Maui Timeshare Presentation Hopping

Aloha from Maui.

As I have visited the island of Maui quite a bit I thought to sign up for one presentation which turned into three. I use these tours as a way to "shop around" for the best place to use my weeks for when my parents Brother and I when we come to the islands and the gift is just an added bonus.

The first presentation was with the Westin Kaanapali Villas. Right from the start they gave me my $100 AMEX Giftcard which I used to book the Royal Lahina L'uau which I enjoyed. I enjoyed learning about the Starwood system and got a lot of in depth information about how to use a week that I have from The Ridge Tahoe which is part of II. This resort alone makes joining II worth it as we have other weeks with RCI.

The rooms here were luxurious and spacious. As we own a week this would be a nice place to exchange into. After the tour which by the way had no pressure and quite informative.

Next I booked the Marriott Ocean Beach Club but due to a mixup due to overbooking I was given a General Information Tour. After 20 minutes of seeing the room I was given my certificate for a sunset cruise on the Teralani. I was quite impressed with the way Marriott handled this overbooking. I was willing to do the 90 minute presentation to learn about the program but the manager said "We thank you for visiting and apologize for the confusion please accept our sincere apologies and enjoy the cruise as our way of thanking you" I was in and out in 20 minutes.

The last tour today was to the Diamond Resort Kaanapali Beach Club. While I was not impressed that the 1 bedroom had a small kitchen without a stove and it still had the Embassy Suites feel. I was impressed with the comfortable bed and the setup of the room. Everyone was friendly and answered all of my questions. This would be a second choice for an exchange if 2 bedrooms were available with a good view as an exchange. For my time they gave $100 Mahalo dollars to use at restaurants such as Roys.

While some may think attending these presentations is a waste of time I see this as a learning experience of how to chose resorts to exchange in to or in the future which resorts to purchase. The gifts make the deal sweeter for me to enjoy Maui.

I loved the Lu'au and am looking forward to the sunset cruise tomorrow.

travelplus said:

Aloha from Maui.
While some may think attending these presentations is a waste of time I see this as a learning experience of how to chose resorts to exchange in to or in the future which resorts to purchase. The gifts make the deal sweeter for me to enjoy Maui.

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Well some people feel that there is a better use of vacation time.

With the ones you were at, at least you were in and out within the time stipulated. Sadly, many of these presentations keep you well beyond the 90-minute agreement.

Also you say that these presentations are a great way to get information about... . That's fine and dandy if the sales people were honest and truthful. But it's hard to get accurate information when they're, shall we say "less than 100% honest and truthful"?

But anyway, if you felt that the gifts and information they offered were worth your vacation time, then I hope you enjoyed your gifts.

Hmmm, there must be something about you, that they are willing to let you out early. Bad breath? Just kidding. Glad the experiences were so pleasant for you. Enjoy the gifts! If the presentations are within 90-120 minutes, they are worthwhile. The daylong hostage situations are what should warrant a call to 911.

Bring a timer.

Next time you want to go to a timeshare presentation, but don't want to stay all day, Bring a timer set it for 90 minutes, make sure the presenter can see the countdown. @ 85 minutes, politely give them a five minute warning.

Honestly we felt the same way.....

We usually don't do "tours"....but when we were at Marriotts Oceana Palms they said they could schedule us for 8am (we're up early and the kids sleep late) - I think it was $100 Marriott bucks and there were a couple restaurants where we ended up making reservations for a great dinner. We were matched with a really nice gentleman (soooo glad we didn't get the VERY enthusiastic lady across the hall!!)....anyway, we explained that we loved traveling, didn't own any timeshares and weren't in the market . We were through in less than 90 minutes & he was very nice about it - we were back up stairs in time to collect all the sleepy kids and head out for the day!

At the Royal Resorts we headed down for the day to the Hycienda's - we had a really sweet girl, we went for breakfast downtown and she showed us around a little and recommended we come back later. We then toured the Hyciendas - told them again we just weren't interested (our adult daughter & friend accompanied us and just layed by the pool) - Again we were done in less than the 90 minutes; enjoyed the resort for a couple hours and headed into Playa and took the bus back to Cancun later that night. The next day we got discount snorkling tickets (wonderful trip!!).

We were clear from the beginning that we understood timeshares very well. We have never purchased and did not intend to. I guess they believed us.

Interesting way to get to know timeshare systems.

Frankly, you were lucky, in part, and chose well, in part.

The first timeshare tour that I ever did was for DVC. It was extremely low pressure. When I decided to buy, I told Judi that I was interested but that I would have to read all of the documents, first. I was put into a private room with a desk and given a pen and pad so that I could take notes. No pressure at all.

Mt second timeshare presentation was at Star Island --- and it was for Fairfield (now Wyndham). And it didn't seem high pressure because I was so interested in buying, they didn't have to pressure me. I wanted to show my sister and brother in law what I had purchased. When we returned to the resort, they would not let me in and they told me that it was not a Fairfield resort. I learned that Fairfield had only purchased some units and they did not own or run the resort. I found that upsetting. I rescinded because I felt mislead.

My third timeshare tour was at Silverleaf. I went to it with a man who I was engaged to at the time. He was difficult and vocal and they got us out of there as fast as they could. --- So I still had not experienced a high pressure presentation.

And then at Sands of Kahana, where we were interested, but they were sold out and wanted to sell us Tahitian Village in Las Vegas. We weren't interested in Las Vegas. Again, not high pressure. We were out of there in about 30 minutes.

Then, I sought out a timeshare presentation at Westin Ka'anapali because I was interested in buying. WKORV was sold out. They were offering Westin Princeville. I like Kauai better than Maui. The pictures looked similar to where we were staying. I was told that all the units there were oceanview. And I bought for $81K. I really wanted that timeshare. I was excited by the Staroptions. I was already a member of TUG and I had been looking at the Starwood system for a year. I really thought that I understood it. Then, I came back to TUG, learned some of the nuances of the program. Learned that the fact that WPORV was voluntary and how that affected resale prices and rescinded.

I feel like I have missed several bullets. I would not ever use my vacation time that way again. I would rather buy resale.

And, I think that TUG reviews and tripadvisor are a better way to learn about where you are staying.

I think that you were lucky, too. And, if you think that you are just smart, and not lucky, I would suggest that you read the thread on rescinding Aruba.

elaine

travelplus said:

Aloha from Maui.


While some may think attending these presentations is a waste of time I see this as a learning experience of how to chose resorts to exchange in to or in the future which resorts to purchase. The gifts make the deal sweeter for me to enjoy Maui.

I loved the Lu'au and am looking forward to the sunset cruise tomorrow.

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I am with you.

I go to Cabo, Mexico every whale watching season. Most resorts have 1 /4 rule which RCI does enforce. So I have to move around. I take the $300 cash at air port and $300 car rental voucher along with $30 buffet breakfast and I give them three hours. When I get back home based on tours make next years reservation. Yes, they are tough and one does not want to get too obnoxious as I doubt there is anything you could do if they refused to gift you.(Patri, skipping the morning SSS in bath room does not work) They also take a cue from Vegas and keep the booze flowing as a well oiled body is "easy"! Wyndham purchased a huge hotel at end of Marina and I hope they open soon so I can just stay there. Great views and can walk to most things, no speed bumps.. Am half deaf so noise others complain about at Marina does not bother me.

As far as Wyndham stays, I enjoy seeing how fast I can get thrown out to gifting. Right now Kona and GD are tied at about 13-14 minutes. When you hit them with resale, VIP not deeded and they start lies just hit them between the eyes with the facts. Most disappear when you show them BBB "F" rating and Bill Spearman article.

As far as good information I find TUG to be the fountain head especially with RR and his insider contacts.

Life is too short, but a funny story with the Diamond Ka'anapali. We went on the tour several years ago, promised a huge discount on the very luau you enjoyed. I didn't like the luau, but it was like $39 X 3 of us, with the tour "gift."

There was a car fire in the parking garage, and the fire trucks arrived just as Rick was arriving with my mother-in-law from her beauty shop appointment. He had dropped me off for the presentation because we were running late. As soon as I got there and check into our appointment, the smoke alarms started making their noises. This put the salesmen into a tailspin.

There were two groups of people sitting in the lobby who had just finished their tours. One couple was waiting to sign paperwork, and the salesman had them wait there to see what the alarms were about. The second group was two women who were considering a purchase and were talking it over. By the time the salesman was back, I had both groups talked out of it. I told them about resale. They promised not to say what happened to change their minds. :rofl: That was fun, and I told the story before.

Our sales tour was very high pressure, but the guy was very pleasant and looked so much like Kurt Russell.

pacodemountainside said:

... As far as Wyndham stays, I enjoy seeing how fast I can get thrown out to gifting. Right now Kona and GD are tied at about 13-14 minutes. When you hit them with resale, VIP not deeded and they start lies just hit them between the eyes with the facts. Most disappear when you show them BBB "F" rating and Bill Spearman article.

As far as good information I find TUG to be the fountain head especially with RR and his insider contacts.

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Thanks for the complement. But it appears you need to sharpen Wyndham skills a tad. My record (interesting enough, was at a location I had bought a developer purchase at not long before) was my wife and I showed up 10 minutes early tossed to gifting and was out before the scheduled start time. Oh well, their loss. If they offer the proper deals that interest me, I never said I was out of the developer purchase market.

rickandcindy23 said:

There were two groups of people sitting in the lobby who had just finished their tours. One couple was waiting to sign paperwork, and the salesman had them wait there to see what the alarms were about. The second group was two women who were considering a purchase and were talking it over. By the time the salesman was back, I had both groups talked out of it. I told them about resale. They promised not to say what happened to change their minds. :rofl: That was fun, and I told the story before.

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You should be called "timeshare angel" for that! Unfortunately, someone on eBay already took the name.