Whose Heard About ''Trendwest?'

In My Humble Opinion
1

Upon arriving at our ‘secret vacation spot’ this last weekend we find the place now in the shadows of a HUGE new timeshare by a company called Trendwest. After the usual nostalgic look back, and the anger over the loss of we thought was our diamond in the rough, we thought it might be interesting to get in on the deal.

Trendwest, from what I’ve been able to gather, has you buy POINTS then you spend these POINTS at whatever resort you choose.

There were a few things that sent up red flags though…

They are unusually unforthcoming with information and require you go to a seminar/interview where you are given further information, and I’m guessing a high-pressure sell. They even offered us a free 13-inch TV and my dad a free trip to RENO to even ATTEND the seminar. Second, when we began to ask questions of the representative he slipped outside to talk to a coworker, avoiding the situation. Admittedly, there might be a logical explanation for this. They are now considered the devil’s spawn by the locals for bringing in such a mammoth structure into a tiny coastal town. Third, I’m not really sure how it would work…wouldn’t you have HUGE demand during the weekends, then NONE during the week? How are the points divided up?

Has anyone heard anything about this deal? Any friends or relatives familiar with the situation?

2

Walk, no run away. I have heard horror strories about them. They offer basically time share condo’s at resort destinations. They use high pressure sales tactics, will attempt to lure you into a long term contracts and make promises they can’t keep. My wife and I got tricked into one of their sales presentations (we got a free microwave oven for attending).

To give you and idea how a sales meeting goes. You and your SO will sit at a table with a salesperson. You will be encouraged to ask this person qurestions and you are shown a video of what they offer. They make it all sound nice and rosey. Then they go over the options available and the costs. When we went the cheapest package would have cost us $250 down and only $125 a month for dues. For 10 years. After turning down all offers from the salesperson, he had his boss come over to the table. This guy really laid it on heavy. He had it down to $20 down and only $100 a month. This would only give us 4 weekend a year (none May through September), no weekends, and at none of their better places. I did the math. My wife and I don’t spend that much money a year for weekday vacations and certainly not at most of the locations they offer. They did not even want to give me 24 hours to look over the material. We did leave with a microwave though.

I would suggest talking to current members before signing anything with them. Or check in the newspaper, there are always at least 20 memberships for sale in the Seattle papers. In almost every shopping mall here on the west side, Trendwest is using “win a free car” promotions to snag potential victims. I always fill out one of the coupons. Ficticious name and phone number of course. Just my little way of getting back at them.

3

Cyberhwk: Man, if I knew you were in Seaside I would have bought you a cup of coffee.

Yes. They wrecked the town. The turnaround has never looked worse between Trendwest and that ugly Shilo building.

They tried to buy the entire block, but a few of the people that owned the property held out. (the Times Theatre and the little strip of stores that remain). I guess these owners are betting property value will go up and they can sell in a year or two for twice the price.

The city thought the timeshare would improve the local economy by bringing jobs in. Most of the people working on the structure are from portland, all designers are from somewhere else, none of the materials are being bought local. So after it’s built the only “jobs” are going to be the handful of cleaning staff.

The tourists will bring in cash to the downtown area, which means the slumlords that currently own those buildings can increase the rent and STILL not maintain the buildings.

It’s a total sham and I think it screwed Seaside in so many ways.

As for “owning” part of the timeshare… NO. Don’t do it!

BUT,… do attend their seminars and get your free junk. My wife and I make a habit out of this. Everytime they call us we attend. So far we’ve been to San Fransisco and Florida on the dime of a timeshare. We have a portable television and some junk luggage as well.

When they say the meeting will take 1 hour, don’t believe them. It almost always takes 2 hours to get out of there. Like racer72 said above they will tag team you. Once you say no to the first person they send in the big guns. But I have a good answer to this one.

When you first sit down with your salesperson they will ask if you’ve ever attended something like this before. Tell them yes. Say you don’t remember the company but you did several years ago. You didn’t like what they were selling so you told them you weren’t interested. Then start to get upset. Tell them they brought out a second person to try and sell the same package to you. Tell them how insulted you were they did this and how you would NEVER EVER EVER do business with a company that would dare tag team you like that. Make a big fuss about this fact.

Of course they will tag team you, but now you can give the 2nd person a bad time and it will get you out of there faster.

“Didn’t the first guy tell you that tag teaming me was a deal breaker? Because of what you’ve done I will NEVER buy your time share. Now give me the stuff you promised me.”

Also, another good one. They will ask where you normally vacation. Tell them North Dakoda. It’s the only place you and the family like to go. Well,. they don’t have timeshares there. That pretty much destroys their entire sales pitch.

4

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Trendwest promised the city they would use locals on the project. But from what I understand there are only about 10-15 local guys working on it.

I really dislike that company.

5

Thank you.

I think we will at least go an listen to the schpeal on Friday, but at least now we know what to look out for.

Racer: They wanted you to sign for the next TEN YEARS??? We are very new at this. Is that NORMAL for a timeshare?

Seven: Yeah. Most of the people I talked to weren’t really shy about their displeasure with the project. I can understand why. But now that my sister is 16, and I’m in college we have less and less time to leave on vacation and the beach was a logical choice. Not to mention that is where my mother and I are going to retire too when the time comes.

Unlike Racer we probably DO spend over $1500-2000 a year on motels. Hell this ONE TRIP cost us $450. Not to mention we sometimes go to Mariners** games. Seahawks games…

Any other info from others would be appreciated though…

6

Cyberhwk: Well. If you’re planning to retire here, buy my house. It’s only $126k. You’ll save money by getting in now. I’ll even throw in a 13 inch colour TV and a trip to Reno for two. :wink:

Personally, I’m getting out of this town. heh heh

7

I’ll give you a little different perspective since I don’t live in the town, and am not upset with the “progress.”

Trendwest is one of the largest and most respectable developers in the timeshare industry. Timeshare is currently the fastest growing segment of the leisure travel industry. It really isn’t for the family that likes to find the best bargin at the Super 8, but more for the people who want to enjoy a resort condominium for their stay. Timeshare got a bad rap in the early days, but now more and more of the upscale hotel brands are tapping into the market. Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Disney, Embassy, etc. are all in the business now. Trendwest was one of the first to use the “points” concept, which provides much more flexability than the standard “one week per year” concept. Trendwest was recently purchased by Cendant who has other brands such as Avis, Ramada, Century 21, and many, many others. Trendwest is a very large “club” with about 45 properties mainly in the western US. In addition, you would have the option to join an “exchange company” which would allow you to trade to resorts worldwide. Trendwest had an agreement with Resort Condominiums International - RCI (the largest exchange network), but switched to Interval International - II (the 2nd largest) last year. RCI is also owned by Cendant though, so guess how long the relationship with II will last… plus, the word is that many of the properties, and a large percentage of their owners are not happy with the switch. RCI still services somewhere around 100,000 of their owners.

Anyway, 10 years is a pretty standard, actually a pretty short commitment in timeshare. Many are deeded properties that you can actually pass down to your hiers.

As far as adding to the community, the average timeshare vacationer spends 3 to 5 times as much on “outside” activities than the regular traveller, so they do tend to benefit the community. Trendwest has also got a good track record of community involvement.

As far as Seven making a hobby of attending the presentations for the free junk, please remember that the sales people you are with work mainly on commission, and you are basically taking away 1/4 of their potential income each time you do so. They really are real people with families and bills, so if you have no interest in buying, please don’t rob them of their means of living (yeah, I fully expect to get a negative response to this… much like the telemarketer threads).

Now… so everything is clear… I’m not affiliated with Trendwest, but I’m a Business Analyst in this industry. As such, I would say that timeshare is not for everyone, but it is very good for the right people, and I would recommend Trendwest as one of the top groups to do business with.

-Spud

8

Spud:
If the sales person is nice I’ll tell them up front I’m not interested and I am only there for the free junk.

If they are jerks, they hey, their loss.

I had one person tell me I was a bad father for not buying trendwest timeshare. His reasoning? It seems when we go on vacation we aren’t buying the hotel we stay in. But with Trendwest, we are. I can leave it to my daughter after I die. But because I’m NOT buying trendwest I am a bad father.

That’s all find and good. It’s his sales pitch. But he didn’t have to say I was a bad father with my daughter sitting right there with us. I just thought that was bad playhouse.

Of course I let him have it, I called him everyname in the book…then took my free vacation to San Fransisco. :slight_smile: