Article - How to Attend a Timeshare Presentation Just for the Free

[NWTRVLRS]

Just came across this article, How to Attend a Timeshare Presentation Just for the Free... Thought Tuggers would enjoy

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/how-to-attend-a-timeshare-presentation-just-for-the-fre-1739071798

 

[Sea Six]

I do it all the time. I like free stuff, and I can say "NO". At Maui, they don't even make you sit there more than 15 minutes before they let you go with your resort credit!

 

[Mosca]

We went to a couple of them, and finally decided that the free stuff wasn't worth the huge time hole it put in the middle of our vacation. We just don't need free stuff that bad.

 

[DeniseM]

We went to a couple of them, and finally decided that the free stuff wasn't worth the huge time hole it put in the middle of our vacation. We just don't need free stuff that bad.

Bingo - There is no free stuff that is worth wasting my precious vacation time. YMMV

 

[NWTRVLRS]

Bingo - There is no free stuff that is worth wasting my precious vacation time. YMMV

Totally agree!!!

 

[Jason245]

Bingo - There is no free stuff that is worth wasting my precious vacation time. YMMV

If they offer me something valued at 2-300 bucks per hour, it might be worth it.

 

[Wyominguy]

There is a great string of comments on this subject

Here is the string I just read.

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229507

Neil

 

[Talent312]

If they offer me something valued at 2-300 bucks per hour, it might be worth it.

At a recent check-in, I politely told the TS lobby-person that they could not pay me enuff to do one ("we'd give you $125)" - no matter how much $$ you put on my nightstand.
.

 

[TUGBrian]

I have differing opinions based on differing situations relating to this.

for me, having experienced the inability to convince the "concierge" that I have no intentions of buying, and would prefer to NOT attend a presentation....if they are going to go thru so much effort to continually ignore my refusals and badger me into attending....I have no problem whatsoever with someone sitting thru just for the free gift.

that said, if you made no effort to decline the sales pitch and instead are going for the sole purpose of collecting the free gift...I cant condone that. im sure most folks situation ends up somewhere in the middle though!

all in all, the costs of marketing (including those free gifts) are one of the main reasons why timeshare retail sales are so ridiculously high in the first place with upwards of 60% of the retail cost to cover marketing alone!

 

[Jason245]

for me, having experienced the inability to convince the "concierge" that I have no intentions of buying, and would prefer to NOT attend a presentation....if they are going to go thru so much effort to continually ignore my refusals and badger me into attending....I have no problem whatsoever with someone sitting thru just for the free gift.

Part of the model is that they already "conned" you into spending thousands, so it should be pretty easy to get you to dump a few more thousand into the program.

They don't consider resale owners in their model.

Personally, I view it as a contractual agreement, they offer me XXX to attend a sales presentation in which I have no obligation to buy anything (I make sure this is clear). If I tell them I am not interested in buying anything, and they still offer me a gift for attending, then it is on them for inviting me (assuming I agree to the terms).

Set an alarm on the phone, tell whoever it is I am going to sit with that I told the guy at the front desk that I had no intention to buy anything but he offered me XXX if I came to see you and stayed for XX time, I have set the stop watch and am here.

The expectation has been set, and it is up to the sales person if they want to go through their spiel or not, once the alarm beeps, I am done.

 

[presley]

...if they are going to go thru so much effort to continually ignore my refusals and badger me into attending....I have no problem whatsoever with someone sitting thru just for the free gift.

I never thought of it that way. I may start attending now, just for that idea. I can tell them when they ask why I am not buying or why I wasted their time that the only way the concierge would leave me alone to enjoy my vacation was to attend this.

 

[moonstone]

I love the line in the article; "If we or our kids wanted to sell back the timeshare we would get 60 cents on the dollar." Haha more like 6 cents on the dollar -if you are lucky!

~Diane