Timeshare Nightmare? Marriott Vacation Club Promotional Conference Experience

This article is not intended to comment on timeshare or whether Vacation Club is worth it. I just recorded a presentation that I personally experienced so that everyone can understand the process. Provide some practical information for those who are interested.

Marriott's Grand Chateau

It was a coincidence that we ended up staying at the Las Vegas Marriott Grand Chateau on this trip. Because I am a gold card member of Marriott, when choosing a hotel, I habitually look at Marriott's options first. It just so happens that this hotel is different from the traditional hotel. There are suites with kitchens and washing machines available. I was already frightened by the high housing prices in San Francisco and Los Angeles during my trip, but at $500 a night (for a three-bedroom suite), I didn’t feel it was expensive. Considering that this was the last stop of our trip, because of the Marriott brand and the excellent location adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip, we still booked the room well in advance without the possibility of cancellation or refund. The story begins with a $25 voucher given when checking in.

The young lady at the front desk told me that this voucher can be used to offset the money spent on shopping at the hotel’s “commissary”, but it must be activated at the designated service counter first, and repeatedly emphasized that it must be activated at the 24th day of check-in. Activate within hours, otherwise it will expire and become invalid. After I went out and walked around for a while and returned to the room, I was surprised to find that there was a message on the phone in the room. Its content repeats the above-mentioned rules for using vouchers. With such sincerity and seemingly free pie from the sky, could it be that there is a bonus for my gold membership?

Before going out to play the next day, come to the so-called counter 10 minutes in advance to activate the voucher. After asking me to fill in a questionnaire about family information and income, I asked a core question, "Does your wife speak English?" (Because she had been communicating with me in English at that time, she probably assumed that I could speak it). After getting a positive answer, I was "handed over" to the colleague next door and said she could help me activate it. At this time, it was already time for me to book the car and arrive, so I was already quite nervous, but I still listened patiently to what she had to say. The general idea is that the voucher has been activated. You can directly report the room number when making a purchase and it can be deducted when you check out at the end. Then asked if we would be interested in participating in a 90-minute pitch meeting (usually we translate Presentation into a presentation or statement, but after listening to it, I think it would be more appropriate to use pitching). In return, I will get 30,000 Marriott points, or 200 USD Gift Card (can be spent in stores or restaurants in the United States like cash). I heard about my friends attending promotion meetings for other resort hotels before, so I probably knew what was going on. However, considering that 30,000 Marriott points can still be exchanged for a few nights of accommodation, and the friend mentioned above has already fallen into the trap after listening to the promotion meeting (non-Marriott), I am a little curious about the mystery of this. After obtaining my wife's consent, we agreed to attend the meeting early the next morning.

Before attending, I briefly searched for Marriott Vacation Club, which is obviously not the same as Marriott Hotel, although I booked through the same APP. At the same time, my wife and I also agreed that no matter what kind of deal the other party offers, we will not fall into the trap. Exchange of 30,000 points in 90 minutes is our only purpose. Since we were attending the morning session, we were provided with a so-called free breakfast, capsule coffee packaged by Starbucks, plus three kinds of donuts. Then a dedicated consultant began to provide us with one-on-one services. The whole process is roughly as follows:

Understanding our past travel experiences and future plans, family, education, and work, it feels like we are practicing our speaking skills. The most important thing is to understand our travel budget, which will be of great use when introducing the plan later.

Let’s start by introducing the various advantages of the resort hotel, which will be combined with the hobbies we provided earlier. Anyway, whatever you like, we can provide it.

We were taken to a very beautiful suite, which is the kind of accommodation we can enjoy after joining the plan.

Various huge photos show the conditions of holiday homes around the world in detail. Of course, don’t forget to mention the items you said you like to play before.

This is the link that I am most concerned about. We returned to the consultant's desk. His computer was connected to a large TV, which allowed us to clearly see the quotation. The consultant will carefully follow the travel plan we gave before, a three-bedroom suite, two to three weeks a year, and finally came to the conclusion that "it only costs 50,000 US dollars!!! Brother, this price is only available today." There is nothing like this anymore. You have to know that I have been doing this for many years and the prices are rising every year. If you book a hotel by yourself, it will cost you XXXX dollars a year. Now you pay this. In the future, I can stay there for more than 20 days every year..." Of course, this is just a membership fee. You also need to pay a maintenance fee of about US$2,500 every year. This maintenance fee will increase year by year based on inflation.

I directly answered that the price was beyond my affordability. After a polite smile, "Brother, how can I let you suffer a loss? Look (click the mouse), 20% off, this is my A gift prepared for you..."

When I pointed out that it was still too expensive and I planned to reduce travel expenses in the future. The senior manager appeared as expected, but what surprised me was that after I expressed my firm position, the senior manager only asked one question, "No matter what price it is reduced to today, you will not buy it." ?”. After I said "Yes" firmly, I signed a few pieces of paper and left.

After that, I naturally expressed my gratitude to the consultant who patiently received us, and he didn’t seem to have much nostalgia for us. He just hoped that we could give us favorable comments in the subsequent questionnaire survey. Such a simple request made me Of course it cannot be refused.

However, in fact, this final questionnaire survey is not that simple. The person in charge of the questionnaire survey was another woman. She was most concerned about why we refused. Of course I said it was the choice of the individual family, not because the consultant's introduction was not clear enough. After completing the simple scoring, she took out a piece of plastic A4 paper with the names of 20 major American cities on it. Then we were asked if we would like to travel to the above cities in the next two years. We said "possibly" and "OK, good things are coming. As long as we pay 995 US dollars, we can choose any time in the next two years to travel to the above cities." Stay at a resort hotel in China for 5 nights and receive an additional 50,000 Marriott points (this proves that I am a loyal Marriott fan)." In fact, considering the high housing prices in Manhattan, I hesitated for a moment. However, 995$ is not a small amount of money after conversion. Fortunately, poverty keeps me sane. After declining again, the lady gave me a receipt for 30,000 Marriott points and thanked me for my time. Back and forth, the total time was less than 2 hours.

The reason why I used such a shocking title is not because I want to sensationalize and scare people, but when I walked out of the hotel lobby that day, there was a group of old Americans across the road, holding signs with "Timeshare Nightmare" protest. After watching some protest videos against this high-pressure sales model, I have to say that my experience was very pleasant. First, there was no overtime, and second, there was no forced buying or selling. Please forgive me for translating the consultant's introduction into the tone of a domestic real estate agency. In fact, the English words sound very pleasant to the ear, although the essence is similar. As for this kind of timeshare, whether Vacation Club's deal is worth it is indeed a matter of opinion. Borrowing from the saying, "Financial freedom means not doing anything you want to do." If after joining the plan, you don't even move in and don't feel distressed, then there is absolutely no problem. Some people may even think that the time I spent in exchange for just a few hotel points is very unworthy.