The "Concierge"

[Frequent traveler]

I saw reference to this issue in another thread that then seemed to head off in another direction...

We encountered the ugly side of the personal "concierge" who provides a phone call a week or two before scheduled arrival to supposedly help with restaurant reservations, golf bookings, etc., but is really only interested in getting you signed up for an "owner update" presentation. Several years ago, we received calls from 7 different personal concierges (!) prior to our annual Christmas visit to Marriott's Grande Ocean, where we own two weeks. My wife was gracious through the first couple of these in thanking the person for the offer, but declining any update presentation. I took the last 5 calls and probably got increasing less nice.

When we arrived at the resort, I stayed at the Check-In desk while my wife went over to the Concierge counter to get our discount card for local restaurants and attractions. She got an in-person attempt to convince us to attend a presentation. When she declined, the "Concierge" started hurling insulting comments about not understanding why my wife didn't want to better understand how to use our ownership effectively. That ended the conversation.

I felt this Concierge nonsense crossed a line that was starting to impact our vacation experience as owners at the resort for many years. So I contacted the resort's general manager. He was very responsive, and even took time to listen to our tribulations in person. As follow-up, he contacted the sales and marketing staff and we were put on a Do Not Contact list. We haven't been bothered again about a presentation in the past several years at the resort. As we explained, if we want to get an "owner update", we'll ask.

It still strikes me as strange business practice to pretend that you are a Concierge or that you are offering an Owner Update when those terms are at best misleading and at worse disingenuous. If the product can't be sold honestly, maybe the product is not as good as it is made out to be

 

[mj2vacation]

Parts of the industry, sadly, are still stuck in the 70’s. The don’t want to refer to the “concierge” as what it is. A tour desk. That is the primary reason that they are there.

 

[Pens_Fan]

Just tell them that you are not there with your wife.

That shuts them down every time.

 

[VacationForever]

Note that OP reported that it happened to them many years ago and has not had such a call for several years. Marriott no longer calls people like this anymore. For some locations, they send an email prior to the stay, and that is all that they do.

 

[dioxide45]

We received a call in advance of our Maui Ocean Club stay last week. They just left a message and we didn't call back, but it does seem that they still call, at least some of the time.

 

[pedro47]

We were referred to The Concierge Desk at OceanWatch for the first times in our three (3) visits to this resort .
A no answer and that it was all over; no phone calls during our stay.
We really enjoyed our vacations at MOW.

I do not like this part of a timeshare vacation called "The Concierge Update".
I am on vacation, "To relax and to enjoy my family; not to listen to another ninety (90) minute sales pitch".

 

[GreenTea]

I’ve always gotten a call. We have never gone to one. The callers are usually very nice and I do ask for some reservations

 

[irishwitchy]

They still send multiple emails and phone calls from multiple people. I had both this past fall at Ko Olina and Waiohai. I wasn't a fan.

 

[TravlinDuo]

We get a pre-arrival call before every one of our stays at a Marriott timeshare. Being tired of the "if you don't succeed, ask again" pitch, I finally decided to tell them that we were selling our timeshares and weren't interested in hearing about updates or new benefits. Thus, the calls are now short.

 

[Tokapeba]

When I stayed at the Westgate in Park City we got a few calls before we arrived. Before we checked in I hurt myself skiing, I pulled both my calfs and checked in in a wheelchair. The person at Westgate Park City insisted in following us up to the room and would come by at least once a day for the first three days.

 

[Wei339]

The so called "Concierge" at the various timeshares function basically act as the front for recruiting owners for presentations under the guise of granting discount cards or offering updates for the timeshares. The whole sales office has changed dramatically from the days of weekly sales to destination points sales. The present office appears to targeting owners to upgrade to a higher level of status. After several presentations, a set strategy becomes more transparent at each office. The whole process is now a very hard sale which insults the intelligence of owners and personally does not interest me for whatever number of Marriott points they are willing to offer. We no longer accept any presentation offers and certainly do not visit the "Concierge " desk. We really do not miss the wasted time spent with the presentations or the points awarded as the time gained is much rewarding spent enjoying the timeshare. As more and more owners refuse the presentation offers maybe they will come to their senses and spend more time on enhancing the experience at the timeshares. But this is probably asking too much in our capitalist system where corporate profits for shareholders is the ultimate goal at any cost.

 

[bazzap]

The approach and level of persistence before/during/after arrival does seem to vary significantly by resort.
At one of our resorts, we signed a form to confirm that we did not require any owner updates aka sales presentations in future.
They have not asked us again at that resort, but this did only apply to that one resort.

 

[pedro47]

I wish all resorts would follow this pattern, vacationers could sign a form stating that they do not require any owner update aka sales presentation in the future.

Please share this thought and “please” share it with your developer and with your HOA.

 

[pedro47]

The approach and level of persistence before/during/after arrival does seem to vary significantly by resort.
At one of our resorts, we signed a form to confirm that we did not require any owner updates aka sales presentations in future.
They have not asked us again at that resort, but this did only apply to that one resort.

You are right on point.

 

[Dean]

I saw reference to this issue in another thread that then seemed to head off in another direction...

We encountered the ugly side of the personal "concierge" who provides a phone call a week or two before scheduled arrival to supposedly help with restaurant reservations, golf bookings, etc., but is really only interested in getting you signed up for an "owner update" presentation. Several years ago, we received calls from 7 different personal concierges (!) prior to our annual Christmas visit to Marriott's Grande Ocean, where we own two weeks. My wife was gracious through the first couple of these in thanking the person for the offer, but declining any update presentation. I took the last 5 calls and probably got increasing less nice.

When we arrived at the resort, I stayed at the Check-In desk while my wife went over to the Concierge counter to get our discount card for local restaurants and attractions. She got an in-person attempt to convince us to attend a presentation. When she declined, the "Concierge" started hurling insulting comments about not understanding why my wife didn't want to better understand how to use our ownership effectively. That ended the conversation.

I felt this Concierge nonsense crossed a line that was starting to impact our vacation experience as owners at the resort for many years. So I contacted the resort's general manager. He was very responsive, and even took time to listen to our tribulations in person. As follow-up, he contacted the sales and marketing staff and we were put on a Do Not Contact list. We haven't been bothered again about a presentation in the past several years at the resort. As we explained, if we want to get an "owner update", we'll ask.

It still strikes me as strange business practice to pretend that you are a Concierge or that you are offering an Owner Update when those terms are at best misleading and at worse disingenuous. If the product can't be sold honestly, maybe the product is not as good as it is made out to be

While I think this and worse are common with some timeshares & timeshare systems, I don't think it ever has been with Marriott. I can't think of a time when I've seen the ASA cross over the line and I've seen limited reports along this line over the years. Still their main job it to get you in to a sales tour so one can't blame them for doing so.

 

[dioxide45]

This is how timeshare has been and always will be. It is a product that is sold, not one that is bought. Very few people go in to a presentation wanting to buy a timeshare, instead they are sold one. The CEO for MVW said this exact thing himself. If they didn't recruit people in this method, they wouldn have very few people coming to the presentations. Timeshare sales are all about the numbers, the more heads through the door, the more sales. With a 1 in 7 or 1 in 10 ratio of presentation to sale, it means the higher the number of recruits the more sales they will score. The quality of the prospect isn't all that important. Everyone from the head hunter all the way to the top of sales management gets paid when someone buys. Head hunters get paid for everyone they send through the door. This is why much of the sales overhead is in marketing costs.

If this could be done better, I would have suspected that some company would have started doing so already. The only company that perhaps doesn't have do do this is Disney Vaction Club. Though they have a unique product that they can offer and their points tend to sell themselves better than the other systems. For the others, the thing is there simply isn't a better way for a product like timeshare and it is unlikely to ever change.

If they simply called the "concierge" a "person to talk to to sign up for a timeshare tour" no one would go over to them or call them. They have to go under this disguise to "trick" you in to talking to them. I don't like it either and have complained about it on here, but have learned that it is what it is and am now used to it. I even like the call as I can sign up for more tours and get more points. How else can we fly to Hawaii and Europe for free?

 

[MALC9990]

I wish all resorts would follow this pattern, vacationers could sign a form stating that they do not require any owner update aka sales presentation in the future.

Please share this thought and “please” share it with your developer and with your HOA.

You can do this, just get your account updated to flag it as no presentations.

 

[pedro47]

You can do this, just get your account updated to flag it as no presentations.

Thanks for the advice. I have shared this information with our timeshare traveling group of ten(10).

 

[Cruiser Too]

Money is the reason !

The person who signs you up for these "Dog-and-Pony" shows... receives a commi$$ion !!!!