Day 4
Today was Timeshare presentation day. Timeshare ownership is one of the most hotly debated topics in the vacation world. Here's how it works for the average vacationer: arrive at the airport tired and confused looking for the taxi, tour bus or just what to do next. Immediately leaving the customs area swarms of people (called by veterans - sharks, leeches or simply parasites) will approach you with offers of help. "Would you like a free car Senor?". How many free trips would you like for the week?", and many other variants on the theme. These folks are the first wave of foot soldiers in the war by timeshare developers to get vacationers to buy a week in the sunshine or just fractional ownership in luxury resorts.
If you realise that the object of all this activity is too sell timeshare ownership, because there is more profit in the selling activity rather than the resort business, then all these come-ons make sense. Usually each Offsite Point of Contacts (OPC) have a budget of $500 US for each appointment that they make for the next stage in the process. This enables the targets, if they play the game, to make some pretty good deals. One TS developer has been reported paying 5500 pesos ($500US). So how do you get this huge amount of money for about four hours (the first lie - you are only asked to attend a 90 minute presentation, but that changes) of very high pressure selling? Firstly sign up on the street or anywhere these OPCs hang out. People will offer to help you when you are shopping, the maitre d' in the restaurant and even the concierge at the hotel will approach you and sign you up. At the appointed time someone will pick you up in a taxi and take you to the development for the second stage. After presenting ID and a valid credit card a salesperson will then take you into breakfast, and it will be a good one. This is where the games start, the salesguy, and it usually is a man, will schmooze you and put you at ease, find out your interests, tell you about themselves and so on. About an hour of this will lead to the tour of the property and then back to the salesroom. A large airy room filled with small tables, each with four chairs, and couples huddled with the salesperson. Now the pitch starts and it is a rigid formula. "How much do you spend on vacations each year?" "Where would you like to spend your dream vacation?""What if I show you how you can have double the number of vacation weeks for the same money?" With a plethora of pie charts, and tables of figures you are presented with the first top line. The top price for a two bedroom unit. When confronted with cries of "I can't afford that!" "I am not interested!" the sales pitch begins in earnest. The size of the unit will be dropped reducing the top line, bonus weeks will be offered for the same price, affiliations to other timeshare concepts will be given and of course the top line will be reduced, gradually. Just as you or the salesguy will be ready to cry uncle the second phase comes in, "Let me have Joe (Jack, Jill etc) come over and explain the finer points of this deal." The second guy comes in and tries to persuade you that this deal is only for today and it's such a good one how can you refuse it? It is usually about three and a half hours into the session by now and tempers and nerves have been aroused and the state of confusion and annoyance for the non-buyers is at fever pitch. Just let me out of here is the message the captives want to cry out - some do and are quickly hustled out of the room.
At this point, four hours in, the captives may be released and the buyers are now honing the bottom line. Finally, after a third or perhaps a fourth closer, you now have a deal or you are at the gift desk - gasping for air and demanding your "gift" for attendance. If you have a deal all kinds of paper will now flow, and most of it air tight. Just remember that under Mexican law TS buyers have a 5 day 'recission program' to reconsider and the Mexican even have a Government office - PROVICO - to deal with recissions.
So back to us: whenever an owner turns up at the home resort they are invited to "an owners presentation". This is a mini TS presentation but at least you can get a free breakfast out of them. his year the flag should have gone up when the appointment setter gave us a double gift when we hesitated about going. Yep four hours later we staggered out but this time we had OUR deal turned down. It turned out that as a result of a marketing strategy change we now possess something they want - weeks. As part of the inducement to buy, in 2002, we obtained "Award weeks" extra weeks available to us if we pay the maintenance fee. The resort now wants this inventory back to offer to golfers in special packages. The golfers will then be targeted as prospects to buy. So our haggling began and our bottom line was presented and then rejected. So we beat them! - we still get to keep our weeks and they still want them. In two years time they will have appreciated and they will still want them.
And that's Timeshare Day. Back to the pool and then a trip to the swanky Italian restaurant on their dime (one of the free gifts).
Photo of the Day
Today was Timeshare presentation day. Timeshare ownership is one of the most hotly debated topics in the vacation world. Here's how it works for the average vacationer: arrive at the airport tired and confused looking for the taxi, tour bus or just what to do next. Immediately leaving the customs area swarms of people (called by veterans - sharks, leeches or simply parasites) will approach you with offers of help. "Would you like a free car Senor?". How many free trips would you like for the week?", and many other variants on the theme. These folks are the first wave of foot soldiers in the war by timeshare developers to get vacationers to buy a week in the sunshine or just fractional ownership in luxury resorts.
If you realise that the object of all this activity is too sell timeshare ownership, because there is more profit in the selling activity rather than the resort business, then all these come-ons make sense. Usually each Offsite Point of Contacts (OPC) have a budget of $500 US for each appointment that they make for the next stage in the process. This enables the targets, if they play the game, to make some pretty good deals. One TS developer has been reported paying 5500 pesos ($500US). So how do you get this huge amount of money for about four hours (the first lie - you are only asked to attend a 90 minute presentation, but that changes) of very high pressure selling? Firstly sign up on the street or anywhere these OPCs hang out. People will offer to help you when you are shopping, the maitre d' in the restaurant and even the concierge at the hotel will approach you and sign you up. At the appointed time someone will pick you up in a taxi and take you to the development for the second stage. After presenting ID and a valid credit card a salesperson will then take you into breakfast, and it will be a good one. This is where the games start, the salesguy, and it usually is a man, will schmooze you and put you at ease, find out your interests, tell you about themselves and so on. About an hour of this will lead to the tour of the property and then back to the salesroom. A large airy room filled with small tables, each with four chairs, and couples huddled with the salesperson. Now the pitch starts and it is a rigid formula. "How much do you spend on vacations each year?" "Where would you like to spend your dream vacation?""What if I show you how you can have double the number of vacation weeks for the same money?" With a plethora of pie charts, and tables of figures you are presented with the first top line. The top price for a two bedroom unit. When confronted with cries of "I can't afford that!" "I am not interested!" the sales pitch begins in earnest. The size of the unit will be dropped reducing the top line, bonus weeks will be offered for the same price, affiliations to other timeshare concepts will be given and of course the top line will be reduced, gradually. Just as you or the salesguy will be ready to cry uncle the second phase comes in, "Let me have Joe (Jack, Jill etc) come over and explain the finer points of this deal." The second guy comes in and tries to persuade you that this deal is only for today and it's such a good one how can you refuse it? It is usually about three and a half hours into the session by now and tempers and nerves have been aroused and the state of confusion and annoyance for the non-buyers is at fever pitch. Just let me out of here is the message the captives want to cry out - some do and are quickly hustled out of the room.
At this point, four hours in, the captives may be released and the buyers are now honing the bottom line. Finally, after a third or perhaps a fourth closer, you now have a deal or you are at the gift desk - gasping for air and demanding your "gift" for attendance. If you have a deal all kinds of paper will now flow, and most of it air tight. Just remember that under Mexican law TS buyers have a 5 day 'recission program' to reconsider and the Mexican even have a Government office - PROVICO - to deal with recissions.
So back to us: whenever an owner turns up at the home resort they are invited to "an owners presentation". This is a mini TS presentation but at least you can get a free breakfast out of them. his year the flag should have gone up when the appointment setter gave us a double gift when we hesitated about going. Yep four hours later we staggered out but this time we had OUR deal turned down. It turned out that as a result of a marketing strategy change we now possess something they want - weeks. As part of the inducement to buy, in 2002, we obtained "Award weeks" extra weeks available to us if we pay the maintenance fee. The resort now wants this inventory back to offer to golfers in special packages. The golfers will then be targeted as prospects to buy. So our haggling began and our bottom line was presented and then rejected. So we beat them! - we still get to keep our weeks and they still want them. In two years time they will have appreciated and they will still want them.
And that's Timeshare Day. Back to the pool and then a trip to the swanky Italian restaurant on their dime (one of the free gifts).
Photo of the Day
This is Pipi's restaurant, famous for its fajitas and fast service. Service is so fast they will clear the table almost before you have finished eating. No idling over a meal here! Quite disconcerting!
It all sounds very intimidating. Makes me glad I I guess as long as you feel like you won the battle it's ok. Hope you enjoy your dinner.
ReplyDeleteDear friends, I'm an OPC and let me tell you something.. if you accept and invitation at the airport you are in secure hands.. they don't offer to you $500 dlls becuase the budget they have is around $200 dlls only, but they are regulated by federal laws and police, you know is a federal building and you will get everything they promised to you.. be aware about the OPC at the streets and mostly of those who offer you $300 dlls or more, those are people we called them PIRATES and they are not regulated at all, so you are putting your own security on risk... just come, enjoy your vacation and if you want to save money (you canadias are masters of this)you know what to do.
ReplyDeleteP.S. and please don't call the OPC a leach,we are just doing our job and remember sometimes the leaches are you tourist people, who try to get all our comission away "as a favor" to us by doing the presentation... all the gifts or money you get came out of our comission. So please next time you come here, get a deal but don't try to suck all our comission away.. if you really want to help at least a little bit the OPC.