# Sheraton Vistana Resort TS Sales Pitch



## hopetotimeshare (Feb 26, 2007)

Let me preface this by saying, I have read enough to know about TS pitches but have never been to one.  This to us was exceptionally uncomfortable and unprofessional.  It left us feeling frustrated and drained.  We are knew owners and LOVED the resort so this has nothing to do with our stay.  I have posted a review in the resort review area of TUG regarding our overall experience at the resort, including the details of this sales pitch.

Upon arrival we accepted two great gifts in exchange for a pre-scheduled “Owners Update”.   We were given a choice of “gifts” or $100.00 cash and chose a beautiful Vistana spa bathrobe and a Vistana polo shirt.  The “manager” took our credit card info. And informed us that if we did not attend the meeting our card would be charged $100.00 for the robe and shirt.  Great incentive program.  We went on a rainy day so we didn't feel like we were missing out.  We were told that the kids could play under supervision in the rec room while we met, and our children (7 year old twins and a 3 year old) said they wanted to stay in the “supervised play area” while we were meeting with the salesman. This is something we usually don’t allow but it looked safe and secure.  They gave us matching wristbands and seemed to be on the up and up so we let them stay.  We visited them several times and watched them through the nursery type glass window and assured them that when they needed us the caregiver would contact us and we would come get them.  Here is a little bit about the VERY inappropriate, high pressure sales tactics.  To start, the Salesman commented on my jewelry a number of times and insinuated that money must not be an issue.  We listened patiently for about an hour and although it did seem interesting, we politely explained that we would like to get more acquainted with TSing before we purchased anything more.  He began to pull out all of the stops and started acting really strange and came on very strong, even his facial expressions began to concern me, almost as if we were angering him.  A few nasty statements were made, such as,  “you are not being fair to the other owners by purchasing a resale at a low price” and in the next breath he stated “but I would have done the same thing because you got a great deal”.  He made us tons of offers which ranged from $1700 down to zero down? He left the table three or four times to “discuss it”, even after we clearly told him that there was nothing to discuss.  We later stated that the kids were going to need us soon and he stated that we were committed to at least an hour and a half!  We became increasingly irritated by him because he was just downright rude and presumptuous.

Basically, after about an hour and half, we were desperate to get out of there and we wanted our kids! Our 7 year old son was very upset because he had asked several times to see us and they told him that we were in a meeting and could not be disturbed!  BIG CON, we were furious!  Don't mess with our kids...:annoyed:   I guess this may be the standard TS sales pitch, and I realize that this is their livelihood but you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar and he just left us with feeling downright angry.


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## jesuis1837 (Feb 26, 2007)

Just plain wrong attitude by this salesman... :annoyed: He should have been low profile when he saw you knew about "resale" ... It seems it is their way to do it as it is not the first time i'm reading how TS pitch are at vistana...


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## DeniseM (Feb 26, 2007)

Wouldn't the Florida Board, or the Hotel Based TS Board, be a more appropriate place for this post?


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## hopetotimeshare (Feb 26, 2007)

If I thought it would make a difference I would complain.  

He was just an all around creep.  I even told him that I was a member of TUG, (which is where I gained nearly 100% of my knowledge) and he kind of scowled and said "so you know more than the average person, which makes my job easier"?  Very random comment.


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## hopetotimeshare (Feb 26, 2007)

*Funny you should say that...*

Oh gosh, I didn't realize I clicked East, I thought I was on Florida.  Kiddies are home on a "snow day" must have been distracted, my apologies!



DeniseM said:


> Wouldn't the Florida Board, or the Hotel Based TS Board, be a more appropriate place for this post?


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## rickandcindy23 (Feb 26, 2007)

Hopetotimeshare, I am sorry you were treated so rudely during your first timeshare presentation.  

Ironically, our worst experience was with Todd at Vistana in 1999.  He made us feel like we were scum because we wouldn't buy a unit.  We traded into the resort easily enough, so we knew we could again, without a problem.  He said we would be blocked from all of Orlando for four years because of this exchange, so if we ever wanted to go back to Orlando, we would have to buy somewhere.  What a bunch of baloney!  He also told us not to ever go on a timeshare presentation again, if we have no intention of buying anything, because we are wasting others' time in doing so.  :annoyed: 

No wonder people think timeshare is something very bad.


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## hopetotimeshare (Feb 26, 2007)

We were told that we would never see this offer again!  lol  And they would NEVER offer us another deal again, and don't get me wrong, it was a pretty good deal but not good enough...He said that they would mark in our file that we got this offer and that it was a one time deal.  He tried to convince us that there were only 2 units left, meanwhile there are probably tons of them up for resale.  Ugh... 

I mean really, do they think we are idiots?  lol Or are they that desperate to make a sale?  They called this an "Owners Update", My husband actually thought they were going to talk to us about our ownership until I explained that it was a a sales pitch.  I can see how that would be very deceiving to someone who doesn't know better, so as for wasting ones time, I am sure they have wasted thousands of vacationers time *and* money.  From a business standpoint, I do feel for them, they have to make a living too but if you go about things the right way then you will make more sales and not have to struggle every time.  He never even shook our hands and thanked us for our time, he ran off and sent some other guy out who tried to sell us a credit card and star options for a mere $1800.00 that's when we unleashed "THE CHILDREN" mwwwwaaaa


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## robtug (Feb 26, 2007)

Sheraton vistana has been getting progressively worst in their treatment of timeshare attendees. I recently had a pretty bad experience myself. They seem to be going downhill in their service. I wouldn't purchase from sheraton ever.


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## stevens397 (Feb 26, 2007)

You DID complain, and at a place that DOES make a difference.  TUG!

I could not be happier with our Kierland developer purchase.  We bought it through Direct sales 4 years ago so there was not only no pressure, but an obscene amount of points that were worth over $7,000 in hotel stays!

But they are biting off their noses to spite their faces . Sure, making resorts voluntary is an inducement to purchase from the developer, but when the resort is built out and there are no more units to be sold, they move on but the owners who may, at some point, want to sell are clearly screwed!  Resales will always be low if they don't include SVN - just look at the difference between Mission Hills and Kierland - two very similar resorts except for the fact that Kierland is mandatory.

In the past, not buying a timeshare from the developer meant you could not trade your week for hotel points. Now with Starwood it is a guarantee of a major depreciation - a big inducement to buy resale unless you truly want a new location and are committed to keeping it for many years (or have money to burn and couldn't care less about "value").

That's bad enough.  To add tactics like that to the mix is incredible.  Perhaps I'm lucky - I've never had an experience like that.  But boy, you're certainly not the first one to write about it on TUG!


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## Bill4728 (Feb 26, 2007)

Since this thread is about Sheraton Vistana and not about Orlando in general I'm moving this to the Hotel based board.


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## hopetotimeshare (Feb 26, 2007)

Bill4728 said:


> Since this thread is about Sheraton Vistana and not about Orlando in general I'm moving this to the Hotel based board.



Thanks Bill!


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## iluvwdw (Feb 28, 2007)

Hopetotimeshare, I am SO SORRY you got stuck with such a RUDE salesman!!!  I have to say that I must be REALLY lucky!  Every time I have ever gone on an update, we have had the nicest salesmen!!!  We have been owners since 1997 and we go on an OWNERS UPDATE every time we visit the resorts!  I have never had such a bad experience!  

Maybe you should complain to Starwood Corporate so they can see how badly their salesmen are treating their customers...especially since you are already an owner!  That treatment is unacceptable and you should complain to whoever will listen at Starwood.


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## Need to Travel (Mar 1, 2007)

After reading the comments here I am glad that I declined the "Owners Update" at least 4 times during our week stay over christmas. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was a sales tactic and I wanted a restful vacation.


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## DavidnRobin (Mar 1, 2007)

Need to Travel said:


> After reading the comments here I am glad that I declined the "Owners Update" at least 4 times during our week stay over christmas. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was a sales tactic and I wanted a restful vacation.



We got 4000 SPs (I think) for about 45 minutes of our time when we were at WKORV - I would do it again, for the SPs but also because I learned some things from the TS salesperson.  He was not rude - he was very informative - and when he found out we owned 3 Mandatory resorts resale - he let us go quickly - he could of held us for 45 minutes longer, but he was smart enough to move on.


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## bigbillf (Mar 5, 2007)

I think your first mistake was giving up your credit card info.  We own at the Lakes and went through TS presentation last summer.  We opted for the cash.  Our kids are older (we only have one left at home) and we had no issue like you did.  So if they annoy you to no end, then just walk out and you are no worse off.  I quite frankly have no problem telling them no, we are happy with what we have.  And do not mind the role play.  In Florida you have 10 days to recind without penalty.  Our first TS presentation we actually bought, and the developer threw in some more goodies and treated my tribe to lunch.  Only for us to recind when we got home. They (Sunterra) returned all of our deposit that was on our credit card and we kept the goodies.

To me it is all in how you personally feel about this.  If it is too much of a hassle for you, then tell Starwood or whomever, you do not want to attend.  As you are not required to attend these.  And my second time back to Marriott Beach Place (trades through II), Marriott did not invite me back to a TS presentation.  I guess they figured me out.


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## timeos2 (Mar 5, 2007)

*You may have struck lucky*



hopetotimeshare said:


> We were told that we would never see this offer again!  lol  And they would NEVER offer us another deal again, and don't get me wrong, it was a pretty good deal but not good enough...He said that



They are putting it on your permanent record? Yikes! Maybe thats an out next time they beg you to attend. "Check our permanent record. I'm afraid we blew it in 2006 and now how I wish we had taken that deal. But since we can never be offered it again there is no use wasting time so we'll pass on the owners update unless you actually plan to talk about our resort and plans for it without mention of sales. Of course if it's still available then I'll need the name of the DOS (Director of Sales) as I'll have to file a complaint with the Florida Timeshare Bureau for misrepresentation. I have the form right here... "


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## AwayWeGo (Mar 5, 2007)

*Vistana Sales Babe Let Us Off Easy.*

That was in January 2003 while we were staying at Vistana Orlando on (our 1st) RCI exchange.  We had been "pregifted" with discount Disney tickets for our son & daughter-in-law & grandson.  (Grandson probably got into Disney free since he was only about 4 months old at the time.)  The timeshare sales babe was cordial & vivacious.  She showed us Vistana Villages, which impressed us mightily with its beautiful landscaping & spectacular waterfall pool with zero-depth entrance.  The Vistana Villages display condo unit was also top-notch with a strong _Wow__!_ factor. 

When she got us to talking about the timeshares we owned & what we deposited in order to get our RCI exchange into Vistana Orlando, we mentioned TUG & told her about our low-cost far-off overseas timeshare.  She persued that a bit more & we told her how much (i.e., how little) we paid for the overseas timeshare week, & described how we bought it after finding out about it via TUG. 

She paused, then said, "Well, you've been pregifted with your park tickets, & I can tell from how little you paid for the timeshare you used to exchange into Vistana that you aren't going to be interested in buying a week at our costs, so we don't need to go any farther.  But before you go, would you write down the Internet address for TUG & for information about your overseas timeshare?"  We did.  She said Thanks.  Case closed -- 1 of the easiest & lowest-pressure timeshare tours we've been on. 

Years later we got an _Instant Exchange_ reservation at Vistana Villages -- January 2007, full week, got it for our nephew & his family, who used it part of the week, then we used the rest of the time ourselves after he took the kids back home so they wouldn't miss school.  All the _Wow!_ was still there -- even though the beautiful waterfall pool had just been closed & drained for major serious maintenance.  Fortunately the waterfall pool was open till the day after nephew & family went home.  They had so much fun at Vistana Villages that they skipped a day at the theme parks so they could enjoy a day at the resort. 

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


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