Timeshare - Grayslake,IL

We sat thru the Hilton and ended up buying the every other year package.
Best move we ever made. Absolutely love it and boy can I stretch the
points!!!! Just keep saying no. They expect it.

My advice - never go to one in the first place. Why on earth would you sit through that and allow people to be rude to you? Talk about ruining a vacation!

As I understand the "deal", most do not let you have the original "offer" (ie free night's stay, etc) unless you jump through a million hoops, stand on your head for 17 hours while jungling fire crackers and sell your first born. So why not just pay full price to begin with and skip the misery?

Good luck!

We did one in Aruba. It was for the Divi resorts. They are located all over the world and the US. They were offering a $100 gc for a tall ship/ snorkling excursion just to come and listen. The talk was an hour or two long but well worth the $100. My husband and I were able to go on an all day snorkling trip for about $20. We listened and acting like we were really interested and just told the man that we really needed to think about it, that it was a big decision. We left and never went back. :) I think they even left a message at our hotel, but we just didn't call back. Looking back now, I wish we would have done it. Aruba is the highest timeshare you can get and you can trade your week for anywhere in the world since the weather is always perfect there. We could even trade one week in Aruba for two weeks in the US. It would have been paid off this year. At that point we would only have to pay for airfare to go where we wanted. Bottom line, if they are offering something to sit through the "talk" then by all means do it and get what they are giving. Just act like you care....it made it easy to get the gc that was coming to us. It doesn't hurt to tell them that you are considering the Wyndam package (even though your not) so that they really think that you want to purchase something. lol :) Good luck.

We sat through it and listened politely. We said "No thank you," and the offers just kept coming. This was with my in-laws. Otherwise I would have been more vocal (my MIL tends to be a wuss). My SIL finally said, we're not intersted, thank you.

Just be polite but firm. You sat through the presentation, you are not intersted (you can add "at this time" if you like), thank you and we'll keep this in mind for the future.

They get rejections everyday and don't take it personally. It's their job to try and get you to say yes. Just be firm, but kind.

Um...that's why you're "there"...to be a potential BUYER of a timeshare. Of course you need to expect there to be some pressure. are you looking to buy a timeshare or just tolerate the dog & pony show for some "free" perks? Because that's rarely ever worth it.

My husband used to manage collections on timeshares. After hearing what goes on from his end, I would NEVERRR sit through one of those things, let alone ever entertain the thought of getting a timeshare. What a nightmare! I feel so sorry for the people who fall for that ____@____.com't waste your time or mental energy going to those things. If it sounds too good to be true, that's because it is!

First, TIME SHARES ARE A RIP OFF ! ! ! !

Second, THE SALESMEN KNOW IT ! ! ! ! But they don't care. All they want you to do is sign on the bottom line. Almost all of them will do anything they can to get you to sign. Why? An exorbitant commission.

Third, They offer such expensive "gifts" to get you to come in and appeal to your "something for nothing" desires. Then they lay it on thick. They always say "90 minutes of your time" . . . I've been to a couple of dozen, and none of them are ever only 90 minutes. One had us tied up for almost 6 hours. (They drove us several miles to a remote location and then refused to drive us back. We finally said "yes" to get back, then promptly cancelled.)

I always calculate how much they are offering and how much my time is worth before I decide to listen to their "90 minute presentation" stuffed into 3 to 4 hours.

How do you say "No"? I use "No thank you". Or, "Your yearly maintenance fee is high enough that I can pay for a hotel where ever I want to stay. Then the interest rate on your time share is higher than what it is on my credit cards and the opportunity cost is just too much. If you add the annual payments that I have to spend until the time share is paid for divided by the week of vacation I get to use here, then the time share is really costing me $4000 for a week to stay here once per year. I can buy an all inclusive resort for a week for the same price or less. Or I can buy a week long cruise on a really nice ship where all my meals are included, unlike the restaurant at your timeshare where a continental breakfast is $10."

I love the idea behind the time share. But they aren't for the THINKING traveler that knows how to book a room, buy a meal and decide where to stay.

Why do we go to timeshare presentations? I used to go because I thought they would offer me an opportunity far a really nice vacation at a really nice place in a really nice room. Its all just a lie. Now I go to get the "gifts" if they are worth it to me. Some times they are and sometimes they aren't.

Now I go when the salesmen trying to get you to sign up are really pushy and won't take "No" for an answer. They my wife and I go and enjoy their "Gifts" if we have the time and are going to be in the area. My wife and I "earned" two $100 master cards the last time we went for 2 hours of listening and lunch. They we went and had the rest of the day and evening having fun at the timeshare's expense. (BTW, you can negotiate your prizes. One was going to give us 6 threatre (movie) tickets. They said the ticket were worth $20 each. I told the timeshare sign up salesman that I can buy movie threatre tickes for $6 each and do so on a regular basis. (This is true.) She said, "I'll give you 10 tickets then. I said, "Six tickets times $20 is $120. I'd need 20 tickets to even begin to think about going. So she gave us 20 movie tickes plus $100 gift card for "dinner".

We are very good at "Just say NO!"

Good luck to you and yours.

We had the time to spare and for us the perks were worth it. We sat through and received all the perks we were promised. As Jennifer said, we just politely continued to say, "no, thank you." We also brought our kids, and were able to get out of the meeting faster because they were getting restless.

oh my goodness, when I was in college my sister and I took our fiancees on a trip to FL covered exclusively (except for the airfare) by timeshare presentations. By the end of the 2nd one I thought I was going to claw the eyes out of the next person. SOOOO not worth it! What did I learn? Never go to a timeshare presentation unless you do intend to buy into it. The perks are not worth your time and frustration, and you could be using that vacation time to be doing much more enjoyable things.

I have sat through two Marriott time share presentations. They are very low pressure. I love staying at their time share resorts, but I do not EVER want to be a time share owner.

The first presentation I went to was with my boyfriend in Hawaii. He politely said "no thank you", and the salesperson thanked him for his time and said goodbye.

The second presentation I went to was with my husband just last year in California. I pretty much kept my mouth shut the whole time, and my husband politely said "no thank you". I tend to think that the less enthusiastic you are about the presentation (if you don't plan on buying) the less the salesperson thinks you are jerking them around. It doesn't mean that you can't be polite.

I've heard of many people who have been treated very rudely after saying no to a time share sale. Different time shares have different sales philosophies. I think it's a shame that they can't all be low pressure sales. They don't know what a disservice they are doing to themselves when these people go home and tell all of their friends how horribly they have were treated.

My advice to you is to tell the salesperson in advance that you don't plan to buy, but are happy to listen to their presentation. They might try to make you feel guilty or say that you are trying to scam them into getting something for nothing. Just let any kind of comments like that roll off your back. If they are rude to you, you might even tell them that you were going to tell all of your friends what a wonderful time you had at the time share, but now they are leaving a bad taste in your mouth. They should be ashamed of themselves for giving their time share a bad name.

The sooner you can get out of there, the sooner you can enjoy the rest of your time there.

I went to one in Scotsdale, AZ and sadly my toddler got the poopies and they asked me to take him away from the other children. (Which I understand) I needed an out, and the good Lord provided it.

I am now interested in seeing what they are, and how much it costs. I know a couple who have one, and they love it. They took a few girl friends for a night and the accomidations at the Wyndam. They had a full kitchen that was full of what you needed. I thought this would be great for kids, and not spending a lot of money eating out. They also had a jacuzzi in the basement that opened up to the lake. Very nice!! Good luck to you maybe ask a lot of questions, and say I would like to consider it, but I have another TImeShare presentation with (blah-Blah) and would like to compare for myself.