I Sat Through a Time Share Presentation and Didn’t Hate It

Timeshare presentations get a terrible rep but this pitch wasn’t half bad.

If you have a branded hotel credit card or are a loyalty member of Marriott, IHG, or Hilton, you’ve probably received an offer advertising something like this: “Exclusive 4-Day New York City Vacation from Only $499!”

Whether it arrives via email or on thick card stock in your mailbox, these inexpensive getaways are oh-so-tempting. But you, like me, may hesitate because while you, of course, could use a night-night, four-day golf vacation in Scottsdale, city exploration in Manhattan, or a theme park in Orlando, your anxious self cannot handle the possibility of three nights and four days of aggressive sales pitches.

You may keep the offer in your inbox or on the kitchen counter for a week or two before eventually tossing it—a vacation gone because of a fear of sales pressure. But just how sales-y are these vacations? And how much pressure is actually applied before, during, and after the mandatory presentation you must sit through to secure the affordable trip? Is becoming a deeded owner in The Marriott Vacation Clubs more like buying a car from a pushy salesperson or buying a box of Girl Scout cookies from a charming young lady in a pin-adorned green vest outside a grocery store?

My wife Lorelei and I recently spent three nights in Southern California on a vacation club package to find out. From oohing and aahing at animals in zoos and in the wild, a soccer match under the lights, reading books outside in the sunshine, enjoying multiple bubble baths in an oversized tub, and indulging in several cones of chocolate gelato—our three nights in a Marriott Newport Coast two-bedroom villa looked an awful lot like all of our other vacations, with one notable exception: a 90-minute presentation at a desk, in an office, with lots of very big numbers and even bigger travel possibilities being tossed around.

The Sales Pitch

As I got dressed for our 11:30 a.m. presentation, there weren’t so much as a few butterflies fluttering around in my stomach as a migration of monarchs on their way up the coast. I felt like I was going to be sick, but there was no backing out now. We committed to giving up an hour and a half of our time in exchange for days of California springtime sunshine, so I put my big boy pants on, and off we went to the Sales Gallery across the koi pond from the main building of the resort housing the front desk, The Cove entertainment area complete with indoor activity room, cinema, and arcade, and the outdoor pools, hot tubs, cafe, and bar.

Now, I should point out the first of many facts about the vacation club sales presentation that surprised me—the word “sales” was not used once in the pre-presentation communications from our representative Joanna, who called a couple of times before we departed for the West Coast and sent one follow-up email to confirm our 11:30 a.m. time and location. And as a writer, I know that words matter, so I found this interesting. Instead of a sales meeting, we were heading into a “personal preview of the villa resort collection” that would be a “relaxed and informative experience” designed to help us discover “how we can enjoy memorable vacations and create our best vacation life.”

Oooookay, I thought, you’ll try to sell us something, right?

The previous afternoon, we hopped on the resort’s free shuttle to go down to Laguna Beach to wander and get some dinner. I tried hard to focus on being present with my wife, on appreciating the postcard views, and later, to relax and enjoy the cinematic sunset we watched between twin palm trees. In the back of my mind was always the presentation the next morning, hovering over me like seagulls looking for French fries.

On the 10-minute shuttle ride, we met a retired couple from Seattle who own a whopping 15 weeks’ worth of points with The Marriott Vacation Clubs. Ron, the husband, gleefully told me that he plays them like the stock market, maneuvering continuously to maximize his vacation possibilities every year based on season, size of room, and time of booking (there are huge discounts available when booking within 60 days of arrival, he tells me).

On this particular trip, they wanted Pacific Ocean views from a high-floor villa for themselves, plus two extra villas nearby starting next week when their kids and grandchildren join them for a full family vacation. It’s been over 15 years since I worked in finance, so I was struggling to keep up as he described his process and the stock market parallels, but as a frequent traveler who also enjoys trying to “game” the system to get good deals on great vacations, he was speaking my language—I just didn’t have all the vocabulary down pat yet.

That’s not to say I don’t understand the old timeshare model. My parents owned a few weeks at different properties when I was little. This is how we traveled—mostly back to the same places during the same weeks every year. I was fortunate, and it was memorable, if not a bit redundant. Yet I remember a big Sears Wish Book-esque catalog with thousands of photos showing rooms, pools, and views from resorts worldwide.

The idea was, and in some ways still is, that you could trade your week in, say, Bermuda one year for a week in a Hawaiian bungalow or a chalet in the Swiss Alps. That was the tempting crux of those old timeshare sales pitches. But hearing my mom and dad complain that those other dreamy properties weren’t available on the weeks I could go away during the school year and my dad could be away from his office, I learned to distrust the timeshare and the way it was sold.

My wife and her ex-husband had firsthand experience with exactly this, too. They owned a week at a resort in the Bahamas that they could rarely ever swap for another spot. We’d learn that “timeshare” is an anachronistic word. Owning points from The Marriott Vacation Clubs and being automatically connected to its Abound platform presents over 14,000 ways to turn those points into villas, cruises, flights, hotel rooms, and accompanying vacation experiences like culinary tours and tickets to sporting events. It’s miles removed from what my parents, Lorelei, and her ex suffered through. The Marriott Vacation Clubs claim to have over 93% first-choice availability for owners—who each own points, not a week at a singular property—to book what they want when they want. This isn’t sharing time; it’s owning, and it’s far more pliable than I could’ve imagined.

With the ability to travel to domestic and international destinations in the heart of cities, on sandy beaches, and beside havens of culture, The Marriott Vacation Clubs allows for a multitude of experiences that can change, expand, and evolve as kids age and leave the nest. What started as a way to go away as a family in sprawling villas during school holidays for X points, for example, can easily morph into multiple romantic escapes during off-peak seasons, booked on a whim, in smaller rooms for fewer points.

This could mean more vacations each year with the same amount of annual points. On a sofa with a cup of English Breakfast tea in hand, our presentation with Maxine began relaxingly with questions about how we like to travel, how often, to where, and what we enjoy doing once there (beach time, hiking, sports, museums, etc).

Vacation Points

After moving to her office, we learned that the typical entry point for new members of The Marriott Vacation Clubs is 2,000 points (equal to seven to 21 days of travel, depending on when and where you want to go), currently priced at $17.72 per point paid once (that’s $35,440), plus $0.81 per point annual maintenance fee ($1,620), and $250 in club dues also paid annually. After Maxine pointed out that ownership is in perpetuity, something you to pass on to your kids, their kids, etc, or sell back to The Marriott Vacation Clubs or on the open market if you wish at any point, I asked her to price out places in some of our favorite spots—England, Costa Rica, Disney World, New York City, and Thailand, a place we haven’t been yet but is high on our bucket list.

We saw the points needed to stay in each location for a random week this year, noticing how they differ (England and Disney were way cheaper than I thought, Phuket far more expensive than I would’ve expected). Thanks to gummy bears, ice water, and more hot tea, both my wife and I were relaxed and comfortable during this low-stress, no-pressure presentation, but it was only informative so far. The closer hadn’t yet made his entrance. Maxine then told us how they practice price integrity in making all prices the same regardless of whether you have a sales presentation in NYC, Orlando, or here in Newport Beach, then jokingly teased that there would be “legal bribes” coming soon through several discounts and incentives.

And then, as if on cue, Tyler, the buff Team Leader-cum-finance guy, arrived with dramatic sweeteners to try to seal a deal. He put all the hard numbers down in front of us on the computer screen and then in handwriting on paper: $35,440 for 2,000 points. But wait, there’s more!

Thanks to a 15% promotional discount and a $3,000 purchase price credit (two offers available only in that room, at that moment), the cost dropped to $27,120. After a 10% down payment, that would mean we’d be paying $344 a month for 10 years in what amounts to a tiny mortgage (at 9.99% interest, currently) to own a deed to 2,000 points. Those points, however, were also about to be boosted in this offer.

Unprompted, Tyler was willing to gift us a huge bucket of 6,000 extra points during the first year (for a total of 8,000 to use in year one), then another 2,000 bonus points in year two if we hold the loan for at least 18 months (with no pre-payment penalty at any time). That’s a whopping total of 12,000 points to use in the first two years of ownership in The Marriott Vacation Clubs.

With that, I could be in England for upwards of a month to see so many British football matches, have an offseason week in Disney’s Animal Kingdom for only 1,000 points, and still take many other vacations around the world with my mom, kids, and my wife who was suddenly looking nervous seated beside me. She’d later tell me that because my eyes got wide with the possibility of travel—literally my favorite thing in the world—she genuinely thought I would buckle.

I loved the kind, easy-going Girl Scouts approach of both reps and the level of belief I had in what they were saying and selling. It was refreshing to feel that kind of honesty from people who, let’s not kid ourselves, need to close a certain number of deals every day/week to pay their rent and put food on the table.

Not Sold…Yet

Lorelei had me pull up the calculator on my phone after Maxine and Tyler left the room to give us a few moments to talk privately. Plugging in the monthly payment of $344 x 12 months, adding in the annual maintenance fee for 2,000 points (currently $1,620 at $0.81 per point) and the $250 club dues, we saw that we’d be on the hook for nearly $6,000 a year for the 10 years of the loan. I get what Maxine was saying about this being us pre-paying for the vacations we’d be taking anyway, but that’s a financial commitment we couldn’t make upfront. Not on the spot.

Ultimately, we passed on the deals and the chance to become one of over 400,000 owners of The Marriott Vacation Clubs. Pleasingly, that was that. No fuss, no awkward pleas, just two handshakes and a “thank you for attending.” There was no aggressive selling afterward; it was simply an email survey that arrived 48 hours after our appointment. In it, I was asked to grade the presentation as a whole, my perception of (and if that view had changed), and to rate the professionalism of the individuals we met during our time at the Marriott Newport Coast property.

The key question after I told the survey that we didn’t buy was, “Which of the following describes the primary reason(s) you did not purchase vacation ownership?” I clicked the answer, “I’m interested, but the timing isn’t right,” which is 100% accurate.

Both Lorelei and I can see this way of paying for and having ownership over our travel each year being of value for us, if not us right now at this point in our lives, but a future version of us in a few years, when we might say yes during another presentation, at another resort, with another set of discounts, bonuses, and incentives dangled in front of us.