Your dog’s so cute. What breed is she?
And thus begins the tale of how we ended up at a Wyndham timeshare presentation.
My wife (Shae) and I were visiting Myrtle Beach for a few days and decided to check out Broadway At The Beach with our dog one morning. While walking along, a woman at the Information Center called out to us and asked that question about Truffles.
We’re used to people asking about Truffles, so we went over to chat to her. She then asked what brought us to Myrtle Beach, so we told her about our 50 state road trip.
Given that she was chatting to people who obviously like to travel, she sensed her opportunity and asked us if we’d like to have a free lunch or breakfast. By this point, we were inside the Information Center and saw all kinds of Wyndham branded posters, flyers, etc.
Knowing what we were letting ourselves in for, we listened to her pitch and what we’d get out of it. There were two offers if we went to a timeshare presentation – either 45,000 Wyndham Rewards points or a certificate for a 7 night stay at a timeshare resort.
Seeing as we weren’t jumping on the offer, she came back with an additional option. We could get both those rewards if we paid $150 and attended the timeshare presentation. I’m sure you’re thinking what I was thinking: why would anyone pay $150 to attend a timeshare presentation?
After chatting to each other outside though, Shae and I decided to do it. Even if the 7 night certificate turned out to be worthless, 45,000 Wyndham Rewards gives you three free nights at any Wyndham property (or even better value than that.) Effectively paying $50 per night to stay at any Wyndham brand meant we wouldn’t – in my opinion – be losing out.
Still, it was probably a little naive on my part to accept that offer. In hindsight, I wish I’d tried to get both sets of rewards for free. If it’s any consolation, we paid with the Chase Sapphire Reserve and it coded as 3X, so we also earned 450 Ultimate Rewards.
With that, we dropped Truffles back at our Airbnb and headed to Plantation Resort which is where the Wyndham timeshare presentation would be taking place, arriving shortly before 1pm.
Just before going inside, we practiced our ‘No’ faces in the car. I call mine ‘Angry & Unshaven Blue Steel.’ Shae was a middle school science teacher, so she already had her ‘No’ face perfected.
Seeing as we were in Myrtle Beach on a dreary January day, Shae and I figured we might be the only ones there.
Nope.
There were at least two dozen couples there, including a couple who were on their first anniversary.
This was our first timeshare presentation, so we hadn’t been sure if we’d be in a large group getting the hard sell or if there’d be a rep for each couple.
After a few minutes, they started calling up each couple pair-by-pair and introduced them to their own timeshare rep. Uh-oh, they were going for man couple coverage rather than zone.
We were introduced to our rep whose name was Eric. He brought us through to the lunch area and waited for us to fill up our plates before showing us to our table. Each couple was seated at their own small table, with their timeshare rep sitting opposite them.
The lunch consisted of mac & cheese, pulled pork, chicken tenders, green beans, etc. It was OK, but hardly a Ruth’s Chris.
The bread rolls were the worst though. If I’d realized how rock-hard they were, I’d have grabbed a few extras in case we needed to throw them to make a quick getaway if it turned out they were immune to our ‘No’ faces.
We’d been told ahead of time that the presentation would last two hours. The paperwork made a vague reference to “about two hours” or something like that. Still, we didn’t want to get stuck there and so Shae set a timer to go off after two hours.
The only thing is, she’d turned her phone on silent which also apparently silenced her timer when it went off two hours later.
While we were eating, Eric asked us a few questions to get to know us and learn about our general travel patterns. Shae’s super-chatty (as in she always makes friends while in line at a store, even if it’s a 1 year old in a cart who can’t talk yet), so I’d warned her not to divulge too much info to our rep so that it wouldn’t give them anything to ambush us with.
We therefore didn’t tell him about the fact that we’re on a 50 state road trip for the next five years. Imagine the ammunition that’d give him.
Once we’d finished our food, Eric left us with a form to complete about our travel experiences and hopes for the future. We answered the questions truthfully, albeit in a way we hoped would stop him from getting a foothold.
How much did your last vacation cost? ~$3,000 for a month in Australia & New Zealand, including business class flights for two each way.
What trip do you most want to take? Kayaking in Antarctica (we doubted Wyndham have timeshare properties there.)
What was your favorite travel experience? Hiking to see the Susa group of mountain gorillas in Rwanda (we couldn’t imagine Wyndham had properties in Kigali or Musanze. Besides, it was genuinely our favorite travel experience.)
Once we’d answered all the questions, it was time for the actual timeshare presentation to begin. The starter pitch was given by a guy called Jordan whose father, father’s father, father’s father’s father, etc. had all owned Wyndham timeshares.
We also quickly found out that this wasn’t a timeshare presentation but a chance to participate in “Vacation Ownership.” After all, you only rent hotel rooms, but you can own your vacation with Wyndham 🙄
I think all the timeshare Vacation Ownership reps chat before the main presentation to discuss who has the most outgoing person. That’s because they ask one of the guests to help write stuff down on a whiteboard during the presentation.
Unsurprisingly, Eric asked Shae if she’d be Jordan’s Vanna White. This worked out perfectly for them as a) Shae makes everything more fun and b) she was a teacher so she’s part of the 1% of the population who can write legibly on a whiteboard.
The purpose of this initial section was to find out where people most wanted to go on vacation and how much they expected it to cost.
It was jokes. Not because of Jordan or Shae, but because of the answers people gave. Being so focused on points and miles, it’s easy for us to forget that many people pay huge amounts of cash for vacations. People said they expected to spend $15,000+ on a trip to Hawaii, $8,000 on a week in Italy, $6,000 to visit Scotland.
My eyes were wider than that scene in A Clockwork Orange.
After ascertaining that people like to drop large sums of money on vacations, Shae’s glamorous assistant job was done and the timeshare Vacation Ownership pitch continued.
The presentation was extremely interactive, with Jordan getting the crowd involved as much as possible. He asked how much the average amount we spend per night at hotels was. I wanted to answer 4,500 points, but restrained my British cynicism and allowed others to answer.
Their answers allowed him to complete the vacation calculator which put the 25 year hotel cost in excess of $110,000.
With this huge figure in mind, it was time to find out how Wyndham could fulfill our travel dreams and more. After all, look at what 400,000 Club Wyndham Plus points (for an undisclosed cost) can get you!
After a couple of short videos showing off Wyndham properties and some timeshare vacation owners extolling its virtues, Jordan finished his presentation.
To be fair, it was an interesting enough presentation and he explained the whole concept in a way that it was easy to understand. There were disingenuous aspects though which I’ll come on to later.
With the initial hour-long presentation over, it was time for Eric to try to work his magic. First up, he told us about all the free things we’d get if we signed up for Timeshare Vacation Ownership that day. I’ll admit – I was a little disappointed when he didn’t say “But wait! Buy now and we’ll send you an additional Vacation Ownership for free (just pay separate shipping and handling.)”
Apparently RCI are used by companies like IHG and Hilton for their Timeshare Vacation Ownership. However, they’re actually owned by Wyndham which is why that benefit’s offered for free.
We were also told about the great value we could get from our points if we booked our accommodation within 30 days of travel.
By this stage, we were upfront with Eric that we had absolutely no intention of becoming timeshare vacation owners. He didn’t seem dissuaded though, saying that no one came in expecting to say yes.
Still, I think he knew he was on to a loser with us. So much so that Shae had to ask him how much their packages actually cost as he hadn’t told us. This was a dangerous move – and possibly the angle he was working – but to be fair I was curious too.
He went out for a minute and came back with a laminated sheet, always the sign of something being official.
Yep, with a down payment of more than $15,000, we could be the proud (vacation) owners of a $642 payment for the next ten years. Even our old mortgage wasn’t $642 per month (although we did live in what many regarded as the New Jersey part of Virginia.)
That wasn’t the craziest part though.
Look at what’s in bold at the top of the sheet.
200,000 Club Wyndham Points.
Now think back to the presentation. I’d mentioned I thought some of it was disingenuous and here’s why. During that, Jordan showed how many nights (20) you could get for 400,000 points. (That turned out to be misleading too – more on why later.)
That meant for our $15,000 down payment, $642 monthly payment and 200,000 points, we could only expect 10 nights per year. From what I gathered, you get these points every year for as long as you live. If you live 20 years, that’s $460.20 per night. If you live for 40 years, that’s $230.10 per night. Even if you live for 60 more years, that’s still the equivalent of $153.40 per night you’ve paid.
The per night cost obviously goes down if you don’t finance the $35,664 balance. That’s because the interest adds more than $40,000 to the final total. Still, even without financing I doubt it’d be a great deal for most people.
I think Eric sensed our incredulity, so he went out back and returned with some “better” offers. I say “better” in that the effective cost was halved, but still nowhere near being worth biting on. Unfortunately I didn’t get photos of those offers, as I’d taken the other photos above when he’d gone out back.
Something important to note is that he also mentioned that there’d be additional maintenance fees payable every year. They were likened to HOA or condo fees as the resorts needed upkeep. However, it meant you’d be getting an even worse deal than expected and unavoidable (and presumably increasing) fees every single year.
By now, our two hours were up. Eric knew he wasn’t getting a sale, so by 3:20pm his pitch ended.
But that’s not all…
Next up was his sales manager. She came over to chat to us, ostensibly to get some feedback on our experience, but it seemed like it was a last chance to get us to bite on something. She was friendly though and didn’t give us a hard sell either. With that final obstacle out the way, we were done at 3:35pm.
The sales manager gave us a form to hand to the front desk where we’d get our rewards. That process was painless too, so by 3:40pm we were 45,000 Wyndham Rewards points and a 7 night certificate richer. We got a better deal than some, as Shae overheard the couple ahead of us only getting a gas card.
With that, we went out to our car, breathing a sigh of relief that we’d said no.
Redeeming The Rewards
The 45,000 Wyndham Rewards points were easy to redeem. We simply entered a code on their website along with my Wyndham Rewards account number and they were credited to my account immediately.
The 7 night certificate isn’t going to be as easy to redeem. We created an account at Resort Vacation Certificates and entered our certificate number. We now have 12 months in which to use the certificate.
They have a decent enough search functionality on their website, allowing you to filter by continent, country and state / city. I filtered to include all the states we’ll be visiting this year (Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin – they didn’t have any resorts in Alabama or Ohio) and there were 76 resorts listed.
The wrinkle for us is that we’re traveling with our dog. When filtering for pet-friendly properties, this is what we’re left with:
Yep, a grand total of three properties.
The good thing is that their filtering might not be correct. When researching some of the 76 properties on the original list, some of them are definitely pet-friendly, so it looks like they might just not be tagged correctly on the Resort Vacation Certificates website.
I’m therefore hopeful that we’ll still be able to use our 7 night certificate before it expires. I’m also hoping we’ll be able to do so at no further cost.
The reason why is because not all the locations seem to have ‘No Charge Accommodations.’ Those are properties where we can use our certificate for what’s presumably a studio suite.
Instead, many of the properties only list ‘Upgrade Accommodations starting at $xxx‘ and which appear to be 2 bedroom suites or larger. Some of the upgrades don’t seem to be too unreasonable, such as $149 for 7 nights.
Having said that, there are more than 20 costing over $400 for 7 nights. If we wanted, we could even drop almost $8,000 on a week at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, CO
The other thing to be aware of is travel dates. It looks like we’re only able to book up to 10 weeks ahead of time, so that makes it harder to redeem the certificate.
We’re visiting Vermont in May, Wisconsin in June/July, Illinois in July/August, Oklahoma in September, Texas in October and November and Colorado in December. We can’t properly check our options for those as we can only book up to mid-April right now.
We’ll therefore likely book the first resort we can, simply so that the certificate doesn’t go to waste.
Behind The Scenes Info
After attending the presentation, we mentioned what we’d done to the Airbnb owner where we were staying. It turns out that he did Wyndham Timeshare Vacation Ownership sales pitches for a short amount of time but didn’t stay too long.
He shared that some of the examples they give aren’t particularly truthful. For example, in the presentation Jordan had a slide showing how 400,000 Club Wyndham Plus Points could get you 20 nights at all kinds of wonderful resorts.
Our Airbnb host explained that although that’s possible mathematically, you’d never be able to get those redemptions in real life. Your 400,000 points would therefore likely get you closer to 10-15 nights.
That means the 200,000 point offer we saw (the one requiring a $15,000 down payment and monthly payments of $642) would more realistically get you 5-7.5 nights per year.
It’s easy to see why sales reps earn good money if they can get people to sign up.
Final Thoughts
The Wyndham Timeshare Vacation Ownership presentation was much less painful than we expected. It was interesting enough and it didn’t go over two hours by too far.
Our rep Eric seemed genuinely nice and although he was a bit sales-y, it wasn’t in a sleazy way. I was glad we didn’t get the rep at the adjacent table as he was incredibly obnoxious.
Overall, it was worth attending the presentation for the points and (hopefully) the 7 night certificate. It’s also good to know that we’re able to stay firm with saying no. We’ll therefore probably check out IHG, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt & SPG timeshare presentations in the future to get more free nights. If we do, I’ll try to see what we can get without having to spend anything for the rewards.
As for the timeshares themselves, I’m sure that there’s some kind of value there for the right person. The more that I’ve thought about the offer and calculated the numbers though, the harder it is to find that value.
With the high upfront cost, unspecified maintenance fees every year and property availability issues, there’s no compelling reason I can see why you’d choose to invest so much money in a timeshare.
One of the key selling points mentioned in the presentation was the benefit of having access to a larger space with more bedrooms so that families can travel together. That might have been useful in the past, but Airbnb would be a better option for most people nowadays.
Question
Have you ever been to presentations like this? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments below.
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About two years ago my family attended a presentation while using my wife’s uncle’s timeshare…I mean, vacation ownership on a trip to Orlando. It was scheduled for 90 minutes and the format was similar to the presentation in your story. The hard sell, don’t take no for answer by our individual sales representative and then her manager dragged on and on. We finally got out of there after two and a half hours. We had to change our lunch reservation that we were about to miss. The presentation left us in such a bitter mood that it was hard to relax and enjoy our last day in Orlando. My son who was 12 years old said he didn’t understand what the presentation was about but could tell it was very frustrating.
I even drafted an email to Wyndham to complain about our experience and offer some suggestions to make the presentations more appealing, at least to me. I never sent it but it is still in my email draft folder.
We did a 3-day stay for a 3-hour seminar back in 2019 in Williamsburg, VA (not this one), and it was fairly painless. We stayed at a $ 300-a-night resort for no cost. The only thing we spent money on was the travel to get there and food. The sales pitch was fairly light, and the people were nice.
We were at the Georgia Aquarium when we were approached for the Wyndham/Margaritaville Club pitch. $40 and a 2-hour seminar, then a 7-day stay at any of the resorts. Having felt like the last timeshare seminar package was a bargain, we signed up. We go in April. If it’s as simple as saying no, that’s not a problem. $40 for a 7-day vacation where we don’t have to pay for lodging is worth 2-3 hours of our time.
Agreed to do a presentation slotted at 120 minutes. Dragged on for over 3 hours. Every time I said “no” the salesperson tried to guilt me and even started insulting me. Two more agents (who were much more polite than the first and took no for an answer) were sent to try and make a sale.
I didn’t get all of the rewards promised and had to even remind them of what I was promised because they tried to stiff me big time. Still didn’t get everything and didn’t receive my deposit back. After zero response from the company after asking for my deposit refund, I just disputed the charge.
8:15am and at about 2:30 and after 1,000 to 1,200 No’s I had to tell them I was hungry done and leaving and leaving to get a beer we are done tried every way to give me a guilt trip on not taking vacations with my wife. We started out with a nice lady and then some high up manager came to the show. So much for our 2 hour seminar. Very very pushy.
Hello. I am a Wyndham timeshare owner and it would be pretty nice except that every time we check in, there’s a second counter we have to go to to get our activity/pool wristbands or parking passes where there are sales pitch pushers who try to get you to go to an “Owner Update” lol, where they try to get you to by more points and they can schedule you while you are there, on your vacation. I literally said no ten times at the last one before they said have a good day after I told the gentleman next to me he could go online and find people getting rid of what there trying to sell for 10 or 5gs for like $100.00 and that is true too.
I personally have not taken a timeshare vacation as an adult but I remember that’s how we vacationed a couple times when I was a kid. We went to Branson and stayed in a 2br Fairfield inn when I was a kid. My mom stayed in the hotel room with me and my (at the time) stepdad went to the meetings. I did have to go ride around on a golf course for a tour in the sun and heat (gag). I guess we all had to go on that part. I do remember seeing a cool magic show with real white tigers, and getting to ride a duck (a boat that drives on land, into the water) ans we went to this restaurant that served prime rib with aujue served over a candle to keep it warm. idk how much any of these things cost, just that it was a deal bc of the timeshare meetings.
Had to put a $45 refundable deposit to go to the seminar. Got there signed in and immediately got the money back. They said they ran out of representatives to give us a tour so they gave us $100 meal card (which has like no realistic place to eat) and our 8 day 7 night voucher. Hard to find places but looks good if we really only have to play $199 in taxes and fees.
Scheduled for a 3 night stay in Sandestin in October and are required to attend the sales presentation. As part of my package, we are to receive AmEx cards, but the find print says they will begin assessing a fee if the card isn’t used within a few months. Are the cards able to be used in restaurants, gas stations, etc. or is this a set-up to give me a card I can’t use and then assess the fee?
If it’s an Amex card, you should be able to use it anywhere that Amex is accepted.
I use their cards and go to my local chain grocery store and buy a gift card for the same amount. They don’t expire.
In July 2023, I was milling about National Harbor in Maryland, when someone at a kiosk offered me a 7 night stay at a resort and a 3-5 day cruise for 2 people if I pay $75 and attend a two hour seminar with Wyndham.
I agreed, and came back the next day for the seminar. There was another individual and a couple. The couple seemed very ignorant. I really cannot imagine that they have the money and the time to make this in any way logical.
After the group presentation, I met with an individual salesman. He asked for an initial payment of $54k, which sounded outrageous and of course I declined. Then another salesperson came and said, “Someone just left the group, you can have hers for $24k.” This went on and on, I kept seeing new salespeople with better and better deals. I also toured a three bedroom unit, which is fine, but that is just not something I could fully utilize. I still go to bunkbed hostels, lol.
The 7 day trip seems easy to redeem. I think I will go to the Canary Islands with some friends, including one who previously dropped me, and now we are back in touch. We have to buy our own airfare. I might just try to sell the cruises.
Pay to hear a timeshare presentation. Red flags everywhere, hard to miss!
Thanks for the write up. I didn’t read it before going to my sales presentation today but I prepared in a similar way. All in all I was out in maybe 15-20 minutes more than the assured 120 minutes. I didn’t let them run my credit even though they kept saying it was a soft inquiry and it was so they could give me actual numbers – it was suggested at least 10 times but my no face (aka “too afraid to make a commitment and don’t want to leave my comfort zone because it gives me anxiety” face). After the initial presenter to the group, I’d say I experienced three rounds with three different people where they kept bringing out better offers and finally ended with a “try before you buy” option I think was a final attempt to try and run my credit and get me in their system.
Another technique I used was dressing super casual and seemingly anxiety driven near 40 year old single woman. Some of the comments and assumptions were quite insulting but I didn’t let knock me off my game.
Now, I’m at the stage of redeeming the two travel vouchers I got out of the deal. I didn’t get points like y’all. Did you ever redeem that voucher and have to pay any fees? Was it worthwhile in the end or did they get the last laugh with the vouchers?
Hope to get some feedback from you on the voucher before I enter any payment info to book the trip on http://gocrv.com/ and “Grand Incentives inc”
Their search system has gone backwards in terms of user-friendliness. I feel like I’m on some website from the early 2000s. And as I try to search there’s ZERO availability at any location that I want to actually go for any time during the next 12 months.
Why the F would I ever think to buy the actual timeshare if my experience with the voucher is a complete failure.
Your experience at least seems better so far than mine – since you were going to some more mundane states.
I now have PTTD from Wyndam’s timeshare pitch…Post traumatic timeshare syndrome.
So do I. They dont let you go. The bring on the next level of manipulators.
All this despite the presenter assuring us that no one was going to force us to buy.
Dressed up yuppy hustlers. Give me the honesty of a mugger!
I just went on a vacation credit tour!!! I read this in advance of it. I used the 20 year plan with the maintenance fees to find a cost for each day to be $176 per room.
I asked about cleaning fees as we left. They told me it was included. I went to their website only to find I needed housekeeping credits to move In. (Memberships after 2020 only) if you didn’t have them the cost was $159.
I could take the same trips I do now and arrive same day. Does that mean it would cost me my points plus the housekeeping credit?
They put a piece of paper in front of us and said they wanted to see what we qualified to buy. My wife started to fill it out and I stopped her when it was asking for Social security numbers. It was a credit app in disguise with the explanation that they just wanted to “quality us”.
We indicated our cost on average per night in a hotel was $120. They doubled it for our costs of a vacation as we felt we were frugal on a trip. Remember doing the math at 20 years their cost was $176. That’s around 30% more with an up front payment.
A single (or 2 room suit) was going to cost us 10,000 points or(the next salesman said 77,000 points for a week) can be used or borrowed from next year. Looking at the Wyndham website I would need to rent these credits at $12 per 1000 points rented. My math says it would cost me $120 to rent my future points per day if it was 10,000 points for a room. At 11,000 points (from the 2nd salesmen) my cost would be $132. Can we take their word on the cost? Probably not.
There are lots of hidden fees and misleading tactics used to sell timeshares or vacation rentals. If someone rushes you into a purchase, it’s never in your favor.
The final offer was $3900 for a 2 year test run without monthly maintenance fees. (I used them as an example of my problem with the purchase of this plan) I wouldn’t be paying the $200 monthly fees. (@ $200 per month in maintenance fees, that’s $2400 per year. Figuring out the math 20 hotel stays @ $120 average.) The maintenance fees alone can pay for my hotels.
OMG!!! As I write this I see the costs of my vacation wouldn’t go down in any way. They would at least double and maybe triple. With all the fees. Wait I can cut them by using their credit card. By their statements theres a saving grace! Get and use the Wyndham credit card. I can earn the maintenance fees using this program.
Doing the math at 3% cash back. I don’t actually see where they are willing to pay 3% but let’s run with it. You would need to spend $6700 to earn $201 in cash back to cover the maintenance fees. A random website told me the average American household spends $5111 per month. To come close to earning enough cash back on their credit card to pay the maintenance fees (they offer between 1% and 5% cash back without paying a card fee) every bill and payment you made would be short around $1600 in bills each month. Further the mortgage company won’t accept credit cards for payment. They don’t want to lose 3% in fees.
You will never win in a fast paced, high pressure, sales environment like a timeshare. Ok I understand it’s a vacation rental service today. I now don’t own anything. I just pay the maintenance fees for the right to stay there and employ the housekeeping staff. Wait, I pay the salary of the salesmen(all 6 of them tryingtopressure us, maintenance personnel, ceo, and even ay for all the gifts given out to the hundreds of thousands of people each day to give the next payment and cover all the extra expenses taken to find a new vacation rental owner(sucker).
Check out the eBay listings of owners trying to get out of their timeshare responsibilities.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l2632&_nkw=timeshares+for+sale&_sacat=15897
Wow that’s incredible. TIL people are so desperate, they’re re-selling timeshares for $1 just to get rid of it.