tour at massanutten this week and what I learned.

took the tour this week and man the crap was flowing for sure..

was told I could donate my existing unit to make a wish and they would value the unit at some where between 25,000 and 35,000 dollars. With that I could take a $5000 donation deduction on taxes to reduce taxes owed. man i could not beleive the outright lie.

this was all in trying to get us to buy a summit unit for 17,900.. which with all the discounts cut the price to around $13,900.. which is sold out according to salesman.. the reason for the summit sales was in 9 months mass was going to stop selling deeded unit and go to a 20 yr RTU lease,, another guy i talked to said he was told 30 yr RTU.., which was 20 (30) weeks or 20 (30) yrs which ever was used first..the maintenance fee was close to 500+bucks for a 4 bedroom unit. there were selling the models and this was last ditch effort to sell teh rest of the available units. suprize suprize..



I saw a couple summit units on TUG for 3 -5,000 bucks so I was not fazed by the "deal".. kinda thought it was slimy to do the make a wish thing which is not true at all..


also the waterpark was going to be expanded in some way, shopping added on resort dr. (across for exxon) and new mirror or hedge maze installed around water park area.


and yes the tour prize was two activities cards...

I Resemble That Remark.

carl2591 said:

and yes the tour prize was two activities cards

Click to expand...

2 activity cards must be the standard tour freebies at Massanutten. That's what we were rewarded with after getting the Massanutten hard sell in October 2008 when we were there for a week on RCI Instant Exchange.

The representative giving us the tour & sales pitch was Rita Midnight -- the most unforgettable timeshare seller we've ever sat across a table from.

We did lots of the activities.

We did not buy a Massanutten timeshare.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

I did the tour today and was shown a 4 br at Woodstone for 13,900. They also told me they would be going to RTU. I didn't feel pressured at all, in fact we never got the manager, only the agent. She knew there was no possibility of us buying anything. Free breakfast, 4 waterpark tickets and 2 hours later I do think thiw is a good place to own, but with ebay rolling them out at under 2,000 I will buy resale if I decide to take the plunge.

same but different

i did the sales pitch yesterday. the salesperson was nice and knew he'd make no money off of me. he also mentioned going to RTU/lease. the first manager sits down, gives me 9k and four weeks in a bedrom l/o in woodstone. i say no, he abruptly gets up and walks away without saying a word. a second manager then tells me he will give me a 4 bedroom, 4 weeks in either woodstone or the summit for 6k and gladly buy my fixed 3 bdrm shenandoah villas unit for 11k. i tell him no, that i bought it for a buck on ebay and i'm reeeealllly happy with it. he totally switches gears and tells me i could go buy another one for a buck because they're only worth a buck for reasons A, B and C. i tell him i do a lot of research on TUG and know that all his reasons aren't accurate and i'm not interested in the offer... and didn't you just offer me 11k a minute ago for the same unit that you now just said was only worth a dollar? needless to say our "meeting" ended abruptly thereafter. hey, he's got a job to do...

in all honestly, i learned a lot in the two hours- all for the good- and the kids activity cards saved me some money too boot. the expansion here sounds pretty incredible. a week 32 at the new regal vista section going for 90k though? wow. as always- thank you to those who make TUG great!

Wife and I did the tour this week- was the most low pressure tour we ever did. (We do one almost every year here - give the activity cards to our guests)

But our other guests that were staying in our downstairs unit got the full monty sales pitch (couple was 65 yrs old - first time here - wife loves the place - shark (salesman) smelt the blood....)
He contacted me near the end of the presentation - I told them "I don't care what they tell you - DO NOT BUY! ! "

Few things that were said...

1 - Buying from anyone else besided the developer and they would be treated as second class by RCI when trading.. (Funny we sold some friends a Shenandoah and they actually traded the 1 bedroom Shenandoah for a two bedroom Summit, If that's second class treatment - I'll take it)

2 - Buying from other than developer they would not get bonus weeks,,, This one I am not sure off, I did sell some freinds a Shenandoah and they did get my two bonus weeks transferred to them, But for funzies I called RCI this week and asked if a Unit was bought from secondary market would the buyer receive bonus weeks - RCI said that would be up to the resort since the resort issues the bonus weeks.

My feeling at this point is when I sold mine I gave the bonus week certificates to the new owners and since they had a certificate number when they called RCI - RCI assumed the bonus week was issued to them by the resort. Anyone with comments on this?

3 - Oct 1 all new sales will be leases. Well maybe - but Massanutten has been saying this for at least 3 years now. Hard to imagine them going to leases - they have hard enough time selling units now. If they do that would only apply to units sold by the developer - more reason to buy on secondary market.

Side comments - we did tour the new Regal units (Houses) Not impressed at all. Very small units. Nothing impressive about them. I'd prefer to stay in a Summit - or Woodstone over those any day.

"Rita Midnight" -- perhaps that was her stage-name.

Did Massanutten tour this week. 4 free waterpark tickets which came in handy for my brother and his family. our salesman Danny was very nice and not too pushy. 2nd guy was worse - just told him we prefer the Summit we got resale and if we wanted another we would buy that resale also

I think I am going to get a real trendy looking tshirt to wear to my next TS tour. Like, maybe it will say, "I *heart* resale timeshares" or "I *heart* Ebay timshares" or, like, the word DEVELOPER with a big line through it; something like that.

I wonder if they'd throw you out and not even bother to tour you if you did that? I dunno. I'd sure think it was funny though.

TUG Apparel.

foreverloves said:

I think I am going to get a real trendy looking tshirt to wear to my next TS tour. Like, maybe it will say, "I *heart* resale timeshares" or "I *heart* Ebay timshares" or, like, the word DEVELOPER with a big line through it; something like that.

I wonder if they'd throw you out and not even bother to tour you if you did that? I dunno. I'd sure think it was funny though.

Click to expand...

Click here for an outstanding selection of TUG T-shirts, etc.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Thanks Alan! Those are pretty spiffy. I still want one that says NO DEVELOPERS or something. But that's probably considered mean I like the TUG one with the big letters.

The salesman we had this past week did not know what TUG was.:annoyed:

I guess a shirt is in order for my next visit.

Timeshare Sellers Aren't Always The Sharpest Knives In The Dishwasher.

Steve NH said:

The salesman we had this past week did not know what TUG was.

Click to expand...

You should have seen the astonished look on the face of the rookie timeshare seller we got 1 time when I told him flat out There Is No Such Thing As A New Timeshare Because All Timeshares Are Used-Used-Used By The Time The Owner Shows Up & Checks In.

I'm pretty sure that basic fact got left out in Timeshare Selling 101.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

We did the tour a few weeks ago. Went there on Massanutten invite... 4 days, 3 nights in the hotel (Boy did that hotel SUCK). Got 4 waterpark passes for our time. Girls LOVED it!

Tour was for wooodstone... not impressed. Told us about waterpark expansion and shopping center type thing planned for woodstone. I think first offer was 25k for 4 bedroom, reduced to 22k for our one time special. Then dropped to 9k, 5.5k with bonus weeks, etc... Their bonus weeks aren't worth crap.

I tell you... its weird riding around in the salesperson's car!

We bought... resale unit in Daytona... LOL. Cheap and we'll be able to trade into Massanutten with it.

kasteer said:

I tell you... its weird riding around in the salesperson's car!

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I had my 2 year old and 11 month old with me, so I had the chance to get away and ride in my own vehicle.

Also, when we told our salesperson that we owned South Africa, I overheard her tell her manager "2 SA owners in 2 days". Probably another reason we never saw the manager.

Not that this is related, but she did say (as part of her pitch) that RCI trades would no longer (after July 1, 2010) allow any up trading in unit size, season (red, white, blue) or status (gold, silver, standard).

She was telling me this was a direct result of the lawsuit. This can not be true can it? I don't have any weeks banked that I banked after July 1.

I was told the same thing...

and when I talked to a guy who was filling out the loan papers to pay 10k (at 17%!) for a 2bedroom in the Summit from his salesman, he said he was told the same thing as well...along with them going to lease sales. And yes, I referred him to TUG.

How much are activities pass now and what does it includes (golf, water park, etc.) ?

I am fairly certain that the passes are 99 for adults - discounts change seasonally it seems. Golf and waterpark both have discounts, Frontier Culture Museum, Hall of Valor, and Luray Caverns are all free with pass, for the summer anyway. I think the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are half off the $10. Discount on most if not all the craft classes. Pretty good deal on the wine tours, discount on rest of tours.

pedro47 said:

How much are activities pass now and what does it includes (golf, water park, etc.) ?

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They are $99. If you are going to golf, you save about $40 per round. They would be great for that. Save about $20 a day for the water park.

activity cards

http://massresort.com/v.php?pg=338 a golfer i was talking to said if he paid the $99 for the adult activity card (he went the presentation and got 2 free), he had to play 3 rounds to break even. his family of 4 played 5 of the 7 days so he was happy. the kids activity cards are $69 and like laura said, many of the activities saved anywhere from $5-20 for each. i have twin 6 year olds and i saved about $130 in activities with the cards- i got 2 free for the "survey". you could also get more feedback if you go to massanutten's facebook page and post there. they have a moderator who posts back all day long, as do other massanutten visitors.

Upgrading formula and costs?

that golfer also told me that he upgraded from SV into Summit. he was ticked that they would only give him the same dollar amount that he purchased his unit for from them 9 years ago. he thought it should have been more since he thinks they would sell it for more to another buyer. that got me to thinking how do they arrive at the dollar amount to offer in the buy back? they offered me 11k for my one week (not purchased through them) and then pay 6k to buy 4 weeks in the Summit- how do they get those numbers? are there closing costs or any hidden fees to "upgrade" through them? do you have to pay MFs on each of those 4 weeks? are those 4 weeks for the life of the deed or just the first year to get you to buy? i didn't ask the managers any of these questions as i didn't want to be there any longer with little interest of upgrading.

foreverloves said:

I think I am going to get a real trendy looking tshirt to wear to my next TS tour. Like, maybe it will say, "I *heart* resale timeshares" or "I *heart* Ebay timshares" or, like, the word DEVELOPER with a big line through it; something like that.

I wonder if they'd throw you out and not even bother to tour you if you did that? I dunno. I'd sure think it was funny though.

Click to expand...

I thought the same thing.. get a couple printed that says something about
buying resale on TUG2.NET. you might have to wear them under your regular shirt at first.. and then take it off during the sit down and hard sell protation,, have it printed on back and front.

http://www.customink.com/designs/tug/zvt0-000b-yzjq/retrieve

here one i put together to wear when attending the PostCard Company deal that put on the road show in motels a lot..

I don't know if wearing a disparaging t shirt is ground for getting thrown out.

AwayWeGo said:

Click here for an outstanding selection of TUG T-shirts, etc.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Click to expand...

the shirts are nice for sure.. had forgotten about them.

only thing i see is the logo need to be on back of shirt not front.. more people will actually read it on your back..

hay,, brian how about some new t shirts with logo on back.. have to admit the logo is very cool...

and some deals on qtys. like buy 1 for 15 , 2 for 22, 3 for 33