Today’s question is from Laura:
My family and I are trying to get away for just a long weekend and we are trying to cut costs on the trip. With two small kids we want to be able to entertain them, but that usually comes with some extra costs. So I was wondering if you have ever tried one of those free weekend deals for time shares (if you listen to the 90-120 minutes presentation)? If so, what do you think of them and how do you get offered these type of deals? -Laura
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I’ve gone twice. Once I payed $70 for the weekend to go, the other we were already vacationing and got $150 voucher out of. Both were positive experiences for us. Presentations were less then two hours (we goofed and laughed and enjoyed the tours). When it came to the sit down part. I cut to the chase, they told the amount, the years, I tallied that up and broke it down to how much per year, for a week, looked at them and was done.
One thing to point out. IF you are interested in owning a timeshare, ebay is full of them for $1! Owners just want to get out from under the yearly fees and really want to get rid of them. The yearly fees have really gone up and if you buy along the beach and it is hit by a hurricane you are liable for your share of the costs of repairs. My parents paid huge amounts of $ several years ago when their timeshare at Daytona Beach was hit.
We have done it twice before we had kids and always just made sure the stuck to there 60-90 min promised time. We would get up and tell them we were done and ask them to stick to there word and they always did. I would not do it with our young girls now unless we brought someone with us to watch them when we went. But both times we did it we enjoyed our trip and stay. We were always given what we were promised.
For me it is a no brainer! If you have no intention of buying a timeshare why would you waste your time or theirs. Everyone is talking about how the timeshare people try to ‘scam’ you but honestly aren’t people who go with no intention of buying ‘scamming a bit’ too?
I only go IF they pay cash. Otherwise definitely not worth it. I have found that 90 minutes should = $90 in cash or good food gift certs. Otherwise we don’t go. Also I say bring the kids, it has gotten us out earlier everytime. And when they go to 91 minutes, I say times up where is my $. Don’t give in to their sales BS. Do not do this is Vegas….or somewhere they have to drive you….b/c then you are stuck. that happened to us.
That is funny because we had our best experience in Vegas. They did drive us but we said no and we were out in 30 minutes at the most. When we were done we went outside and got on the bus and they took us back to our hotel.
We went to one through Hyatt and it wasn’t too bad. It was just my husband and I so it would have been different if we had the kids with us. I think that they promised it would be about 3 hours, but ended up being closer to 4. That was really my only complaint. It wasn’t high pressure sales with us being passed off to this manager and that manager. It was just a really really long sales pitch. My husband and I knew going in that there was no way that we could afford a time share so we had no plans of actually buying in. We just wanted a cheap trip to San Antonio, Tx and that’s what we got.
My opinion would be that they are a great deal if you do it through a reputable company. I did one in New York City and the 2 hours was actually fun. It was through the Hilton and our sales person showed us all of these cool resorts in Bali and other exotic locations. They were not rude or pushy at all. And if I could have afforded what they were selling, I would’ve snatched it up!
We stayed for 3 nights in NYC for $180 total, we paid $60 per night for a room that costs $399 a night. We received a few other gifts as well – $200 Visa gift card and a $100 voucher to use on hotel services.
BluGreen Resorts is another reputable company. I don’t own a timeshare but many family members of mine do and they don’t feel they are a rip off at all.
I may not have left buying the timeshare but I certainly left with a great impression of the Hilton brand.
Good to know!
Our own experience wasn’t horrible. They said they’d keep us for about an hour or so and did just that. But, some friends did the same thing a few years ago and were drove off in busses – 3 hours away from their location – and kept for about a total of 9 hours.
I’d say – as long as you’re driving yourself to their location – OK. If they’ll be transporting you – no way!
We did one a couple of times, both in Pigeon Forge, with BlueGreen Resorts. They were fantastic. I was surprised actually. They were super nice to the kids, who watched movies in a nice clean room with toys, we were only there 2 hours and they had a reasonable deal at the end – when we said no to the timeshare, where we could buy 3 stays at a super reduced cost. Plus we got tickets to Dixie Stampede and a 2 night stay in their deluxe condo. The kids played in the pool. It was really nice. I know though, this experience is far and few between – most people have bad experiences. Bottom line – it’s a risk….try it. As long as you’re firm with your no, you’re not losing anything except your time of course.
We’ve been three times. The first two were fine. It was just me and my husband, and relatively easy to say no and move on within two hours. We got a cash incentive which was great. The third time, we had kids and it was awful. The place was ghetto and everything about it was seedy. The travel incentives were super hard to redeem. Definitely depends on the company. NEVER buy!
It’s a good deal. Just make sure you agree not to buy anything. Have someone with you to remind you (what a rip off time shares are). A good sales person can make you consider a purchase. I ended up being the voice of reason to my sister.
Don’t ask questions it just drags it out. I told the sales person I was only there for the free tickets to let him know know not to waste his time trying to make a sale.
We went to a time share presentation for cheap disney tickets in Fl. We had our son with us (who was just a little past 2 at the time). They wanted us to leave him the children’s activities, but there was no way I was going to do that. The activity center looked like it was for older kids anyway, so I flat out told the salesperson no way. They were not happy but let us bring him in the stroller. We sat through the hour presentation, and that was ok. Then they gave us the tour, and brought us back to a room to talk. We told them from the beginning we weren’t interested. They kept pushing and pushing and different people kept coming to talk to us. DS was very hungry and tired and was wailing the whole time, and they ignored him. Finally, DH put his foot down and said that DS was hungry and tired and we needed to leave RIGHT NOW. The guy got nasty with us, and called his supervisor. DH was pretty firm with the supervisor and he let us go. We did get our Disney tickets, but it was much longer than the 90 minutes they quoted.
I will never, ever, ever do it again. It wasn’t worth it. I still feel guilty I made my DS sit through that, especially at the end. I’m all for saving money, but not at the expensive of my sanity and my family’s happiness!
We did it once for the Ozarks. It was okay – the hotel was “okay”, but I’m a germaphobe so next time we’ll pick our own spot. And like many they wanted us to leave our 2 yr old in the childcare room. I said I was not leaving my child with a stranger. I even asked when we booked the thing if we could bring our kid and they said yes. And yes they asked a few times if we were sure he didn’t want to go to the playroom. My husband and I said no, he’s fine with. I didn’t care what they thought – I wasn’t leaving him with strangers. It took a good 3 hours but admittedly we were asking questions b/c we almost bought one. (In retrospect I can’t believe it!) If you’re looking to save money I think it’s a decent thing to do – I’d just take entertainment/snacks for kids, and sanitizers for the hotel (as I always do).
We have done this a couple of times in Florida to get free theme park tickets. The sell is HARD and they are often 2-3 hours, but we have been firm and haven’t had a problem. We have not had a problem getting use of our tickets either. I think the one we go to is the Wyndham Resorts. But I won’t lie, it’s about what it’s worth to you. For the last few years we have not done it, because I’d rather skip the time I spend there and do something free like hang at the beach.
I do NOT recommend it. We did one w/out two kids 4 years ago in South Carolina and it was awful. Not only did we waste several hours of time, but they were suppose to give us free dining out & gas money and
we never got it. They were very pushy even after we told them we were not interested in the time share.
We own timeshare at Big Cedar near Branson and love it. We bought it back before we had kids and it’s completely paid for. We rent time each year to cover all of our fees. Each time we go they ask if we want to come in for an “update” in exchange for $100 to spend on property. Sometimes we go, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes they’re pushy to sell and sometimes they’re not. Either way we do enjoy learning about new properties Bluegreen has acquired and changes to our own home resort. As someone else mentioned, we decide if it’s worth the 1 -2 hours of our trip to get $100 to spend on property. We can stretch that meal to cover several meals at the restaurants there. For us, it’s usually a yes, because my husband makes far less than that per hour at his job. It’s all about resolve and knowing what your budget for extras (including timeshare) is before you get there.
Going to a presentation with no intention of buying is no different than buying a product at the drugstores because it’s free after rewards and just putting it in your donation pile. Someone will use that product and their friends will likely see it and buy it themselves. The timeshare might not work for you, but you might tell about it to a friend that it would work for. They have to get their product out there in order to sell it, just like the manufacturer’s of the products we get at the drugstore.
I have done one of those presentations and had no luck with the free trip, but we do now love our time share with Global Connections. But what I really want to share is the idea of house swapping. I have no experience but one of my favorite bloggers, A Cup of Joe, http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/, shared about it yesterday and also wrote an article years ago about it, http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090101507.html.
Just a suggestion
We did a weekend in Branson and had the best time!! I loved the resort we stayed at too. I would probably have never gone to Branson unless the trip was practically free. Yes, it took up about two hours on Sunday, but it wasn’t too bad. The kids got to stay right with us and color on an outside patio and we took a walk to tour the property and they had fun. It probably helped that we really enjoyed our sales pitch man too. I’d recommend it to anyone, not much to lose.
We have done quite a few of these and we have had our share of bad experiences especially in Florida. But we did one for Las Vegas, we went in listen to the main presentation and talk to one person and said we weren’t interested and we were free to go. We were there for maybe 30 minutes. And since this was Las Vegas we did not have our kids with us, this was a vacation for us. And we did get our free gifts and we stayed at the Hilton of Las Vegas while we were there. This was one of the easiest time shares I have been on but I agree with other people some of them are horrible.
we’ve done this a couple times and only for trips we had already planned to take. one time was a anniversary trip to vegas, we went to the “meeting” and of course they were ruthless, but we had absolutely no intention of buying in. there was a lot of pushing us towards buying but we were firm and my husband knew his numbers etc so there were a few good arguments. i don’t think we spent more than 2hours at that one including shuttle to and from. we got a slew of free dinners and two nights in a hotel. another time we planned a spring break trip to branson and were able to do the “meeting” closer to home (DFW area) instead of doing it in branson. we simply let them know we’d have our kids with us during our trip and since they didn’t offer child care they allowed us to so a “sister site” meeting…same story or course lots of pushing and begging and trying to convince you. it’s always interesting to see the different marketing techniques, so much the same but so different. with the branson deal we also got several free meals and show tickets and three nights in a hotel. in my opinion it CAN be worth it, just know what you’re getting into and know your boundaries. i wouldn’t recommend taking kids.
It’s unreasonable to expect something for nothing. And two hours of your time is “nothing” to a business attempting to succeed.
You certainly can’t blame them for doing everything they can prior to handing you attractive freebies, can you?? And if you don’t like that idea, save the money till you can afford your vacation *legitimately*
It most definitely depends where you are, who you are, the company etc. I went to one with my mother in the bahamas years ago that lasted about 2 hours and she got credit to use in the casino. (I think they let us off easy since we got stuck in their glass elevator!)
My husband and I went to a Disney Vacation Club (Disney’s version of a timeshare) presentation and while they definitely lay on the sales pitch thick, they are perfectly fine with letting you think about things and get back to them. We did purchase points through DVC and we still don’t regret it as we typically do an annual trip to disney anyhow.
My aunt on the other hand works the system, so to speak. She’s retired and has all the time in the world and loves to socialize but she has no intentions of buying. She goes to the presentations to get free weekends at hotels or dinner often. I personally would never have the patience to do it though.
I’ve done one with my husband, and my parents have done several of them. In my case, we did $200 for three nights in Lake Tahoe (during the summer). It was at the resort they were staying, and it included $100 in vouchers for Harrah’s casino within walking distance. The sales pitch was longer 90 minutes, but it was a lovely facility, so we didn’t mind. My husband was tempted, but I stood firm and said no. Then, we got our $100 voucher. It was supposed to be on some sort of gift card for gambling, but the cashier just gave us the cash, so we used it for dinner. And then I won some money on a penny machine, too.
My parents went to one in Hawaii to get us a free helicopter tour. My mom wanted to see the resort, and they got a free breakfast while my sister and I slept (we were in our late teens, early twenties). It worked beautifully for all of us!
But, I do suggest doing research before you go. The Tahoe one was a Marriott timeshare, so they sell you big on the points, but once I got home I found that the points have all these unmentioned rules and are difficult to use. Had I known that before, it would have saved us a bunch of time and my husband wouldn’t have been tempted!
My husband and I have done several, and must admit we were suckered into doing something, every time. No matter how many times we looked at each other and gave each other pep talks, we still bit in. And I wouldn’t call us easily suckerable…
The other point, is that we ended up being at their “1 hour informational meeting” for well over 4 hours, trying to get out all along.
Bottom line, unless you can say no and be rude about it, and wouldn’t mind risking all of one afternoon, don’t bother, and have $$ you want to spend on future vacations, don’t bother. . Go to traveladvisor.com/hotel.com for a well rated, inexpensive hotel or find a 2 day Groupon and enjoy a STRESS FREE vacation!
We did a Hilton one once. It was the 90 minutes. Only one salesperson who could not read my husband and I worth a darn and could not have even managed to sell us a soda. Her exit person asked why, we told him she could not read people, he said OK and we left. Easy and cheap weekend at Disney.
We did a Wyndham once in San Diego. We were promised it would only be 90 mins and I think we only stayed about 80 mins. We received 3 nights stay in a Wyndham hotel and $199. The sales lady was extremely rude when she realized we were not going to buy anything – but to receive the 3 nights and $199 in return for her attitude and 80 mins of our time was a good deal to me and my husband!
My husband and I have been to more than I can count, both before and after kids. Here’s some criteria to consider: If “gifts” are the reward, run away. If it’s hard cash or tickets for specific things that you were already planning to do, consider it IF you can say no over and over. If we have plenty of vacation time and are at a location that we go to frequently, I’m willing to be bored for a couple of hours If I can make more money than I could make at work. (Since I’m a SAHM, it doesn’t take much! LOL) If we’re at a once-in-a-lifetime location or crunched for time, it simply isn’t worth the hassle. Our kids have never had any bad experiences. If the resort has a lousy play room or only one attendant, we keep the kids with us, but generally they’ve enjoyed movies, snacks, toys, and coloring. Would they rather be swimming? Sure, but we make sure they know that they are helping us earn extra cash for treats/adventures on the trip.
do not buy. nearly 24 years ago we took a “free” timeshare vacation both agreeing that we would not purchase anything. the location was nice. the week was nice. the sales pitch was high pressure and after a very long afternoon presentation we did buy. ouch. again, a reminder to not buy. the first few years we enjoyed our week away. then our company changed their program. we still had our week but it became very difficult and expensive to exchange our week. after several episodes of spending money to exchange and not ending up getting an exchange, we used it less and less. we continued to pay our rising annual fees year after year after year. we received information from companies willing to “buy” our timeshare. a few years ago we checked into selling our unit. time after time we were told how much we would have to pay them to take it off our hands ( about 4 years of annual fees!!!!). my husband was strong enough to finally bite the bullet. we no longer have a timeshare unit. let me say it one more time “DO NOT BUY!”
If you know you don’t have the resolve to say no, don’t do it. If you can stand up and say no (and sometimes you gotta be pretty firm) it can totally be worth it.
Now… hubby and I did wind up buying… BUT… his parents owned a timeshare in Orlando (still do, actually) and he grew up going there every summer. We got a deal that we could afford, and got it from a company that will let us take our vacation at any time of year in any location we choose (a pretty good thing to have since we’re going to need somewhere to stay when we go across country to Vegas for my best friend’s wedding.)
We’re serious vacationers. So this kind of thing works for us. (Came in real handy when we went to Missouri last year to visit hubby’s grandmother). Every year, they try to talk us into buying more. Hubby’s become an expert at saying, “No, thank you.” in every way imagineable. We’ve sometimes mentioned that we have friends that we could direct to their program, if they’re interested in making a sale. Sometimes that satisfies them enough that they’ll leave us alone. And we kepe our word. I told my friend about the program saying he might be interested in having his honeymoon there. He said “no”. I dropped the subject. I did what I said I woud, right?
So…. in summary: If you can be firm enough to say “no”… go for it!
My BIL and SIL did one and got a free honeymoon out of it! They ended up in Hawaii for their honeymoon almost completely free. They said they had a blast. I’ve never had any experience with it especially with children and honestly I’m not sure I would BUT I wanted to just tell you what my in-laws had experience with.
We went to one years ago and were glad to have gone. We would not have gone for a free prize, but ours promised $25 cash for going plus a room at a prime beach-front hotel. We figured it was only 90 miles away and the money covered the gas to go. If we did not like it there, we could just go to the beach and leave. We did sit through a 90 minute presentation and they “did not have room for us” at their resort after all. However, we politely said we were promised a room and they booked us at another beach front property at their expense. The hotel manager let us ad an additional night at a reduced price when she learned my husband was being shipped out to Korea the next week, so we ended up with a very nice, cheap weekend right on the beach. I would do it again, but you have to read the fine print carefully and be bold enough to ask them to stick to their word.
If you stick to the major hotel chains (Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood), it may be OK. We have done presentations while on vacation 3 different times via Hilton and have not had a bad experience. We were already on vacation and did it for the freebies (golf for 2, cash, 4 tickets to the San Diego zoo).
We own 2 timeshare weeks via Hilton. Contrary to many of the posts, we have had a great experience. We have traded for time in California, Florida, and Scotland and have an upcoming trip to Montana. Here is how we went about our purchase:
1. I joined http://www.tug2.net and read, read, read for about a year.
2. When we were on vacation in Florida, we stopped in at a timeshare and asked the sales office for a tour. This was an existing timeshare that was not selling new units any more, but had resale weeks available for purchase-so it was very low pressure.
3. We researched on TUG some more, and questioned existing owners at the Florida resort that we had toured-it turns out that I had done business with one of them. We also asked friends who owned timeshares about their experience.
4. We bought resale at the place we toured in Florida. Do not buy new!!
Our timeshare is right on the Gulf of Mexico with amazing views from all but the first floor units (which would not usually be assigned to us as owners). The new Marriott timeshare next door was selling new units (some of which did not have Gulf views) for 4 times what we paid for 2 weeks at our timeshare!
5. You need to factor in total costs. Yes, we pay an annual maintenance fee, but we get a 2 bedroom and can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the timeshare if we like. We typically budget several nights out and several in. I pack cereal or a homemade quick bread from home in my carryon and also pack brownie or cookie mixes and spice mixes for marinades. We have a pool, beach access, free bikes and sailing for the week, and other kid and adult activities. These help keep our trip costs down.
6. We can also get access to last minute (45 days or less) rentals via RCI and Interval, as well as other trading companies. Some as these run as low as $300 per week.
7. We are using timeshares and hotel points as part of our long term plan to travel for less in retirement.
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