Former Wyndham Sales Rep Answering Questions

[dioxide45]

Well you have to play the same games Wyndham does to benefit yourself. It has been 2 years and I haven't had any issues not taxing myself or owners I still work with.

80,000+ new IRS agents might change that...

 

[RowdyRiner]

What would you do If the customer wants to tape the presentation or asks for something in writing confirming some of the representations that were made at the presentation?

Soon as it's known someone is recording it becomes very compliant and ends quickly. As far as in writing they'll just say yeah I'll get it with your gift and you never get it. They always dance around requests and string along.

 

[RowdyRiner]

What do you do if you sell to Joe Blow (JB) and then he sends in a rescission letter? Do you call back trying to change his mind and salvage the sale (and thus, your commission)? Or do you just let it go figuring it's not worth your time and effort?

If you do call back, what do you say to try to make JB change his mind?

Managers always made us try and salvage the sale but once the letter hit a QA's hands it was pretty much cancelled. Sometimes you could resale after and take some of the pack off so they get the same points for less money.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

I'm curious if there are any negative sentiments towards potential buyers, not necessarily from you, but general backroom gossip. Who gets the most frustration or laughter? The incentive people who continue to never buy, resale owners, those easily pressured or manipulated, owners with too many points, couples that disagree, or something else?

Also, are our social media accounts ever observed beforehand? We had a tour with Shell Vacation Club, and decided to mix things up by not talking about our cruising travels. This was before becoming resale owners ourselves. The presenter kept trying to bring up cruising multiple times, asking us which cruise line would be our favorite, despite us claiming we had never sailed. Maybe playing games is your answer to question #1, but this was our 12th tour, and we were tired of the same conversations.

 

[davidvel]

A former TS salesman advocates cheating on taxes. Classic.

 

[RowdyRiner]

I'm curious if there are any negative sentiments towards potential buyers, not necessarily from you, but general backroom gossip. Who gets the most frustration or laughter? The incentive people who continue to never buy, resale owners, those easily pressured or manipulated, owners with too many points, couples that disagree, or something else?

Also, are our social media accounts ever observed beforehand? We had a tour with Shell Vacation Club, and decided to mix things up by not talking about our cruising travels. This was before becoming resale owners ourselves. The presenter kept trying to bring up cruising multiple times, asking us which cruise line would be our favorite, despite us claiming we had never sailed. Maybe playing games is your answer to question #1, but this was our 12th tour, and we were tired of the same conversations.

Resale Owners are the main ones that were very difficult to handle. Everything else you could find a couple angles on before you get to the table but resale would usually be a quick survey, hit with BS numbers quick, and then take to gifting.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

Largest was $110,000. Smallest was $15,000. Smallest package you can sell though is about $7,000 or however much 28,000 points cost now. Was $253 per 1,000 when I was there.

$7,000, ouch! I had just looked at this listing, and wondered who bought 2 weeknights off season, and for how much?

WYNDHAM GRAND DESERT 28,000 POINTS, ANNUAL YEAR USAGE, TIMESHARE FOR SALE!! | eBay

WYNDHAM GRAND DESERT. 28,000 WYNDHAM POINTS. WYNDHAM TRANSFERS TAKE APPROX. 5 TO 6 MONTHS TO COMPLETE WITH WYNDHAM. Pamper yourself with a dip in the hot tub, followed by a quick stop in the sauna. The resort provides shuttle transportation from the resort to Harrah's Casino on The Strip.

www.ebay.com

I'm curious about trial packages. What % of people buy them after turning down everything else? Once they've stuck their toe in the water financially, how much easier are they to persuade in the followup presentation?

 

[dioxide45]

I'm curious about trial packages. What % of people buy them after turning down everything else? Once they've stuck their toe in the water financially, how much easier are they to persuade in the followup presentation?

Marriott has said in the past that their conversion rates on closing from a trial/Encore package are higher than any other method they have for tour flow. I too would be interested to know how much better those closing rates are on a trial as compared to just an existing owner.

 

[RowdyRiner]

Probably less than 15%. But once they're in that "Discovery" Package they had a good "Equity" pitch that some fell for, but about 50% of DISCO Trial Owners converted I'm the end.

 

[pedro47]

What is the OP take on Hilton purchase of DRI ?

 

[RowdyRiner]

What is the OP take on Hilton purchase of DRI ?

Hilton just bought them out. Nothing to it. Happens all the time in different businesses. A giant entity will buy a large independent company.

 

[jules54]

You can rent every single point every year to whoever you want. If you're not doing it as a business and claiming taxes on it, then it's not commercial. Wyndham is just trying to push Extra Holidays to get their cut as usual. Worst-case right now Wyndham is locking out Guest Confirmations but with all the complaints they will back down eventually as usual.

This is not the case. Wyndham is not backing down on this. As far as the definition of what commercial renting is Wyndham decides that not the dictionary.
Doesnt do you any good to rent every point in your account as you said if Wyndham cancels the reservations that have guest confirmations on them. This means you have a bunch of furious customers and a ton of money you have to refund with nothing to show for all the work the owner put into the rentals.

 

[jules54]

Well you have to play the same games Wyndham does to benefit yourself. It has been 2 years and I haven't had any issues not taxing myself or owners I still work with.

Don’t worry Wyndham will get around to you. Thank you for posting, but I hope your not doing yourself a huge disservice by doing so.

 

[am1]

Not sure if asked but how many times did you lie and “steal” from people? Do you feel bad and came here to repent thinking that will make it all better? Have you donated what you cheated people out of?

 

[davidvel]

Not sure if asked but how many times did you lie and “steal” from people? Do you feel bad and came here to repent thinking that will make it all better? Have you donated what you cheated people out of?

Based on his tax comment, I doubt he cares.

 

[kaljor]

How many new sales people (or a percentage) do you estimate wash out within their first year? I ask because I took a job trying to sell mutual funds about 35 years ago and I sucked at it and left after 2 months. I didn't believe in the product and the people I had to try to sell to were not people who should really be investing in the high cost product I was told to sell. I never tried sales again!

 

[CO skier]

Not sure if asked but how many times did you lie and “steal” from people? Do you feel bad and came here to repent thinking that will make it all better? Have you donated what you cheated people out of?

A certain perspective would suggest he was just "maximizing his employment" similar to how you "maximized your Wyndham ownership." How many vacations did you cheat other owners out of using the cancel/rebook/upgrade scam and other loopholes?

 

[RowdyRiner]

Not sure if asked but how many times did you lie and “steal” from people? Do you feel bad and came here to repent thinking that will make it all better? Have you donated what you cheated people out of?

I've gotten my owners that wanted out of Wyndham completely out and the others I've helped utilize their accounts to their advantage. I don't need to "repent" for anything nor do I care about making myself feel better. If Wyndham is what dictates someones daily life then I feel sorry for that person because that's a choice to not thrive and move forward elsewhere

 

[RowdyRiner]

How many new sales people (or a percentage) do you estimate wash out within their first year? I ask because I took a job trying to sell mutual funds about 35 years ago and I sucked at it and left after 2 months. I didn't believe in the product and the people I had to try to sell to were not people who should really be investing in the high cost product I was told to sell. I never tried sales again!

I don't know the math but a lot didn't make is past 60 days. On average it would take a rep 6 months just to get started unless they already had friends working that were closing deals for them.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

Do you own a timeshare? If not, which company would you choose, the lesser evil?

 

[CO skier]

Do you own a timeshare? If not, which company would you choose, the lesser evil?

Why do you imply that all timeshare companies are "evil"?

I own Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham. Maybe it is because I purchased all resale that I do not consider Wyndham "evil." The management is largely incompetent (witness the terrible new websites in both Clubs), but not evil.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

Why do you imply that all timeshare companies are "evil"?

I own Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham. Maybe it is because I purchased all resale that I do not consider Wyndham "evil." The management is largely incompetent (witness the terrible new websites in both Clubs), but not evil.

If the answer to the first question is "NO", then it is an expression I'm going to use. If someone is financially successful at selling timeshares, and chooses not to own, there's probably a good reason.

The term "evil" is not meant to be taken literally.

 

[CO skier]

The term "evil" is not meant to be taken literally.

Then why use it at all? It is a strong word. You could have ended the question at the word "choose" instead of implying all timeshares are evil.

 

[davidvel]

Then why use it at all? It is a strong word. You could have ended the question at the word "choose" instead of implying all timeshares are evil.

Probably because there are so many evil timeshare companies and sales persons, who prey on people who believe what the person tells them they are getting, only to find out the fine print of the contract says you can't believe what they tell you and you are SOL when you figure this out after the rescission period is over, and they have multi million dollar lawyers that will crush you if you challenge this.

 

[CO skier]

Yeah, like timeshares are the only businesses out there preying on people. There is a lot of evilness in the business world.