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[2015] Working on Vacation (or sales presentation freebies)

lll1929

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I was in vegas in July and receive $100 gift cards from DI (Polo Towers) and Carriage House.

I also receive a free show ticket from Carriage house and 2 night stay if I return.
 

lyd753

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All inclusive bracklet!? I want one

I suggest you hit two or three of those visitor booths to see what the going rate is for that area. The ones that sign you up at the airport just give you the taxi ride and some folks are happy with just a bottle of liquor ...
We averaged $200-$400 (worth of stuff) per presentation in Cabo in August 2013. We got dinner cruises, jet ski rentals, resort dinners, spa passes & a few gave us cash. You get more bang for your time when you get stuff at the resort, like a $200 spa treatment or dinner coupons, for dinner coupons three $50 coupons is better than one $150 coupon. Also, if they can give you one ticket they can give you two.
We signed up through a couple waiters and had one lady near the hotel that kept raising what she would give us every time she saw us until my wife said double the best deal we got and she said "sure, no problem".
Another suggestion is see where they are on a map, you don't want a 30 minute trip there and back and I got no way of making the presentation shorter. I even pretended to fall asleep and that didnt get us out sooner
 

spackler

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Do they always insist on both husband & wife being there? I don't mind earning $150 for a 90-minute ordeal but my wife would rather rip her ears off.
 

theo

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Do they always insist on both husband & wife being there? I don't mind earning $150 for a 90-minute ordeal but my wife would rather rip her ears off.

Since both parties of a married couple would be required to execute a contract, both must be present to endure the razzamattazz in order to collect the trinkets.

I'm completely in accord with your wife's viewpoint on this --- and I'd even throw in my nose too just to avoid the horrific stink of all the lies and exaggerations. ;)
 
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dominidude

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Do they always insist on both husband & wife being there? I don't mind earning $150 for a 90-minute ordeal but my wife would rather rip her ears off.

They do insist on both of you being there, but there are exceptions, such as being legally separated. In that circumstance, you are free to buy/sell real estate solely in your name without your spouse being notified.
 

Ty1on

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They do insist on both of you being there, but there are exceptions, such as being legally separated. In that circumstance, you are free to buy/sell real estate solely in your name without your spouse being notified.

What is to stop one from simply saying she is single in order to get into the presentation, given there is no intent to buy......
 

dominidude

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What is to stop one from simply saying she is single in order to get into the presentation, given there is no intent to buy......

Are you suggesting lying to a timeshare salesperson? is that ethical?:rofl:

Also, intention to buy is not required. As far as I can tell, the only thing required is having an open mind (to buying their sh***y timeshares).
 

gnorth16

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If you ever fly Allegiant into Vegas, they had a $200 travel voucher and $100 gambling credit for Harrah's if you do the Wyndham Grand Desert Tour. You book it when adding on extras like cars and shows when checking out on their website.
 

Blaaamo

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What is to stop one from simply saying she is single in order to get into the presentation, given there is no intent to buy......

I assume if you go in as a single you can only get 1 voucher for activities, but that doesn't really mean much when you're getting cash or hotel vouchers.
 

Ty1on

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I assume if you go in as a single you can only get 1 voucher for activities, but that doesn't really mean much when you're getting cash or hotel vouchers.

Well, if DW isn't with me, GF can pay her own way! :rofl:
 

friedshrimp

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Well said. Ditto here. My free time is much more valuable to me than any coupons, trinkets, baubles or chump change gift cards.

You may be a millionaire or just make so much you don't know what to do with it but for most Americans, making $100 an hour ($50 each for the hour) to just chit chat is hardly "chump change". We take their Visa gift card and turn it directly into a Walmart card and use it for our shopping. Then I take the hundred I would have spent and put it in the maint fee savings account. Works great and we always go to the meetings early in the morning when we had nothing else planned anyway. But to each his/her own.
 

chriskre

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I'm single and some resort chains won't let me "tour" which is fine by me.
But the ones that have let me tour alone have paid me nicely.

Vacation Villages in Weston is quite generous.
In the past they have given me $200 VISA gift card and free breakfast at the golf club house. Last tour I did with them in May they gave me a $125 Darden restaurant card and we used it to eat out every day.

Wyndham in Royal Vista is also more generous the more you refuse them. Don't take the check-in offer. Wait until they call you on the phone.
I got a $75 VISA card and a $50 dining dough card from them by waiting.
Plus they got me out of that sales room in and I'm not lying less than 15 minutes because it was an open sales floor and they did not want others hearing that I bought resale let alone ebay. :rofl:

I've done the Royal Vista tour again and it's now a big sales show with everyone starting together with a presenter and then being broken down into individual rooms with the sales person after they vet you. Last time I did it the offer was $100 VISA gift card and they didn't have a sales person for me. I think I'm in their computer as a "no tour" now. :ignore: No matter they still paid me.

At the height of the recession when I visited Orlando which I often do since I live in FL, the tour companies would not let singles tour at all. I heard that unemployed people were touring on their own to make money. I thought that was pretty ingenious of the unemployed. :)

I recently toured Disney and they do not give you an incentive at all. Just a free Hawaiian style meal. I ended up buying. :hysterical:
 

raygo123

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Back in the early 1990's a tugger told me to wait to the third offer. We were going to massanutten. So we did and he was right $100 so if u remember who u were, ha ha, a belated thanks.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 

chriskre

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You may be a millionaire or just make so much you don't know what to do with it but for most Americans, making $100 an hour ($50 each for the hour) to just chit chat is hardly "chump change". We take their Visa gift card and turn it directly into a Walmart card and use it for our shopping. Then I take the hundred I would have spent and put it in the maint fee savings account. Works great and we always go to the meetings early in the morning when we had nothing else planned anyway. But to each his/her own.

Yes the $40-$50 an hour is more than I made as a nurse so I look at it as easy money. I pretty much always spend the VISA gift card at the Publix Supermarket and eat free all week. That's a good return on my time but I can understand the executive's mindset thinking this is chump change. :(
 

vacationhopeful

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Yes the $40-$50 an hour is more than I made as a nurse so I look at it as easy money. I pretty much always spend the VISA gift card at the Publix Supermarket and eat free all week. That's a good return on my time but I can understand the executive's mindset thinking this is chump change. :(

Actually, anyone who has worked 50 weeks a year/40 hours per week plus another 10+ hours in commuting TO work ... all to earn that time to relax on a VACATION not at home ... it should not be considered the "executive's mindset thinking" to refuse KILLING 3 or 4 hours of their vacation time to listen to a hardcore sales presentation for $100. That $2 per week for working 50 weeks ... NOT good ROI of their vacation time.

Now if retired and earning $100 cash once every 2 weeks ... that is GREAT source of NEW FOUND money. Plus, the other free loot .. food, tee shirts, beach towels, lunch bags, etc.
 

chriskre

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Actually, anyone who has worked 50 weeks a year/40 hours per week plus another 10+ hours in commuting TO work ... all to earn that time to relax on a VACATION not at home ... it should not be considered the "executive's mindset thinking" to refuse KILLING 3 or 4 hours of their vacation time to listen to a hardcore sales presentation for $100. That $2 per week for working 50 weeks ... NOT good ROI of their vacation time.

Now if retired and earning $100 cash once every 2 weeks ... that is GREAT source of NEW FOUND money. Plus, the other free loot .. food, tee shirts, beach towels, lunch bags, etc.

Well yeah, I'm retired now. ;)
 

Karen G

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We had an interesting experience last week in Cabo. Our son-in-law wanted to play golf at Palmilla and set up a deal with a guy he met on the street outside the PB Rose. The promise was that if my husband and I (who own at PB) would go to a certain presentation about a new resort to be built on the Pacific side--the name escapes me now--and my daughter and son-in-law would go to another resort presentation, they would get two rounds of golf at Palmilla and we would get $650 US. He said everyone should be sure to bring a picture ID and a credit card.

We met him outside the gate at the appointed time and my husband and I were taken by taxi to the presentation site which was a second floor office in a strip mall across from Costco--close enough really to walk back if things got ugly--and our son-in-law and daughter and their two kids were taken to Casa Dorado Medano Beach, also within easy walking distance back to the Rose.

The Casa Dorado deal fell through right away as when they got there they were told golf at Palmilla wasn't even a possibility as they didn't work with that golf course. They were left waiting for a guy to come back and talk with them and he never did so they walked back to the Rose. They didn't even get their $20 deposit back!

Our deal was also not as promised. When we got to the office and presented our ID's and credit card (we both use the same card so I didn't bring mine as it was just like my husband's) they said we each had to have a different credit card! I said OK, take us back to the resort. The guy who brought us talked to someone else and they said if we'd stay and do the presentation they'd give us $400 US + our $20 deposit back. First they said some amount in pesos, but we insisted on USD, and we agreed to stay.

The presentation itself wasn't too high pressured. The resort isn't even built yet and may not be ready for another three years. The pictures looked pretty though. It supposedly will be on the Pacific side north of Sunset Beach and the golf courses out there. There was another salesman who was "shadowing" our salesman sitting quietly through the whole presentation. They said he'd just arrived from Puerto Vallarta. When we finally turned down the first guy they said this other guy had something to show us we might be interested in and it would only take "five minutes."

We said OK and he proceeded to tell us about a "travel program" where you could get like $4000 worth of travel vouchers for $400 and they'd be good for airline tickets, timeshare stays, cruises, etc. No thanks! I told the salesman that I'd never spend that much money on something without doing more research. I would like to talk with others who bought in and find out their experiences. He asked how I'd find them and I said have you ever heard of TUG? He said this wasn't about timesharing and I said there are a lot of smart people on TUG who know a lot of stuff.

We got our cash and our cab ride back to the Rose. It wasn't a bad experience really. The breakfast was in a nice little coffee shop on the first floor of this strip mall. The salesman said the breakfast was on him, but would we leave a tip for the waitress, which we did. I don't like that tactic because they invite you for a "free breakfast." They should be paying the tip.
 
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theo

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You may be a millionaire or just make so much you don't know what to do with it but for most Americans, making $100 an hour ($50 each for the hour) to just chit chat is hardly "chump change". We take their Visa gift card and turn it directly into a Walmart card and use it for our shopping. Then I take the hundred I would have spent and put it in the maint fee savings account. Works great and we always go to the meetings early in the morning when we had nothing else planned anyway. But to each his/her own.

Perhaps "chump change" was a poor choice of words on my part. I'm certainly neither particularly wealthy nor a millionaire, but you make a valid point nonetheless (although for the record, rarely can anyone actually escape a sales presentation within a one hour time period, such as in the very optimistic scenario you portray).

We simply don't choose to tolerate being lied to and subjected to aggressive, obnoxious and personally offensive high pressure sales tactics for what is (to us) just too little reimbursement or value for the time spent and forever lost. YMMV. As you note, to each his / her own. Endure the pain of presentations if you choose to do so.
 
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celperf

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You should have tried "harder" .... they gave me a 5,000 peso Room Credit on GM.

but how harder hahaha they dont do this with mexican i stayed at grand luxxe and grand mayan and they dont want to give the breakfast just coffe and cookies
 

robhbev1

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Went to Vegas during the first week of August, stayed at Wyndham Grand Desert, we are current owners.

-$100 Amex Gift Card for going to Wyndham owners update, we were done in 30 minutes and that was including breakfast. I told the rep we bought our timeshare on the resale market and just recently purchased one from Tahiti Village.

-5 dinner buffet tickets to Flavors at Harrahs from Westgate. Unfortunately, I had to stay the whole 90 minutes, rep knew I already owned two timeshares, but he said the owner of Westgate was their at the hotel and everyone was being watched.
 

timesharejunkie4

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Thanks for the info, I'm sure I won't be the only one looking into it.

Imagine a world in which timeshare presentations were a pleasure to attend, no pressure, no tactics, just a simple "this is what we offer and how much we charge for it" followed by a gift of anywhere from $100 to $800 if you don't buy.

Those two can't go together. As the saying goes, careful what you wish for.

Here is a recent thread from Trip Advisor on taking timeshare tours in Cabo! http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...Cabo_San_Lucas_Los_Cabos_Baja_California.html
 

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If you're going to do Vegas, do it right ;)



Wyndham Grand Desert
Up to $150 for current Wyndham owners doing an update presentation. $100 if coming "off the street."
Sign up booths for non-owners at Caesar's Palace (Near Forum Shops) and Harrahs (near check in). When staying at the Grand Desert their salespeople will hunt you down to tour! They will literally come right up to your room and sign you up, LOL.
They will feed you decent. Hot meal and good drinks. I usually can get in and out of here in less than an hour.

Grandview
Owners and non-owners trading in through RCI will get a $100 gift card for the presentation. They used to give $175! :mad:
If coming "off the street" you can sign up at The Venetian and Excalibur.
They will take you next door to South Point Casino for a free breakfast buffet! Not the best, but pretty good.

Bluegreen Club 36
$100 gift card for non-owners. Also have 3 free night promotion if you tour (must call promotions dept).
Their promotions department are known to be real d***s (dorks ;) )
The salesman can be cool, but there are a few characters there, including a guy that whips out his Bentley keys to impress their potential buyers :ponder:

Marriott Grand Chateau
$100-$150 in buffet vouchers.
Very nice people most of the time. They feed you a warm meal.

Holiday Inn (IHG) Desert
$100 cash for touring. Don't have to be an owner. Single people OK.
They have sandwiches and snack type items for food.

Jockey Club (Next to The Cosmopolitan) - Sapphire, formerly GeoHoliday
$100 visa or a vacation certificate (skip the travel certificate, it's a straight scam!) and they will also throw in free sandwich coupons for a Churrascaria place in Planet Hollywood Resort.
They also take you on a free breakfast buffet to the Wicked Spoon buffet in The Cosmo, arguably the best buffet in Vegas!
The salespeople do go above and beyond in promising the moon. Don't fall for it!

Polo Towers - Diamond Resorts
I forgot what they give here... but similar to the others.

Careful if you stay here, they have a rather nasty reputation for maids and maintenance stealing jewelry and other valuables, maids stealing item that were left by mistake and then lying saying nothing was there. Many stories on the web about them. I had them try and access my safe when they thought I wasn't in the room. They called my room to see if I was there, then had "maintenance" come and tried to open door without knocking and said they had come to replace a broken part on the safe! :ignore: Long story, but be careful!

Westgate (former LVH)
They will give you $150 in gaming chips to use at the casino. Their food offerings kind of suck, so don't expect a feast, just some sandwiches and popcorn.
They claim 90 minutes for this one, but with their video and tour of the rooms can easily go for 3-4 hours.

---

Most of these require a married or cohabitation couple, buy YMMV.
Usual requirements are over $80k income, good credit, a major credit card to show when you arrive (no debit cards), etc.

Be careful touring guys, Vegas timeshare reps are among the slimiest of the bunch and will lie to you to get a sale. Remember: Just say no!
:clap::clap:
 
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carl2591

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Joined TUG '96, Wyndham Grand Palms AKA, Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort, 3 bed lockout.
back in the 80's we did OPC (off property contact) work trying to get folks to check out the "new upgrades" that were recently made a the resort.. We did stuff for Beach House, The Links and Maritime Beach Club..

My cousin was the "dealer" and was getting $40 per person that came in, of which we could get $20. Some weeks he was knocking down $1700 after paying the help. We were giving "10 silver dollars " for folks to come in.

man them was good times..:)

So that's what those kiosks are for! I see them everywhere I go on vacation. I used to wonder why in the world would someone be giving "discount coupons" in the middle of the hot sun. Now i get it!
 
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