# Short responses regarding presentation experiences



## Swice (Jul 19, 2018)

After reading several threads, I'm wondering what's trending in regard to sales presentations.

Our very first presentation years ago was so classy and so low pressure.   We didn't buy that day but walked out and said we said to each other that we would buy a Marriott timeshare one day.   ...And obviously we did.    Since then we've had some better experiences than others, but generally most were fairly pleasant.   We have had two absolutely horrible experiences... one at Marco Island (preconstruction and I actually walked in ready to buy that day until I saw the prices!) and the other was last week at Beachplace Towers.    

So I'm just asking for a few quick sentences about your recent experiences.   Maybe if there is a trend down, we can get Marriott's attention and a return to the high road.

Here's my example:
Just returned from Beachplace Towers.   One of my worst experiences ever at a Marriott presentation.    The sales guy (I'm not using his name) was a slick Willy fast talker.   He told me how he is one of the top sales guys in all of Marriott and he knows more than all of the others and I should believe him rather than what the other sales agents had previously told us.    While not arguing with him, I tried to bring up points to show him I was an educated consumer.   I finally lost it when he contradicted himself.   I was ready to blow and lost control.   I didn't yell but I told him, "I don't like you and and we needed to bring in your boss."   I do regret telling a person that I don't like them.    After he left, we had a much better experience without the smoke and mirrors and we were actually presented with a "somewhat reasonable" offer.


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## JIMinNC (Jul 19, 2018)

Had a great experience in April in Hilton Head. We had a straight shooter who was obviously a very experienced, savvy rep. He understood what we were looking for (enrollment of a third party resale week) and promised to contact us if and when they offered another post-2010 resale enrollment promo. As promised, we heard from him in late May when the current post-2010 amnesty promo started. We ultimately decided to wait until a future promo to give us time to maybe acquire a second EOY week before making the required points buy.


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## jmhpsu93 (Jul 19, 2018)

Had a presentation earlier this week at the Manor Club in Williamsburg.  Rep was a really nice guy, understood that there was no compelling reason for us to buy anything given we just started our DC membership in April (bought at Grande Vista), but still stretched the truth around the value of going from 3K (where we are...) to 4K (Select).  He said that we automatically pay more points for our reservations than Select members, which isn't true unless you're booking over 12 months in advance and are using the premium.  He let us off the the hook quickly, though.  We also heard another quick presentation around another program they're running where you prepay $995 - 1695 for a week and have to commit to viewing a presentation, but will get that money credited back if you buy.  Those details are a little fuzzy so the number might vary.  Seemed like a good deal if we were looking to add DC points through direct buy, but not otherwise.

Oh well, we were outta there in about an hour with $150.


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## Steve Fatula (Jul 19, 2018)

Had a presentation in May 2018 and it was by far the most honest and no garbage rep we have ever had. We could not catch him in a single lie or even exaggeration. He was very nice, intelligent, and, no high pressure at all. I believe it was 30k MR points. This guy was very good and almost enjoyable even.

We've been to around 40 presentations over the years, and, quite honestly, I never recall a bad experience.


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## b2bailey (Jul 19, 2018)

My most recent visit to Timber Lodge, where I am an unenrolled, developer purchased weeks owner, went to an owner's update wondering about impact of recent events with SPG.
salesman honestly replied it was too soon to know anything more than what had been published. He then proceeded to give me a short pitch regarding enrolling my weeks (also own Newport Coast) -- it was the first time it was done in a way that told me there was value to me to do it. Alas, they were not able to offer free enrollment with no purchase. (Which I had been offered previously by another rep at different location.)
Accepted $100 Amex gift card and enjoyed dinner with it. I think I did actually enjoy my time with him.


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## klpca (Jul 19, 2018)

Our last (and final) presentation was medium pressure - about what I expected. The rep seemed fairly new and I definitely knew more than he expected (oh, the look on his face when I told him that we own 7 timeshares, lol). His big selling point was that if we bought DP we could be assured that we could do things like use points to go on a tour with other "Marriott people". It felt very elitist because he kept mentioning "Marriott people". The closer/finance person was downright hostile. She could not get us out of there fast enough. Upon further reflection, I believe that the original guy's lack of experience caused him to fall back on the lame selling point but in the end it cured us of going on another presentation. It is a waste of time for all of us.


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## gblotter (Jul 19, 2018)

Our most recent presentation was in June at Hilton Head. Friendly, straight-shooter sales rep. He understood our situation and tried to pitch a package to incorporate our resale weeks in the DP program. We declined his best offer and collected 15K MRPs.


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## silentg (Jul 19, 2018)

We never go anymore. Probably the last one was Orange Lake, I was wearing a boot on my sprained ankle in a wheelchair and they still wanted to show me the Penthouse for $45,000 
The selling point was I could bring my WHOLE family on vacation . Salesman had no answer when I said Why would I want to do that? This was at least 8 years ago.
Silentg


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## Dave Landry (Jul 19, 2018)

Try to avoid the presentations too.


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## WBP (Jul 19, 2018)

I just can't fathom the idea of taking valuable time during vacation to look at or listen to a timeshare salesperson. I'd feel differently if we purchased a package of a couple of nights lodging, at a discounted rate, with a requirement that we attend a sales presentation.

Our time is worth a lot more than $100.00, $200.00, or whatever food stamps a timeshare developer may offer us.


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## LUVourMarriotts (Jul 19, 2018)

We went to a presentation at OceanWatch 2 weeks ago.  The salesman started off great.  The first hour was just talking about the system and how we use weeks/points and he gave suggestions on how to improve what we have done, just minor stuff that may or may not help.  Then, he says, lets go upstairs to my office and get into why you are really here.  We had told him we were really only their because of their incentive of $680 off our bill.  If he just offered us a points package because he had to, that would have been fine.  But, he offered us a package and told us we were stupid if we didn't take it.  When we said no, he went to get his boss.  He and his boss then offered us 3 other package, each more overall money than the previous.  We eventually had to say, "we've been here for 2 hours, we aren't buying anything today, so show us where our kid is (in the sales office kids area)".


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## b2bailey (Jul 19, 2018)

$680 off your bill?!
I've never heard of a Marriott offer that generous.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 20, 2018)

We avoid them most times. The last presentation was 2 years ago. Mostly trying to sell us up to the next level with all the things we would gain. Not a lot of pressure but not a lot of truth either. W don’t plan on attending another Marriott presentation anytime  soon. Current prices a so laughable I can’t keep a straight face when they quote them. We already own more than we really need, there’s no new locations we want to buy into and there’s no new unit style we would consider upgrading into at any price. Essentially Marriott has nothing to offer us that’s worth shelling out more of my hard earned $$


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## Luvtoride (Jul 20, 2018)

Just booked a sales presentation at Aruba surf club for our stay starting this Sunday.  We took an early morning time slot for $175 in dining/ shopping certificates.  If we took an afternoon slot they would have added two breakfast buffets...we will never do a mid day presentation.
I will report back on our experience after the presentation next Saturday.


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## l0410z (Jul 20, 2018)

At Grand Ocean this week and was going to attend a presentation to try and get  an encore package in Hawaii.  My plan for next years family vacation (2 adult sons and possible girl friends) was 10 days Hawaii. That plan blew up quickly.  One son is thinking of going back for masters and his girl friend starts rotation in Med  school.  Other son not sure he wants to travel 12 hours each way and enjoys alternating HHI and Aruba.  When the need for the encore package went away so did desire/need for presentation.  The other draw was $125 dollars and even though it rained a few days in the afternoon, it wasn't worth it.   I am not buying points to enroll my post 2010 weeks so  unless i can enroll for a "small" fee, the incentive needs to be 175 or more to go.


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## heatherw (Jul 20, 2018)

We often don't go to the presentations either, especially in the states (becuase they are not au fait with the European idiosyncrasies) but we did when we were in Hilton head because the offer was way too good to refuse and the weather forecast was rain/thunderstorms for that day. The young guy who did the pitch was amazing ( I wish i could remember his name)- he knew we didn't want to buy so we had a really good chat about holidays, life, the resorts we'd been to etc then walked out on the hour.
That is how it should be becuase I trusted him


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## Fasttr (Jul 20, 2018)

heatherw said:


> The young guy who did the pitch was amazing ( I wish i could remember his name)- he knew we didn't want to buy so we had a really good chat about holidays, life, the resorts we'd been to etc then walked out on the hour.
> That is how it should be becuase I trusted him


I know from an emotional perspective many would prefer these guys to act more like brand ambassadors than salesmen, but you do realize their job is to sell points.  I am in total agreement that the ones who become rude/pushy, etc are doing MVC a disservice, but saying "That is how it should be" in your example is not really what they are being paid to do.  I think its important to remember what their job is and selling you something is how they put food on their table, pay for their home, put their kids through college, take vacations themselves, etc, etc. as well as it keeps the MVC machine in business.  Thinking that the experience should just be a nice chit chat and not one where they actually try to sell you something is a bit unrealistic in my opinion.  

And no, I am not an MVC salesperson....or a salesperson at all for that matter.


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## Pamplemousse (Jul 20, 2018)

Fasttr said:


> I know from an emotional perspective many would prefer these guys to act more like brand ambassadors than salesmen, but you do realize their job is to sell points.  I am in total agreement that the ones who become rude/pushy, etc are doing MVC a disservice, but saying "That is how it should be" in your example is not really what they are being paid to do.  I think its important to remember what their job is and selling you something is how they put food on their table, pay for their home, put their kids through college, take vacations themselves, etc, etc. as well as it keeps the MVC machine in business.  Thinking that the experience should just be a nice chit chat and not one where they actually try to sell you something is a bit unrealistic in my opinion.
> 
> And no, I am not an MVC salesperson....or a salesperson at all for that matter.




The last time I did one it was called an ‘owner update’- they said they had so much exciting news to share about new developments. They had someone from concierge service call before we arrived.
Nope- it was actually the hardest sales pitch we’ve had and the first time I felt really uncomfortable with Marriott.
Of course I’m not clueless and knew they would try to sell me something, but it really was just hard sales the the whole time.
I think I was angriest with the misrepresentation- just call it a sales pitch and then I would have known I wasn’t interested.
They tried to cheat me out of rewards points after we sat through almost 2 hours of blah blah- luckily I had the confirming email on my phone so I won that one.
I’ll get my owner updates from tugs from now on.


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## bazzap (Jul 20, 2018)

Fasttr said:


> I know from an emotional perspective many would prefer these guys to act more like brand ambassadors than salesmen, but you do realize their job is to sell points.  I am in total agreement that the ones who become rude/pushy, etc are doing MVC a disservice, but saying "That is how it should be" in your example is not really what they are being paid to do.  I think its important to remember what their job is and selling you something is how they put food on their table, pay for their home, put their kids through college, take vacations themselves, etc, etc. as well as it keeps the MVC machine in business.  Thinking that the experience should just be a nice chit chat is a bit unrealistic in my opinion.
> 
> And no, I am not an MVC salesperson....or a salesperson at all for that matter.


As Heather says, she trusted him because of his approach.
I know the MVC Sales teams are under huge pressure to close sales and hit targets.
With a background in Sales though, I always found that establishing a level of trust first has definitely  given the best chance of getting a deals in the longer term.
And as customers, before buying Resale, we bought 6 Developer weeks none were at our first meeting with one of the Sales people and we rejected various offers until we met a Salesperson we did trust and felt we could believe.
So perhaps we are unusual, but this was the right approach to get us to part with our money.


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## jtp1947 (Jul 20, 2018)

The best and most informative presentation we have been to has been at the Custom House, Boston.  Tim puts 90 minutes worth of information into 60 minutes. He says listening to him is like drinking water out of a fire hose. About 15 to 20 people at a time for 5000 points, he talks, you listen. He talks about Marriott travel packages, Marriott credit cards, points, and the history of each.  He then offers a personal meeting to assess your portfolio for an extra 10 or 15,000 points.


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## Fasttr (Jul 20, 2018)

jtp1947 said:


> The best and most informative presentation we have been to has been at the Custom House, Boston.  Tim puts 90 minutes worth of information into 60 minutes. He says listening to him is like drinking water out of a fire hose. About 15 to 20 people at a time for 5000 points, he talks, you listen. He talks about Marriott travel packages, Marriott credit cards, points, and the history of each.  He then offers a personal meeting to assess your portfolio for an extra 10 or 15,000 points.


Agreed.  His sessions are unique and informative with the concept to hook those actually interested in potentially buying  for a follow up one on one session during your same visit.  I believe CH is unique in this approach.


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## LUVourMarriotts (Jul 22, 2018)

b2bailey said:


> $680 off your bill?!
> I've never heard of a Marriott offer that generous.



This was a pretty last minute decision to go to MOW for 4 days.  We booked direct through Marriott, and that was the nightly fee.  They offered to pay for 1 night as an incentive to go to the presentation.  All of their purchase offers included paying our entire bill, minus food/beverage.


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## LUVourMarriotts (Jul 22, 2018)

Fasttr said:


> Agreed.  His sessions are unique and informative with the concept to hook those actually interested in potentially buying  for a follow up one on one session during your same visit.  I believe CH is unique in this approach.



Last time we were at Fairway Villas, which was 3 years ago, this was the approach they used as well.  They served a nice buffet breakfast during the 60 minute overview as well.


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## turkel (Jul 22, 2018)

We went at Frenchman's Cove in April. Not only was the salesman rude I had to tell his manager to check his own attitude and actions as we were multiple weeks owners and paying customers. We had recently enrolled our 2005 week and wanted information on the points system. I even asked about a hybrid package and the salesman refused to discuss it. Rude, rude, rude. We don't usually do presentations and I will probably never get my DH to another. The $175 was a nice perk though. Paid for our dinners at Amalfi.


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## jetguy (Jul 28, 2018)

I think we've got it down.  Experiencing both good (Maui) & bad (Las Vegas comes to mind), this is our MO.  15,000 MRP - nope, never. 30,000 MRP - OK.... if it's Maui.  We greet the salesman with a smile, look him in the eye and introduce ourselves.  He looks at his paperwork, sees we are Chairman's Club (so no upgrade there), sees we own Maui.......but where else would we like to go? We smile and say nowhere. We've been everywhere we want to go. Well, wouldn't you like to stay longer than two weeks on Maui?  Nope.  Two weeks is perfect.  Wouldn't we like to bring family? Nope. Done that. Then we tell him how much we've enjoyed our Marriott vacations and how happy we are with what we have.  He smiles and we chat about all the places we've been, what we liked and didn't, where he would like to go and any suggestions we have for him.  At 40 min. he says, "I'll get my boss, so you can be on your way," and thanks us.  Boss comes in and before he can speak, we look him in the eye, smile and tell him what a great salesman he has and what a good job he did.  Boss smiles, offers us a four day Hawaii pkg. (no thanks, we're good) asks if there's anything else he can do?  Nope, it's been great.  Hands us our 30,000 MRP slip, says "have a great day" and we're out at 45 min.  Pretty much works every time and we enjoy the conversation.


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## rickandcindy23 (Jul 28, 2018)

Our bad experience about ten years ago was enough for us to not go on another Marriott presentation.  It was Cypress Harbour, salesperson's initials, GG, and he was a liar, and even when I told him I thought he was misrepresenting the product, he wouldn't back down, just kept insisting that he knew better. 

Our presentation in 2003 was at Marriott's Willow Ridge, and it was low-pressure and very different from GG's.  

We bought Willow Ridge resale and have been happy with it.  I won't even consider anything Marriott wants to sell.


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## Luvtoride (Jul 28, 2018)

We just had our presentation in Aruba at the Ocean Club.  We had been pre gifted our $175 of Marriott experience dollars which we used for a nice dinner at Aqua Grill and some shopping in the Ocean club shops.  
Our sales rep Sydney, an Aruban local was very nice and courteous.   He Was aware of our portfolio and Chairman’s status. He focused on purchasing at Aruba as he said the window for buying a week here was closing at the end of this year (wasn’t very clear about why but seemed to imply a new International Trust would be set up in 2019). 
I asked him about availability of any 3 bedroom units here.  He checked and said there were none.
After chatting more about the the options available for DC points including tours and cruises, he brought his sales manager in.  He gave us a proposal for a Gold season 2 bedroom for $28,000!  It was all we could do to not laugh.  While they had been out of the office we checked TUG marketplace and  found a similar 2 bedroom Surf club unit for $4,000.  When we told him about this he said that Marriott would exercise it’s ROFR for any units up to $12,000. 
He asked us if we were interested in his offer.  We politely declined and were thanked for our time and ownership in MVC.
Very courteous and respectful.  Total time about 75 min.
One more attempt for an Encore package which we also declined.






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## bazzap (Jul 28, 2018)

Luvtoride said:


> We just had our presentation in Aruba at the Ocean Club.  We had been pre gifted our $175 of Marriott experience dollars which we used for a nice dinner at Aqua Grill and some shopping in the Ocean club shops.
> Our sales rep Sydney, an Aruban local was very nice and courteous.   He Was aware of our portfolio and Chairman’s status. He focused on purchasing at Aruba as he said the window for buying a week here was closing at the end of this year (wasn’t very clear about why but seemed to imply a new International Trust would be set up in 2019).
> I asked him about availability of any 3 bedroom units here.  He checked and said there were none.
> After chatting more about the the options available for DC points including tours and cruises, he brought his sales manager in.  He gave us a proposal for a Gold season 2 bedroom for $28,000!  It was all we could do to not laugh.  While they had been out of the office we checked TUG marketplace and  found a similar 2 bedroom Surf club unit for $4,000.  When we told him about this he said that Marriott would exercise it’s ROFR for any units up to $12,000.
> ...


He should just be referred to http://www.rofr.net/ which shows Ocean Club Gold Season 2 Bedroom Ocean View units passed ROFR at $4,000 and $4,500 last year


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## Steve Fatula (Jul 28, 2018)

bazzap said:


> He should just be referred to http://www.rofr.net/ which shows Ocean Club Gold Season 2 Bedroom Ocean View units passed ROFR at $4,000 and $4,500 last year



Marriott has a good counter to that, not saying you should fall for it but it *is* a valid point. They always counter with "Yes, but there is no way to know if the data entered there is valid or not, people can type anything they want". Now, do I really think there is a lot of spam there? No. But it is true. In fact, my best timeshare resales agent who I have used for resales purchases doesn't believe any of it. She says she believes her own companies known sales and ROFR exercises. YMMV, I use the data though.


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## bazzap (Jul 28, 2018)

Steve Fatula said:


> Marriott has a good counter to that, not saying you should fall for it but it *is* a valid point. They always counter with "Yes, but there is no way to know if the data entered there is valid or not, people can type anything they want". Now, do I really think there is a lot of spam there? No. But it is true. In fact, my best timeshare resales agent who I have used for resales purchases doesn't believe any of it. She says she believes her own companies known sales and ROFR exercises. YMMV, I use the data though.


Fair comment, but in support of their case perhaps they might like to show us definitive evidence that they have actually exercised ROFR at up to $12,000 for these units?
Then I will believe


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## Steve Fatula (Jul 28, 2018)

bazzap said:


> Fair comment, but in support of their case perhaps they might like to show us definitive evidence that they have actually exercised ROFR at up to $12,000 for these units?
> Then I will believe



The problem is how would you know its definitive? i.e., would you actually believe it anyway (from a timeshare salesman mind you). I wouldn't!


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## bazzap (Jul 28, 2018)

Steve Fatula said:


> The problem is how would you know its definitive? i.e., would you actually believe it anyway (from a timeshare salesman mind you). I wouldn't!


Therein lies the dilemma.
One says ROFR is being exercised at up to $12,000, one says ROFR is passing at $4,000.
Neither will believe the other!


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## Luvtoride (Jul 28, 2018)

bazzap said:


> Therein lies the dilemma.
> One says ROFR is being exercised at up to $12,000, one says ROFR is passing at $4,000.
> Neither will believe the other!



Good points.   I didn’t challenge his statement as I wanted to get out of there and get back to the Beach.  In any case, I think we would all agree that if one really needed an Aruba Timeshare week  to USE every year, it would cost a lot less than the $28k they were trying to sell it for.  I was floored by the ridiculous price for a resale thru MVC.  


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## catharsis (Jul 28, 2018)

not to be too picky but I think that was not a resale in the conventional sense.

specifically I think that 28K week could be enrolled in the DP program for free and so the pricing you are quoting is effectively 'developer pricing' which while still expensive is a distinctly different thing from even MVC-brokered resale weeks and certainly from the external resale market.


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## Stapleton (Jul 28, 2018)

bazzap said:


> Therein lies the dilemma.
> One says ROFR is being exercised at up to $12,000, one says ROFR is passing at $4,000.
> Neither will believe the other!



We closed on a 2 bedroom Aruba Surf Club Oceanside in July 2018 at a price of $5,000 when we purchased a resale at redweek.com.
We originally attempted to purchase a 2 bedroom Surf Club Oceanside for $3,900 but Marriott exercised its ROFR at that price.
Our agent at Concierge suggested that we make an offer for another Oceanside that they had available for at least $4,500 since
the ROFR appears to be closer to $4,500. I decide to offer at $5,000 for a 2 bedroom Oceanside which was accepted by the seller
and Marriott. It took three months to close on the unit. Our first usage will be 2019 in the Lighthouse Building and we will be booking
the unit in the next couple of weeks for the summer of 2019. Cannot wait to go back to the Surf Club.


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## Luvtoride (Jul 28, 2018)

catharsis said:


> not to be too picky but I think that was not a resale in the conventional sense.
> 
> specifically I think that 28K week could be enrolled in the DP program for free and so the pricing you are quoting is effectively 'developer pricing' which while still expensive is a distinctly different thing from even MVC-brokered resale weeks and certainly from the external resale market.



Cat, you’re correct.   The week would have carried 3100 DC points and would be enrolled.   I guess I viewed it as a resale since I asked them how they even had weeks to sell there.  Still a far cry from the US market resale/ hybrid sales market prices.  


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## Luvtoride (Jul 28, 2018)

Stapleton said:


> We closed on a 2 bedroom Aruba Surf Club Oceanside in July 2018 at a price of $5,000 when we purchased a resale at redweek.com.
> We originally attempted to purchase a 2 bedroom Surf Club Oceanside for $3,900 but Marriott exercised its ROFR at that price.
> Our agent at Concierge suggested that we make an offer for another Oceanside that they had available for at least $4,500 since
> the ROFR appears to be closer to $4,500. I decide to offer at $5,000 for a 2 bedroom Oceanside which was accepted by the seller
> ...



Stapleton, sounds like a good deal and the right sweet spot to make it pass ROFR.  We’ve been here at the Surf Club for a week and it’s been great as always.  You will love it when you get back here!  


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## dioxide45 (Jul 28, 2018)

Steve Fatula said:


> Marriott has a good counter to that, not saying you should fall for it but it *is* a valid point. They always counter with "Yes, but there is no way to know if the data entered there is valid or not, people can type anything they want". Now, do I really think there is a lot of spam there? No. But it is true. In fact, my best timeshare resales agent who I have used for resales purchases doesn't believe any of it. She says she believes her own companies known sales and ROFR exercises. YMMV, I use the data though.


I would be surprised if a sales person or Marriott is even aware of or even looks at ROFR.net.


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## TXTortoise (Jul 28, 2018)

If running Google Analytics on ROFR.net, might be interesting to see how many hits are from a marriott.com server. ;-)


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## Steve Fatula (Jul 28, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> I would be surprised if a sales person or Marriott is even aware of or even looks at ROFR.net.



You might be, however, I have heard it from two of them thus far. I guess enough folks have brought it up before, only takes a couple probably. No idea how or why.


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## LUVourMarriotts (Jul 29, 2018)

Luvtoride said:


> The week would have carried 3100 DC points and would be enrolled.   I guess I viewed it as a resale since I asked them how they even had weeks to sell there.



During a conversation with a resale manager at Marriott the other day, it sounds like they have a ton of inventory of Surf Club Gold.  They are currently running a promotion on Surf Club too, which dropped their pricing a few thousand.  She told me (not sure if its true) they still had a lot of Gold inventory left when the system moved to points.  She also said they have exercised ROFR on many, which adds to their inventory they are trying to sell.  

After dealing with Marriott for the past month or so, my wife and I are extremely annoyed with Marriott.  After my call on Friday, I called the resale operations team to ask them about listing my Surf Club week for sale.  They would not, and said I would have to get on the waitlist.  To me, that means they have so much inventory to try to sell, they may not even exercise ROFR unless the price is super low.

Slightly different subject, but related.  They offer another way of getting resale weeks into DC points via Marriott resale.  It requires buying a Surf Club week from them.  As an example.  Say I wanted to a buy a week from them that would convert to 3900 points, but its resale, so you can't convert.  If you ALSO buy a Surf Club Gold week, they will allow those 3900 points to convert, plus the points from Surf Club.  Using the deal they offered me (which was never going to happen and was not what I even asked them about), the first week was $14,500, the Surf Club was $23,900 (normally at least $25k for this deal, but she said because of the current promotion, she could make this one work), so $38,400, and you get 6475 DC points to play with, if converting.  That's $5.93/point purchase, and with the resorts they offered me, it would be $0.479/point MF.  Just to point out how F'd up this whole process was, when I asked about ONLY purchasing the non-Surf Club week, they told me they don't have any inventory for it.


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## dioxide45 (Jul 29, 2018)

LUVourMarriotts said:


> After dealing with Marriott for the past month or so, my wife and I are extremely annoyed with Marriott. After my call on Friday, I called the resale operations team to ask them about listing my Surf Club week for sale. They would not, and said I would have to get on the waitlist. To me, that means they have so much inventory to try to sell, they may not even exercise ROFR unless the price is super low.


This was generally true back in the old weeks days before 2010. If Marriott still had inventory at the resort, they wouldn't list any resale weeks or if they did, they were selling their own before they started selling resales. Doesn't make sense to sell someone else's week when they have plenty of their own to sell.


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## TXTortoise (Jul 29, 2018)

Sounds like you got the hybrid offer previously discussed in another thread, but using Surf Club for both weeks, in lieu of a trust points purchase and an Aruba or St Kitts week.


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## clifffaith (Jul 29, 2018)

jtp1947 said:


> The best and most informative presentation we have been to has been at the Custom House, Boston.  Tim puts 90 minutes worth of information into 60 minutes. He says listening to him is like drinking water out of a fire hose. About 15 to 20 people at a time for 5000 points, he talks, you listen. He talks about Marriott travel packages, Marriott credit cards, points, and the history of each.  He then offers a personal meeting to assess your portfolio for an extra 10 or 15,000 points.



I couldn't tell you the names of any salesperson anywhere, except Tim at Custom House. And he is the only one who ever answered his phone when we needed help afterwards!


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## Dean (Jul 30, 2018)

I'm pretty sure I've shared this before in general terms but have an experience of 2 weeks ago to add that's applicable here.  I generally enjoy them, my wife hates them.  Overall I feel they are more aggressive and less professional than in years past but only marginally so.  It gives me a chance to pick up some information at times from a different perspective than TUG or similar.  Most of the time I have no interest in buying.  If they want to invite me to go I feel that's their choice.  About 25% of the time I go uncompensated just myself and if they'd schedule it rather than making it a walk in having to wait, that would be my preference.  We've been to DVC, Marriott, Fairfield, Bluegreen, Wyndham, Embassy and a couple of different ones in MX.  

Our experience a couple of weeks ago at Ko Olina was one of our more negatives experiences and to be honest, one of the few times I was considering a purchase of some type to enroll my post 2010 weeks.  I decided not to at this time but may in the future.  The salesperson spent the entire time telling us how it was a waste of his time and how he knew we weren't going to buy.  He also spent his time telling us how he did other things besides sales like actively managing the accounts of his customers and renting event weeks for those customers.  When we were done, he was finishing and I asked if the manager was going to come in and he said no.  I stated I wanted to talk to him so I did and shared the things the salesperson had told me which I'm sure are against policy and we discussed why they incentivize those who they don't think are going to buy.


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## heatherw (Jul 30, 2018)

Fasttr said:


> I know from an emotional perspective many would prefer these guys to act more like brand ambassadors than salesmen, but you do realize their job is to sell points.  I am in total agreement that the ones who become rude/pushy, etc are doing MVC a disservice, but saying "That is how it should be" in your example is not really what they are being paid to do.  I think its important to remember what their job is and selling you something is how they put food on their table, pay for their home, put their kids through college, take vacations themselves, etc, etc. as well as it keeps the MVC machine in business.  Thinking that the experience should just be a nice chit chat and not one where they actually try to sell you something is a bit unrealistic in my opinion.
> 
> And no, I am not an MVC salesperson....or a salesperson at all for that matter.



I think maybe i didn't make myself clear but my  point  was that we went to this presentation and stated very early on that we would not be buying any more weeks/points . Therefore it is not in anyone's interest  being aggressive and rude and who knows where a good conversation goes -heck that's how we ended up with a week in Phuket! . As the saying goes..." you attract a lot more bees with honey than vinegar".


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## turkel (Aug 4, 2018)

LUVourMarriotts said:


> During a conversation with a resale manager at Marriott the other day, it sounds like they have a ton of inventory of Surf Club Gold.  They are currently running a promotion on Surf Club too, which dropped their pricing a few thousand.  She told me (not sure if its true) they still had a lot of Gold inventory left when the system moved to points.  She also said they have exercised ROFR on many, which adds to their inventory they are trying to sell.
> 
> After dealing with Marriott for the past month or so, my wife and I are extremely annoyed with Marriott.  After my call on Friday, I called the resale operations team to ask them about listing my Surf Club week for sale.  They would not, and said I would have to get on the waitlist.  To me, that means they have so much inventory to try to sell, they may not even exercise ROFR unless the price is super low.
> 
> Slightly different subject, but related.  They offer another way of getting resale weeks into DC points via Marriott resale.  It requires buying a Surf Club week from them.  As an example.  Say I wanted to a buy a week from them that would convert to 3900 points, but its resale, so you can't convert.  If you ALSO buy a Surf Club Gold week, they will allow those 3900 points to convert, plus the points from Surf Club.  Using the deal they offered me (which was never going to happen and was not what I even asked them about), the first week was $14,500, the Surf Club was $23,900 (normally at least $25k for this deal, but she said because of the current promotion, she could make this one work), so $38,400, and you get 6475 DC points to play with, if converting.  That's $5.93/point purchase, and with the resorts they offered me, it would be $0.479/point MF.  Just to point out how F'd up this whole process was, when I asked about ONLY purchasing the non-Surf Club week, they told me they don't have any inventory for it.



We went to a presentation at Ocean Club today. Unlike our very negative experience at Frenchman's Cove this presentation has intrigued me more than any presentation we have been to in the past. Our salesperson was new and I clearly knew more about the product than she did but she was truthful and nice. When the sales manager came he was respectful and acknowledged that I knew the program well. What was intriguing was buy a Gold Surf Club or Ocean Club @ $28,300 and  they will enroll our post 2010 Grand Chateau. Aruba gold is 3075 points GC 3225. So with the $2.2k I paid for MGC the price per point equals $4.80. If we bought platinum @ $36,800 they would enroll our EOY Shadow Ridge also.

Still mulling it over. Since I have no plans to use points, we currently get 5 weeks out of our 2.5 lock offs the only real perk is saving on II fees. Potentially $1100 a year in fees if we continue to lock off and trade Marriott to Marriott. If we went with the gold week and dumped our eoy all our weeks would be enrolled but we would end up with 6 weeks a year or approximately 8600 points a year. If we wanted to enroll it's a good offer BUT........


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## Dean (Aug 4, 2018)

heatherw said:


> I think maybe i didn't make myself clear but my  point  was that we went to this presentation and stated very early on that we would not be buying any more weeks/points . Therefore it is not in anyone's interest  being aggressive and rude and who knows where a good conversation goes -heck that's how we ended up with a week in Phuket! . As the saying goes..." you attract a lot more bees with honey than vinegar".


There is a subset of timeshare sales people that choose to be very negative and condescending when they know someone isn't going to buy.  I've explored this thought with sales managers and experienced sales staff over the years, some of who I consider friends, and it basically appears to be a character flaw.  I can come up with no good benefit otherwise that it's a taught or purposefully shared technique of any sort.  They aren't likely to save another low yield presentation in the future and they alienate those who actually may buy at some point if one establishes a decent relationship.


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## SCtoNC (Aug 5, 2018)

We had a positive experience at our presentation yesterday.  We recently purchased a Surfwatch gold resale which closed a few days before a promotional visit to Heritage Club.  Ryan was friendly and helpful and quickly identified a points deal that could enable us to enroll our recently purchased week.  Although the deal seemed like a good one, 3000 points for $11/point.  I realize that we could purchase resale points for about $7/point including fees.  However, the possibility of enrolling our post-2010 week seemed like a good deal.  We ultimately passed because the timing isn’t right for a big purchase.  Everyone was friendly and we left with an encore week which will enable a trip to HHI next summer!


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## JT (Aug 5, 2018)

We own 1 week and just joined the points program(pre 2010).  Is there any reason to take time out of vaca to go to 1.5 hour presentation other than free gift?


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## csalter2 (Aug 5, 2018)

JT said:


> We own 1 week and just joined the points program(pre 2010).  Is there any reason to take time out of vaca to go to 1.5 hour presentation other than free gift?


Nope!


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## Eli Mairs (Aug 6, 2018)

While at Sabal Palms in February, we were talked into attending a presentation at Lakeshore Reserve, as there were changes to the program. The incentive was a $200. American Express gift card. My brother and SIL were with us, and they were offered to join us for $100. AMEX gift card. They are not Marriott owners.
The first thing the sales person said when we sat down was that we were not eligible to buy any points because we were red flagged, since we had previously rescinded twice in the last several years. We were surprised, but quite happy, as we had no intention of buying. 
The sales person gave a quick presentation to my brother, and we were both given the gift cards. There were no noticeable updates, except perhaps point price increases.
I don’t know why they don’t check previous history to ensure that guests qualify for these presentations.


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## Luvtoride (Oct 28, 2018)

WJS said:


> I just can't fathom the idea of taking valuable time during vacation to look at or listen to a timeshare salesperson. I'd feel differently if we purchased a package of a couple of nights lodging, at a discounted rate, with a requirement that we attend a sales presentation.
> 
> Our time is worth a lot more than $100.00, $200.00, or whatever food stamps a timeshare developer may offer us.



We are at Ocean Pointe on a $199 3-night promotional stay to go to a presentation.  We went over to Oceana Palms for our appointment this morning and it was a positive experience.  We walked over, rather than taking the shuttle and arrived a bit early.  They took us in 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment time.  We spent a total of 70 minutes with the sales rep and her manager.  Much of the time we spent talking about health issues and she had many things in common with my wife. 
When we did discuss our portfolio (we are Chairman’s Club) the only weakness she pointed out was that we were top heavy in enrolled week points  vs. Trust points. She explained that the pecking order of using points now was to use a combination of trust points and enrolled points but she couldn’t explain the formula or the priority given other than an “all trust points” owner would get their week choice sooner.  
When the manager came in to give us a price and incentives, he was fully versed in our situation and desire not to purchase anything.  After asking us about a bundle (we’ve done that before) he asked,if there was anything he could present that we might be interested in. We said no, not at this time.  He politely accepted our answer  and never wasted our time with any pricing offer.  We were out of there and back to our long weekend in the sun shortly after. 
Being treated respectfully and as a valued loyal owner/ customer is the way all reps should handle existing members. I would do another promotion trip again in the future to get a long weekend away from chilly N.J. during the fall and winter months.


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## Fasttr (Oct 28, 2018)

The top heavy with enrolled points sales pitch is total BS.  Funny that after she made that comment, they were going to pitch you a hybrid (enrolled week and Trust points) bundle which would have given you more of both types of points.  Sort of saying one thing and attempting to do another by MVC sales don’t you think???


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## Luvtoride (Oct 28, 2018)

Fasttr said:


> The top heavy with enrolled points sales pitch is total BS.  Funny that after she made that comment, they were going to pitch you a hybrid (enrolled week and Trust points) bundle which would have given you more of both types of points.  Sort of saying one thing and attempting to do another by MVC sales don’t you think???



Fasttr, yes it is a contradiction.  I asked them when MVC would “allow/offer “ to convert enrolled week points to Trust points.   They said it won’t happen.  We’ll see...if there is a way to make money at it, they will figure out a way to do it.  


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SeaDoc (Oct 28, 2018)

In my former life as a Senior Sales Executive at MVWC, I can attest that "a point is a point" regardless of whether it comes from the Trust or using Elected Destination points from your enrolled weeks.  This fact was part of our 'training' prior to having our first tour as a Salesperson.  Apparently, in the above example, this reality was omitted when it serves to benefit the Sales Executive's sales quota.  Something, I would never do.  Integrity is one of my core beliefs and very grateful I'm no longer part of this company.  I will continue to enjoy the programs, as an owner of both Vistana and MVWC.


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