I was just writing a review for a place I stayed for business in Orlando, and thought this might be an interesting thread...

So I stayed at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando this past week for business. Really really nice place. I think the 2 bedroom condo I stayed in was around 1200 square feet, had a complete kitchen, huge bath including a jacuzzi and a 2 person walk-in shower all for $161 a night.

When I checked in, they asked me to visit with the time share person across the room before I went to my room. I had heard through reviews they would do this, so it wasnt unexpected. They told me that since I was a renter for the week, that I would get $150 in cash if I attended a meeting with their sales office. I didnt really need the $150, and said 'I'll call you if I want to go.'

Well, during the course of the week, I got two slips under my door reminding me to call them, and 2 voicemails on my phone. My week was busy, so I ignored it. But on my last day, I was bored, and decided since I had 8 hours to waste before the plane took off, I'd check out the package they had (I had been really impressed with the place). I had no intentions on buying a time share, but was also open minded to at least give them a shot at pitching something to me...

HIGH PRESSURE. It was an hour long of torture. The sales guy, Marcus, started off the meeting, after the obligatory small talk in this manner: "So, did they tell you that we'd be expecting you to sign and buy a time share at the end of this meeting?" Me: "No. And I can assure you that won't be the case." Went down hill from there. Almost saying that it would be a 'stupid' decision to let the deals he was going to give me slide today, and that they'd be gone as soon as I walked out the door. Of course, I'm too smart for this, and ignore all of it. The meeting was definitely full of pressure pitches, and lacking in details. At one point, he was making me feel guilty for taking the $150 and not buying. Quite honestly, it was sickening. His job was obviously there to prey on the weak, and pressure them into doing something they wouldnt want to do. he also told me I needed to stop being selfish, and sell the airplane so my family could afford his time share to vacation.

At the end, he presented their 'high' and 'medium' time share offerings, which would cover 2-3 weeks of vacationing, with one plan requiring 35k down, and $1100 a month, and the other being 20k down, and $600 a month. That made saying No really really easy.

So he flat out told me all the extras he included for no cost would evaporate as soon as I walked out the door. Well, I walked out the door to an exit interview. They locked in all the crap he offered for 18 months and added some more stuff. And through in a trial membership of their elite package at 1/10 it would normally cost for a year.

So, bottom line, avoid these if you didnt know about them already.

[Edited on November 7, 2008 at 2:02 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on November 7, 2008 at 2:28 PM. Reason : .]

11/7/2008 2:01:59 PM

I sit through them to get the $50 gift cards to local restaurants. I don't care. I'm not buying, and I know it. No big deal.

Only takes an hour and I get a free dinner out of it. Works for me, but I can definitely see why it wouldn't work for others.

11/7/2008 2:12:57 PM

i've gone to one done by starwood before - basically the same deal although my sales guy was much nicer - he told me 1/3 sign and i definitely didn't/don't believe that - one of the things he kept pitching was that i'd be gold on their rewards level but i was already platinum and due to that they knocked the # of points i would get for purchasing a timeshare up by almost double (not sure if they did that for everyone that was adamant about not buying tho)

if you can stand it - it's not an easy way to have a cheap vacation or earn some quick cash - don't go if you are weak though

i do believe that most of them are for a 20yr lease though and not an actual purchase - the starwood one i went on kept mentioning it was for a purchase and could be sold to someone else

11/7/2008 2:17:29 PM

Quote :

"with one plan requiring 35k down, and $1100 a month, and the other being 20k down, and $600 a month."

i have had friends who started at the same crazy prices and had talked them down to something like $5k and $200 a month.

Quote :

"Quite honestly, it was sickening. His job was obviously there to pray on the weak, and pressure them into doing something they wouldnt want to do."

welcome to the world of sales

11/7/2008 2:18:25 PM

PRAY

11/7/2008 2:26:02 PM

yeah. glad I am not in sales. I am definitely not weak. However, this was on the level of sickening. I'm 30, so I've seen my share.

I kept asking if when it was paid off, I kept getting the points until I died. he said yes, but I didnt buy it. It was counter to what I have been told.

11/7/2008 2:27:23 PM

My grandparents go to FL and disney world for a week for free just about every year. Well they have to pay to drive and eat, but the room and tickets are free and they have to sit through 2 or 3 presentations during the week and then on the last day have a one on one thing with a high pressure salesman. It's also for buying property, not a timeshare.

11/7/2008 3:08:38 PM

lol I remember going to disney world with a buddy of mine back in grade school. His mom was all like "we'll go to this breakfast seminar and get free tickets!" She walked out owning some bullshit timeshare in addition to our tickets. Lol @ weak ppl

11/7/2008 3:16:24 PM

New time shares are such a rip off. You can pick up some nice used ones for $500-$1500 which is more than fair IMO. I saw one at Atlantic Beach go for $400 or so recently. It's hard to beat a $400 initial investment + $310 per year in maintenance fees for a good week at the beach every year (it would fall on Memorial Day on some years.) Buying a new one for $15k is akin to flushing money down the toilet.

11/7/2008 3:27:22 PM

the wife and i sat in on one of these during a vacation in hawaii. We got a free day long catamaran tour out of it.

They were pretty high pressure, but not as bad as what CarZin went through.

it was an hour and half of listening to their spiel and saying no thanks.

The catamaran tour was pretty badass though.

11/7/2008 3:46:06 PM

Anyone want to sponsor me to attend one of these things and plug my ears while going "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA." That would be hilarious.

11/7/2008 9:49:19 PM

just about every theme park i went to, they had someone doing that

i went one time, got free food and $200, but they wasted like 4 hours of my life


the guys in the parks have to sent so many to the meeting a day i think
he was telling me to lie about my income (60K+ required) and my martial status (single at that time)

11/7/2008 10:50:29 PM