Sales Presentation at Lakeshore Reserve

[aklausing]

We checked in to Lakeshore Reserve on Sunday with no intention of going to a sales presentation. When we went to the obligatory stop at the concierge desk, she tried to get us to sign up. The offer was $300 Visa card or 50K Bonvoy points. In addition, they were giving a $100 gift certificate to Charley's Steakhouse or Vito's Chop House. The last time were at a sales presentation here (January 2023) the sales rep and closer really angered me with the blatant lying, so I told the concierge we wouldn't do another because of that. She sent my comments to the sales team and assured us we would be assigned to "VIP Sales Rep" and treated differently if signed up. Although, I expected to have the same experience, we agreed to go, since we thought the $300 and $100 offers were too good to pass up. We took the 8:00 Monday morning presentation so as not to cut into our pool time.

Our sales rep was Jonathon, who we actually had a few years ago. He was very low pressure and recognized we weren't really going to buy any additional points. He still tried, but didn't blatantly lie like last year's rep. We mentioned we like to bank some points each year so we have flexibility and he tried to convince us it was smarter converting them to airline points since we had already paid for the points and then we wouldn't have to pay for the airfare. I know value wise this doesn't make sense, but I didn't push back. When he realized that wasn't going to work, he took a different tack and talked about how when looking at availability using points, we were not seeing all available inventory because we have a combination of enrolled and trust points (alluding to trust points get higher priority). I know MVC has the right to do this, but in reality it is not the case.

His final attempt at getting us to purchase was to offer us a "deal" that was something I hadn't heard before. He would sell us 1000 points for $17+ a point and put our current two deeds for trust points with it so that we only had one deed for all our trust points. I still don't know what benefits he was trying to convince us we would have by having one deed instead of three, but for some reason he thought this was a great deal. He didn't offer the reduced per point price, which I expected him to do. In any case we said no, and since I guess he is considered a VIP sales rep, we didn't get a closer come in and try to push us further. We were out in 90 minutes flat and worth $400.

 

[dougp26364]

We checked in to Lakeshore Reserve on Sunday with no intention of going to a sales presentation. When we went to the obligatory stop at the concierge desk, she tried to get us to sign up. The offer was $300 Visa card or 50K Bonvoy points. In addition, they were giving a $100 gift certificate to Charley's Steakhouse or Vito's Chop House. The last time were at a sales presentation here (January 2023) the sales rep and closer really angered me with the blatant lying, so I told the concierge we wouldn't do another because of that. She sent my comments to the sales team and assured us we would be assigned to "VIP Sales Rep" and treated differently if signed up. Although, I expected to have the same experience, we agreed to go, since we thought the $300 and $100 offers were too good to pass up. We took the 8:00 Monday morning presentation so as not to cut into our pool time.

Our sales rep was Jonathon, who we actually had a few years ago. He was very low pressure and recognized we weren't really going to buy any additional points. He still tried, but didn't blatantly lie like last year's rep. We mentioned we like to bank some points each year so we have flexibility and he tried to convince us it was smarter converting them to airline points since we had already paid for the points and then we wouldn't have to pay for the airfare. I know value wise this doesn't make sense, but I didn't push back. When he realized that wasn't going to work, he took a different tack and talked about how when looking at availability using points, we were not seeing all available inventory because we have a combination of enrolled and trust points (alluding to trust points get higher priority). I know MVC has the right to do this, but in reality it is not the case.

His final attempt at getting us to purchase was to offer us a "deal" that was something I hadn't heard before. He would sell us 1000 points for $17+ a point and put our current two deeds for trust points with it so that we only had one deed for all our trust points. I still don't know what benefits he was trying to convince us we would have by having one deed instead of three, but for some reason he thought this was a great deal. He didn't offer the reduced per point price, which I expected him to do. In any case we said no, and since I guess he is considered a VIP sales rep, we didn't get a closer come in and try to push us further. We were out in 90 minutes flat and worth $400.

It’s not a great deal for most, but I’m holding two deeds that it would be a minor benefit in that the MF’s are higher than the trust cost per point. The problem is, I don’t need another 1,000 points and I’d have to live past 100 in order to have a shot at making the math work out.

 

[aklausing]

It’s not a great deal for most, but I’m holding two deeds that it would be a minor benefit in that the MF’s are higher than the trust cost per point. The problem is, I don’t need another 1,000 points and I’d have to live past 100 in order to have a shot at making the math work out.

No, he wasn't trying to convert our deeded weeks to a trust deed. He was saying taking our two trust deeds (we bought points twice) and putting them all on one deed. Can't figure out why he thought that was a good idea? Maybe if our dates on the two deeds didn't match, but in our case, they both have same end dates.

 

[Fasttr]

Quite frankly, if you get to a point where you are trying to sell the points on the resale market, seems smaller point buckets would be easier to sell than one large bucket.

 

[frank808]

Almost same offer from our stay at Lakeshore last month. Though we got some stupid reasons on why we should buy more points at presentation. Plus some outright lies. Will be back to Lakeshore in July. Will still see if I will get a good offer and attend another one.

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

 

[TolmiePeak]

Almost same offer from our stay at Lakeshore last month. Though we got some stupid reasons on why we should buy more points at presentation. Plus some outright lies. Will be back to Lakeshore in July. Will still see if I will get a good offer and attend another one.

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

Ask for $350 + the $100 restaurant gift card and don't budge. I'm curious if they agree.

 

[Dean]

No, he wasn't trying to convert our deeded weeks to a trust deed. He was saying taking our two trust deeds (we bought points twice) and putting them all on one deed. Can't figure out why he thought that was a good idea? Maybe if our dates on the two deeds didn't match, but in our case, they both have same end dates.

There's no benefit to you, the only benefit is the salesman get's a commission and MVC gets a chunk of your money. Even if you had different Use Years the benefit would be negligible.

 

[dioxide45]

I thought if all your point deeds were developer bought, the use years were all aligned? Don't they align the use years when you buy subsequent deeds? I believe they do this when a weeks based owner buys points, they align them to Jan-Dec. No?

 

[rickandcindy23]

50,000 Bonvoy points? I would have been on that one! I can do a lot with 50,000 points.

 

[dougp26364]

No, he wasn't trying to convert our deeded weeks to a trust deed. He was saying taking our two trust deeds (we bought points twice) and putting them all on one deed. Can't figure out why he thought that was a good idea? Maybe if our dates on the two deeds didn't match, but in our case, they both have same end dates.

Well now that doesn’t make any sense at all. That’s so crazy it’s no wonder I didn’t comprehend what you were saying

 

[dougp26364]

Quite frankly, if you get to a point where you are trying to sell the points on the resale market, seems smaller point buckets would be easier to sell than one large bucket.

That might be a good thought for future planning.

 

[dougp26364]

I thought if all your point deeds were developer bought, the use years were all aligned? Don't they align the use years when you buy subsequent deeds? I believe they do this when a weeks based owner buys points, they align them to Jan-Dec. No?

We have two trust deeds purchased a few years apart. They’re both aligned as far as usage dates. One contract purchase date was in August, the other was in December. Both have the same usage window of January thru December.

 

[kozykritter]

I attended a sales presentation today at Lakeshore (took the 50K Bonvoy since I had a specific use for them). I was assigned to Norman, a 24-year Marriott employee with a laidback and friendly vibe. Hands down it was the most enjoyable sales experience I've ever attended. After talking a bit, he realized that I didn't really need to buy more ownership to travel the way that I currently do. He did suggest if I wanted to add on ownership at some point that I consider week/points bundle (the standard deal) and the weeks on the list were ones through Marriott's resale program (50/50 split with owners when sold, he said)....all US weeks except for St Kitts.

He's the first salesperson I've had since the Abound launch who didn't tell me that my Sheraton Flex ownership was inferior and that I should immediately trade it all in for Abound points. Refreshing! Norman acknowledged that I sounded very happy with what I own and like I am enjoying using it...nice to be seen/heard/not treated like an idiot by a salesperson

I asked him about when we were going to get that promised new owner platform for both programs and he said they are actively working on it but every timeframe they are told comes and goes without it being launched, so it remains TBD. After that we spent some time jibber jabbering about various experiences we've both had with the system/timeshares and theories about how some owners feel about this or that. One thing he did mention is that Marriott has started sending cease and desist letters to certain owners that rent their ownership out frequently. Norman also said that they are now limiting the name change on a reservation to one time. Since I don't have any skin in the rental game, I didn't ask follow up questions. I was out in 45 minutes and totally relaxed. Nice experience!

 

[kozykritter]

We have two trust deeds purchased a few years apart. They’re both aligned as far as usage dates. One contract purchase date was in August, the other was in December. Both have the same usage window of January thru December.

I suspect they sell you the points again at today's prices when they combine them in one deed. That was the gambit with Vistana owners back in the long pre-Abound launch period, telling them they had to rebuy their Flex/trust ownerships in order to participate in Abound (completely untrue for most ownerships, of course).