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Grande Vista Sales Presentation

MikeM132

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We attended the "owner update" today for a scheduled 75 minutes for $175.00 in Amex gift cards.
We've been to presentations at Marriott, but not in several years. Times have changed. Today was high pressure all the way. It lasted 3 full hours. The final 90 minutes were comprised of me saying no and our original salesperson repeating basically the same pitch to buy more points. Then, in tribute to other schlock resorts, we were forced to endure a final half hour with marketing who offered various other bad deals. You can certainly tell this is no longer the Marriott we bought into in 2004. Our sales woman disparaged most people on TUG, for what that's worth, too. That was our last ever sales presentation no matter what they are offering.
I would add that most of the pitch was also BS, but everyone here already knew that.
 

Fasttr

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I attend these just about every time they offer them (for the MR points mostly...and you never know what you may "learn"), but I must say, of all of the ones I have attended over the past handful of years....Grande Vista was my worst (and the only one I would categorize as bad) as they seemingly got more upset with every "no" they heard. They were not professional at all, which is certainly not the norm from what I have experienced elsewhere.
 

Bogeygirl

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We typically do not attend these but decided to attend a couple of years ago at Ocean Watch in Myrtle Beach. We had the same experience - very hard sell even though we kept saying no. Won't do that again.
 

Swice

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no longer 90 minutes

Our experience is that they've become less pleasant. We passed during our last two stays until last week in Hilton Head.

When we told our 12-year old we were going, he responded very matter-of-factly with, "you know it's going to be two hours." He was right. We haven't experienced a 90-minute presentation in several years.

A first for us: our sales guy pushed the "value" of converting our weeks into Marriott Rewards (hotel) points. Haven't heard that line in more than ten years. :rofl: Yes, I could see a rare instance where having the option would come in handy, but mostly not a good "value."

BTW, the incentive was 250-vacation club points plus $25 certificate for local Hilton Head restaurants.
 

dioxide45

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We do a lot of presentations, they range from easy peasy to the hard sell to outright insulting. With a some notable exception, I still find for the most part that most aren't the heavy sell. We haven't been to one since September 2015, our last one at Grande Vista was way back in 2012.
 

BocaBoy

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With a couple of notable exceptions, I have enjoyed most of the many Marriott sales presentations we have attended. They have, however, become somewhat more high pressure on average than they were some years ago. We actually bought our 3BR at Grand Chateau as a result of a sales presentation when we had no intention of buying when we walked into the room. This was because we learned in the presentation that the 3BR units locked off into a 1BR and a 2BR, and when we saw the 3BR model we were very impressed. We bought an Encore package with the intention of buying an EOY when we came back, which is what we did. We wanted time to consider the purchase and we have no regrets. Mostly, though, we just go for the Marriott Rewards points. If we get high pressure, I push back and have a little "fun"with them. If they are professional (and most have been), we usually have a relatively enjoyable discussion.
 

BocaBoy

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....last week in Hilton Head....the incentive was 250-vacation club points plus $25 certificate for local Hilton Head restaurants.

I hope we get that offer next month in Hilton Head. We have never done a presentation there but I can get five off season nights for 250 DC points, and that is not in a studio.
 

davidvel

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When we told our 12-year old we were going, he responded very matter-of-factly with, "you know it's going to be two hours." He was right. We haven't experienced a 90-minute presentation in several years.
I know that many simply won't go. But for those who do, many recommend you grabbing your phone after the salesperson greets you on the couch, and say, "Nice to meet you. One, minute just setting my timer." Set your cell phone timer in front of the salesperson to 70 minutes, and make sure it has a good alert tone.

You not only set your clock, but you also set expectations. When the alarm goes off, you say, "If you'd like me to speak to anyone on the way out, we better get going, we only have 20 minutes left."
 

MikeM132

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Our presenter also pushed cashing in weeks for points. I suspect they want more inventory. She told us many resorts are 90% points, which I doubt. I believe weeks owners dominate most resorts, especially the "sold out" resorts prior to 2010. She had no answer to my experience of zero points availability at Heritage but weeks availability via II.
 

jme

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I hope we get that offer next month in Hilton Head. We have never done a presentation there but I can get five off season nights for 250 DC points, and that is not in a studio.


I got 250 DC points for a presentation at Grande Vista 2 years ago
(had a wonderful experience with Angela Nadal, though, contrary to most experiences I've heard about at GV)

Because of the ability to get the 5 off-season nights at Grande Ocean, it's the very best gift possible.

If I'm ever approached to attend a presentation in the future, I'll RUN to do it. We always enjoy them, frankly, and the 250 DC points will be my bargaining chip to attend.




.
 
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BocaBoy

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Our presenter also pushed cashing in weeks for points. I suspect they want more inventory. She told us many resorts are 90% points, which I doubt. I believe weeks owners dominate most resorts, especially the "sold out" resorts prior to 2010. She had no answer to my experience of zero points availability at Heritage but weeks availability via II.

I think the answer must be that Heritage Club is a sold out resort which was given a relatively modest allocation of DC points. The trust doses not own many weeks and the DC points given to owners are not enough to entice them to exchange for DC points. Thus the owners are depositing into II instead.
 

NboroGirl

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We attended the "owner update" today for a scheduled 75 minutes for $175.00 in Amex gift cards.
We've been to presentations at Marriott, but not in several years. Times have changed. Today was high pressure all the way. It lasted 3 full hours. The final 90 minutes were comprised of me saying no and our original salesperson repeating basically the same pitch to buy more points. Then, in tribute to other schlock resorts, we were forced to endure a final half hour with marketing who offered various other bad deals. You can certainly tell this is no longer the Marriott we bought into in 2004. Our sales woman disparaged most people on TUG, for what that's worth, too. That was our last ever sales presentation no matter what they are offering.
I would add that most of the pitch was also BS, but everyone here already knew that.

This could have been written by me 9 months ago. We also hadn't attended one in a while, but when it was pitched to us last March as "an owner's update", we decided to go and be educated and enjoy the $100 credit playing golf. What a farce. It was nothing but high pressure sales. We too had a woman salesperson and when she explained "you DO realize this is a sales presentation" my husband shot back "Then we were LIED TO!" I had set the timer on my phone for 90 minutes, and when it went off, I said "your 90 minutes are up". She kept having someone come into the cubicle to pitch yet another deal (offering fewer and fewer points for sale) even though we kept saying "no". It took 2+ hours to get away. :mad: We will never do one of those again - not at Grande Vista anyway.
 

macster43

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I too have been to many presentations ranging from high pressure to pleasant. I have learned that when I tell them I have 2 boys in college right now but we may be interested in the future they back off. It appears I may be having the same 2 boys in college for a very very long time...
 

tiel

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We did our first presentation in a long time at Grande Vista recently. We got a fairly hard sell from the rep, who ultimately implied we were stupid if we didn't purchase trust points to maximize our portfolio. Her spiel emphasized converting to MR points. We weren't persuaded, not even close...she was not a happy camper when she left the room. We were!

Btw, the person who made the "encore" offer was done in a very efficient 2-3 minutes. We declined again.
 

TRAVELING FOOL

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I hope we get that offer next month in Hilton Head. We have never done a presentation there but I can get five off season nights for 250 DC points, and that is not in a studio.

Exactly why we are doing a presentation at Surfwatch next week!
 

Deej82

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Our worst presentation experience of all properties was at Grande Vista. We love staying there, but will never ever do a presentation there again. Ever. I even provided negative feedback to them, and the call center when they tried to follow-up for friend-share later and never heard back from anyone in management. Absolutely the worst.
 

pedro47

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Thanks for sharing your story. We stop attending years ago because of the high pressure sales approach by some sales staff personnel.
 

NYFLTRAVELER

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We attended a sales presentation at Grande Vista in 2015 and was also disappointed. I did not care for the salesperson (who was difficult to understand and seemed to only want to talk about what was on script) and the "closer" was pushy too. The "quality assurance" (Encore sales) rep was a nice guy but we did not purchase anything during this presentation. We collected our 250 DC points and $125 gift card and moved on.

Most recently, we attended a presentation in St. Thomas. Here, the salesperson was pleasant [and we were in fact interested in acquiring additional points] however the "manager" who came through rubbed us the wrong way and we passed. The quality assurance (Encore) sales rep then came in -- and while he came across as a typical encore salesperson-- we did purchase an encore package as it provides us with an additional trip at a reasonable cost.
 

jpa2825

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Exactly why we are doing a presentation at Surfwatch next week!

We did this for 250 DC + $25 local restaurant on 1.24.16 at Surfwatch in HHI. They were literally moving all the furniture to the new Sales Center while we were there.

Got some information from Salesperson. He explained the MRP "around the world" option at 1.2M points business class and 1.5M points 1st class. Tried to explain the old and new II relationship (not sure I followed that very well). Talked about San Diego, Australia and DC (Mayflower) coming online. Asked about NYC and he said "not likely to happen." (I let that slide.)

Very soft sell on buying more points (we have always been DC, so no enrolling weeks pitch). Claimed 4k or 4,500 is the "sweet spot" in the new tiering system. Generally disinterested after we said no and actually told us we had to spend 20 more minutes just sitting there to qualify. We made some small talk.

Encore closer came in and pitched us the following:

3 nights (4 if check in on SUN or MON) in 2 BDRM on HHI (other than Grande Ocean - which rep said we could get but it is very hard to do) within 18 mos. ($300 surcharge to use 4.21 to 9.7)
90 minute sales presentation requirement at new Sales Center when we come back to redeem
8 day / 7 night cruise certificate after visit & sales presentation to be used within 18 mos.
$1499 ($199 down & 10 pmts of $130) all charged to MR Visa w/ no interest (no prepayment bonus if we paid in full, we asked)
$2199 if add 100k MRP (didn't have to decide that now; could add at any point before fully paid OR before visit taken, not sure which, but suspect they'd take the $700 for 100k MRP about any time)
10 day cancellation period at no risk / charge (we are still within)
If purchase at least 6 beneficial interests (1500 DC) at presentation when we come back, 100% of $ paid ($1499 or $2199) will be credited toward that purchase. (Assume they know this and will simply not discount as much as they would if you didn't have this "credit," so it is somewhat illusory).
Must be paid off 60 days in advance of HHI visit & can't be taken until 6 mos. after execution. (We're planning to try for RBC Heritage week in APR 2017, so this shouldn't be a problem.)


Good deal? Bad deal? We looked at as the equivalent of 800 - 1700 DC points for the HHI trip (assuming Monarch) and ~$500 - $1500 worth of cruise "value" depending on how we are able to redeem. She discussed Mediterranean and Alaskan cruises and said she had been able to use the certificate and $ to upgrade both cabins and # of days, but we're certainly not counting on that.

Similarly, as stated above, I am not counting on being able to use the $ paid as a 100% credit toward additional points purchase. (We have 2500 now and this would require us to go to at least 4k.)

Finally, leaning toward going ahead and getting the 100k MRP for the $700. Will end up being 103.5k when I purchase with MR Premier Visa. Normally use a shorthand of $1 = 100 points, so this would qualify as a good deal. Have 820k points currently.
 

puckmanfl

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good afternoon

can you summarize to us the around the world options at 1.25M and 1.5M points???

in 2003 this was 400K points :)

at the going rate of $0.01/pt these packages go for $12.5K or $15K could be a good deal but need more info...
 

jpa2825

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good afternoon

can you summarize to us the around the world options at 1.25M and 1.5M points???

in 2003 this was 400K points :)

at the going rate of $0.01/pt these packages go for $12.5K or $15K could be a good deal but need more info...

He mentioned it but didn't provide much detail. I tried to do some quick Google searching but couldn't find much recent info. Best I could tell the program (also run by many airlines) allows 2 passengers to build an itinerary that goes around the world in 1 direction with as many as 6 stops along the way. Supposedly covers hotel and airfare. Seem to recall there were limits on the total # of nights and maybe the # of nights in 1 location. Sorry I don't have more to go on.

I do recall that George Clooney gave this present to his sister who got married in the movie "Up In the Air" after he realized he didn't have much to show or use with all the miles he had accumulated in his job.
 

kds4

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Marriott Weeks and DC Points
We did this for 250 DC + $25 local restaurant on 1.24.16 at Surfwatch in HHI. They were literally moving all the furniture to the new Sales Center while we were there.

Got some information from Salesperson. He explained the MRP "around the world" option at 1.2M points business class and 1.5M points 1st class. Tried to explain the old and new II relationship (not sure I followed that very well). Talked about San Diego, Australia and DC (Mayflower) coming online. Asked about NYC and he said "not likely to happen." (I let that slide.)

Very soft sell on buying more points (we have always been DC, so no enrolling weeks pitch). Claimed 4k or 4,500 is the "sweet spot" in the new tiering system. Generally disinterested after we said no and actually told us we had to spend 20 more minutes just sitting there to qualify. We made some small talk.

Encore closer came in and pitched us the following:

3 nights (4 if check in on SUN or MON) in 2 BDRM on HHI (other than Grande Ocean - which rep said we could get but it is very hard to do) within 18 mos. ($300 surcharge to use 4.21 to 9.7)
90 minute sales presentation requirement at new Sales Center when we come back to redeem
8 day / 7 night cruise certificate after visit & sales presentation to be used within 18 mos.
$1499 ($199 down & 10 pmts of $130) all charged to MR Visa w/ no interest (no prepayment bonus if we paid in full, we asked)
$2199 if add 100k MRP (didn't have to decide that now; could add at any point before fully paid OR before visit taken, not sure which, but suspect they'd take the $700 for 100k MRP about any time)
10 day cancellation period at no risk / charge (we are still within)
If purchase at least 6 beneficial interests (1500 DC) at presentation when we come back, 100% of $ paid ($1499 or $2199) will be credited toward that purchase. (Assume they know this and will simply not discount as much as they would if you didn't have this "credit," so it is somewhat illusory).
Must be paid off 60 days in advance of HHI visit & can't be taken until 6 mos. after execution. (We're planning to try for RBC Heritage week in APR 2017, so this shouldn't be a problem.)


Good deal? Bad deal? We looked at as the equivalent of 800 - 1700 DC points for the HHI trip (assuming Monarch) and ~$500 - $1500 worth of cruise "value" depending on how we are able to redeem. She discussed Mediterranean and Alaskan cruises and said she had been able to use the certificate and $ to upgrade both cabins and # of days, but we're certainly not counting on that.

Similarly, as stated above, I am not counting on being able to use the $ paid as a 100% credit toward additional points purchase. (We have 2500 now and this would require us to go to at least 4k.)

Finally, leaning toward going ahead and getting the 100k MRP for the $700. Will end up being 103.5k when I purchase with MR Premier Visa. Normally use a shorthand of $1 = 100 points, so this would qualify as a good deal. Have 820k points currently.

To me, the best part of this deal is the 100k MRPs for $700. That's .007 per point and like you I value them at .01 each. This is basically a 30% discount (assuming you can redeem them at .01 in value and actually have a reason to buy them - like building up for an around the world package redemption).
 
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