Did a strange sales tour at Custom House.

[billymach4]

Yeah I broke my promise to never attend another sales lecture.

Promised DW that she can do the talking. I kept my mind and thoughts to myself.

Turns out this location does not have full blown sales team on site. The initial guy was nice pleasant and not well versed in the industry.

He was just really learning the ropes. Turns out the closers are located in NYC at the Manhattan Pulse location. At about the hour mark he connected to NYC on MS Teams (Video Conference).

It was the usual 4000 points legacy weeks conversion. No real big slick disingenuous disinformation pants on fire shtick.

Even the ending offer to return after 18 months was done on video. It was really the lowest pressure sales lecture ever.

Has anyone done a virtual video sales tour at a Marriott location?

 

[dioxide45]

So I guess Tim is no longer there? When we toured (really just a group presentation) back in 2015, Tim was the opener, closer and all the rest. He gave a group presentation, offer was only 5,000 Marriott Reward points. If you had further interest, he would meet with you after the group presentation. Here is my post talking about that experience.

Complimentary Ownership Seminar at Custom House

Yesterday (Tuesday June 9th) my wife and I had the pleasure of attending one of the three ownership seminars that are offered at Custom House. This was actually a great source of information. Not so much for the seasoned Tugger, but I could see where a lot of people could learn a lot at this on...

tugbbs.com

 

[NJVacation61]

We had a presentation at Custom House last year that was virtual via Zoom with the NYC sales office, so yes I do not think they have a dedicated sales team in Boston anymore. It was mandatory that we attended as we had purchased a 4 day 3 night package to stay there. Our days of signing up for the Marriott sales presentations are over as there is not enough they can pay me to waste 90+ minutes of my time and insult me with ridiculous offers. The number of threads on this site alone with owners complaining about the lies being told by their salespeople should be enough to make Marriott rethink their marketing strategy.

 

[JimT]

Tim Hamilton was great. Very knowledgeable, honest and a pleasure to work with.

 

[AlmostRetired]

Tim Hamilton was great. Very knowledgeable, honest and a pleasure to work with.

Likely the reason Tim is no longer there.

 

[jtp1947]

Tim would comment that listening to him was like drinking out of a fire hose. He was definitely a fast talker and a pleasure to listen to.

 

[billymach4]

Well sounds like the Custom House has had this video virtual sales technique for at least a year. I wonder if there is any other location that does this method of sales presentation in the Marriott system. Thinking places like Fairway Villas might do this now. Last I heard they closed down that sales office.

At least I was prepared knew the system. For someone brand new not knowing the system... I seriously doubt that this method of sales could be closed. But ya never know. It would be very interesting to know the lead to sales conversion at this location.

The sales guy was lacking in Marriott Timeshare history and MVC knowledge. Then they bring in the fast talking closer that did a worksheet on his desktop that was shared on screen.

It was the usual 4000 PT package to convert my legacy weeks at $67,000.

I let DW give him the bad news.

It is so much easier in my opinion to push back on a remote video. Although we would not have any problem in a face to face visit. The Custom House guy knew it was a losing proposition after about 15 minutes.

He actually tried to get us out sooner. But the folks back at NYC were backlogged so we just had to wait in line while we talked about how many kids my BIL had. I even advised him to go visit some of the Marriott resorts.

Too bad I did not get to meet Tim Hamilton?

 

[billymach4]

One other interesting fact was that the Encore visit was limited to 3 return locations.

Custom House
Manhattan Pulse
Fairway Villas

Not interested in a Manhattan visit. I can jump on a 2 hour train ride or within 90 minute drive.

Nothing against Fairway Villas but that is an easy trade or pts reservation. Except in the Prime Summer weeks.

Since Fairway was on the Encore return list I would tend to think they do now have some sort of sales gig back up and running? Anyone been to Fairway lately?

 

[jellen613]

I am a legacy week owner (enrolled) and a points owner, Select level. We have done the encore in NYC twice. This year stayed four nights at the Marriott Marquis. Being Marriott Platinum Elite, got free breakfast and evening snacks every day in the Concierge club. I won't ever buy any more Marriott VP, won't convert my legacy week. However, for 4 nights in mid May in Manhattan, and 50K marriott bonvoy points, I can stomach a 90 minute sales pitch. Bought another encore for Boston, already booked for mid June 2024 at Custom House. Boston hotel prices are way more than what the encore costs. So we will sit for our 90 minutes, won't buy, will enjoy our 4 nights in Boston at peak season, and walk away w/ another 50K bonvoy points. Win - win for us In the fall on 2021, we used 300k bonvoy points to stay 6 nights at the Cotton House Hotel in Barcelona Spain. What an amazing property! So if I spend 90 min every year or every other year to help fund international stays, it works for us. I do tell anyone who asks to NOT buy a timeshare, unless its on the secondary market.

 

[jellen613]

Also, attended a presentation w/ Tim at Custom house years ago, great guy, very informative. To answer the original question, have done virtual presentations (once mid pandemic), and also hybrid ones (in person w/ some virtual). My favorite part of any of the presentations is when they compare the ownership opportunity to an "investment"..... no it is an expense, not an investment, lol.

 

[jellen613]

And lastly, we stay at the Fairway Villas usually at least once a year. Being an hour away, we book in Nov or Dec for 3-4 nights at approx 125 points per night. Haven't been to a presentation there in awhile. It's a great property, since we live in the city, it's great to be in such a beautiful green area. We go to the beach (love the beach in the fall/winter), usually have dinner in AC one night, there's are great little town Historic Smithville that decorates nicely for the holidays, have also been there around Halloween. Also, a great place to eat in Margate, open year round with amazing food and atmosphere, Steve and Cookies by the Bay.

 

[Fasttr]

So I guess Tim is no longer there?

Tim is still selling. We had a virtual presentation with him this morning. His wife passed away a few years back, so he’s been working from home, selling via virtual pitches ever sense, as it works best for him as a single dad of 2 teens. Custom House, NYC, NJ are a combined sales office and they do a lot of virtual presentations for folks who have stayed at those locations. He seems to be one of the more professional sales peeps.