I saw this thread and thought I would post something; a little off topic, but I am not sure where else to post it.
I travel a lot for business and as such, I stay frequently with Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express (never have figured out the difference, but apparently there is one). During one of my stays way back when, I signed up to be a "Priority Club" member. This has apparently now changed to be a "IHG" membership. The theory of the membership was to earn "points" for a free night here and there, preferential reservations, and a bottle of water and some goodies at check in (ok; I admit, I was after the water and goodies).
Last night, I was on the road having worked for 8 hours and driven for another 3 to get to a town in NM. I started looking for a hotel because I realized I wasn't going to stay awake for another 2 hours to get all the way back to Albuquerque where I fly home from tomorrow. The first two hotels were booked, but the last one I called recommended I try the Holiday Inn Express. I did and I got their last room. My cell phone was cutting in and out when talking to reservations but I heard the person say "thank you for being a club member and hold for.... (phone cut out). So pretty soon some guy gets on the phone and starts telling me about how Holiday Inn doesn't advertise except through word of mouth and they wanted to give their club members some special deal to say thank you. I should have smelled a rat right there... The phone cut out a few more times while he told me about being able to choose to stay 3 night/4 days in Las Vegas, the Smokey Mountains, Orlando, or one other that I lost in transmission for $199. Now this is sounding pretty interesting since I have a 29th anniversary coming up and $199 isn't too big of deal so, yeah I'm interested. I can use this vacation anytime in the next year, and even change the destination to one of the other resorts for free if I so choose.
I gave him a credit card number to charge to and AFTER I gave him that information he tells me that the package includes a 2 hour "tour" of the property and he needed to verify that I make at least $50k/year and am not in bankruptcy. Alarm lights go off in my head. I said "hey wait a minute; if this is a TS sale, I am not interested. I already own a TS that I got for $300 resale and there is no way on God's green earth I will pay a developer thousands of bucks." He insisted that it's not a time share sale, just a tour of the facility and that since I had already given him my credit card number and he had processed it, it was non-refundable.
I wasn't even aware that Holiday Inn did TS sales....Between the phone cutting out and being so blinking tired, I fell victim to their tactics.... I guess I will go do the 3 nights/4 days with the 2 hours of getting beat up and saying "NO" repeadedly, but I tell you what; I am taking a time clock with me and setting a freaking alarm. If this is the tactics that Holiday Inn has sunk to, I think I am going to see about revoking my membership in their "awards" club....cripes.....:annoyed: