We attended the Marco Island Crystal Shores presentation Monday morning.
Background: We had watched this project for more than a year before sales began and we were planning to buy and called for the information as soon as it became available. We were not expecting a "cheap deal," but were shocked at the prices, so we opted not to buy several months ago through Marriott Direct. We had planned a long time ago to visit the Marriott Hotel this past weekend since it was fall break for our local schools.
We had appointment for the 8:00am presentation on Monday morning. The offer was 15,000 MR points or $100 certificates to use at local businesses or Marriott restaurants (could not be applied to restaurant charges we had already incurred at the hotel). We opted for 15,000 points.
The "presentation" was in the hotel bar next to the lobby. Sales people sitting around with their notebooks. No sales center yet. While not a big deal to us, we did note that there were no refreshments at 8:00am... no juice, doughnuts or muffins (would have been nice to keep our children busy since there was no children's room).
The one interesting piece of information we were able to learn is that "Mr. Marriott" didn't like the unit interiors and he has ordered them to be completely re-done according to our salesperson. He supposedly didn't care for the urban loft look of the units that we've all seen (I completely agree). He reportedly wanted something more "warm and beachy."
Salesperson was nice and admitted that we knew just as much as she did. However, my problem came when "Tom" came over to the table. I'm starting to feel like these timeshare presentations are becoming like a dreadful car buying dance... where the nice sales person turns you over to the pit boss. Tom bordered on being rude and asked, "what can I do for you since you've obviously visited most of our properties." In fact, he peppered the conversation with remarks like that to send us a message, "why are you wasting our time."
They were trying to sell me a "Gold" season week at $33,000. I asked about the possibility of an internal trading system. He said very abruptly, "I don't know anything about that, there is no internal trading system, you have to go through Interval." I explained that I was concerned about buying a "gold" week and how it would trade in the future if Marriott goes to an internal system. He challenged me on it... right up to the point of arguing with me... that the season doesn't matter, "each week is weighted." I replied that since "Gold" at Marco is summer months, I may have a hard time trading my "gold" into a summer week anywhere else. He wanted to know where I heard about an internal system, I told him on the internet chat boards and then I asked, "don't you read those to know what your customers are saying?" His response, "I don't need to read those gossip pages, I work here, I know what's going on."
To recap: We have one week at Myrtle Beach and we have said over and over again how glad we are that we bought it. We've been to Myrtle Beach once and gotten excellent trades since (along with accomodation certificates!). We have touted our timeshare experience to others. So were are happy customers. We will probably buy another week in the future, but obviously we have to consider work vacation time, children summer camp activities, swim team meets, etc. We were told when we bought that we should attend presentations to get the latest information, but I'm getting the impression that Marriott doesn't want owners to do that anymore.
I have a photo of the site where the timeshares are being built, but I'm not sure how to post it here. Part of the former Radisson Hotel is still standing I'm told because it is closer to the water than present/newer zoning laws allow and was grandfathered in. I'm sure the project will be nice. By the way, the Marriott Hotel was absolutely perfect.
Background: We had watched this project for more than a year before sales began and we were planning to buy and called for the information as soon as it became available. We were not expecting a "cheap deal," but were shocked at the prices, so we opted not to buy several months ago through Marriott Direct. We had planned a long time ago to visit the Marriott Hotel this past weekend since it was fall break for our local schools.
We had appointment for the 8:00am presentation on Monday morning. The offer was 15,000 MR points or $100 certificates to use at local businesses or Marriott restaurants (could not be applied to restaurant charges we had already incurred at the hotel). We opted for 15,000 points.
The "presentation" was in the hotel bar next to the lobby. Sales people sitting around with their notebooks. No sales center yet. While not a big deal to us, we did note that there were no refreshments at 8:00am... no juice, doughnuts or muffins (would have been nice to keep our children busy since there was no children's room).
The one interesting piece of information we were able to learn is that "Mr. Marriott" didn't like the unit interiors and he has ordered them to be completely re-done according to our salesperson. He supposedly didn't care for the urban loft look of the units that we've all seen (I completely agree). He reportedly wanted something more "warm and beachy."
Salesperson was nice and admitted that we knew just as much as she did. However, my problem came when "Tom" came over to the table. I'm starting to feel like these timeshare presentations are becoming like a dreadful car buying dance... where the nice sales person turns you over to the pit boss. Tom bordered on being rude and asked, "what can I do for you since you've obviously visited most of our properties." In fact, he peppered the conversation with remarks like that to send us a message, "why are you wasting our time."
They were trying to sell me a "Gold" season week at $33,000. I asked about the possibility of an internal trading system. He said very abruptly, "I don't know anything about that, there is no internal trading system, you have to go through Interval." I explained that I was concerned about buying a "gold" week and how it would trade in the future if Marriott goes to an internal system. He challenged me on it... right up to the point of arguing with me... that the season doesn't matter, "each week is weighted." I replied that since "Gold" at Marco is summer months, I may have a hard time trading my "gold" into a summer week anywhere else. He wanted to know where I heard about an internal system, I told him on the internet chat boards and then I asked, "don't you read those to know what your customers are saying?" His response, "I don't need to read those gossip pages, I work here, I know what's going on."
To recap: We have one week at Myrtle Beach and we have said over and over again how glad we are that we bought it. We've been to Myrtle Beach once and gotten excellent trades since (along with accomodation certificates!). We have touted our timeshare experience to others. So were are happy customers. We will probably buy another week in the future, but obviously we have to consider work vacation time, children summer camp activities, swim team meets, etc. We were told when we bought that we should attend presentations to get the latest information, but I'm getting the impression that Marriott doesn't want owners to do that anymore.
I have a photo of the site where the timeshares are being built, but I'm not sure how to post it here. Part of the former Radisson Hotel is still standing I'm told because it is closer to the water than present/newer zoning laws allow and was grandfathered in. I'm sure the project will be nice. By the way, the Marriott Hotel was absolutely perfect.
He did 'soften' a little after that.
