"Owner Update" and so begins buyers remorse

[flyingsideshow]

I've had an HPP contract for a number of years that I bought into. Not a huge one, just under 700 pts a year. I've been happy with it, but understand from everything I've read here that I would have been better off with a deeded week. Live a learn, or maybe not.

The last update I didn't feel compelled to buy, but this one seemed a bit more urgent. And maybe (probably) I was took. They basically said the fees in HPP were going to rise a lot because of the fires in Maui and the damage in FL. As I recall they said if you buy into the new program you won't be hot because Marriott has insurance and Hyatt did not. I dunno, seemed a little suspect.

The sales guy was really pushing an upgrade to prevent this and basically saying what I buy today I'm going to spend anyway, just in the form of fees. Last year was around 1200. They made it sound like next year it'll be 2k.

The sales guy also went on the tangent of selling my weeks on VRBO and basically getting everything back in a couple years and then making money. Upside down writing and some mental stress sort of made this make sense as I've rented weeks before on Airbnb.

So I signed. I've got 7 days to push the undo button and two days later I'm seriously considering it. Any thoughts on the statement about portfolio owners getting hit hard or was it a sales tactic? Should I be putting that letter in the mail? I'd like more, but feel like I did the wrong thing.

 

[geist1223]

Do you know the saying about when a Sales Person's lips are moving? A Sales Person's job is to make a Sale so they make money. Looks like your Sales Person should be up for a LPM Award (Lies Per Minute). RESCIND.

 

[4TimeAway]

Trust your gut.
What you hope to be true may not be so.
What was written may not be done the way is reads.
What was said in a timeshare sales meeting..... you know... Actually if you need more proof. Listen to sold in 60, pod... cast.
They talk about pitching heat.... The fact there is a term for it.... might be worth the education.

There are even resale deeds that are worthless or cost money to give away. These were sold for thousands of dollars. Buyer beware...

I recommend join TUG, drop $15. More importantly, spend $5,000 worth of your time before you spend $5,000 of your money on a timeshare.....

Best wishes.

 

[flyingsideshow]

Thanks. Sounds like the undo button is looking like the best option. I've honestly been tempted to unload the original contact, but living in CO I can get some use out of it.

 

[TUGBrian]

congrats on doing your research on TUG in time to rescind and save a fortune!

never ever trust anything said verbally in a sales presentation! I personally like to ask them to put their "claims" in writing so that I dont misunderstand that important detail!

 

[flyingsideshow]

Thanks. I dunno. There were so many odd things said. I want to trust the brand, but the ick started pretty soon after. Luckily I have enough days to get home and post my letter that I can still relax.

 

[TUGBrian]

A lying salesperson doesnt always necessarily indicate a bad product or system, I can assure you that there are people like this that can be found in various sales offices across the timeshare industry!

would suggest reading up on the resale market as you will find some staggering savings buying direct from owners!

 

[4TimeAway]

Thanks. I dunno. There were so many odd things said. I want to trust the brand, but the ick started pretty soon after. Luckily I have enough days to get home and post my letter that I can still relax.

No worries. Enjoy vacation.

Brands know there are salespeople that lie. They try to train them to no lie, but with commission on the line, some cross over from aggressive selling into lies. Eventually those people are found out and leave the job, but its hard to sell timeshares in 90 minutes.

Some timeshares have value for buyers, the process is so fast that buyers can’t keep track of the changes to that is being offered. There’s a term called the drop. They drop the price to make the buyer excited, but then they also tend to drop the number of points (or quality of week) at the same time. This gives the perception that you’re getting that dream vacation that was $60,000+ for $20,000. In reality, that’s not quite the case and most don’t connect the dots for weeks or months long after the rescind timeframe.

Anyway, you seem to have the right attitude. TUG is optimizing your timeshare spend and maximizing your enjoyment.

I believe for many people timeshares area great value. For me, the forced vacation, the required planning is making us take more and nicer vacations for the same or lower cost that we were.

Just be aware the timeshare game has rules that take time to learn. Once you learn the rules, you’ll be happy with timeshares, but they are not FREE, you’ll spend some money on some decent to amazing vacations. Everyone talks AirBNB, but ‘ve grown to not prefer them over timeshares, unless we are traveling with dogs.

 

[Kal]

BAIL NOW!! It's a very bad deal. If you want actual real estate, rather than "blue sky" points, buy a Hyatt week on the resale market.

 

[AJCts411]

If you could, on this FB site, https://www.facebook.com/groups/48131613756/ (Hyatt Residence deed & portfolio...) the admin has been lodging complains with senior Marriott management about sales deceptive practices. On the surface Marriott seems receptive.

 

[GTLINZ]

Run Forest Run ! Your gut is not lying to you. The salesman sure did, based on what you said.

The Hyatt timeshares are great, and I am treated well as an HRC owner. But i think the HPP product is so bad it produces ever more desperation in the salepeople. And you are using what you originally bought to bring some value back - but don't try and fix a mistake with a much bigger one by buying further into HPP. As already said, you can buy a deeded HRC week and do much better.

You do need to get your recission in asap and do it to the letter. Then you can relax.

Here is an in depth thead on a recission - you can find others by searching in this forum. The important part is to have proof you sent it.

[ 2023 ] Rescinded purchase but USPS didn't deliver mail

I purchased PP on October 13th. Decided we didn't want them so sent a letter certified mail via USPS on October 17th. I have the receipt and certified paper. I've been following it on USPS...they sent it from Orlando to Naples so I put in for assistance. Someone from Orlando post office called...

tugbbs.com

 

[flyingsideshow]

Haven't had my coffee yet and posted my reply to that other thread...

Thanks for all the input and info on this. Should have trusted my gut. Honestly I think some part of me just wanted it over with and felt signing was the only way to go. Also didn't realize there was an email option so I'll look for that too. I plan to have a closer look at the docs today to find the info I need and will mail that letter registered on Monday.

One thing I read in another thread was regarding returning all the materials I received. I imagine I could do that with a separate standard priority package. They "threw in" a visa gift card with the purchase too and while I considered using it for dinner that night I held it back since I figured it would all need to be returned. At least I'll have my bonus points.

 

[GTLINZ]

@flyingsideshow I know i am jumping ahead here - but ONCE you get this all settled it sounds like you wanted more points. You have time to research this while you are waiting on the recission to go thru.

There are "hybrid" owners who have HRC weeks and HPP points. I think you may have the mininum required HPP points? I don't know if you could do this after buying HPP, but if you bought an HRC week instead now you may still be able to turn it in and get the points combined. I suspect HPP would want to do this, because HPP is hurting for inventory and i suspect the turned in weeks make up a substantial amount of the portfolio inventory (if not most).

Here is another thread that discusses hybrid ownership. The points per MF ratio is usually better with deeded weeks, and it would give you options if you were still allowed to be a hybrid owner when buying a deeded week after you bought HPP. And if you are not able to do this, a deeded week would still be a better option than more HPP points.

Portfolio hybrid questions

We did the online presentation today and were told 2 things we did not know about hybrid ownership. We currently own 3 Hyatts totaling 6000 pts. If we purchased 650 portfolio points we would supposedly be top tier and get a 30% discount on all transactions if we every Jan transferred our 3 weeks...

tugbbs.com

 

[flyingsideshow]

@flyingsideshow I know i am jumping ahead here - but ONCE you get this all settled it sounds like you wanted more points. You have time to research this while you are waiting on the recission to go thru.

There are "hybrid" owners who have HRC weeks and HPP points. I think you may have the mininum required HPP points? I don't know if you could do this after buying HPP, but if you bought an HRC week instead now you may still be able to turn it in and get the points combined. I suspect HPP would want to do this, because HPP is hurting for inventory and i suspect the turned in weeks make up a substantial amount of the portfolio inventory (if not most).

Here is another thread that discusses hybrid ownership. The points per MF ratio is usually better with deeded weeks, and it would give you options if you were still allowed to be a hybrid owner when buying a deeded week after you bought HPP. An

 

[flyingsideshow]

Thanks. Yeah, I think a fixed week at Pinon Pointe would be ideal for me. I have also seen some resale of weeks at Breck when I've stayed there that were tempting but I never really followed up with the company they had advertised in the lobby.

A few takeaways from further research, resale on VRBO of a booked unit is no guarantee. They made it seem like a slam dunk. And the sales person making a point of putting my number in their phone makes me think they wanted it just to hit send to voicemail, not to help teach me how to list. The claims of the entire thing being paid off in a year from rental income doesn't math either.

I should have recorded the conversation on my phone. The "I can't guarantee, but I guarantee" type of self-contradictory statements still echo in my head.

I'll go ahead and draft the email for a scheduled send after I check out and follow up with the tracking info from the letter I'll send. I'll ask what they want me to do with the other materials (visa cards, tote bag, etc), but the paperwork makes no mention of returning them. I helped a friend rescind several years ago and I think Hilton wanted everything back.

I would imagine they will likely call me and try to get me to reconsider.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The salespeople can say whatever they want to make a sale. The company doesn't care, not even a quality company like Hyatt.

The resale route is the way to go. Your points are not much in the scheme of things.

 

[GTLINZ]

The claims of the entire thing being paid off in a year from rental income doesn't math either.

Not sure about HPP but HRC rentals are NOT allowed unless you rent the entire week you own - but not anything you have booked using points.

With HPP you don't own anything - i suspect rentals are not allowed but hopefully an HPP owner can elaborate.

Many people have been lied to about rentals by sales weasles.

 

[flyingsideshow]

Many thanks for the advice here. Email was sent this morning and at noon I sent out the letter, certified, return receipt. I have the other materials set aside waiting to see where (or if) they would like me to send them too.

 

[flyingsideshow]

Thanks again for the advice. Sent that email on Monday and hadn't heard anything. Followed up this morning with another. They responded this afternoon to assure me it was being processed. A few minutes later the sales person had called and asked me to call back. I think I'll not do that. From other posts it seems like they'll be pressuring me to undo my undo. Cheers!

Once I get past the holidays I'm going to look a little closer at resale options.

 

[Kal]

Thanks. Yeah, I think a fixed week at Pinon Pointe would be ideal for me. I have also seen some resale of weeks at Breck when I've stayed there that were tempting but I never really followed up with the company they had advertised in the lobby.

A few takeaways from further research, resale on VRBO of a booked unit is no guarantee. They made it seem like a slam dunk. And the sales person making a point of putting my number in their phone makes me think they wanted it just to hit send to voicemail, not to help teach me how to list. The claims of the entire thing being paid off in a year from rental income doesn't math either.

I should have recorded the conversation on my phone. The "I can't guarantee, but I guarantee" type of self-contradictory statements still echo in my head.

I'll go ahead and draft the email for a scheduled send after I check out and follow up with the tracking info from the letter I'll send. I'll ask what they want me to do with the other materials (visa cards, tote bag, etc), but the paperwork makes no mention of returning them. I helped a friend rescind several years ago and I think Hilton wanted everything back.

I would imagine they will likely call me and try to get me to reconsider.

I would definitely spend the gift card. You would get a gift card even if you walked out the door and purchased NADA. That's a reward to you for listening to the scam.