Two popular posts I have written about Timeshare Presentations are my Holiday Inn Club Vacation (HIVC) Presentation in Vegas and the Hilton Grand Vacation (HGV) Presentation in Vegas.
If you have the time and/or patience to sit through one of these presentations, they could be pretty good deals. If you want to know about current offers, you can check out the HIVC website or call HGV at 1-888-810-3205. They have offers in Las Vegas, NV, Orlando, Fl and other cities as well.
If you are going to sit through one, here are some helpful tips:
- When booking the presentation, they don’t schedule it on the day you arrive or leave so if you are traveling from Fri-Sun then your presentation will be scheduled for a Sat. I think an early morning one is better to get it out of the way.
- When booking the vacation, holidays are going to cost you a little extra so be aware of this.
- They won’t do the presentation if you have had a drink or are drunk. So make sure you are sober or at least say you are. You don’t want to miss out on any freebies because of a drink.
- If you are married, you have to do the presentation with your spouse. Don’t try to convince each other that these are good deals because they aren’t.
- Depending on the time you are going, eat a good meal before hand. The presentation lasts from 2-3 hours and you don’t want to be hangry.
- Be knowledgeable about the brand. The sales people ask what you know about them and it makes it go by faster when you are the one talking vs. them.
- If you have the co-branded credit card, bring it with you. It always seems to take them aback when I tell them that I get thousands of points and or free night certificates for a low annual fee. This can also be your weapon so to speak. It shows that you know the value of their points and how to use them. Examples are:
IHG Rewards
Hilton Surpass by American Express
- Be friendly and polite. I promise it goes a long way.
- Most importantly, say no to any offer they give you. They may entice you with the “this offer is for today only” but it’s their job to sell you a timeshare so they will pull out all the stops. Just say No Thank You no matter how many times you have to say it.
I know Marriott, Club Wyndham, Diamond Resorts International, Hyatt Residence Club, and BlueGreen Getaways do Timeshare Presentations as well but I have not yet done one with them. Please comment below to share your experience with any of the properties or to leave your own tips.
Have you done Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas offer by any chance? It’s $798 for 5 nights including an Avis car rental.
Keep forgetting to ask Controller1 on FT for the referral. It’s not guaranteed though as he posted recently that 15-20% of people he refers don’t get an invite so perhaps Starwood does some preliminary screening.
No I haven’t heard of that offer and haven’t done any in Hawaii. I tried calling SPG to see if they had any general timeshare offers and they said that they didn’t so they may be difficult to get.
This is the FT thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-starwood-preferred-guest/322858-westin-kaanapali-ocean-resort-villas-master-thread.html
Not sure how Starwood solicits people on their own but it seems that most people get referred by an existing owner. For that property the person to go to is Controller1 (Robert).
This is what he wrote to me awhile back when I asked him some questions about Hawaii and about this offer:
“As far as an owner-referral for WKORV, YES! I need the following information in order to make the referral:
First Name/Last Name
First Name/Last Name of spouse/partner if applicable
Telephone Number (indicate if cell/home/business)
Mailing Address
Email Address”
Thanks for the tip Ivan!
I did the Eestin Kaanapali in January. It’s about 2 hours. You can go to the presentation if you’re a guest of any of the SPG properties and you’ll earn points or hotel bill credit. Your benefits are negotiable. Remember they have sales goals. At the end of the month or quarter you’re more likely to get more feebies. I ended up with 50k points
I did the one at Westin on Kauai and it was the week before Xmas 2 yrs ago and I ended up with $300 room credit, 50k points and some other random stuff.
You must own a home and can only do it 1 time every two years at the same property.
Those are pretty good benefits for that presentation. Thanks for the tips!
Thank you for the tip, Stacey! 50K SPG points is pretty generous as SPG are worth quite a bit (assuming you transfer it to airline programs or are careful to redeem it for high-priced hotels in lower categories).
Interested in attending a timeshare presentation in Kauai, Hawaii…late April 2016