In the time-share industry (in which a person purchases a portion of a residence so that he can use it for a portion of each year, such as when on vacation) it is common to find customers by offering them a free night at a hotel, or free tickets to vacation attractions, or a free dinner, or similar goodies, if they would simply agree to sit down and listen to a sales pitch for an hour or two, and/or tour the facilities.
My spouse and I did this once, about ten years ago. We were confident that we’d be able to withstand the sales pressure, and the freebies were worth the investment of our time.
We’re now looking to take our vacation in a certain area, and we’d like to find one of these deals, as a way of saving money on the vacation. A free night or two, or some free theme park tickets, would make our budget stretch a lot farther.
But how does one find these things? I’ve done various Google searches with phrases like “time share sales pitch”, with the name of the city we’re headed to, but all that I’m finding is comments from people about how they had an awful experience, or a great experience. That’s not what I want. And if I google on “free tickets” or “free hotel”, I get sites which take the “free” so literally that they are obvious scams. I don’t want that either. I know that “there’s no free lunch”; I am willing to pay for my vacation by sitting through the pitch.
I’m looking for a website where I can give it my destination, and it will tell me “If you want free tickets to such-and-such, contact these guys and sit through their sales pitch.”
Better you than me! Those a-holes would NOT take no for an answer until I threatened to contact the Attorney General’s office! (If we walked out, we’d lose the vouchers giving us a free stay. Meanwhile, they would not produce the vouchers until we signed something!) Never again! I can withstand the pressure, but when they hold you against your will…
Drive down to Hilton Head, SC. They have people pitching those time-shares everywhere! I was there alone on business, and they were all sticky-sweet to me until I mentioned my wife was back home. Then, they wouldn’t give me the free coupons they gave others passing by. These sharks want to suck you in as a couple - none of this “I have to discuss with my wife” excuse!
If this is what you seek, maybe Google on Hilton head timeshares (if you’re on the East Coast). One word to the wise? Be careful what you wish for!
As I wrote, my googling has found me many comments from people who have sat on these pitches. And “they’re everywhere” is another common comment that they make.
But could you please specify, where is “everywhere”? Are they advertising on local billboards? Should I flip through the advertising magazines that they have in hotel lobbies and highway rest areas? Maybe what I need to do is get the real estate section of the local newspaper?
If I could find any of this online before I left home, that would be the best.
+1. Politely saying no doesn’t work with these people.
Orlando, FL is another wonderful destination for these things; and yes, they are everywhere: outside of restaurants, shops, anywhere that you see a sign that says “Cheap Disney Tickets!” but do yourself a favor. Instead of going to the timeshare presentation, just hit yourself in the testicles with a hammer. You don’t get free stuff, but it won’t hurt as bad…
Wouldn’t know about the testicles part firsthand, but yeah.
In 1987, we went to Orlando (Kissimee, actually) to go to Disney. There was a timeshare place with a table set up in our hotel lobby.
We actually went for it. I think we blew 2 hours doing the presentation, said no thanks, and walked away with 2 tix to Sea World and 2 dinner passes for a renaissance-faire-like place. They may have gotten pushier since then.
In addition to what the others have said, let me give you a caveat about the awards they offer. If you have a vacation already planned and want to use their awards to help pay for it, you will almost certainly be SOL.
In every case I have ever seen, the “vacations” that they offer are so riddled with blackout dates, restrictions and other nonsense that they are virtually impossible to use.
If you are only in town for a day or two, don’t bother.
The 2 hour presentation turned into 3-4, they came at us with a ton of “alternative” opportunities like take over payments on non new timeshares, etc. We also did a little negotiating at the booth, ended up with like 8 buffet comps for our hotel and 2 show tickets. In the grand scheme of things we got about $200 worth of comps for the afternoon of dinking around. We also had a little slip of paper from the booth showing what we had been promised from the people that pitch it at the hotel, something like that may be helpful if they try to stiff you.
You might not get it immediately, but if you go to any fair or mall, and enter all the free drawings, you will get called. Some might even say it is for a time share.
In Vegas there are plenty of people in shopping centers on the strip trying to get you to sign up in return for a show. That isn’t quite what you want, but other resort areas may have them also.
I have no trouble saying no, but be aware that your “prize” may not be what you expect. We went to one which gave a gas card (which was fine) and a free trip to San Diego. The pitch itself wasn’t all that bad, and they do accept you saying no, if you say it often enough (and you get to see what else they throw in to make the deal sweeter.) But you have to pay the taxes and fees on your “free” airfare, and the only flights they would give us were very late at night. Since San Diego is drivable for us, we traded in our airfare for a better free hotel. It also takes a long time to get through the process, so don’t expect to go to a pitch now and take your trip on Labor Day.
I do want to report one success story. Friends of ours own a timeshare in Vegas, and invited us to a weekend there where they got a suite to try to rope us in. The place was very nice, the sales guy quickly figured out it was more useful to convince them to buy more than convince us to buy anything, and we got tickets for O right up front. Well worth the 90 minutes of listening to the sales pitch.
Visit you local Chinese carry-out joints and fill out the “register to win” slips that infest their waiting areas. The one I am standing in now has a bunch. Just read the fine print first to make sure you’re not asking to change your long distance provider.
You might want to look at real estate developments. One of the local ones is offering a $99 discovery tour with two nights in a downtown hotel, a dining certificate, free lunch, and the use of the development’s recreation area for a day, tickets to local attractions and I don’t know what all. I don’t know where you want to vacation, but look to see if something like that is available. You could use it to extend your stay.
Whatever they offer you (for sitting through the sales pitch) is not worth it. I’ve been through two of these, and I will never do it again. They will try everything on you…even descendto insults. I kept saying “No”, but the jerk kept on babbling. I finally thretened calling the police; that’s when it ended.
Timeshares are a bad deal, financially and legally. True, I’ve known people who were satisfied, but my own analysis shows that you never save any money, and you own nothing.
I would never buy a time share, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say they’re a bad deal. Some people love them. The biggest problem with time shares is that most people pay too much for them. This is due high-pressure sales techniques such as those described in this thread.
From what I’ve heard, if someone is genuinely interested in purchasing a time share, they should peruse online boards that cater to buyers and sellers of time shares. You will find many sellers on eBay who are willing to dump their time shares for pennies on the dollar.
We’ve done them before. I think I can be their worse nightmare with some of the stunts I’ve pulled.
Some really push for a deposit that they say is refundable, hoping you decide to just eat the loss and never speak of it again.
And the couple thing is spot on. They want both partners there to make an immediate bad decision.
Some are only mildly dishonest, while others are just scams. No matter what, know that you are going up against hungry, trained, high-pressure, thick skinned weasels!
A bit of advice is to agree with everything they say. Don’t argue any aspect, then at the very end tell them you’re pretty sure you want to buy, but you need a day to think it over, and how as real estate professionals, they should understand this. They usually get rathered flustered. At some pitches, when I asked how I could contact them to make my future purchase, they wouldn’t even give me a business card. They knew they had no product and given any time to think about it, I wouldn’t be back.
here’s one fascinating little data point I know about time share salesmen:
My local newspaper interviewed one and he admitted that nobody every buys if they take the time to think about it. It is always an impulse purchase.
In normal business, a salesman follows up on good leads. But not in the timeshare business.
The interviewed salesman said that if someone looks seriously interested, takes his literature and then gives the salesman his home phone number and asks him to call tomorrow, the salesman just throws the phone number into the trash. He knows it is a waste of time to talk to an intelligent and educated customer.
I would rather undergo a triple root canal than to sit through another time share presentation.
The dity bitches are so pushy you have no way out unless you resort to being an asshole - the only thing they understand.
I admire anyone who can sit through one and not lose their cool.