Don’t we look so happy? Exhausted is more like it!
Well, this is my family after a 2 hour long timeshare presentation. After 10 years of traveling to the Smokies for Thanksgiving we decided to do our 1st timeshare presentation with CLUB WYNDHAM. No, I didn’t buy but I thought I would share my experience to my loyal readers.
In general there are pros and cons to travel but attending a timeshare presentation is something many travelers enjoy participating. Well…I’m sure they don’t enjoy it, but they do enjoy the free gifts right?
We were approached several times while on vacation and finally, I gave it. Although my husband wasn’t happy about me saying yes, we had some downtime in our travel schedule which allowed us to attend the 2 hour presentation the very same day I was approached. I said yes mainly due to the fact that The Island is a newer attraction and features the Margaritaville Island Hotel and the lure of $100 AmEx gift Card and 4 tickets to ride the Farris Wheel (retail $48) at The Island.
The Margaritaville Island Hotel is gorgeous! Seriously, I would love to stay there and enjoy the amenities for a few days. Our tour guide/salesman Ricky was very friendly and welcoming. My kids laughed and I enjoyed the 1st part of the timeshare presentation. The first 1 1/2 hours was actually pleasant but it went downhill after that.
I can see the value of the timeshare point system opportunity through CLUB WYNDHAM and the destinations are incredible, but since I am open to exploring various hotels and resorts it wasn’t right for my family. Plus I need to buy 2 cars in the next 2 years and the financing is not something I can do right now knowing our upcoming vehicle purchases.
Ricky called over another gentleman towards the last 30 mins of our presentation and was pleasant at first as he tried to find something more in our price range. After we said no several times, he said everything he could to get us to buy. I get it, that’s his job. But when I mentioned my needing a new vehicle and needing to finance another car for my soon to be teen driver he said…”You say that, but you’re not going to buy (meaning the car) it!” At this point I’m confused and getting upset but I keep my composure. After I mentioned how much we spend in travel every year (even after comp trips/attractions we spend a considerable amount of out of pocket expenses and additional non-sponsored family vacations) he said “Do you want to be one of those people who only go on free trips?”
1. That was rude.
2. Travel is my job.
3. I pay a lot of money to travel including taking more vacation days than we are not paid for at both of our jobs.
4. That was rude! lol I work very hard on my website, creating digital content for other resorts/travel destinations and have written 2 travel ebooks. P.S I’m working on 2 more for 2016.
At that point, we wrapped up and I thanked the both of them for their time. Neither one of them replied “You’re welcome” or “thank you” for my time or for attending the timeshare. Not even a response to my thank you. I even said goodbye to both of them and they said nothing. They were done with us.
Sure, we received our free gifts and enjoyed the rest of our time at the Island but that last 30 minutes was incredibly stressful! Now I know why I avoided timeshare presentations for so long.
Side Note: We did a survey on Ricky at the completion of our presentation. Since he was not the problem, I did not leave a negative review on him but I know not to attend another presentation that again.
Have you attended a timeshare presentation on vacation? How did it go?
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