New Presentation Incentive

[wuv pooh]

Not sure if this has been reported, but I just booked my presentation for next week and there was a new incentive. I was offered $325 off of my 2025 maintenance fees. Thought that was a good deal. They are offering in Williamsburg and one other site that I forgot. Assume it will be successful and spread as people are looking for reductions in MF. Might get some more owners to take the tour.

 

[davidvel]

Money is money. They want people that think that money toward MF is superior to money for something else they would spend it on, as the current spiel claims only weeks MF will increase and not Abound MF. Brilliant marketing.

At the same time $325 is a decent amount for 90 minutes (or much less), especially if you can schedule advantageously for your trip.

 

[dougp26364]

At $325 it’s difficult to turn down. Money is money regardless of where it’s placed. If an owner could do a couple of presentations each year that would put a dent in the MF’s.

 

[wuv pooh]

Of course money is money, but I am sure we are all familiar with the concept of found money or man math or girl math People just love buckets in their mind and saving $325 in December on my MF after I have forgotten about the incentive will feel sooo much better than getting 2 free dinners next week that I have budgeted for already. I just think it is smart marketing.

 

[TUGBrian]

At $325 it’s difficult to turn down. Money is money regardless of where it’s placed. If an owner could do a couple of presentations each year that would put a dent in the MF’s.

wonder if you can request this incentive vs a gift card or bonvoy points etc? someone could certainly clean up if they take multiple vacations every year!

 

[dougp26364]

wonder if you can request this incentive vs a gift card or bonvoy points etc? someone could certainly clean up if they take multiple vacations every year!

I’d almost be MVC puts a limit on this offer. We own a Breckenridge Grand Vacations. They had this type of offer from the time we started with them, but it’s been limited to once a year and only $150. If MVC doesn’t limit this offer, we could amass $1,300/uear towards MF’s pretty easily. I hate the presentations but we could endure them for that sort of money.

 

[cknorr]

I have been a Marriott owner at Grande Ocean for over 20 years. I love the resort, generally enjoy all Marriott properties I visit, and have great respect for the staff that work there. EXCEPT when it comes to timeshare sales people. My respect for Marriott as a company goes from a 10 to about a 4 when I factor in their sales practices. For the last several years I have refused to go to sales presentations regardless of what was being offered. I do this not because I am weak-willed and may fall prey to buying something out of impulse. I do this because I lose respect for the Marriott company every time I enter the sales building and feel like I am being manipulated from the first minute I enter. When turning down the presentations every year, I am met with incredulity from the person on the phone, unable to understand I could turn down such a wonderful offer. I always ask for the information that will be shared with me at the presentation to be sent in written form so I can stay up-to-date with new offers and policies. But that is NEVER available. It just smacks of manipulation. They want to get you in a room face-to-face with BOTH spouses present to apply high pressure sales tactics and try to get one spouse convinced to buy something they don’t need. I hate it with a passion.

I love Marriott properties. I hate Marriott’s sales tactics. It’s hard to reconcile these two

 

[dioxide45]

wonder if you can request this incentive vs a gift card or bonvoy points etc? someone could certainly clean up if they take multiple vacations every year!

We are able to take a lot of presentations each year, mainly because we travel a lot. Those that only own a week or two may not be able to clean up all that much with just a trip or two a year. Also, $325 may be an outlier and not something that every person will be offered. They tend to up the ante based on how they profile you. Us, as resale owners and presentationaholics don't usually get offered anything over $150-$175. Because of that we tend to take Bonvoy points instead.

 

[DeeCee]

I am a weeks owner and all this says to me is “we will cover your dues increase!” Maybe for a year because they want us to buy more at these presentations. Our dues have increased approximately 41% in the 7 years we own a legacy week. We love our Surfwatch and as long as we stay ahead of the rental rates on the “discounted” sites, we have no complaints (we usually go Spring break). Last month they offered us $175 off dues to sit in on a presentation, we said no. We would say no to $325 too. I think my husband would listen to another for $500, I wouldn’t. Being berated for not buying is not worth any amount to me. Especially on vacation but I do understand the draw of the offer. This is just me speaking for me. Enjoy your timesharing!

Dee

 

[noreenkate]

How is this new incentive actually working? I have sat through many presentations- mainly to get a “tour” to narrow down what we wanted to purchase resale and it was a fifty-fifty if the incentives panned out.

Are they offering a voucher or something?

 

[wendyleighj]

I think it's a desperate move and I'm sure it has some disclaimers such as maximum amount linked to the TOTAL developer contribution and requires execution of a new sales contract. Who would want to rely on MVW to contribute to their MF, possibly delayed, causing an incomplete payment? Money in hand is far superior to a "promise to pay". Does anyone have the WRITTEN AGREEMENT or just relying on oral representations, usually MISrepresentations?

 

[jwalk03]

I think it's a desperate move and I'm sure it has some disclaimers such as maximum amount linked to the TOTAL developer contribution and requires execution of a new sales contract. Who would want to rely on MVW to contribute to their MF, possibly delayed, causing an incomplete payment? Money in hand is far superior to a "promise to pay". Does anyone have the WRITTEN AGREEMENT or just relying on oral representations, usually MISrepresentations?

You certainly do not have to buy something to get a tour incentive. People do it all the time. You get the incentive for agreeing to the sales pitch- not buying anything.

I assume they have determined it is more cost effective for them to offer this incentive instead of the points they use to offer. The points cost them money of course- but they also used up so inventory they own that can now be applied to selling as encore packages instead, and giving away points just for attending made it harder for them to convince potential buyers they should buy more points. (Why buy points when you can just get extras for free for attending?)

A credit towards maintenance fees might help reduce the sting of the ever rising fees for a certain segment of owners too; so this new incentive seems like a win win for them I think.

 

[wuv pooh]

I think it's a desperate move and I'm sure it has some disclaimers such as maximum amount linked to the TOTAL developer contribution and requires execution of a new sales contract. Who would want to rely on MVW to contribute to their MF, possibly delayed, causing an incomplete payment? Money in hand is far superior to a "promise to pay". Does anyone have the WRITTEN AGREEMENT or just relying on oral representations, usually MISrepresentations?

I will let you know. I have an email confirmation of the tour and incentive so certainly enough ammunition to badger the hell out of corporate if they don't come through Feel sorry for people that are so cynical. Hope your timeshare experience improves.

 

[davidvel]

I think it's a desperate move and I'm sure it has some disclaimers such as maximum amount linked to the TOTAL developer contribution and requires execution of a new sales contract. Who would want to rely on MVW to contribute to their MF, possibly delayed, causing an incomplete payment? Money in hand is far superior to a "promise to pay". Does anyone have the WRITTEN AGREEMENT or just relying on oral representations, usually MISrepresentations?

I was thinking along the same lines. I'd want something in writing like a voucher. I wouldn't trust MVC to correctly apply this credit the end of the year on their word. Also the way their IT works I presume this must be some manual adjustment after MF bills come out, which is always a hassle.

 

[dioxide45]

I was thinking along the same lines. I'd want something in writing like a voucher. I wouldn't trust MVC to correctly apply this credit the end of the year on their word. Also the way their IT works I presume this must be some manual adjustment after MF bills come out, which is always a hassle.

Whenever we take Bonvoy points, they always print out a receipt for us that shows the number of points we received. I have had to use this a couple times to prove we toured when the points didn't post timely. I would expect they will do the same for this.

As far as how they post the funds and/or points. I understand that each sales office has to send a list of these kinds of incentives to somewhere and then they post the Bonvoy points. Same will probably be true for MF credit. It may be manual or they may have some type of batch script they can run to take care of it.

I liked the way we received credit of Wyndham Reward points for our last owner update at Club Wyndham. They just sent us an email with a button to click on (with a redemption code). We just logged in to our Wyndham Rewards account and got the point immediately. No waiting 4-6 weeks like we often have to do with Bonvoy incentives.

 

[ssmann]

I have been a Marriott owner at Grande Ocean for over 20 years. I love the resort, generally enjoy all Marriott properties I visit, and have great respect for the staff that work there. EXCEPT when it comes to timeshare sales people. My respect for Marriott as a company goes from a 10 to about a 4 when I factor in their sales practices. For the last several years I have refused to go to sales presentations regardless of what was being offered. I do this not because I am weak-willed and may fall prey to buying something out of impulse. I do this because I lose respect for the Marriott company every time I enter the sales building and feel like I am being manipulated from the first minute I enter. When turning down the presentations every year, I am met with incredulity from the person on the phone, unable to understand I could turn down such a wonderful offer. I always ask for the information that will be shared with me at the presentation to be sent in written form so I can stay up-to-date with new offers and policies. But that is NEVER available. It just smacks of manipulation. They want to get you in a room face-to-face with BOTH spouses present to apply high pressure sales tactics and try to get one spouse convinced to buy something they don’t need. I hate it with a passion.

I love Marriott properties. I hate Marriott’s sales tactics. It’s hard to reconcile these two

Well said, I feel exactly the same way.

 

[Burton504]

Only $325? I refuse to attend unless the offer is $400 or more. If you say no enough to them, they normally bump ot up to that, which is insane. I actually bought one, just to get all the documents, and then rescinded. What I read was nothing short of terrifying. You are buying a chance at a vacation and Marriott gets to decide if you are allowed to sell that chance!!!

 

[davidvel]

At what resort(s) did they offer $400, and when? What do you mean by "Marriott gets to decide if you are allowed to sell that chance!!!"?

 

[gln60]

We are currently at Marriot Crystal Shores..the Presentation offer was a $175 gift card which they said they would double to $350 because it’s MVC 40th Anniversary or 40,000 Bonvoy Points…We took the Bonvoy Points and on the receipt it said 2 20k MB Points..on the receipt it stated that we have agreed to a 90 minute sales presentation and MVCI will charge us a no show fee of $480 to our credit card…in the case of Bonvoy Points MVCI will charge the no show fee or cancel the Bonvoy Points….interesting.

 

[dioxide45]

We are currently at Marriot Crystal Shores..the Presentation offer was a $175 gift card which they said they would double to $350 because it’s MVC 40th Anniversary or 40,000 Bonvoy Points…We took the Bonvoy Points and on the receipt it said 2 20k MB Points..on the receipt it stated that we have agreed to a 90 minute sales presentation and MVCI will charge us a no show fee of $480 to our credit card…in the case of Bonvoy Points MVCI will charge the no show fee or cancel the Bonvoy Points….interesting.

You will often see this no show fee when they pre-gift you. This means they have already processed the Bonvoy points to be credited to your account even though you haven't toured yet. It may still take weeks to actually get the points but they have apparently started the process. Not that they can't potentially cancel the transaction, but they use this to effectively hold it over your head to get you to show up.

 

[wuv pooh]

Sweet. They were overbooked, so 45 minutes and out. $325 for less than an hour was awesome. Interesting that on the voucher it states that if you receive more than $600 MF credit then they will issue you a 1099. I looked online and could not find any info on the taxability of timeshare incentives, so not sure if that is an issue, but if you did 4 tours you would get a 1099 Misc.

 

[dioxide45]

Sweet. They were overbooked, so 45 minutes and out. $325 for less than an hour was awesome. Interesting that on the voucher it states that if you receive more than $600 MF credit then they will issue you a 1099. I looked online and could not find any info on the taxability of timeshare incentives, so not sure if that is an issue, but if you did 4 tours you would get a 1099 Misc.

Four tours? It would seem that two would be enough to trigger the 1099.

 

[wuv pooh]

Four tours? It would seem that two would be enough to trigger the 1099.

Sure, depending on incentive. Someone earlier mentioned that they could easily accumulate $1,300 which would be 4x $325. The downside is that you would generate a 1099-Misc.

 

[dioxide45]

I took a look at our voucher from our tour at Grande Vista for 35K Bonvoy. They indicate a SRP (value) of $420. I don't see any mention of a possible 1099. So perhaps that is only related to "cah based" gifts? Though what about multiple Visa gift cards? Interesting note on the 1099.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Sweet. They were overbooked, so 45 minutes and out. $325 for less than an hour was awesome. Interesting that on the voucher it states that if you receive more than $600 MF credit then they will issue you a 1099. I looked online and could not find any info on the taxability of timeshare incentives, so not sure if that is an issue, but if you did 4 tours you would get a 1099 Misc.

A business must issue you a 1099 if you receive a promotional giveaway, award, prize etc. worth $600 or more.