So I’m taking the plunge and paying the Mouse Tax that many American’s with young families pay – were going to Disney in Florida. I’m a little sarcastic about it, but I actually think we will have a good time of it. I’ve done a bit of reading and I’m looking at some options in Orlando for where to stay. If we stay off-premise I’ve found that I can save several hundred dollars if I stay at a place that offers time shares and sit in their 90 minute presentation.
I have zero interest in buying into one of these. Aside from breaking up the routine of a vacation, is there a catch here? They seriously want to feed me soda and sandwhiches, try to sell me on something I won’t buy and then give me hundreds of dollars off my hotel fees? Sounds okay, but there must be some catch. Jump to it lavender room. Any insights on this to share?
I’ve not been through a Disney pitch but I have for others.
There is no catch. Plan to spend 90 minutes with them, be kind, and then simply say… no thanks. And then kindly ask them to please not to follow-up. They fully expect 90% of the people they pitch to say no.
They know what they’re doing, they are very apt at changing people’s minds with the presentation. I assume you know what company it is? Go on Ebay and see what people are selling their timeshares for. You’ll see that some people are almost giving them away just to get out from under the annual fees.
Unfortunately my wife and I bought one some years back. Horrible mistake. I could have bought one off of ebay for about 10% of what we paid.
It will be easier to resist the sales presentation if you know you can buy one for a whole lot cheaper.
They will berate you and call you names when you can’t afford to buy from them (that will be their assumption). Ask them if they want to compare W2’s, offer to make a wager of it.
But for the most part they will give you the $$ off your hotel bill.
I guess I just have to be firm about the “no thank you” at the end of the 90 minutes and hopefully they will have a better prospect in the room and they won’t want my negative energy and rational thought in their space. I usually don’t have much trouble shaking people off my leg when their time is up but I know they are doing this day in, day out.
We did exactly this a while ago. It was nice to have a room way above our pay grade and for a song for a couple of days; certainly better accommodations than we would have found for the same out-of-pocket money.
Something to keep in mind: while you will be sitting through a high-pressure sales pitch, your kid(s) will also be sitting there for the duration. Judge their ability to do so. This was becoming an issue with our two daughters as the pitch wore on.
Have a reason to not buy that is unassailable, because they will try everything to get you to change your mind. We determined that we just wouldn’t use it enough to justify it (this is the truth): “here’s how much we spend on vacations per year, and we’d have to live to be 120 for this to be of benefit”, or something like that. They can’t challenge your assertion about your travel habits. If they smell any waffling on your part, expect an extended visit from the sales manager.
Something else to keep in mind: whoever is giving you the sales pitch is doing this for a living. He/she is spending his working time to sell you something, and there is some question as to the ethics of taking something from them (discounted rooms) with no intention of providing something in return. One could slide past that by rationalizing the idea that there’s always the possibility of a purchase. Sort of like taking the food samples at Costco in lieu of buying lunch.
Have a reason to not buy that is unassailable, because they will try everything to get you to change your mind. We determined that we just wouldn’t use it enough to justify it (this is the truth): “here’s how much we spend on vacations per year, and we’d have to live to be 120 for this to be of benefit”, or something like that. They can’t challenge your assertion about your travel habits. If they smell any waffling on your part, expect an extended visit from the sales manager.
Great advice. Thank you.
Something else to keep in mind: whoever is giving you the sales pitch is doing this for a living. He/she is spending his working time to sell you something, and there is some question as to the ethics of taking something from them (discounted rooms) with no intention of providing something in return. One could slide past that by rationalizing the idea that there’s always the possibility of a purchase. Sort of like taking the food samples at Costco in lieu of buying lunch.
I have taken this to heart. I called their main sales office and explained the situation plainly. I said that I firmly in my heart had no plans, or means, to buy into a time share and that if they would prefer that I don’t book with them I would respect their wishes. The person I spoke to encouraged me to proceed. Of course this is unlikely the person whose time will be wasted but I sincerely tried.
Did one when we were in Hawaii. Got 50% or “One person free” deal on a helicopter ride and half day scuba excursion off a boat. WELL worth it IMO. The copter ride was over 100$ a person and the scuba thing was closer to 150$ if I recall so for us it was a 250+ value for about a 90 minute presentation and 30 minutes or attacks.
They are VERY convincing and AMAZINGLY aggressive and persistent. They make car salesmen look like Girl Scouts.
Also find out everything you can BEFORE hand. The deal they offer might sound really good, ours did, but many times there are a whole lot of catches, fees etc that they are not completely up front about.
Have a reason to not buy that is unassailable, because they will try everything to get you to change your mind.
This is what we had to do as well. The deal itself was actually pretty decent. Not a whole lot of money and alot of perks. But we just don’t have the money to be jetting off to Hawaii every year and thus regardless of the deal we’d rarely if every use it so it made no sense for us.
Do this. Please post a detailed race report afterwards. I’d just about go double or nothing on the $$$ you’d save that the presentation is closer to 3 hours than 90 min.
You should take into account your own personal tolerance for aggressive sales pitches. Personally, I fucking hate aggressive salesmanship. I don’t want to buy your crap, so stop trying to convince me to spend my money. For me, it’s not something I would be willing to sit through, even for 90mins, to save a hundred bucks. It would put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. If it doesn’t bother you that way, then go ahead.
I’d skip it - we did this on our honeymoon where a family member gave us their time share week as a gift, but also gave us the heads up that the resort would very likely give us a hard sales pitch to buy as well. We briefly met the guy who was our host when we checked in and he was all charm, fresh flowers for my wife and a nice bottle of wine for the two of us as he mentioned that he wanted to get together at some point later on in our stay. Also got two newspapers delivered to our condo each day, along with another delivery of fresh flowers along with another bottle of wine at one point during the week. When it came time for the meeting we were up front in a polite way about the fact that we had just gotten married, were still in our mid-20s and in no position to buy or commit to anything, but that didn’t stop the guy from being pretty aggressive and pushy in his sales pitch. The more we politely declined and repeated our position, the more aggressive he got. I think we were there about an hour or so before he gave up. Of course, after that no more flowers, wine or daily newspapers, which was no surprise. I did see the guy a day or so later as we were walking through the resort and said good morning to him as he approached, but he walked right by without any acknowledgement as if we were invisible.
Easier to build up miles and points with credit cards over a few months. I just booked a trip to Disney for myself and girlfriend including 4 days hotel and theme park tickets for $25 total (Over $1500 at cost).
or you can rent an owners time share and not sit through anything. we stayed here 2 years ago and are going back in april http://vacationupgrades.com/index.htm
Did this once (different location). Will never do it again. Personally, I would much rather be out a couple hundred bucks than go through the aggressive sales pitch. As someone pointed out, 90 minutes may turn into 3-4 hours before you and the family get out of there. Not worth it to me. Keep in mind you are putting your whole family through this ordeal.
Before you do the timeshare… look into Disney’s “value” resorts. Went there last year and stayed at the art of animation resort. It wasn’t much more than an off-premise hotel and disney has free shuttles to/from the airports and to the parks; by staying at disney we didn’t need to rent a car.
Did this once (different location). Will never do it again. Personally, I would much rather be out a couple hundred bucks than go through the aggressive sales pitch. As someone pointed out, 90 minutes may turn into 3-4 hours before you and the family get out of there. Not worth it to me. Keep in mind you are putting your whole family through this ordeal.
I’ve done a little more reading about some pretty bad experiences out there. Increasingly I think it just isn’t worth the hassle. I get very little vacation time and I don’t want to spoil it with an unpleasant high pressure sales encounter.
Going on holiday with your family is not worth the few hundred bucks saved listening to some bullshit timeshare that will benefit you none. Stay st Motel6 or Americas Best Inn if you are really trying to spend less coins. Look for hotel discounts on flyertalk.com and theflightdeal.com, not at a lousy timeshare.
Have you looked into staying on the Disney property? We have several friends who have done this. The meal ticket deal can be worth it, plus you can get in the parks earlier. If your travel dates are flexible, there are some really good deals out there.
Did this with Hilton. No catch. We were to give them 90 mins. They gave us 2 nights in hotel, money voucher and honors points. Our group got cut about 15 mins in so we got our 75 mins back plus additional free night, etc in addition to promised stuff. it was a good deal. If you have 90 mins you should do it BUT the catch on ours was that both spouses had to be there. That may be tough in your sitch since you’ll have the crumb-spreaders with you