crazymina

Well, I am back from Hawaii trip (celebrating our one year anniversary and a long awaited honeymoon) and since a few months ago I posted a question on this, I thought I’d share my experience.

I was nervous about this trip because DH hates being roped into these kinds of things. I have never done a TS presentation, but the value was too good. After all, it wasn't like they were just offering me a 100 bucks. The resort was Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas and the deal was as follows...

5 nights, 6 days accommodation
$180 rental car credit (paid for our car the entire time...we just paid about $40 in "taxes")
$100 resort credit usable for dining, drinks, spa, whatever.

Total for the package was $629 and Westin doesn't offer this package to everyone as previously noted. I was really bummed at first because the other Westin resort has a special for $750 that includes all of the above but doesn't require ANY timeshare preso. However, CA residents aren't eligible...so I went with this one.

The resort was awesome...ocean front and great snorkeling right from our beach. There was a free shuttle to their sister properties (Sheraton and Westin Resort and spa) at Kaanapali just down the road, so we were able to snorkel black rock too. You're supposed to get the worst room in the place, so that was what I was expecting. We did get the studio, but in the new north side which also had a ocean view balcony (a surprise). The room was AWESOME and big, with a fully functioning kitchen area (and big fridge), Jacuzzi tub, heavenly (two headed) shower and of course Westin's heavenly bed.

Here's the link to the resort. http://www.starwoodvacationownership...as/welcome.jsp

So the question is, was it worth it FOR US? ABSOLUTELY!

The reason why people are scared of these things is they are afraid the "90 minute" presentation will last 3 hours and that they will buy. And IMO, they do have a right to be afraid.

However, in our case, the guy gave up on us after 20 minutes, and we were out of there with our $100 resort credit 9 minutes after that...for a total of 29 minutes exactly in their sales cells (which granted are nice).

we never even got to go on the TOUR. I was kind of bummed because I wanted to see all the other types of rooms, but I guess they thought there was no way they could sell to us! I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so we escaped when we got the green light. But it would have been fun for me to sit through their hardcore pitch, if I weren't so worried about DH getting irritated. (He wasn't...actually had fun too, but more because I was such a goof during the initially grilling).

I'm happy to post how I got out of there in 29 minutes if anyone is interested in that kind of stuff, but this post is long enough as it is. Suffice it to say, the truth (selective as it was) worked and being a salesperson myself, I knew what tactics he was using. However, he was young and not at all bad to look at! For lengthier details of the timeshare presentation, you can read the post below.

Just to clarify though, I am not ADVOCATING these kinds of trips. Many people fall for their preso or get pressured into buying. It could ruin you financially. They prey on older couples. It's awful and I've read the stories. I am only relating my experience as I chose to take the risk. We are going to Australia to my husband's family for the holidays and we didn't have much extra money for a long awaited honeymoon. This is a legit offer and I didn't feel guilty about taking it...I only went with my eyes very wide open after hours and hours of research!!

crazymina

Here is the more detailed section on what I said to get out of the presentation. It's long but if any of you are interested in this sort of thing, you may find it informative and interesting. It was hard for me to find firsthand stories like this on the web.

The first thing would be to make your appointment EARLY. First one of the day would be awesome. Westin screwed up our appointment, and even though I had a confirmation letter, it STILL wasn't in their system. They handled it well when I first got to the resort and I had the concierge send an email over to the sales department that I would be over at 8:30 am. I would give it a shot even though you don't have an appointment, as this was key for us.

We got there at 8:15 am and they didn't turn us away even though there still was confusion. DH knew his role was to say absolutely NOTHING. These types of salespeople have heard it all and have answers to all sorts of objections on the customer's end. The key is not to give them anything to overcome. It's very hard to overcome a simple, "No, I'm not interested" if that is all you say. I had a game plan in mind and fortunately, it was pretty much going to be the truth.

At exactly 8:30, a young, cute salesman called our names. I set my cell phone alarm for 10:00 so it would ring and alert us that the salesperson was out of time. Just a little bit of insurance on my end to keep time in check.

The presentations were one on one and we were taken to a large lounge with ocean views and breezes. There were other initial meet and greets going on in the room. Right away he laughingly said "So, this is a timeshare presentation. It's high pressure and you're going to have to say "no" 400 times." He went on to say he's just a surfer dude and he just does this on the side to make money.

Being in sales myself, I know fully well this is the "Hey, I'm on YOUR side" ploy. I decide to use the "Well, then I'll be honest with you" ploy which would be effective whether he was sincere or not.

I joked that I would indeed say no 400 times and then said, "To be honest, we came at Westin's invitation because it was such a good deal and we've never been to Hawaii. We've never done this timeshare presentation thing before, but I have researched it, and it seems that Westin has a reputation for being a bit classier than some other timeshare pitches, so I decided to do it. In exchange for this deal, I am happy to give you 90 minutes of my time, because that is what the deal calls for. I will tell you right now we will not buy. This isn't our thing. But if you still want to spend 90 minutes with us, I am happy to make it as pleasant for you as possible. However, it is early in the morning and I know you are on commission, so there are probably other couples today who will be more worth your time because they will buy. It's totally up to you if you decide to spend time with us."

He looked at DH and said, "She knows exactly what to say, doesn't she?" DH just smiled.

The entire beginning part of the presentation is to ask us about our interests in vacation. The goal is to find ways to make timesharing more applicable to us. He asked what and where I researched, and I simply said "TUG." (A timeshare forum.) He said he never heard of it but that I could research all I want on Timeshare Users Group (funny, I didn't tell him what TUG stood for, did I?), but until we really saw the resort and what had to offer, we couldn't know if it was right for us or not. He then told us that people come in here all the time swearing to each other they would not buy...in fact they make pacts with each other. But they do end up buying he told me.

I held back the urge to say that it's because there are pushy swarmy salespeople and just smiled. It was pretty evident by this point that the "I'm just a surfer guy" thing was just a ruse. Then he started asking questions thick and fast.

"So what are your vacation plans for the future?" He asked.

Looking kind of bummed, I patted my stomach. I was only barely four months pregnant so I wore my ickiest "make me look fatty boomba" dress so I'd look even more preggo than I was. "Well, we're expecting our first child, and it was kind of unexpected. So this is actually our last hurrah. We'll have to spend all our vacation time visiting my husband's family back in Australia, as they are going to want to see their grandchild."

"Well, Australia is nice. Some pretty cool surfing there, right?"

DH chimed in. "No mate. We have sharks. They come right near the shore. We've had quite a few disappearances over the last few years." I resisted my first urge to laugh...he was so serious and morbid.

"Oh. Well, where else do you like to go on vacation?"

"Eastern Europe," I said. This is mostly true. I just didn't tell him I like western Europe too, which is where a lot of Starwood's resorts are.

Salesguy pursed his lips. "Where in eastern Europe?"

I perked up. "Croatia. We love croatia. My husband and I met when we were 30, backpacking...we love staying in hostels. Or we just walk into town and someone will offer us a room. It's the best thing."

He looked a bit perplexed. "What so great about Croatia? What's in Croatia?"

I asked if he had been, to which he replied in the negative. I then went on in rapturous detail about the azure seas, the unspoiled ruins, etc etc etc ETC.

"So that's the only place you want to go? Croatia? Anywhere else?" he asked.

"Oh no. There are TONS of places! Croatia, Turkey, Morocco, Vietnam...maybe somewhere in the wilds of Africa or South America. Argentina is on our list." DH told me later this is where he had to work hard not to laugh. Morocco? DH asked me. Since WHEN did you want to visit Morocco? I told him since always but I never really mentioned it.

I explained a bit more to the now obviously agitated salesguy. "We're really basic kind of people. We do love hostelling. We just like a...more ORGANIC experience." DH nodded in agreement, and for the first time I was happy he was growing that god-awful beard since he looked pretty granola with it.

"So that's the only kind of vacationing you want to do? I mean, are you going to be able to go to hostels with your baby?"

"You can get private rooms," DH and I chirped in simultaneously.

"But," I said regretfully, again patting my stomach. "There will be no time for those adventures with the baby anyway. All of our time will be going to his parent's house in Australia."

"So you are going to use all your vacation days going to Australia?" he challenged.

"Oh no, of course not. Every other year, his parents will visit us, and then I will get to use my vacation days showing them around Los Angeles and going to Disneyland for the 38th time." I replied, showing no enthusiasm whatsoever.

"So you don't think it's worth spending money doing something like this in Hawaii?" He kept trying.

"Funny you should ask that!" I laughed. "I just asked my husband that yesterday (which was true). We both agreed while this was nice, it's not quite our thing. It was nice to try it though, so thank you so much for the great deal."

"So I guess you are telling me that if you had not gotten our invitation for such a great deal, you would have never come to Hawaii?"

I did my best to look appropriately contrite and a bit embarrassed. "No. We would not have come."

"Well, different people like different things," he acknowledged. "Like, what kind of car do you drive?"

I knew this was one more effort to see if we liked luxury. Fortunately, the truth worked here too. "Freestyle." I said.

He furrowed his brow. "I've never heard of it. What's that?"

DH and I both said "It's a FORD." Family car, I added, we're a Ford family. I didn't tell him my other car was a Ford Mustang Convertible.

The salesguy mumbled something about all cars getting from point A to B but that some people chose to drive nicer cars and that we seemed like down to earth people. Resigned, he finally said, "Well, let's just blitz through the tour then."

Not so fast, buddy. I had one more bit of strategy. In the state of Hawaii, there are so many timeshare sharks that the state has put into effect a Timeshare Bill of Rights (see http://www.hawaii.gov/dcca/areas/rico/r_brochures and click on the timeshare brochure). The most important thing to me in this brochure is that the part that says "You have the right to receive any promotional device PRIOR to the presentation." Obviously this is one way the timeshare people keep you there...because they withhold the gift from you. I simply asked our salesperson how the gifting worked, as I was told that if we didn't attend the preso, we'd get charged full rack rate, and that we also were to get $100 credit. So was there a sign off he could give me or something? I brought up the fact that in the state of Hawaii, I believed the protocol was to take care of that before the preso/tour.

He looked confused (yeah right) and told me repeatedly he didn't understand what I was talking about. I calmly repeated my question. Finally he just said, "let me go check." He came back a few minutes later and said "You know, I'm sorry, we are on overflow today. I think I can get you out of here with what you are asking. But it's because we are on overflow...I didn't give up on you. If we weren't so understaffed, you'd be stuck with me!" I smiled agreeably and said I'd be happy to be stuck with him any day. I think DH snorted at that point.

The head honcho of the entire operation came by shortly thereafter and apologized for the "confusion" regarding our presentation. I looked nonplussed and told him that it's been nonstop since our appointment time booking but all was taken care of. He noted the confusion was about the gifts, and I just told him that I understood incentives were supposed to be given out before the presentation. He snottily retorted that he didn't "think that was the case" and it took me a bit of self control not to whip my brochure out of my bag. I wasn't about to anger the man who told me that today was going to "work out in my favor."

The marketing guy, who was pleasant came by and gave us our certificates and told us we were free to go, and that we should escape before they changed their mind. So at 8:59 we were out of there and DH indulged himself a bit watching football in the morning while I went to look around the resort more, since I was denied the tour, hehehe. My phone alarm surprised me a bit later when it went off at 10, as I had forgotten about it, and I couldn't help but grin to myself that the whole thing was so darn easy!

crazymina

P.S. there was no resort fee at the WKORV. Just the 629 I paid and that's it. That was a nice surprise because the credit we received was actually used for fun stuff, like food and drink.

DebitNM

Glad it worked out okay for you. We stayed at the Westin Resort and Spa Hotel, not the Ocean Villas and there was a resort fee there, even with the special promo package [with no timeshare presentation]. It was a good deal for us too.
Debi