Don’t You Love Your Kids? The Timeshare Hard-Sell

That’s the question that most rankled one prospective timeshare owner at a recent timeshare presentation.

“Of course I do,”  he answered.

“Then why wouldn’t you want them to grow up with such wonderful vacation memories?”

Granted, not every timeshare presentation uses manipulative sales techniques, but a few do.

Here are some common tools used during time share presentations:

An appeal to the emotions (see above)

Limited Time Offer  – if you walk out of the door, you can’t get the same deal tomorrow.

Everyone is doing it – some presentations are even known to plant another couple in the room who enthusiastically sign.

It will just take an hour – or two or three.  If they told you it would take three hours, you’d never agree.  You’ll notice there are no clocks in the room and sometimes alcohol is offered.  The bottom line is this:  the longer you are there, the more likely you are to buy.

A solution for that problem.  For every objection you come up, they will have at least four or five solutions.  You don’t have the money, they can help you find financing.

Promises, promises.  Regardless of what the salesperson says, if it isn’t written in the contract, it isn’t true.

Remember that timeshare salespeople are trying to make a living – sometimes their only source of income is the commission they earn from those sales (though they can be as high as 60% of the bill).  Still, buyer beware!

What Timeshare Owners Need to Know About the BBB

If you have a question or a concern about a company you have had dealings with, or are considering using, whether it’s a contractor for your home or a company that you are buying a timeshare from, check out what the Better Business Bureau has to say about them first.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) issued a reminder this week to remind anyone who is a timeshare owner to be aware of brokers who call out of the blue, ask for a fee and say they have prospective buyers.  Many of these are scams and remember, you can always check out a company with your local BBB.

In addition, Steven Cole, president of the Council of Better Business Bureaus says consumers are encouraged to obtain the names, addresses and telephone numbers for the lodgings, airlines and cruise ships advertised in a vacation promotion.

“Armed with that information, you can check with the BBB or a recognized travel organization to find out whether the business has been the subject of customer complaints. BBBs offer reports on travel-related businesses in both the U.S. and Canada,” said Cole.

The BBB defines its mission as “ensuring that high standards for trust are set and maintained. We exist so consumers and businesses alike have an unbiased source to guide them on matters of trust. We provide educational information and expert advice that is free of charge and easily accessible. “

For more information on the Better Business Bureau, go to
http://www.bbb.org

Do Timeshare Maintenance Fees Ever Decrease?

During timeshare presentations, the audience is often shown a chart or some organized way of portraying timeshare costs as being less than comparable luxury hotel accommodations over time.  At least in the past, these comparisons included escalation in hotel costs due to inflation.  But was the consistent rise in maintenance fees ever discussed?  Probably not.  But many timeshare owners have experienced increases in their maintenance fees.

Regardless of the presentation style or exact numbers, the case is made for a timeshare to save money over a period of time if a timeshare owner can consistently go on vacation annually to their timeshare.  This way the new timeshare owner can justify spending the money now in order to save later.

However, one assumption is made in the cost analysis — the price of hotel rooms does not go DOWN.  But during this recession, we know that hotels have lowered costs, sometimes drastically in order to bring in guests. This begs the question, “Do timeshare maintenance fees ever decrease?”  I cannot recall a timeshare owner ever getting a smaller annual maintenance fee bill year-to-future-year.  This would certainly change the cost comparisons between hotels and timeshares.

Just a couple questions to ask your timeshare sales person the next time you find yourself in a timeshare presentation.

View Timeshares as a Travel Aid, Not an Investment – Part III

By Eileen AJ Connelly, ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Sales Pitch

One criticism is that the sales presentations can involve high-pressure pitches, and often require prospective buyers to meet with two or three different people who will try to convince them to sign the papers that day.

Many who take tours at these resorts do so multiple times, often to help supplement vacations with the free theme park tickets, gift cards, meals and other incentives offered for sitting through an hour or 90- minute pitch. The incentives don’t stop there. If you indicate you are interested, you might be offered an upgrade on the type of unit you’re getting, or some other inducement.

Types of Deals

There are several different types of timeshare deals.

ARDA says about 67 percent of timeshare companies sell “intervals” — either specific weeks or “floating” weeks that can be used during certain parts of the year or sometimes every other year. Prime slots during holiday periods or at the height of a season— for instance ski season in Colorado or midwinter in the Caribbean — command higher prices.

The remaining third of developers use a points system or another flexible program that allows people to book vacations at different times, spending their points as they go — with more desirable locations and time slots and larger units costing more points.

All timeshares also require annual maintenance fees, which average $646 according to ARDA, and sometimes yearly membership fees as well.

With both intervals and points, owners can trade the time they have at their resort for locations elsewhere, typically by using an exchange company. There are two major exchange companies, RCI, a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide Corp., and Interval International, a segment of Interval Leisure Group. Both require membership fees to use their services — starting at $89 a year.

View Timeshares as a Travel Aid, Not an Investment – Part II

By Eileen AJ Connelly, ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Marketplace

“Timeshares are not an investment,” said Angela Gridelli, an interior designer and decorative artist who lives on Long Island, N. Y., and currently owns four timeshares.

“A timeshare is not like purchasing a condo or a home,” she said. “If anything, it’s like a car, where the value on your timeshare is going to depreciate every year.”

Gridelli said if she were to try to sell the two timeshares she purchased at full price — one in Aruba and one in New Jersey — she would take in 60 or 70 percent less than the roughly $25,000 each she paid. But she’s not looking to sell — she uses her timeshares as a way to travel extensively, typically getting nicer accommodations than she could otherwise afford.

The way she calculates it, Gridelli says over time, the total purchase price, plus her annual maintenance fees, compares favorably to how much it would cost for similar vacations staying in hotels.

The key is knowing how to exchange what you own for other travel opportunities. For instance, last year she traded time at one of her timeshares for a week in Spain. All she paid was the $333 maintenance fee for her timeshare, plus an $89 fee for the exchange. Her neighbors at the 2-bedroom condo were paying $500 a night to rent a similar unit.

The extra space in such facilities also means more comfort, and the potential to bring along more family members without having to pay for multiple hotel rooms.

Gridelli said she’s had so much success traveling using timeshares, she hopes to buy more on the resale market, especially since prices have dropped.

Multiple purchases are not uncommon. About 47 percent of sales are made to existing owners, according to the American Resort Development Association, the Washington-based trade and lobby group for timeshare developers.

Yet timeshares have a decidedly mixed reputation among the public at large, and Internet chat rooms can burn up with complaints from owners who are unhappy with various aspects of their purchases.