What you will say to speed up timeshare presentation

[pianoetudes]

I have attended TS presentations several times. I don't like them but I do like the gifts, meal certificates (sometimes free show tickets) and discounts. So I attended anyway. At the end of presentation, normally I was presented with a letter of offer that I have to sign and write "DECLINE" to say I do not want to buy.

I want to learn the tricks to speed up the presentation. The ultimate goals are to decline the offer, leave the room asap, and get the gifts.

Any advice?

 

[dagger1]

The last time we attended was in September at Wyndham Sedona, only because the concierge was so nice. I made her sign the 90 minute clause before I gave her my cc for the $20 refundable charge. When we went, we exchanged pleasantries with the Wyndham salesman, and I then set 90 minutes on my Apple Watch and laid it down on the table. I informed him that we would not be buying more points and per our paperwork, we would give him 90 minutes. I started the timer. We responded politely to his questions and when asked why we were there if we weren’t interested in buying I explained that we were there only because of the concierge. He kept us for about 70 minutes, and then processed us out.

 

[x3 skier]

I always tell the sales person I have zero intention of buying and we can skip the whole thing unless they want to waste their time and mine. Sometimes they agree but most of the time we just talk about something else, sports, travel, life in general or whatever we find in common. If they don’t agree to skip the whole thing, I start my stopwatch and note clearly when time is up.

I estimate that maybe 20% of the time I’m out in 10 minutes or less but never longer than the stated time.

Cheers

 

[amycurl]

Mentioning TUG usually speeds things along nicely, in my personal experience (record time: 17 minutes at Marriott SurfWatch a few years ago.)

 

[moonstone]

Mentioning TUG usually speeds things along nicely, in my personal experience (record time: 17 minutes at Marriott SurfWatch a few years ago.)

I do the same thing, and did that just 2 weeks ago at Mizner! Mentioning TUG and the current resales prices on the internet got us out of the presentation shortly after our free lunch with our Visa gift card! I even tried to give the sales guy a copy of my TUG info page but he wouln't take it. He did have a few "Oh really" comments when we told him how much we paid, how we bought our points, and how many weeks we get from them from the 1 maintenance fee.

~Diane

 

[LannyPC]

I want to learn the tricks to speed up the presentation. The ultimate goals are to decline the offer, leave the room asap, and get the gifts.

Have you thought about mentioning from the get-go that you are well aware of the rescission laws and that, even if the sales person does persuade you to buy, you will be exercising your right of rescission?

 

[pianoetudes]

Have you thought about mentioning from the get-go that you are well aware of the rescission laws and that, even if the sales person does persuade you to buy, you will be exercising your right of rescission?

I did mention that one time. The sales person told me not to buy if later I rescind. I think they won't get the commission if members rescind.

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

 

[theo]

I have never attended a timeshare presentation --- and I never will.
There are no coupons, gift cards, tickets, discounts, or "free" meals that could adequately compensate for that wasted time, forever lost. YMMV.

 

[presley]

The last one we went to, I told them that I don't like timeshares and plan on getting rid of all of mine. During the presentation, whenever they asked leading questions, we didn't say a word. That made it go really fast. If you make a statement in the beginning and then never answer any questions, you probably shave off an hour of the discussion.

 

[TUGBrian]

love the comments mentioning TUG!

an added benefit of membership no doubt, cutting time off sales presentations =D

 

[Panina]

I have never attended a timeshare presentation --- and I never will.
There are no coupons, trinkets, discounts, or "free" meals that could adequately compensate for that wasted time, forever lost. YMMV.

I have attended and never will again. My time is worth more then the freebies. There are many things to do that are free and enjoyable instead of getting freebies. Going to a presentation is not enjoyable.

 

[sun starved Gayle]

I have attended one timeshare presentation, because I really wanted to see the property for future exchanges, and will never do another one. It was for Embarc Whistler, which was a brand new property at the time, but was called something else then.

Before the appointment, I made a list of the all properties I owned, their MF's, what I paid for them and the exchanges I had made with them. This was in the glory days of trading, when cheap South African properties could snag The Manhattan Club, Hawaii etc, which I had traded into. I think I was staying on a trade that I had done with a South African studio for a 3 bedroom 4th of July week to Whistler at the time. I gave the list to the saleswoman first thing, she looked at it and left the room with the list. She came back a short time later with her boss who told my husband "Your wife is a genius", and that was the end of the sales presentation. I am still milking that "genius" thing with my husband, after 15 years ! Anyway, that was the end of the sales pitch, I got my tour and $100.00 dining credit which we used on a nice dinner in the village.

I miss those glory days of the cheap South African properties which you could use to trade into almost anything!

 

[LannyPC]

The sales person told me not to buy if later I rescind. I think they won't get the commission if members rescind.

That's true. The sales people do not get their commission if the buyer rescinds.

And of course, my original suggestion seems to work because then you won't buy. So hopefully that would work getting the sales people to cut the presentation short.

 

[x3 skier]

Compared to sitting in some Dr or Dentist office or someplace else waiting for a poorly scheduled appointment, wasting 60 minutes (or much less) frustrating a sales pitch to grab some freebies is a better use of my time. A hour out of a cheap 3-4 day vacation from a sales promotion is nothing, especially if the freebies like dinner, a show or other nice freebies are on offer. Even they are not worth much, the 3-4 day vacation at 30% of the brochure price is worth the price of admission.

I once told an especially obnoxious sales guy I had a terminal illness and no heirs. (The terminal illness was age. I didn't share that part).

Cheers

 

[silentg]

I have attended one timeshare presentation, because I really wanted to see the property for future exchanges, and will never do another one. It was for Embarc Whistler, which was a brand new property at the time, but was called something else then.

Before the appointment, I made a list of the all properties I owned, their MF's, what I paid for them and the exchanges I had made with them. This was in the glory days of trading, when cheap South African properties could snag The Manhattan Club, Hawaii etc, which I had traded into. I think I was staying on a trade that I had done with a South African studio for a 3 bedroom 4th of July week to Whistler at the time. I gave the list to the saleswoman first thing, she looked at it and left the room with the list. She came back a short time later with her boss who told my husband "Your wife is a genius", and that was the end of the sales presentation. I am still milking that "genius" thing with my husband, after 15 years ! Anyway, that was the end of the sales pitch, I got my tour and $100.00 dining credit which we used on a nice dinner in the village.

I miss those glory days of the cheap South African properties which you could use to trade into almost anything!

We owned a SA week too, but sent it back, they took it, end of story

 

[Luanne]

I will never attend a presentation with dh again. We've only done a few. I could probably be out in a few minutes, but even though dh doesn't want to buy another timeshare, or into a program, he just can't keep his mouth shut.

 

[aandmrun]

We always skip the presentations, but the last trip we went to Branson, we wanted the theater tickets and master card gift card so we went. As soon as we sat with the one on one salesperson, I told her that we have been timesharing for over 20 years and that we love it but we are happy with all that we have and do not plan to buy anything else since we are retired now. I said "we don't want to waste your time" so all she said was "ok, will you just sign this paper indicating that I gave you a price and you rejected it." That was all there was to it.

 

[AwayWeGo]

During the presentation, whenever they asked leading questions, we didn't say a word. That made it go really fast. If you make a statement in the beginning and then never answer any questions, you probably shave off an hour of the discussion.

That matches our experience.

When the timeshare sellers say stuff we know is not exactly right or even flat-out wrong, we no longer dispute them or try to set'm straight, because that only prolongs the encounter.

We have learned it's best just to sit there quietly & politely, paying attention, not saying much of anything, occasionally nodding our heads (with a slight rolling motion added), & saying No Thanks when the moment of truth finally arrives.

The only time I can recall when a timeshare seller gave up on us early was when we had recently purchased a $750 tiger trader South African timeshare, which we had used for exchange into the timeshare where we were getting the hard-sell that ended early. We mentioned that to the timeshare seller, saying we found about South African tiger traders via TUG. She said she could tell that we were not going to buy -- & asked for the URL for TUG. Beside that, we had been "pre-gifted" (her term) with discount Disney tickets, & we already knew what the units were like because we were staying in 1, so she said there was no point in going any further with the presentation.

That was in 2003. We figured we were golden on freebie timeshare tours from then on. But it has not worked out that way at all. The timeshare sellers pretty much give us the whole 9 yards every time. So it goes.

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

 

[CalGalTraveler]

When your alloted time is up simply stand up, politely thank them for the meeting and cross your arms. They will get your signal that the meeting is now over. I do this at work to signal the end of a meeting - it is a technique that many executives use.

If the presentation area is open and they don't get your message, this will look really awkward to have two people with their arms crossed standing by a desk appearing fidgety and ready to leave. So sales will ultimately shuffle you out of there to avoid distraction from other sales meetings in the area.

 

[Larry M]

It's so easy to get out early. Before you leave home, print out some for-sale offers for the same properties from TUG and eBay. As soon as introductions have been completed, just lay them on the table, saying nothing.

 

[hjtug]

Mentioning TUG usually speeds things along nicely, in my personal experience (record time: 17 minutes at Marriott SurfWatch a few years ago.)

We tend to avoid sales presentations but will do one for the reward if we have nothing better to do. I wear my TUG tee shirt. It seems to drive the sales people crazy. One time, during a break from the sales folks, another couple asked us about, and we discussed, TUG. Another time the sales person quickly took us out of the room to chat outdoors about other subjects.

 

[klpca]

We have never been big fans of presentations/owners updates, but after the last one at Marriott Newport Coast where we learned about "Marriott people", we're done. It's such a waste of our time and theirs. We just returned from Nanea and I am so glad that we didn't waste a minute of our short one week trip sitting with them in the sales office. The shortest presentation is the one you don't attend

 

[BocaBoy]

I actually kind of enjoy the majority of the presentations we go to, and the gifts are usually well worth the time we invest in them. I sometimes learn things and more often the sales person learns things from me. My attitude is that it is OK to go solely for the gifts, but we have agreed to listen to their pitch in exchange for the gifts, so I won' t do anything rude to sabotage their presentation. I think overt antagonism (unless specifically provoked by the sales person) makes the guest look small and petty. Some sales people are actually honorable, and I won't condemn a specific one with a broad generalization.

 

[Passepartout]

Nothing works better than a TUG, "I paid more for this T-Shirt than my timeshare" t-shirt. But sometimes it backfires and they cancel the presentation and you don't get the perks/discounts/tickets/cash for attending.

Otherwise, printing out a few eBay resale ads for the resort works well too.

Jim

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Good recent post -
OP was an owner of 2003 Mayan Palace contract & at a Vidanta upgrade " presentation / salesperson was using the: " pay us more $$ so your heirs don't end up saddled with a forever liability .

OP - threatened to put salesperson in their will . Salesperson walked & presentation ended .

Remember and use when needed .