My time is far too precious to sit through a sales pitch on my vacation. When I am on vacation, I am

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One of the pieces of mail I get with some regularity rental car discount codes is an invitation to the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch in San Antonio to stay in a one-bedroom suite on a discounted rate that is typically $99/night or less plus 10,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points.  A one-bedroom suite in a fun and family-friendly city for under $100 night plus 10K bonus Hyatt points awarded for visiting what a deal, right?!
Well, maybe, but the catch is that you are supposed to attend a 90 minute time-share rental car discount codes presentation while you are there.  We had actually booked a similar offer at this property a while back, but had to cancel due to unrelated rental car discount codes events.  We did accept an offer for a time-share presentation at Westin Beaver Creek a little over a year ago, and in exchange for attending the presentation we were given 10,000 SPG points that posted without incident.  In this instance there was no upfront discounted stay offered, we just agreed to the presentation while we were staying there on points.  I value those points between two to three cents each, so that is about $200 $300 in value for attending the presentation (aka sales pitch).
From time to time i also hear about pretty interesting offers for many resorts in Hawaii including a 5-night stay at the Westin Ka anapali Ocean Resort Villas in Maui for around $800, plus other perks like some SPG points or resort credit, car rental certificate, or similar included rental car discount codes in that $800 amount.  That is far below the going rate for that hotel.  Some of those offers don t even require the person to attend the time-share presentation though one will most certainly be offered (possibly with additional perks).  Some are offered these offers via targeted rental car discount codes solicitations, and others are invited by time-share owners ( psst, you can ask for some invites from owners on threads like this ).
Having done a couple of these myself I will readily admit that I have taken over a year off from doing them again.  It s not that the offers have gotten any less appealing, it is that it is a whole new ballgame when you have a young kid along for the ride.  Typically they require that both spouses attend, so by default that means that the kid(s) come along as well.  The last one I did was with a two-year-old in tow and when the 90 minute presentation crossed the two hour threshold, my kid was way more than done, and consequently so was I.  I got a bit grumpy when they showed no signs of trying to speed the process of wrapping up, even after we had gone longer than anticipated rental car discount codes with my increasingly cranky toddler.  Clearly we all lived, we got our points, and time marched on, but I m not anxious to repeat that process in the near future.  Not only is my time on vacation even more valuable than it used to be, but keeping my kid happy during a long sales pitch in a boring office would requires a higher payoff than a few points I can earn elsewhere.  As she gets older, and if I need the points, I may sit through a few again I just need longer rental car discount codes to forget how much I didn t enjoy the last experience.
I m sure they all vary a little, but in general you are given some info on the available properties, shown some numbers, told how much you will save , be shown some pretty pictures, given a tour, etc.  If you say no you will then have to tell at least one, if not two, other people no as well.  The deal will probably get sweetened, and toward the very end you may be offered a pretty reasonable deal on a vacation or points to come back in the future.  This offer may also be negotiable, and may be worth it or it may not be (especially if you usually travel using points anyway).  I say no to everything rental car discount codes as my purpose was just the free points.
I know some people own time-shares and really feel they get a tremendous value from them (especially if obtained on the resell market), but you don t have to truly be in the market for a time-share purchase in order to earn points from going to a time-share presentation.  Of course, if you have a hard time saying no to what can be a somewhat hard sell, then this may not be a good points earning method for you.
I d love to hear if you have gone to a time-share presentation for points and/or a great room rate if so, feel free to include details on what you got, where it was, how hard of a sales pitch it was, etc!
I think the sales pitches are just too much and not worth the time and effort. Would rather just do a few CVS runs! And as you allude rental car discount codes to, timeshares are great IF you buy someone else out who fell for one of these marketing pitches and then buy them out at pennies on the dollar later when they realize what a bad deal it is.
Thanks for your perspective, rental car discount codes MP. I ve done just one of these before and recently got suckered (or at least that s how I feel!) into one with Hilton Grand Vacations in Orlando. I am regretting signing up/paying for it, but it seemed like such a good deal: 3 nights for $149 total plus a $100 Hilton gift card and 10,000 HHonor points (not that those are worth much anymore.) Still, I put myself in a corner of having to go to Orlando without X amount of months before the deal expires.
2)Westin Princeville Villas in Kauai $800 for 5 nights plus car and 7,000 SPG points – no timeshare presentation required – however, we were offered 7,500 SPG points to take a 90 minute tour, which we did. We had our 1 year old with us, and they told us if we took the tour, we could get a babysitter for free for 3 hours while we were taking the tour. My wife didn't feel comfortable with that though, so we took her along.
3)Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu – While there on a reward stay, we took a 2 hour tour of their timeshare, which we received 20,000 HHonors points for. This was before the devaluation, so it was worth it to us then. Now, I probably wouldn't have done it. A little more pressure than the SPG one, and she was a little rude at the end when we kept saying no, but all in all not too bad.
Keep in mind both SPG ones were on nonrefundable rental car discount codes rates, and we had to book pretty far in advance, so if anything went wrong, we would not have gotten our money back (though you could rebook to a different anytime within 1 year of booking)
We bought a timeshare week from the resale market in 2002 and we had great success exchanging it through RCI into many beautiful beachfront resorts in Mexico and Hawaii. We did a timeshare presentation during our first visit to Mexico in 2008 and the 90 min tour turned into 4 hours! It was horrible torture rental car discount codes for us with 3 young kids. Since then, we avoid all timeshare rental car discount codes sales at all cost. It is simply not worth the time! But we will continue to stay at timeshare resorts as we love the space and convenience they provide (much better than two hotel rooms). It definitely helps lower the cost of traveling with three kids!
We actually became Marriott Vacation Club owners this way. We attended for the points, but it really was a good deal (buying through them instead of resale gives you much more flexibility which we wanted), and so we jumped and have never looked back. We even bought another week two years later when we went to Aruba on the points from the first purchase. And yes, we make it a point to attend each time we go (although I think we are done buying for a while!) because you get a nice lift to your points rental car discount codes every time you do. If you have the Marriott credit card and be sure to use it for every Marriott-related purchase, rental car discount codes you get a nice lift from your vacation time as well. We always also sign up for the promotions that give you free stays in category 1-4 and for the last 2 years have gotten extra vacations in Newport, RI (saw the mansions) and Washington DC (saw everything). I also did a taste of platinum promotion last year that boosted me to Platinum status for a year for only 9 stays. Marriott takes a beating in the blogs but if you are loyal and no how to work the system, it works very well, and I think they offer a consistent, excellent produce. Also, they always have a kid room for our 3 kids when we attend presentations with chocolate chip cookies and other things, so they are always very content when we attend. Now it s a normal part of our routine when we vacation.
I did a timeshare rental car discount codes presentation @SPG 3 yrs ago with the thought it would get on their list for the nice resort rental car discount codes special offers. After a little back and forth after the pitch I was straight forward that I was there because of the point offer. They did bring in a 2nd closer to try to sway me but eventually they relented and sent me to the back way to collect my info for the 10k. Probably about 45mins start to finish. And I wouldnt do it again. Not worth the time investment. There are much better options.
My time is far too precious to sit through a sales pitch on my vacation. When I am on vacation, I am on vacation. My husband and I did this maybe twice about 20 years ago when we were young and much poorer to get freebies on our vacation but I would rather pay for meals, rooms, etc and enjoy every minute of my vacation. Back then I don t remember them offering points. I would never buy a time share. I agree that some folks may get a good deal if they grab one from someone desperate to get rid of one but not a one of these meetings. I know so many people stuck with times shares and many of them that never use em. What a waste!
At the Wyndham presentation I felt so bad for the majority of attendees who got su