cherbear23
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What is a shill poster?
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Any experience with Resort Options International?
- Thread starter pieslapper
- Start date
LannyPC
TUG Member
It's a principal for the company pretending to be either a:
1) Satisfied customer, or ..
2) Disgruntled TS owner looking for a company to sell or rid the person of the TS.
LannyPC
TUG Member
Shillsnightmare187
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I know the owners of this company and I can tell you without of shadow of a doubt that it’s an absolute cash grab, borderline criminal if not completely. I was impressed with how effectively they take ppls money at such high volumes because who in there right mind would shell out 1-3k on a COLD CALL form a complete stranger! After a while these deplorable’s will just just regroup under a different “company” name and start all over stealing from ppl who don’t use their god given common sense. I’ve seen them put older ppl in deeper debt by selling false hope. I initially came to see how the people felt about this “company” after being around for years and it’s good to the people are actually catching on. Honorable mention to RX8 and T dot for their unwavering resolve in calling out these shills/ scammers. You guys are legends.
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Since this thread was started four years ago I have a better understanding about these advertising listing companies. The advertising model is used by many, many different “companies” in the timeshare world. I have posted this additional information on other scam threads but wanted to add it here as well. It is my opinion that the whole advertising model is just a sham to mask the real business model which is to pound the phones cold calling for upfront fees. Why have a sham business model? Simple, this is their stay-out-of-jail card. When authorities come knocking, they just claim “We didn’t steal their money! They paid for advertising services!”
This must be a very lucrative scam because they all follow the same game plan which is to cold call and LIE by claiming you have “bonus” weeks to be rented or that they have corporate clients ready to rent your timeshare. These LIES are simply to obtain the upfront fee. We know for a fact that timeshare owners do not have bonus weeks just hanging around waiting to be exploited. We also know that corporations do not rent timeshares, certainly not in the numbers that keeps multiple companies promising the same thing in business (what keeps them in business are the upfront fees). None of these businesses provide any value to the timeshare owner for the upfront fees. The reason for no value is because there is absolutely nothing behind the advertising facade. There are no offers coming in, and if there is an offer it is likely a LIE, a fake offer with a request last minute or very high demand that they know will never be able to be reserved by the timeshare owner.
What makes Resort Options International a scam? The same “We have corporate renters” LIES on the cold call. The website testimony LIES, which are fake since these same testimonies are used for multiple companies and in some cases, the person’s names are changed. This makes every one of the dozens of glowing BBB reviews suspect as well. The LIES on their website - they have an image of the Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce implying that they are a member. However, they are not a member. They have many National events listed on their website, implying that they are attending these events to market your timeshare. However, I looked at only one event, the Southeast Building Conference to be held in July in their back yard of Orlando…they are not listed as an exhibitor. I am sure they are not listed as an exhibitor on any of the events as they are too busy cold calling. They have a listing on their website of “direct affiliate access”, whatever that may be. Why would Macy’s, Lego, Pets Mart, and Wine.com need affiliate access? Looks to me to be just a bunch of random companies to make the scammer look important. Speaking of all the LIES, when you do it often it becomes a way of life. That is why there are so many fake posters on this thread, just another LIE in the course of business.
Edited: Just wanted to add that the “corporate renters” scam is the laziest of the two scams (bonus weeks vs corporate renters). I say that because the bonus week scam requires a little more effort in website IT to make it appear that this is a legitimate site to rent weeks. That means they need to make up descriptions of many resorts, nothing too elaborate, just copy/paste generic descriptions. They also need to at least make it appear that potential renters can inquire, but they make it hard to navigate and search hoping that would prevent them from actually inquiring. No real renter will mess with that, which is fine because the scammers don’t want to mess with that either.
The corporate renters scam is easy because they claim to “market” your timeshare to corporations. Because they “market” your timeshares directly, they have zero timeshare descriptions at the website. They don’t have any way for a prospective renter to search or contact them meaning they don’t have to feel guilty about ignoring an inquiry that comes across. This allows them to stay on the phones cold calling for dollars. The corporate renter website is all advertisement trying to get the timeshare owner to pay them the upfront fee.
This must be a very lucrative scam because they all follow the same game plan which is to cold call and LIE by claiming you have “bonus” weeks to be rented or that they have corporate clients ready to rent your timeshare. These LIES are simply to obtain the upfront fee. We know for a fact that timeshare owners do not have bonus weeks just hanging around waiting to be exploited. We also know that corporations do not rent timeshares, certainly not in the numbers that keeps multiple companies promising the same thing in business (what keeps them in business are the upfront fees). None of these businesses provide any value to the timeshare owner for the upfront fees. The reason for no value is because there is absolutely nothing behind the advertising facade. There are no offers coming in, and if there is an offer it is likely a LIE, a fake offer with a request last minute or very high demand that they know will never be able to be reserved by the timeshare owner.
What makes Resort Options International a scam? The same “We have corporate renters” LIES on the cold call. The website testimony LIES, which are fake since these same testimonies are used for multiple companies and in some cases, the person’s names are changed. This makes every one of the dozens of glowing BBB reviews suspect as well. The LIES on their website - they have an image of the Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce implying that they are a member. However, they are not a member. They have many National events listed on their website, implying that they are attending these events to market your timeshare. However, I looked at only one event, the Southeast Building Conference to be held in July in their back yard of Orlando…they are not listed as an exhibitor. I am sure they are not listed as an exhibitor on any of the events as they are too busy cold calling. They have a listing on their website of “direct affiliate access”, whatever that may be. Why would Macy’s, Lego, Pets Mart, and Wine.com need affiliate access? Looks to me to be just a bunch of random companies to make the scammer look important. Speaking of all the LIES, when you do it often it becomes a way of life. That is why there are so many fake posters on this thread, just another LIE in the course of business.
Edited: Just wanted to add that the “corporate renters” scam is the laziest of the two scams (bonus weeks vs corporate renters). I say that because the bonus week scam requires a little more effort in website IT to make it appear that this is a legitimate site to rent weeks. That means they need to make up descriptions of many resorts, nothing too elaborate, just copy/paste generic descriptions. They also need to at least make it appear that potential renters can inquire, but they make it hard to navigate and search hoping that would prevent them from actually inquiring. No real renter will mess with that, which is fine because the scammers don’t want to mess with that either.
The corporate renters scam is easy because they claim to “market” your timeshare to corporations. Because they “market” your timeshares directly, they have zero timeshare descriptions at the website. They don’t have any way for a prospective renter to search or contact them meaning they don’t have to feel guilty about ignoring an inquiry that comes across. This allows them to stay on the phones cold calling for dollars. The corporate renter website is all advertisement trying to get the timeshare owner to pay them the upfront fee.
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Bumping to show that this "company" has now contacted a WorldMark owner.
I have been contacted by this company numerous times and we keep telling them we are NOT interested because we don't wish to send anyone more money because they offer empty promises. So
Brittany Reyes from the Support Team (888)308-9668 Ext. 330 with Resort Options International emailed me with yet another attempt. We replied to Brittany with a single paragraph formally requesting she take our name off their list. We indicated that until they take a percentage off "all the money" they will make for us opposed to us just sending money in "hopes" they do their job we absolutely are not interested. The following is her reply... (you decided if these slander attempts ARE or ARE NOT coming from a reputable company.)
Because you yourself have sold zero (0) timeshares, coupled with the fact that you still have the timeshare that you don’t want, your email will be posted on our morning meeting and we will laugh at the irony of you taking the time to draft such a long email about our company all whilst we continue to send out offers to sell peoples timeshares that have paid upfront. These are the salt of the earth, people who spend their time looking for solutions instead of creating problems (or KEEPING them, like you). Have yourself a day!
All I can reply to your email Brittany is - you and all your friends may laugh all you like!
Brittany Reyes from the Support Team (888)308-9668 Ext. 330 with Resort Options International emailed me with yet another attempt. We replied to Brittany with a single paragraph formally requesting she take our name off their list. We indicated that until they take a percentage off "all the money" they will make for us opposed to us just sending money in "hopes" they do their job we absolutely are not interested. The following is her reply... (you decided if these slander attempts ARE or ARE NOT coming from a reputable company.)
Because you yourself have sold zero (0) timeshares, coupled with the fact that you still have the timeshare that you don’t want, your email will be posted on our morning meeting and we will laugh at the irony of you taking the time to draft such a long email about our company all whilst we continue to send out offers to sell peoples timeshares that have paid upfront. These are the salt of the earth, people who spend their time looking for solutions instead of creating problems (or KEEPING them, like you). Have yourself a day!
All I can reply to your email Brittany is - you and all your friends may laugh all you like!
Fido Chuckwagon
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Responding to these people at all is -EV.
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Suggestions - Are you registered on DNC? If so, file a complaint. File a BBB complaint for continued harassment. Finally, file a complaint with the Attorney General.
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A few observations looking at Resort Options International today as compared to the original post from 2019.
First of all, my opinion about advertising/listing companies (I apologize to the regular readers for repeating myself).
It is my belief that a vast majority of advertising/listing companies charging upfront fees are outright scams. A very small number, only a couple in my view, are not scams but they are not worth a tenth of what they charge (Sell My Timeshare Now, for instance). Why are most of them scams? Because they use the advertising/listing model as a front to their real business model, which is to pound the phones looking for people to give them big upfront fees (often in violation of DNC rules). Anything else pertaining to the business, such as advertising itself, is simply a sham to cover for their stealing of upfront fees. It is my belief that any offers received by timeshare owners are bogus, such as an offer for Los Angeles one week away with ocean front view and 4 bedrooms. Offers that the company knows is impossible to fulfill. If an owner receives an offer, even if bogus and not able to be filled, they may feel the company is legit. Many of the scam operations even follow the same game plan, which is to cold call and lie that the timeshare owner has unused getaway weeks. They "guarantee" that these weeks will be rented for big bucks but that in order to reap the thousands of dollars in rental income the owner must pay an upfront "activation" fee. Since these truly are scammers to begin with, the company has no issues with posting fake reviews or having shills post on sites such as TUG.
Resort Options International has changed their business model since the 2019 post.
At the time of the 2019 post, the company's primary business was to advertise timeshares for rent or buy. The website included generic descriptions of resorts and the costs. Prices for rentals and purchases were way overpriced. The advertising/listing companies want their customers to think that they will get a big windfall, either by sale or rent, so that the large upfront fee seems reasonable. Resort Options International's website didn't have an easy way for potential renters or buyers to inquire. The only option was to submit an inquiry through the website about a resort and dates. I am certain that the average renter/buyer, if they even found the website, wouldn't have bothered to continue at that point. Their website also had a running view counter for the listings, probably something the company was unaware of because it didn't paint a good picture for them. As I explained in my original post, the 12 cheapest rentals, all listed at $1,800, had an average of just THREE views in the last 227 days (and one of those views was probably me). If an offer was received, the company was supposed to forward these offers to the timeshare owners. All of this extra work just took away from pounding the phones for upfront fees.
Not sure when they changed but as of now the company has done away with the timeshare rent/buy model as well as the ability to submit any inquiry. Now, according to the company's website, "Resorts Options International markets, advertises and promotes available timeshare units, on behalf of the owners, directly to large corporations, corporate event planners and executives who are accustomed to spending top dollar on hotel accommodations on a frequent basis." They imply that they attend events promoting your timeshare to these corporations. Why did they make that business model change? My theory is that they were annoyed with people actually submitting inquiries asking about resorts and dates. By claiming that they market directly to corporations, their “marketing” is now shielded from public view and they no longer have to deal with any bothersome inquiries. This allows them to spend all of their time dialing for dollars.
Here is why I think that this whole thing is a scam.
Questionable BBB reviews.
Why are these reviews suspect? All of them claim to have received a service that the company does not provide. The fact is that this company’s own terms state that they just pass any offers to the owner, nothing more nothing less. This is from the company's terms and conditions - "Any offers submitted by prospective buyers utilizing Resort Options International’s advertising will be promptly forwarded to the timeshare owner. Upon receipt of an offer, the timeshare owner can choose to handle the transaction on his/her own or retain an independent broker/closing company."
In addition to these newly discovered reviews, see the early posts on this thread that show even more questionable reviews that were posted word for word on other companies’ websites.
Marketing to corporate customers.
Timeshares are hard enough to book for yourself let alone multiple rooms for a corporation. Corporations certainly do not commit to a booking months in advance that is non-refundable. I worked for a major company. We had to use a specific site to book a hotel, and we had to utilize a certain hotel chain if it was available. Of course, it was refundable if I couldn't travel. That said, MAYBE there is a company that would use services like this but not enough to keep thousands of timeshare owners who paid a big upfront fee busy making these reservations. The real reason why I think this is a scam is because I have not found even one instance where this company was an exhibitor at any event. Additionally, even if they had a booth and walk-up executives wanting information, there is ZERO evidence that there is a dedicated website or phone number for the corporations to utilize (note - their actual website is 98% an advertisement trying to get owners to pay them the upfront fee). Their website does have a very small section about corporate rentals. It states, "Contact our Signature Concierge Department and allow us the opportunity to take your business travel to the next level." However, there is no number listed for this special department. The main phone number for the company appears to be for timeshare owners giving up their money as an upfront fee (internet shows this phone number as cold calling timeshare owners).
Does anyone really think that a corporation would do business with an outfit like this? I can see the booth now. CORPORATE EXECUTIVE (at the Orlando Vegan Conference) "Hi, I own a company with 50 employees and would like some information about what you do, and how we go about booking some lodging for an upcoming event." RESORT OPTIONS INTERNATIONAL Representative - "I don't have anything I can give you, nor do we have a website or phone number, but I can write my personal cell phone on this napkin for you".
First of all, my opinion about advertising/listing companies (I apologize to the regular readers for repeating myself).
It is my belief that a vast majority of advertising/listing companies charging upfront fees are outright scams. A very small number, only a couple in my view, are not scams but they are not worth a tenth of what they charge (Sell My Timeshare Now, for instance). Why are most of them scams? Because they use the advertising/listing model as a front to their real business model, which is to pound the phones looking for people to give them big upfront fees (often in violation of DNC rules). Anything else pertaining to the business, such as advertising itself, is simply a sham to cover for their stealing of upfront fees. It is my belief that any offers received by timeshare owners are bogus, such as an offer for Los Angeles one week away with ocean front view and 4 bedrooms. Offers that the company knows is impossible to fulfill. If an owner receives an offer, even if bogus and not able to be filled, they may feel the company is legit. Many of the scam operations even follow the same game plan, which is to cold call and lie that the timeshare owner has unused getaway weeks. They "guarantee" that these weeks will be rented for big bucks but that in order to reap the thousands of dollars in rental income the owner must pay an upfront "activation" fee. Since these truly are scammers to begin with, the company has no issues with posting fake reviews or having shills post on sites such as TUG.
Resort Options International has changed their business model since the 2019 post.
At the time of the 2019 post, the company's primary business was to advertise timeshares for rent or buy. The website included generic descriptions of resorts and the costs. Prices for rentals and purchases were way overpriced. The advertising/listing companies want their customers to think that they will get a big windfall, either by sale or rent, so that the large upfront fee seems reasonable. Resort Options International's website didn't have an easy way for potential renters or buyers to inquire. The only option was to submit an inquiry through the website about a resort and dates. I am certain that the average renter/buyer, if they even found the website, wouldn't have bothered to continue at that point. Their website also had a running view counter for the listings, probably something the company was unaware of because it didn't paint a good picture for them. As I explained in my original post, the 12 cheapest rentals, all listed at $1,800, had an average of just THREE views in the last 227 days (and one of those views was probably me). If an offer was received, the company was supposed to forward these offers to the timeshare owners. All of this extra work just took away from pounding the phones for upfront fees.
Not sure when they changed but as of now the company has done away with the timeshare rent/buy model as well as the ability to submit any inquiry. Now, according to the company's website, "Resorts Options International markets, advertises and promotes available timeshare units, on behalf of the owners, directly to large corporations, corporate event planners and executives who are accustomed to spending top dollar on hotel accommodations on a frequent basis." They imply that they attend events promoting your timeshare to these corporations. Why did they make that business model change? My theory is that they were annoyed with people actually submitting inquiries asking about resorts and dates. By claiming that they market directly to corporations, their “marketing” is now shielded from public view and they no longer have to deal with any bothersome inquiries. This allows them to spend all of their time dialing for dollars.
Here is why I think that this whole thing is a scam.
Questionable BBB reviews.
Why are these reviews suspect? All of them claim to have received a service that the company does not provide. The fact is that this company’s own terms state that they just pass any offers to the owner, nothing more nothing less. This is from the company's terms and conditions - "Any offers submitted by prospective buyers utilizing Resort Options International’s advertising will be promptly forwarded to the timeshare owner. Upon receipt of an offer, the timeshare owner can choose to handle the transaction on his/her own or retain an independent broker/closing company."
In addition to these newly discovered reviews, see the early posts on this thread that show even more questionable reviews that were posted word for word on other companies’ websites.
Marketing to corporate customers.
Timeshares are hard enough to book for yourself let alone multiple rooms for a corporation. Corporations certainly do not commit to a booking months in advance that is non-refundable. I worked for a major company. We had to use a specific site to book a hotel, and we had to utilize a certain hotel chain if it was available. Of course, it was refundable if I couldn't travel. That said, MAYBE there is a company that would use services like this but not enough to keep thousands of timeshare owners who paid a big upfront fee busy making these reservations. The real reason why I think this is a scam is because I have not found even one instance where this company was an exhibitor at any event. Additionally, even if they had a booth and walk-up executives wanting information, there is ZERO evidence that there is a dedicated website or phone number for the corporations to utilize (note - their actual website is 98% an advertisement trying to get owners to pay them the upfront fee). Their website does have a very small section about corporate rentals. It states, "Contact our Signature Concierge Department and allow us the opportunity to take your business travel to the next level." However, there is no number listed for this special department. The main phone number for the company appears to be for timeshare owners giving up their money as an upfront fee (internet shows this phone number as cold calling timeshare owners).
Does anyone really think that a corporation would do business with an outfit like this? I can see the booth now. CORPORATE EXECUTIVE (at the Orlando Vegan Conference) "Hi, I own a company with 50 employees and would like some information about what you do, and how we go about booking some lodging for an upcoming event." RESORT OPTIONS INTERNATIONAL Representative - "I don't have anything I can give you, nor do we have a website or phone number, but I can write my personal cell phone on this napkin for you".
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! These bastards almost got me. I told them I need to do my due diligence before I make any decision. The rep Melinda was immediately cut-off the call and the closer got on the call ( like in Wolf of Wallstreet). Complete A-hole. That was when I figured it out. Then i got on the internet and found you guys.
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Another reason these advertising scammers stay in business is that attorney generals have other more pressing issues to deal with. Combine that with the “advertising” business clouding their real scam operation and they can keep running the scam for years. Sad thing is that any investigation should easily and quickly identify that they do nothing beyond cold calls.
If everyone taken by this scam filed a complaint with the attorney general then the scam might get get taken down sooner. Just a guess but I suspect less than 10% of people scammed actually file a complaint. Many victims probably don’t even know they were scammed, especially if they received offers, even if they were bogus and impossible to fulfill.
If everyone taken by this scam filed a complaint with the attorney general then the scam might get get taken down sooner. Just a guess but I suspect less than 10% of people scammed actually file a complaint. Many victims probably don’t even know they were scammed, especially if they received offers, even if they were bogus and impossible to fulfill.