Recently Brenna and I were at the Silverton Hotel and while we were there looking at the mermaid exhibit in the big fish tank a man approached us to ask us if we were locals or if we were in from out of town. We told him we were locals. He said, “Oh great listen I have an idea for you- if you can just go and check out our new property we will pay you money just to go into a room, look at the room and tell us what you think about it.” So we immediately realized that this was probably a time share presentation and I asked this man point blank is this a time share presentation and he said yes. I said, “We’ll look into it but we already have a time share and are not interested in getting another time share.” He says, “No that’s cool. You do not have to buy anything. All you have to do is go to room and then come out and tell us what you thought about the room. In exchange will give you $140 in a Visa gift card and two Sunday buffet brunches. As well I’ll throw in $50 off free table game play here at the casino” Again I said, “Look I’m not interested in buying a time share” and he said that it was cool we do not have to buy anything just go in and see the room and then tell us what they thought and enjoy the buffet. Minus the time at the buffet the whole presentation would only take about 90 minutes. So I start doing the math in my head and figure out that’s a pretty good rate of return for my time and energy. So Brenna and I agreed to do the presentation. We came back the next day and went to the registration desk where we were met by a man who escorted us to the buffet and we sat with this man and ate our Sunday brunch at the buffet at Silverton. During the brunch time while eating this man told us about the time share and we had told him that even though we already have a time share the challenge is we don’t really get a chance to use it. I started to do the math in my head about if this man is going to sit and eat with us then take us over to the time share area and show us the room then ask us what it is that we thought about the room I figure he can only do this with two or three people during the course of the day. He did confirm for me that he only has two appointments per day. I feel pretty bad about wasting his time knowing that I wasn’t going to buy anything but his screener yesterday ensured it would be fine if we didn’t buy a timeshare. So we went along and ate our brunch with him and exchanging stories about travel and martial arts and other subjects.
After brunch we all hopped in his car and went down the block to the timeshare facility. He showed us around the property and showed us the timeshare room which frankly was nothing spectacular but it was nice just the same. After we left the room we went up to a huge sort of conference room with tables that seat four or five people. He ran all the members by us and then asked as if we were ready to buy. We said no and then he shoveled some numbers around and asked if we would you buy at this price. We said no and he shuffled more numbers and still we said no. He said, “Yes that’s what I thought since you already have a time share you don’t use it anyway.” He asked us to hang out for just a minute while he went and got final approval from his supervisor. Some woman came over and sat down at the table with us after a few minutes. She was kind of hard to read as she had this sort of New Jersey vibe but maybe with an Italian accent. She started to give it a hard sale about why we weren’t going to buy. Why we couldn’t afford 300 dollars a month in payments when that would end up saving us so much money from what we would normally spend in hotel rooms. She told us that she spends over $300 a month just at Starbucks. Which I think is kind of foolish because a container of coffee only cost like $6 and that lasts me all month. Then she got just kind of snotty about why we weren’t going to buy and then she even point blank says, “Well what did you think you were going to accomplish by coming here today?” I told her like I told the screener Luis yesterday the point for us being there was so that we could see the property and then use social media and other word of mouth to tell our friends and family about what a great property this was. I told her that that is what the screener said would be okay to do. Then she just abruptly got up and left. From there we were escorted down to another room where we had to meet with someone who asked us some questions about how we were treated and what we were asked and told during the sales process. After that our salesman took us back to the Silverton Hotel where he dropped us off and our experience there was done after we went back to the registration desk where we picked up our hundred and forty dollar Visa gift card.
So what did we learn about time share presentations kids?
What we learned was this- the screener will tell you whatever he has to to get you in the door. He’s probably getting a commission on however many people he can get to sign up to go on a time share tour. I bet he doesn’t give a darn whether people are interested in purchasing or not. As long as the people sign up and go to the presentation he gets paid. But that does not seem fair to the salesman who’s time I just blatantly wasted. I did not mean to waste it but I was ensured by the screener that it would be cool for us just to go in and check it out so really that is not my fault or my problem even though I did feel bad about it.
One of the things I do not understand is why, knowing we are locals who live in Las Vegas, are they so excited to show us a typical time share room in Las Vegas? It seems like there is just one script. There should be two. The one they present to locals should emphasize what time share properties in other cities are like. What does the typical local care about rooms in their own city for? They really should take a look at the book Vacation Ownership Sales Training
The other thing we learned is that time share sales people can be manipulative if they want to be. With all the numbers they showed us and knowing a thing or two since Brenna and I have both purchased a time share separately from each other that the numbers just don’t add up. They come up with numbers like how much would a hotel room cost if you were to rent it for one night? And then they take that number, let’s say it is $150 and multiply it by fourteen days and they will come up with some sort of numbers like 2100 which is one hundred and fifty times fourteen and then they will multiply that by thirty assuming you have thirty more years of vacation left in your lifetime and they came up with the number $63,000 and then they tell you, “That’s how much you’re going to be spending on hotel rooms alone but for you we can get you this time share with a deed and can will to your children for only $30,000 and then they tell you about all the special financing you can get and so on and so forth but they very rarely mention or at least a quick passover of the maintenance fees which can be a thousand dollars a year as well as all the other nickel and dime fees that are associated with timeshares. They will also tell you about how the time share will do nothing but go up in value but I have found in my experience that even if you buy a $30,000 timeshare good luck selling it in the future for $3,000 plus all the sales fees and stuff that go along with just selling the timeshare. So really are the numbers all that sexy after the day is done? Personally I think not. Especially if you are a married couple who need permission from The Man as to when you can take vacation time. I will say they are great if you have the freedom of deciding what you do when and the funds to pay for airfare and reservation fees and taxi fees and all the other incidentals that go along with traveling.
At the end of the day though Brenna and I did have a good time. We got a nice buffet brunch even though we did have to share it with our salesman and we got out of the house to see a new properties that we drive past almost everyday on Las Vegas Boulevard. Not to mention the $140 Visa debit card and all the free play that we would use at the Silverton casino where we often go anyway.
So when the guy approaches you and ask if you want to go see a time share what should you say? I don’t know. That’s up to you. But if you don’t mind going to a high pressure sales presentation for a couple hours and if the incentives are worth it to you then I say go for it. On the other hand do remember that you are wasting some people’s time who are just trying to make a living. It is really something that you have to weigh for yourself.
Tells me about your time share experiences. Have you been to a time share presentation? Did you buy it? Why or why not? Do you use it?
Leave your comments. I would love to hear from you.