney dollars, tickets and other stuff.

 

[Belle1962]

 

[jcanary]

Where did you get the information on the marriott and hilton? I have found the one for The Palms but can't find any mention of the Hilton or Marriott offering. Did you sign up for these in one spot? I am going to have a free day while the kids are swimming with the dolphins and would like to do a few of these, DH doesn't know yet. Would appreciate all the info you can give me. thanks again

 

[Belle1962]

Marriott was in my hotel's lobby (Courtyard at DD but I have seen the desk at other Marriotts in the area). Hilton was at a stand in the Florida Premium Outlet mall. Isigned up on the spot for some and a day ahead of time for others.

 

[ivanova]

jcanary

Hilton Grand Vacations is located (literally) next door to Discovery Cove and across the street from Sea World.

If you'd like a phone number to call, email me at ivanova.bab5@verizon.net and I can give you their phone number.

 

[lawgs]

belle were you staying at the courtyard in downtown disney....

have heard you have to be staying at a Marriot resort to get the invitation to tour Horizons....???

was just wondering ....

and now when i read the entire threat i see you were staying at the courtyard..

thanks for the info

 

[disneymoma]

Can I ask why you would never ever try the Westgate Villas (is this the Westgate Vacation Villas)? Just wondering - my sil maybe staying there in June. thanks

 

[Belle1962]

If your sister is going on a timeshare deal she may have a lot better luck than we did. If she exchanged into it: Here is our story:

Background: Two families staying at Westgate Vacation Villas (not Westgate Lakes) Sunday Nov. 19 (2000) for a week.
Note: Westgate is a "resort of distinction" for RCI.

Family one (mine): RCI members exchanged a red week two bedroom sleep 8 for a two bedroom sleep 8 at Westgate Vacation Villas. Arrived for check in about 4:15 pm on Sunday. It took over 30 minutes to check in. The check in people were rude and not willing to answer any questions. The reason for this is----after check in they assign a rep to you. This person drives you to your villa and goes over the amenities, activities, etc. about Westgate. While our rep was showing us around our home for the week I noticed that our unit did NOT have a jacuzzi in the master bedroom and was FAR from pools and other activities. I made the exchange in June of 1999 and had made several calls to both RCI and Westgate to be assurred there would be a jacuzzi. Our rep told us there was nothing they could do about it RCI assigns the units and to call RCI and see if they could switch us. If not, just spend the night there and maybe in the morning (Mon) they could move us. I am close to tears by now. I call RCI and they tell me that WESTGATE assigns the units not them but they will have someone call me back within 30 minutes. We just sit around the condo waiting on RCI to call us back. When they do call back they tell me there is nothing else available in Orlando and I have to stay where I am. He also tells me

WESTGATE ROUTINELY ASSIGNS RCI MEMBERS TO THE OLDEST UNITS AVAILABLE AND SAVES THE NEWER UNITS FOR INTERVAL INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS. This is a sales ploy on their part to get you to buy into II and Westgate at the end of your stay.

I am now BAWLING. I call back down to the front desk and explain the situation to them. They can't help. My rep tells me the same thing again--RCI assigns the units not Westgate and they MIGHT be able to move us tomorrow. NO. NO. NO. I want to see a manager we are moving TONIGHT. TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER we are moved to a newer unit. Much larger than the original unit we were assigned and has a large jacuzzi in the master bedroom. During the week I noticed small things like mildew in the shower area, dust behind the furniture, etc. Also it was a sleep 8 unit but only had service and chairs (plates, etc. for 6.)

Family Two OWNERS at Westgate Vacation Villas TOWN CENTER. Town Center is the newest area at Westgate. At this time only owners are allowed to be assigned there because only three buildings are completed and none of the amenities are in. They own a 4 bedroom sleep 16 at TOWN CENTER--the newest area at Westgate. At checkin they discover that they have been assigned a ONE bedroom sleep 4 unit in Westgate Villas--the oldest section available. Their rep told them the same thing--stay here for tonight and tomorrow we will try to move you. HUH? I am an OWNER at TOWN CENTER, I have 8 people with me and you want us to squeeze into a one bedroom? NOT. They were moved to a 4 bedroom unit in the Town Center section.

To give you an idea on the quality difference between the units and what we ended up with--my nephew described our first unit as "ghetto".

During your trip you will be invited to a maintenance check. This is where they will try to sell you a timeshare. I avoided this until check out simply by not returning the sales rep's phone calls. At check out our strategy was to have only me check out--they have to have both husband and wife available to sell you something. They will tell you twenty minutes but plan on several hours if you are not prepared. You will first meet with your rep and answer a few short questions, then another person will come over (who has to sign off on your form) and then ANOTHER sales manager will come over. Each of these people will try to sell you on owning timeshare at Westgate. They did not try very hard with us because I came straight out and told them I would NEVER consider owning at Westgate because:

1. The mix up with my reservation could have been just a fluke BUT the people who OWNED there had the same problems and more. If that's how they treat their OWNERS they need a lot of help in the customer service department.

2. I have never stayed at a resort that expected me to bag and take out the trash, run the dishwasher and strip all of the beds at check out. I am on VACATION---exactly what do the maids do???

3. Thanksgiving morning they did a Turkey Trot around the complex. Nice for the runners and walkers BUT they expected the rest of us to stay put while they ran their course. We spent over 20 minutes trying to get out of the complex because Sam Security wouldn't let any traffic move--EVEN WHEN THERE WERE NO RUNNERS OR WALKERS in sight. We finally ignored him and went anyway.

4. The first unit we were given (in addition to not having a jacuzzi) had newspapers from FRIDAY in the closet of the master bedroom, cracks in the ceiling, blinds that didn't work and if you moved the lamp in the living room DIRT--not just dust--under it. Our "newer" unit had mildew in the shower--just a little but still enough to see, not enough place settings in the kitchen, no extra trash bags for the kitchen and again blinds that did not work.

5. The phone at the Town Center unit did not ring--you would only leave voicemail messages--even when they were in the unit. Their vcr also did not record.

I'm not sure who was telling the truth--RCI that Westgate assigns the unit numbers or Westgate that RCI assigns the unit numbers. Either way--someone has to get the ghetto units--it might be you.
I would NOT recommend Westgate to anyone--unless you REALLY don't care what type of unit you have.

 

[Belle1962]

 

[hockey mom]

When we did a timeshare with someone a few years back the woman stressed to us that you can only do one presentation a year by Florida law. We found this out because we told her that we needed a couple of days to thinks about it and she said that they can only offer it today and you cannot do any others for a year. Has something changed since then or was she jeking us aroung huge. I think the place was called "isle of bali" or something like that and the pressure was intense.

 

[baileybrad]

hockey mom,
I mean this is in the most polite way possible....but I would consider myself "jerked" if I were you. Some folks enjoy doing the ts sale tours. Many sales people are great....others will tell you anything. I find that the simplest questions of all trip up most sales folks.

 

[NancyDVC]

My friend and I did Orange Lake Country Club about 12 years ago. One of the reasons we did it was that we had been passing it for several years on our way to and from WDW (we stayed with her folks at their winter place in Clermont). We had always admired OLCC-it looked lovely from 192.
The presentation started off well. There was a 'tour' of the resort via golf cart. I think that our sales rep was a bit ticked off because we weren't a married couple but 2 single mature women. (Is there some rule that only married couples buy timeshares?)
Then we saw a film in the main recreation center. It seemed odd that owners/guests couldn't use some of the facilities during the times that the sales previews were done (from morning until mid-afternoon).
Then the pressure hit the pitch. We were taken to a large room with lots of tables full of 'prospective owners'. No privacy. The rep kept running out of the room to check the availability of weeks, 'deals', etc., etc. The more that we said "No" the more pressure that was applied. The 'big guns' came out several times with phrases like "Look at all these folks, the choice weeks are going fast. We can't guarantee the price/weeks if you leave. Deals won't be this good again." etc. Etc. When we finally got up to go to the redemption center the rep followed us and the price was still dropping as we went! By that time we were laughing. As I recall we got 2 one day Universal tickets and $25 in Disney dollars. The girl at the redemption desk was lovely. The whole thing took about 2 1/2 hours.
The following year we spent a lovely day at Commodore House and bought DVC! Nice low key presentation, lovely people, wonderful purchase. (And we never realized that we had spent over 4 hours there. I think that we drove our DVC guide nuts with questions.) And by the way they never once hinted that only 'married couples' were eligible. So here we are 2 even more mature single women who enjoy DVC every chance we get!
We have been DVC members since early 1992 and never regretted a moment! (Except maybe when we can't get there often enough.)

 

[Belle1962]